Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
2 years ago I was interviewing for vacancies and slightly unprofessionally, I kept my eye of yahoo finance. BEM were jumping around the 16p mark …how on earth are we here 2 years later? Absolutely heartbreaking…I’d be mortgage free today…
…if the courts came back with a green light I can’t see the dial moving beyond 2p right now with the billions of shares in issue and the capital position.
How foolish we were…! I’m not sure what the rush is to buy right now…every fundraise has seen the sp find new lows…good luck all…
…funnily enough, I’m interviewing today, not quite the same feeling today!
It would be facinating if the court jumped the gun and came out in favour of the government - it would make the issue into a true farce. I'm just staggered that this had to be done before the outcome, if we're so sure that it'll be positive for BEM then surely get all the background in place and then push the button...hey ho.
I am mindful from Tak's post that all us LT holders have certainly fallen into the stupidest category of investor. The reality is that none of these people are remotely intested in investors - they just need new ones to show up occasionally to believe the latest promise. There is no strategy or incentive to get the sp up in that sustainable way - these people want it low to entice the fish, they can then make a backroom deal for themselves and pusg the go button.
Make no mistake, there is no community here, Kurt and Ed pay lip service to rewarding people but it would be a mistake to believe a word! I recently rechaed out directly to Ed on Linkedin...no replies he's here to take what he can...we'd be wise to play the same game!
Fair point Tak…by definition, Beowulf is not an investment to be held with the assumption that value will be added. Each fundraise is there to appeal to a new group of investors buying in on the new low hoping to get that short term bounce. I wrongly assumed this was something to back. You’re right, there’ll be a small rise if the courts come down on our side. However, there’ll have to be a serious series of funding to get beyond. Therefore we can expect this to trundle lower and lower…
Ok…I said I would pop back in a year but seeing a 30% fall had me wondering wtf could have happened?!? Having sped through the RNS, I’m amazed this hasn’t fallen substantially further…you’ll be able to mop these up for half a penny in a month !
I’m quite staggered that Kurt and now Ed can be so inept, shortsighted, incapable etc etc. however, let’s be honest, these are self serving people who find it easy to lie, neither ever intended to reward Suzy, Eric, Pocko Ibjj or me…or the dozens of LT holders.
These people are here for themselves and if others benefit, well that’s a shame, it wasn’t intended, they come from the city and they’ll sell their mothers if they have to.
From a strategy front, why on earth do you go out for a raise whilst waiting for a court hearing that would turn the tide? If the appeal were settled finance would be that much easier…so why jump the gun?
- you’re greedy and want to secure £££s for your salary?
- you suspect the court will not be giving a green light?
- there’s a sneaky deal on the table from someone big to get this done, regardless of the sp?
Regardless, of motivation, I’ve learnt that these people couldn’t give a toss about anyone who has backed the company in the past. I was looking on LinkedIn as Ed appears to favour posting info here, and any ‘update’ is actually woeful in terms of actual developments that he controls. It’s all hot air about China, iron prices, the need for graphite…a GCSE geography student could offer more insightful updates.
I used to recommend this share to friends, I stopped doing that 5 years ago. I don’t dare say it now but not sure this chat room will exist next year…good luck but I think we’ve been properly played…
To be honest, with BEM’s track record, it’s never been worth taking up options, the sp has always dipped significantly below any discounted purchase price within less than 6 months of issue…that ought to raise flags in anyone’s world!!!
I think the main reason for the continued demise of the sp is that even the swedes are seeing through the illusion of ‘process’. Two years ago the concession news after nearly a decade saw the leap that evaporated into a spike as we all realised that the appeal could have more extensions than a packet of viagra…
…we’re all fixated on the appeal finally opening things up, as we were with the concession. The reality is that every single permit, of which there are countless, will be subject to the same ping pong of appeal, counter appeal and extension that this stands no chance of turning into an actual mine…
…the fact that UNESCO were allowed to delay this for a couple of years suggests that Dave in Derby will also be allowed to submit an appeal based on his views of a rare newt…
…seriously people, 80% of the shareholders in their homeland have given up and realised that this was never getting through…Ibjj has been right from the start. I took a year off from even visiting this board and the sp has tanked even further in that time.
