Member Info for HawaiifiveO

One wonders what the reason was behind the 68m dump at .20p - I will take a punt and suggest it could be Nutraco Nominees who are linked to BNY Mellon an investment fund. Sometime when a company falls below a certain market value the fund simply dumps the stock.

I have held MTL a number of years and have followed the frustrating story, however, I concur, that I find the situation somewhat brighter now than ever before. There are clear signs of operational improvement adding to more bullish gold price forecasts.

Previous communications from the company implied they were making progress concerning the debt re-structure.

Maybe the removal of the CEO was a condition of the re-financing.

I recall the BMN scenario, the stock fell heavily on a major seller dumping and recovered strongly some weeks afterwards.

If they get a new CEO announced sooner than later it will be a major boost to confidence, conclude refinancing and you will see 2p-3p+ IMO

So, according to Colin Hutchinson, the permits are back with ARSO and the review into their 'procedures' has been completed.

It seems ARSO approved the IPPC permit in October so one has to assume that if there were no irregularities it must be likely AST will, once again, get approval. CH implied the same on yesterdays podcast.

So, based on usual AIM risk this surely has to be a good bet, if one permit comes it will propel the share price to 1.5p+ verses the current .37p

Investors punt 10's of £ thousands on the outcome of a wildcat well yet are not prepared to place a modest bet on a permit award.

The bashers here are doing a good job are they not.

Worth noting

MTL have been improving operationally over the last 3 quarters
They are seeking to re-organize the debt which will reduce interest payments and make them viable
Previous RNS statements suggest they are making progress re the debt restructure
Historically MTL have been in a far worse place and the banks never pulled the rug
The working capital advancements are from 2 major shareholders who own most of the company
It is not in the banks interest to force the company into liquidation, the banks are owed $100m

The CEO departing may have been demanded by the lenders, a new CEO might be a condition of the process.

I believe they will secure re-financing based on improving operational performance and the outlook for gold being positive.

High risk but high rewards, last director buy was in April, over £50k at 3.75p a share.

https://t.co/066nkRNqXN

In fairness to Colin Bird he did take his salary, including back salary, in shares - 4.6m were issued to him at a price of 2.85p last December.

Joel Silberstein had his salary cut from £103k in 2016 to £67k in 2017.

Last year salaries were

Colin Bird £83k
Joel Silberstein £67k
Peter Moir £20k

JDAU

I wonder what planet you are on, you surely have to be linked to the company in some way.

Let us start with just a few, but meaningful 'promises'

Bird said he would have new alluvial contractors ready to start in August - nothing !
Bird said he expected a MINIMUM income to XTR of over $300k a month - in reality nothing like that
Bird said he was talking to entities concerning Fairbride and would be able to announce news in late 2017
The 'loan' to Moz Gold was dubious - having stated he would not risk shareholder cash.
At the AGM he said he would not pursue the Moz Gold $1m+ debt but now he says he will - what's changed?
Bird said he would improve communications - nothing has changed
Bird said he would restore value, the share price is at all time lows, wiping out many investors.

I could go on and on.

I do not like the fact that Bird, at an age where he should be winding down his directorships, has actually decided to take on more. How focused is he?

I am afraid he is treating us shareholders with total contempt, having personally attended the AGM I listened intently as he ran through his proposed plans, soon after he did the Vox Markets podcast where these 'plans' were once again laid out.

As we all know he has failed to deliver anything of note and has missed so many self imposed targets one does wonder what on earth is going on. The mystery surrounding Moz Gold is another conundrum that has recently come to the fore.

To make matters worse Mr Bird previously acknowledged the need for improved communications, he has decided to promote both GLR and JLP recently - not a whisper on Xtract despite darn well knowing it should be No 1 priority.

What I do know is that 12 month alluvial gold production from Manica has generated $7m in revenue and XTR has only seen a tiny fraction of that. It is not clear how costs are calculated but you can see it is a pretty poor return for shareholders.

At the AGM Bird said that shareholder criticism was unfair to the BOD, since that date he has simply made his investors even more frustrated and angry, this year there has been woeful delivery of anything.

Woe betide him if he places stock at current levels via bucket shop Bevum. I suspect there is a short position in the stock just waiting for Bird to knock on the door of you know who so they can close it.

