Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
I feel one of the main issues that has held the share price down both currently and even more historically (remember even in strong markets ORR underperformed) has been the BOD's lack of understanding of the City, brokers and links to High Net Worth investors.
In the good old days, Stratex was cash rich, they had circa £30m in the bank at one point, when Tim Livesey took the reigns there was only around £2m left when it ran out they went cap in hand to a bucket shop broker with no understanding of the consequences, their ability under the regime of TL & BS to raise cash has been poor for shareholders, their timing has also been woeful.
Having looked at the new CEO one stand out is his experience in financial markets, clearly he has contacts, I think that will be exceptionally important moving forward, he will also understand the shenanigans of what goes on in a negative way behind the scenes concerning AIM, such as shorting/forward selling etc.
I very much doubt we will ever see a deal with Lanstead again as a result of his appointment.
In all I think the appointment will be extremely beneficial to ORR and its shareholders, I struggle to understand why the shares fell yesterday as a result of the news.
From the new CEO's Linkedin page...
' This is combined with twenty years' international financial markets experience in the natural resources sector in the City of London as a mining analyst, corporate finance arranger and advisor, and investor relations expert'
It is becoming increasing hard to buy in any size around current levels, a good sign, the company remains materially undervalued and under radar.
Cash in the bank £5.4m (and possibly growing) market cap circa £9m, re-rate will continue.
I have to say the Prof looked very relaxed and, once again, gave hints that there is interest from parties.
It is now clear why the JV terminated, Demir wanted to explore but Conroy wanted to progress a mine to deliver cash-flow. That should be a comfort as the break was not related to the quality of the project.
The market will revalue Conroy from these very low levels, it is nigh impossible to get a decent slice of stock at current prices which is a clue, if a JV of substance is announced with the intention to build a mine the shares will rocket, speculation could also drive a re-pricing.
New lengthy interview with the Prof just released....
https://youtu.be/qsGUWzWWa78?feature=shared
They sure are making it hard to buy around current levels, there has to be a real chance the Prof already has some party lined up to move into a new JV agreement, he has been interviewed quite a lot recently and continually refers to wanting to build a mine, interest from major companies, in talks/meetings etc. All the clues.
No wonder it is hard to buy, if a deal can be reached with a major the shares will rocket, the current valuation (circa £4m) is a great entry point IMO.
Shares temporarily suspended due to auditor delays, near completion they suggest.
First impressions the new CEO has an excellent background, remember it was Eileen Carr that played the largest part in bringing the JV to BCM.
I have been critical of TL for a long time, this move to me is of no concern, I would not be surprised if he takes a permanent position at MTL given they have acquired exploration licences.
With Eileen Carr in place you can be sure her interests are fully aligned to shareholders not withstanding her own £200,000 investment.
The shares hit a 4 year low this morning, that is balmy given the investment made by Demir (£5m) and the exit by them on excellent terms for Conroy, leaving them holding 100% once again.
The price is a gift currently, the sellers today will be kicking themselves soon enough, the Prof is a wily old so and so, no-one thought he would secure a JV at all let alone with an entity as large as Demir, but now he has openly spoken about interest from majors.
If a deal with a major is announced the share price will rocket, sub £4m m/cap is farcical.
No idea the relevance of this tweet from MS today but it looks like he is having a meeting in a significant building.
https://x.com/MarcFCMetals/status/1785101210904617096
Fall overdone, nothing available at 8.5p, no wonder buyers are coming back in, only 47m shares in issue remember.
DYOR etc
So Lanstead have sold 351m shares in 8 months, going from 26.23% on 1st August to 16.99% to 26th April, this gives some clarity on the situation at least for the time being, they clearly do not declare every 1% move as the CFO suggested however so this matter can be put to bed infinitum.
The situation is pretty clear that their selling only effects the share price during thin volume days (do they target these I wonder) however the upside is if meaningful news occurs the share price can gyrate upwards significantly like it did on the JV announcement (to .57p)
In all I have to confess I thought they may have sold more, however to sell 351m shares in 8 months in a stock that is reasonably illiquid shows the SP has underlying strength with an ability to re-rate despite the Lanstead position.
The subject matter is now closed and investors can concentrate on operational news-flow moving forward.
From 9 minutes on the Prof confirms he has had approaches from majors and their interest has been building, very major companies he calls them, very exciting he suggests. Very little mention of Demir.
It looks like a new partner may already be lined up.
https://x.com/RoastPR/status/1777656693024772365
The pressure is building on the share price with the re-rate ongoing, exceptionally hard to buy in size with very few sellers, there also appears to be a background buyer taking 100k/150k/250k when available.
