Member Info for LordSnooty

today since the RNS that Plod had come a-calling at Liqhobong. Not a Dickie since. Nor anything on the results of last month's sight, which, due to its modest size and largely unspecified content, could be Firestone up to its usual game of obfuscation. Of course one possible scenario could be that the GoL is growing weary of waiting for the pot of gold at the end of the proverbial that has been promised for so long by successive operators of LQB, and is looking for excuses to cancel the contract. Equally, it could all be a low-level grudge on the part of a disgruntled employee. Nobody knows, but the lack of news is not encouraging. Despite endless studies and God knows how much money ploughed in over the years, nobody has yet managed to turn a profit at the mine. The Interims RNS of 31st March 2011, almost exactly two years ago said this: "The Company now plans to accelerate the decision to commence construction of Plant 2, which will have a production capacity of 4.2 mtpa, to the end of 2011. Plant 2 is expected to commence operation in 2013 and to generate revenue of $140 million per annum at full production". So far they have still not been able to arrange financing for Plant 2, yet alone build it, and nor has grid power, seen as essential to the commercial success at Liqhobong and long overdue, been forthcoming. It's going to be a long haul at Firestone - that is, if the company survives in its present state.

Radio silence is usually a bad sign with Firestone.

of assets "in the ground" has precious little meaning if the capital is not available to develop them or if it proves uneconomic to extract them. AIM is replete with junior miners and oilers that own substantial theoretical value, but which continue to have microscopic MCAPs.

to Firestone, one trusts: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/diamonds-stolen-in-belgian-airport-heist/story-fn3dxix6-1226581383356

simply by dangling the prospect of a lot of money for nothing in front of gullible punters.

in case the link below does not work, here is a cut and past of the relevant section: "Mothae Update In the fourth quarter of 2012 the x-ray recovery tailings audit of diamond recovery tailings was completed. The project is now fully transitioned to a small care and maintenance team. Project development options will continue to be evaluated through 2013. Initial indications from the Preliminary Economic Assessment work indicate that the project currently does not achieve required internal hurdle rates. This is due to the prevailing economic conditions which have put downward pressure on diamond prices, and is further impacted by significantly higher capital for infrastructure, particularly power, for this remote site."

as we know, Scolaro's a chancer - he dressed up a sow's ear and called it a silk purse. FDI's management at the time - the notorious Kennys - bought it. The rest is history. What do they - long gone - or present management care, as they draw their quarter mil salaries, and bonuses for failure?

well if there's any truth to the allegations, or even if there are not, it's put a black mark against the company which will make funding for phase II even more difficult to obtain. That in turn could affect the viability of the company to continue trading. So perhaps a buy-out for peanuts is on the cards down the road.

ah, Scolaro, I remember him well.

The Liqhobong Mine Chief Executive Officer, Mr Timothy Wilkes, declined to comment when Public Eye contacted him on Tuesday this week, saying: “That matter is in the hands of the police. I cannot comment on it.” Meanwhile, Public Eye heard from police sources Wilkes has since written a letter of complaint to Police Commissioner, Mr Kizito Mhlakaza, claiming the detectives stormed his mine and seized items without properly identifying themselves and with no search warrants. Masupha could not readily confirm these allegations yesterday. The Liqhobong Mine is operated by Liqhobong Mining Development Company Pty Ltd (LMDC), which is 75 percent owned by the London-listed Firestone Diamonds. The residual 25 percent shares belong to the government of Lesotho. The Liqhobong Mine started operations in June 2011, and according to an online mining publication, Mining Weekly, it generated US$8.2 million in revenue between June 2011 and June 2012.

MASERU-A police special taskforce raided the Liqhobong Mine in Botha-Bothe on Wednesday last week and seized computers and other items, allegedly following suspicions the mine’s management and some officials in the Mining Ministry were smuggling diamonds out of the country. Police spokesperson Senior Inspector Masupha Masupha on Wednesday this week confirmed both the raid and seizure of office equipment which included computer laptops, i-pods, flash disks, compact discs, phones and memory cards belonging to the Liqhobong Mine. “I am told police detectives seized computers and those items you have mentioned from the Liqhobong Mine in Botha-Bothe,” Masupha said. The raid was part of an ongoing probe at the mine, he added, without revealing further details “in case I jeopardise the investigation.” Masupha could not be drawn into commenting on allegations the mine was evading tax and royalty payments by smuggling diamonds out of the country. However, sources within the Ministry of Mining and the police department, told Public Eye this week police had received a tip-off that diamonds discovered at the mine were allegedly being smuggled out of the country. According to the Mines and Minerals Act of 2005, “a holder of a mineral concession shall be liable to pay royalties to the government of Lesotho through the Ministry of Natural Resources (which has now been replaced by the Ministry of Mining) on any mineral obtained by him in the course of mining.” The law further stipulates that the royalties shall be paid at the rate of between three and 10 percent, depending on the mineral type. Minerals discovered should be reported with the Ministry within 14 days, the Act adds. However, according to the sources, Liqhobong management was allegedly under-declaring the amount of diamonds discovered at the mine, while reportedly smuggling some out of the country. The company was also allegedly evading tax and paying royalties to government. Contacted for comment yesterday, the Mining Commissioner, Mr Lelingoana Makhaola, indicated he was made aware the Liqhobong Mine was being investigated by the police, but declined to provide any details regarding the matter. He said: “We have just been made aware the mine is under investigation by the police. As for other details of the matter, I don’t know anything about that.” However, a top official in the Mining Ministry told Public Eye on condition of anonymity there was suspicion the mine could be smuggling diamonds out of the country. He said: “We understand a lot of money could be involved here, whereby the mine only reports a few discoveries of diamonds with the ministry, while other diamonds are just taken out of the country illegally and sold elsewhere in the Western countries.” The source added some officials in the ministry were allegedly involved in the smuggling of diamonds alongside the mine management.

http://publiceye.co.ls/?p=1190

brings up nothing - I imagine it's in the Lesotho or S African press.

a lovely fantasy, would it were true.

to mix a metaphor - one 40-carat stone does not an omelette make. But I wish you joy of it - as is well known I am a sceptic where Firestone is concerned.

"A 42 carat single rock in one piece, now that's an encouraging find". Maybe yes, maybe no, much depends on the quality of this stone and any others they may have found. In itself such news means very little.

apostrophe alert.

is nothing to get excited about

Firestone, as you may know, never gives close details of their tenders - not previous management, not this management. As I've tried to point out to the true believers such as Spaceman here, you have to ask yourself why that is so. As an example, why were the much-vaunted special stones mentioned in the October RNS held back? Judgement on these points is difficult because when there is a deliberate lack of detail provided by the company, but I do conjecture why that is so, particularly when previous management was so adept at obfuscating bad news - or not mentioning it in a timely manner at all for months - for example with grid power. As woodcot implies in his 11:57 post, I believe crunch time is fast approaching for FDI.,

Today's RNS proves nothing of the sort - parcels that were tendered were RoM, the large stones were held back. The question you need to ask is why.