I am exceptionally disappointed with Bird this year, I did have faith actually and have historically seen him as a man of his word and quite genuine, one does wonder if his new directorships in BMR & BZT adding to GLR and JLP + others has diverted his attention entirely.

Xtract could have a great future, Manica is a decent project, succession planning is needed at BOD level IMO, in a nutshell I feel Colin Bird does not have the appetite or hunger to deliver shareholder returns, he is not focused enough.

It would only take a couple of the larger shareholders to get involved to bring some changes, I feel Bird should hold a live webcast as the barest minimum ASAP.

Thoughts?

lejjb

With the greatest respect I feel you are too patient, make no mistake part of the problem lies with AST's lacklustre management, do you really think they have the ability or will to fight the fight for shareholders, Hutchinson (AST RNS) did one thing right, he threw a tantrum when Leben intervened stopping the permits being awarded by saying.......

'any investment in Slovenia by foreign companies extremely high risk'.

and

'Your board has therefore resolved to explore commencing proceedings against the Environment Agency ("ARSO"), the Environmental Minister and the state of Slovenia directly in the EU courts'

Since then, now they have the ability to raise cash, it seems, according to reports, he regrets he made these statements?

There needs to be firm action, an ultimatum given, I believe shareholders now have the stomach for the legal route - pursuing damages in excess of £100m. My fear is Hutchinson & Co will simply go quiet and pocket salaries and not fight the good fight. They have nothing to lose have they.

Shareholders should think about an EGM (only takes 5% of the issued capital) unless a decisive action plan comes shortly, a vote of no confidence in the CEO, his removal from the BOD has to be considered surely.

The whole episode is a farce.

I have really had enough of all this nonsense, frankly there seems to be only one option left and that is the European Court. Anyone who thinks these permits will come are frankly quite insane IMO.

Looking at Mr Leben's Twitter account one can clearly see he is one of the greenest politicians that can be found, following on from sifting plastic from Lake Bled his latest episode is clearing rubbish dumped on land, every other tweet or comment concerns green issues.

My concern is Hutchinson and Carver, now flush with the ability to raise even more cash, will play the silent wait and see game for some months, how convenient it is coming up-to Christmas, basically everything will shut down from mid December to mid January.

I am sure some investors only backed the cash raising resolutions because, finally, Hutchinson talked about the European Court, how ironic as soon as the resolutions were passed he then (according to reports) said he regretted that comment in the RNS.

Anyone aware of anything AST will know that the BOD (with no skin in the game) will happily lead shareholders on another merry dance for months on end.

Hutchinson needs to keep shareholders in the loop, from now on everything matters, what was the tone of the last two days exhibition for example, what was said, when is he meeting Leben, if not why not and so on.

A firm plan is needed, no permits by X time and we take you to court for damages, £45m invested so far for what return, truly pathetic.

Get them in court I say.

The JLP webcast from today, it is towards the end he discusses PR etc

http://webcasting.brrmedia.co.uk/broadcast/5bfc0a9dde87317597836b02

Colin appeared on the JLP podcast today, held in South Africa, it lasted 1 hour and was very comprehensive, this is what is needed here, it is way overdue that shareholders were clearly updated over the situation at Manica and in particular Fairbride.

It was interesting to note how frustrated Colin was about the low value the market put on Jubilee (he said a chip shop would be valued higher!) but soon after admitted they are poor at PR, well Colin if you are reading this it is PR & news-flow that drives prices and values on AIM.

At the end of the podcast he said junior miners are a dirty word at the moment but he thinks next year that will change and he is very bullish.

At the AGM Bird was challenged concerning the monies owed by Moz Gold, as far as I understand there was the loan of $400k and then the gold production agreement debt of $1.5m (reduced by 25% if the new terms were agreed) payable in installments.

Bird gave a sob story supporting the efforts of Moz Gold extracting the alluvial gold and implied the initial gold production terms were hard to deliver but nonetheless they (Moz Gold) had agreed to them. It was unclear whether he would pursue this gold production debt, it now seems he will.

In respect of the $400k loan that was covered and secured on the plant, Bird said this plant was worth $700k second hand - clearly it should cover the loan therefore.