My significant savings put into this share since 2009 are laughable. As much as I’ve tried to average down, the problem is that the sp finds new lows…
I’m off for another 12 months in which I’m confident the sp won’t change a great deal. As Ibjj says, there are no excuses for a vacant plot in Finland and FA from Kosovo…as for Kallak, there is not the appetite nor the legal will to push this past the tree huggers, see you all in 2025…
There are only a handful of people who work for this run down shambles of a company and yesterdays RNS sums it up…we’re looking forward to pressing ahead and an update is coming…
…an update on what, you’ve all taken salaries and delivered nothing. This will be the 3rd time these jokers dilute the shares with absolutely nothing changing. Had they waited for a positive court conclusion, you might be able to raise funds off the back of good news?
This is a cash call to cover salaries…AGAIN! I think all of these jokers should only get paid when the share price hits and stays above certain targets…starting with 10p…
Honestly, on one hand I see it as verging on corruption the way the Kurt and Ed have behaved and on the other, I see us as blind idiots - who by the way, these jokers need but who they’ll chuck under a bus in a heartbeat! I’m not physically able to put more £££s into this wreck and frankly right now, I wouldn’t even if I could.
Ed will be off in 5-8 yrs once this cash call is spent with a lot of £££ in his pocket. Kids will go through private school, he’ll join Kurt for a pint and some venison and they’ll chuckle about us idiots…no, I’m not sure they’ll even give a toss about our stories…
…w 6 n k e r s…
The lot of them…
There are only a handful of people who work for this run down shambles of a company and yesterdays RNS sums it up…we’re looking forward to pressing ahead and an update is coming…
…an update on what, you’ve all taken salaries and delivered nothing. This will be the 3rd time these jokers dilute the shares with absolutely nothing changing. Had they waited for a positive court conclusion, you might be able to raise funds off the back of good news?
This is a cash call to cover salaries…AGAIN! I think all of these jokers should only get paid when the share price hits and stays above certain targets…starting with 10p…
Honestly, on one hand I see it as verging on corruption the way the Kurt and Ed have behaved and on the other, I see us as blind idiots - who by the way, these jokers need but who they’ll chuck under a bus in a heartbeat! I’m not physically able to put more £££s into this wreck and frankly right now, I wouldn’t even if I could.
Ed will be off in 5-8 yrs once this cash call is spent with a lot of £££ in his pocket. Kids will go through private school, he’ll join Kurt for a pint and some venison and they’ll chuckle about us idiots…no, I’m not sure they’ll even give a toss about our stories…
…w 6 n k e r s…
The lot of them…
Happy to share a new dawn with a bottle of Malbec…it might be the only way to welcome a sunrise? But we’re all going to have to find new hope…I used to have a faith…but I’m pretty sure that if there’s a god, he/she ought to be losing faith in humans…it’s time to call time on the social experiment…!
Because 2 years ago we thought we had a concession after 9 years of waiting…extensions have been offered to anybody wanting to object to a mine…Suzy, I love your faith that in 4 months BEM will be sailing into a sunset…Ed has proposed a timeline of all the various submissions…each and every one will be subject to appeal…counter appeal and extensions…
…I will happily buy you a beautiful bottle of Malbec that BEM are no closer to pulling earth out of the ground…legally (?!?) in 2025 than they are today. We’ve not even come close to dealing with the tree huggers…
On your second post…I’m surprised he stayed alive this long. Putin is the Hitler of our time…bring in Trump and we’re looking at problems that will make BEM a trivial thought…happy days eh!
there’s been a game since day one…however, investors are getting screwed time and again…let’s see whether there’s any uptake on the issue…my guess is that bem blew confidence away with last round which let’s be honest, wasn’t that long ago and claimed to cover the costs of getting us through the various reports that this one now claims to be for?!?
the only way anything changes is if the courts bounce the appeal and give a clear green light. let’s be honest, the only way that happens is if putin suggests that he’s coming after norway and sweden…i think the reindeer herders might just be told to get in their box…?