What's not to like, the time to add/buy is now, this could easily be trading at 8p/9p and still be considered undervalued, current m/cap is still under £10m with half of that in cash.
There is very little stock on offer around current levels, it is clear by the 250k and 150k buys late Friday accumulation in CNSL continues by shrewd parties.
The company remains materially undervalued, it can only be a matter of time before the re-rate continues.
A takeover approach remains a distinct possibility.
I still believe the shares will trade above 10p by year end.
A reasonable update, main point being they are aiming to refinance the debt in a non dilutive way.
We are talking about a company (VAST) valued at £3m remember, time will tell ultimately.
As for the diamonds, well come on, did anyone really think VAST would get them in a hurry or at all, the market has told you that for ever and an age.
The shares are probably worth a punt at current levels, more-so with commodity prices on the rise, especially gold and copper, both in VAST's production portfolio.
Let the bashers bash, the shrewd will probably be buying moving forward - DYOR etc.
It is clear these sharing agreements do NOT benefit the company but work in favour of Lanstead, it is a fallacy to suggest this outfits aim is to drive value by share price appreciation, on the contrary in fact.
This is from the IMM bulletin board (below), it comes via a RNS last year - for whatever reason IMM decided to carry out numerous finance agreements with Lanstead from 2016 to current, out of the FIVE completed (or near completed agreements) only ONE has yielded more than the base case number the others have delivered SIGNIFICANTLY less.
IMM shareholders are showing equal distain to Lanstead the same as ORR investors are, basically this type of funding is of last resort IMO, the fact Lanstead (and other similar outfits) never promote their wares at investor events plus keeping their executives under radar is a clear red flag.
From IMM RNS dated 31 Aug 20323...
"The Sharing Agreement is similar in structure to those undertaken by the Company with Lanstead in February 2016, June 2019, March 2020, December 2021 and August 2022 respectively. The first three of these arrangements have completed their settlement periods. The February 2016 agreement yielded a net gain to ImmuPharma of approximately £0.6 million more than originally subscribed by Lanstead. The June 2019 and March 2020 agreements yielded approximately £0.9 million and £1.0 million less than originally subscribed by Lanstead respectively. The fourth arrangement runs to March 2024 and is currently yielding approximately £1.1 million less than the pro rata amount originally subscribed by Lanstead on cumulative settlements to date. The fifth arrangement runs to August 2024 and is currently yielding approximately £0.3 million less than the pro rata amount originally subscribed by Lanstead on cumulative settlements to date."
IMM bulletin board comment...
So that's five agreements in total, one of which yielded a positive result (+ £0.6m approx). Currently the other four - of which two are already complete - have yielded a cumulative LOSS of £3.3m versus the current share price. WHAT A TRIUMPH!
Another example of Lanstead double speak.
This is from the FAQ part of the website, they say....
'Lanstead is free to buy and sell shares just like any other shareholder and it is required to disclose movements of >1% as a significant disclosable shareholder'
Once again, this time using IMM as an example, you can see they sold down from 21.93% announced on 13th September to 17.99% announced on 19th December https://tinyurl.com/3mzyw2u6
The above example shows a near 4% move, if that was translated to ORR it would be circa 160m shares sold without declaring.
I have no idea how they can tell ORR they abide by TR1 rules, say they declare each 1% move on their website yet there are very clear anomalies to this in the market.
This smoke and mirror approach is not satisfactory, at the very least leaves existing and prospective shareholders confused.
I would hope that given all the speculation and apparent prodding by ORR we will get a TR1 from them soon enough, I still suspect they have sold far more shares than they would usually have done and are aware if they declare early it would assist the bull case.
Short interview just released, no mention of the sale process, is a deal close ?
https://x.com/Share_Talk/status/1784181923616600122
Fact is you do not get nearly 2b shares traded, over half the issued capital, since 28th December if a major holder was not selling, we know who that major holder is.
The fact there has been no TR1 is not because they have not crossed a 1% threshold (they clearly have) is because IMO they do not want to show they have sold far more shares in short time than they usually would have done to bring the SP back from the mid .40p's range to current.
I concur with the dissenters that this information is particularly market sensitive and price sensitive, if Lanstead are now down to, lets say, 500m shares (from 1 billion) that would be extremely bullish for holders and prospective new investors as it would restrict their ability to 'control' the share price over the remaining 15 months of the deal.
The above is the reason a TR1 is so crucial and it should not be withheld any longer.
Have added this morning, take advantage of the shenanigans to profit in due course.