So what realistic chance is there of XTR recovering circa $1m-$1.5m from Moz Gold? Earlier reports suggested that Moz Gold were penniless but during the live podcast Bird revealed they were part of Omnia who are clearly very liquid.

This matter needs clearing up decisively, why all of a sudden, when everyone thought the $1.5m debt was being written off, has Bird decided to pursue it and what realistic chance is there of getting it ?

How nice it would be for XTR to receive $1m+ right now.

From RNS on 6th March

'Moz Gold owes approximately US$1.5 million under the Amended June Agreement. Explorator has agreed to give Moz Gold a discount of 25% on Moz Gold Indebtedness provided that Moz Gold pays an initial amount of US$130,000 no later than 29 March 2018 and 12 monthly instalments of US$83,122 (together with any accrued interest) to Explorator to repay the debt in full'

Clearly Moz Gold owes XTR a significant sum of money, not clear what, if any, of it has been paid, Bird now suggests they are chasing them for repayment, see below...........

30th October

'The parties have further agreed that the Company and Explorator will take all necessary steps to recover amounts owed by Moz Gold under the terms of the Moz Gold Agreement (entered into on 6 March 2018)'

How Kibo plans to become a regional energy player

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/mining/2018-11-26-how-kibo-plans-to-become-a-regional-energy-player/

Gixxer

It is all revealed in the live podcast, its an hour long and covers just about everything, the 'open book' revelation was made also.

http://webcasting.brrmedia.co.uk/broadcast/5979ef969ff3a6521c9fdf16

I would urge folk invested here to listen to the last live podcast from mid 2017, it really does expose all the flaws you get with Colin Bird, on the face of it he seems totally and genuinely concerned over the loss of shareholder value, he even apologized some shareholder who had informed him he had lost over £70k, 90% down.

He stated he would do all he could to return shareholder value, even talked about Fairbride news being imminent, possibly by the end of 2017, he said he was talking to entities.

Obviously the claims he made during that podcast concerning alluvial revenues ($600k a month to XTR) never happened, it was those claims that took the market value to £12m+ or nearly 4p a share.

It was interesting that during the same podcast he stated that Moz Gold were actually part of Omnia, that certainly was a revelation to me, I would urge others to listen to that aspect carefully and confirm, it may be relevant as XTR were owed over $1m by Moz Gold were they not?

In a nutshell Colin has defaulted on his promises of keeping his shareholders in the loop, no-one has a clue as to what is going on but news has to be forthcoming, it was interesting that around the time of chatter on this BB about shareholder action a number of updates mysteriously appeared.

At current levels I believe this is a no brainer but it needs news, sub £3m m/cap is farcical.

LC has not faced his investors or prospective investors in London since April 2017, not good.

Given the market is historically leaky one assumes the Sepco III equity investment in Kibo will be further kicked down the road, surely if it was coming trading volumes would be higher.

Tomorrow or Monday the matter will be clear.

I cannot believe Hutchinson will be ribbing shoulders with Slovenian dignitaries today and tomorrow without something happening to resolve this farcical situation, I therefore expect some update on Monday.

Whilst I accept that may seem optimistic it is frankly the least AST can do to advise shareholders on their discussions at the presentation, surely someone there will have in depth knowledge of the situation.

The fact that Hutchinson is not responding to emails may be significant, IF a meeting Leben is announced that in itself will be viewed positively by the market, the shares could even hit 1p on that news alone.

I have added today in a thin and tight market, they do not want to sell you many at current levels.

What I do find interesting in all the podcasts is the failure of JM to mention the selling from Lombard and possibly others, it is very true that the sector has been decimated this year but the issue with HZM has been 'the seller' it was clear for everyone to see except the management, the selling started at the turn of the year (from 5p) even today, as others have mentioned, someone is dumping 250k lots at will.

I stated before I considered it negligent for the BOD not to deal with the issue by finding a taker for the stock, moving it to sticky hands. It is rather late in the day now of course, I really do think the move below 2p has unsettled them hence the plethora of media and director buying.

I really would not rule out a bid, the selling seems orchestrated and for a purpose, when you have brokers forecasting supposedly conservative target prices north of 15p a share - a major could probably offer 5p-6p a share cash now and potentially get away with it.

In current markets cash is king and the big boys, who have overflowing bank accounts, know it.

Hands up who would take 5p-6p right now !