no…this is just more of the same, even iibj has moved on from this ****-show…
PS…I love hearing in every publication that ‘we’re committed to adding shareholder value…!’ What the absolute F&@k?!?!?!? The only constant that Kurt and Ed have delivered is the guaranteed erosion of value…
…if the courts ever actually act, after decades of appeals and extensions…we will have burnt through yet more capital calls…how many cash calls have we had…and what’s actually moved in the 15yr story of this joke of a company…essentially shareholders have funded jobs of people who have all left the company! BEM should be converted into a charity for city twats with a geology degree…
wow…a fundraise at 2.3p followed by one under a penny without anything changing in the prospects of this company suggests that ed is an even greater genius than kurt…where on this planet do they find these ******s…?!?!?! essentially, ed has guaranteed another decade of super salary…
i bet every long term investor wishes that in 2009 we’d never heard of this ****show of a company, and more to the point, we’re looking in wonder at a european country that makes africa look like a safe haven…i can safely say that investing in bem is the single biggest mistake of my like. we really are the dumb money!
Urn….urn….urn…well, it’s clearly been a packed 6 months! So nothing’s changed then, I think Ed is even better than Budge at promising even less. I think KB actually knew more than the new CEO and somehow sounded more optimistic…maybe Ed’s being deliberately vague but I didn’t get the impression that he’s excited and just itching to unleash something of a game changer in a pending RNS!!!
Still, 6mths of a good salary…he could certainly stretch this out, for a couple of years, not as much as Budgie but who knows? Good luck to him…just another London suit really…
Suzy, you're welcome to take issue with my comment - however, at this rate most things will come into production before Kallak. I would also suggest that the previous CEO's comments are now as relevant as Clive Sinclair-Poulton who saw the share price hit 70p and suggested 600m tons of ore and then jumped ship for Kurt!
Sorry - I try to leave it 6 months between dropping into this board and I'm very aware that I'm going to come across as jaded but having been here since 2009 and not noticed any discernible progress, I find it hard to join with any real enthusiasm. Same questions year after year…
Where are we in the process?
When will we have a decision?
Can BEM do anything to speed this up?
Is reindeer herding protected across Sweden?
When will BEM have to raise money again?
Why is the share price falling?
What is the next hurdle before we mine?
Who is the next expert to join the board…?
…who was the last expert to leave the board?
Etc etc – I have to say that whilst I remain a shareholder with a large loss, I would love to work for BEM, I mean, I would REALLY love to work for BEM! I have no idea what they do each day, as they rarely update anyone…I would assume that Kurt struggled in the winter months as there really is a limit to how much Netflix content any one person can consume. Glad to see that Eric and Suzy continue to share gardening tips – I really do mean that – I think this forum has become a very special place for people who want to believe that we backed something with potential.
I would simply suggest to any new investor that there are far more attractive options out there and that this company has not found the right strategy to date to realise any form of return. The likelihood that this stalemate continues is high as any momentum is killed through that lack of strategy. Ed has had ample time pick things up and all I see are comments on LinkedIn…I’m assuming that Ed is honing his CV already and looking for the next cash-cow.
I think that we’re known as ‘Dumb-Money’…
Mmmm...legal process and Sweden might not be words to easily link Share108! I think that because you're thinking that Sweden is in Europe, it might have a developed process where everyone can access an understandable system...Banana Republics could teach Sweden a thing or two - don't hold your breath and good luck seeking clarity on this front...
Hi Chris, I love your optimism regarding the timeframe – it might be worth being aware of the history of Sweden’s approach to process. It took a decade to get from ‘explore’ to ‘permit’ for no real apparent reason. The Sami appeal has had numerous extensions with no promise that a decision will actually be made, the easy option would be to pass it to another committee…
…so, loving your optimism and would love it to translate into something tangible but be prepared to wait! I would also add that the other projects were all described as being further behind KN so BEM has not demonstrated an ability to make its own bread so to speak…
I suspect that if you polled most investors here, they’d wish that they never got involved in this share and it would be interesting to ask the previous 2 CEOs whether they truly believed that they would return investors any true value. To date the leadership of this company have drawn large salaries with literally no return to those who backed them.
I believe we’re known as ‘dumb money’…private investors with no real voting rights who get swept along…take care Chris.
The share price might look cheap, but imagine it being 0.75p overnight…there’s nothing to suggest that the new CEO is any different to the past ones! Good luck and would love your optimism to pay off but the friendly advice is – be prepared to join a very, very long queue!
OK - I'll be honest, for the first time in a very long time, I'm starting to feel upbeat and positive about BEM! I know that there are some big KB fans here but, in my view, he took far more than he ever put back, got distracted and generally lost his way.
Therefore, hearing that Ulla is off shortly after KB got his marching orders suggests that someone knows that BEM needs a whole new vision. We’ll never know what was behind the original decision to push the eject button but high time.
After the fundraise at 2p under KB, the market said what it thought of him and his plans with the slide to 1.5p. I really do think that Bowie is doing the right thing and we’re going to see slow but more sustainable gains. I’m backing this to reach 5p by Christmas….
Good luck all, I wish the best to Kurt and Ulla, but they did nothing but over-promised and truly under-deliver…roll on some true value!
I keep hearing that they've done so well to secure the 25-year license, the only one in 12 years. However, these are politicians issuing something that still has to stand up to the Sami appeal, and the environmental permit, all things that could change in a heartbeat. Europe is not seeing any stable form of governance so as fast as one party might be pro mining, the next could go against it, not to mention that few politicians are making decisions beyond the next election.
With 75% of investment being in Sweden and the sp being where it is, locals are clearly not buying into what is still described as a British company profiting from Swedish resources. Couple this with the quite extraordinary circumstances surrounding KB’s departure and the lack of clarity, the 6 month pause and no transparency around Kosovo, I wouldn’t be surprised if more bad news has yet to come to light.
I’d love BEM to be flying at 20 – 30p right now and genuinely thought they would after the granting of the concession. But the immediate fall from 20p to 1.5p after a fundraise at 2p and another massive dilution suggests that something is very wrong. I’m surprised that a reporter hasn’t dug up the real reason for KB’s departure as NDA’s are there for a reason. Current leadership remains so far behind the curve with little suggestion that they’ll plot a solution.
I’ve lost so much money here since investing in 2009. Whilst over the years I’ve brought my average down from 50p to sub 10p, I can honestly say that I’ve been in the red for 95% of the time and sorely regret ever investing here. I’m not sure that there would have been worse companies to be in over this time!!!
As always, Suzy, I simply love your optimism. I can only assume that you’ve not got too much tied up in BEM – that or I’d love to have whatever you put on your cornflakes each morning. Happy to buy you and Eric a bottle of something lovely if this ever reaches my breakeven ever again…
oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive! those options are sitting at £240k at issue price, they’re keen to wave goodbye but not keen to share why! kb lands **** in the butter again…i guess the only exciting news is that for once he becomes one of us…at the whim of the sp. i’m loving the irony! at least kb will finally have an ounce of real motivation to see the sp rise, although, a 5 yr window says it all about bem…kb must have negotiated that timeline!!!
so, back to sitting in the dark…
the sami appeal, is there even a committee overseeing this?!? my impression is that the sami are still asking for extensions on a paper that’ll sit in an envelope next to kb’s in a filing cabinet in an empty log cabin?
meanwhile in kosovo, some shady mates have pi55ed off with £3.5mill and there’s a dirty makita hand drill discarded in an abandoned car park with a portacabin that has a grubby vardar minerals poster peeling off the door!
in finland, there are a few pegs in the muddy ground of an industrial estate.
and in kallak, ulla is working out of the municipal library on the environmental permit. she’s surprised that it hadn’t been started earlier and even more surprised to be told to stop working on filing it this year…she’s at a bit of a loose end for the coming year so she’s thinking of booking a holibob to rhodes as it looks warmer than her current surroundings.
and finally, someone is looking at the cash flow and saying ‘guys, what happened to the money from a few months ago…?’
good luck to the new fella…that’s assuming he’s signed his contract! who the f£&k would want to work for bem, that’s what worries me! when mugabe left power everyone was delighted as they assumed that things could only get better…i was born in zim, well, it was rhodesia then but i find it interesting watching situations like this…there’s very little room to manoeuvre with dilution already through the roof and very little appetite to back more losses…