Member Info for OopsICharted

Rumour has it, some of the shareholders are going down for criminal levels of bullsh**ting and stupidity!

A lot of people had his **** so far down their throats, it must have starved the oxygen from their brains!

Sorry, but Covid had little to nothing to do with the failure of this company. The share price had already tanked from ~50p to ~20p before Covid even made the news. Maybe BMN would have lasted a little longer, but it was clearly already doomed. The fact is, many lies were told about its prospects. China had been over-building everything from residential properties to railways for years, so their demand for Vanadium was going to hit the brakes regardless of the pandemic. Fortune, “the amazing businessman”, had bought an old mine that nobody else wanted and was forecasting production outputs as if it were much younger and without the obvious maintenance issues it would incur. Let’s not forget, Evraz made no secret of its viability when they sold it. The fairy tales about VRFBs were farcical. There was clear evidence, all along, that utilities didn’t want them. The CEO of Evraz did an interview with Bloomberg back in 2016 where he stated that he didn’t think VRFBs would be dominant. I also remember when this article: “Energy storage: Why UK industry isn’t going with the flow” (https://theenergyst.com/energy-storage-why-uk-industry-isnt-going-with-the-flow/) was released, clearly stating why utilities were choosing Li-ion over VRFBs. It got posted on here and the best defense anyone could make was the author “looked like a twelve year old”. Well looks aside, given his verifiable position in the industry, it’s clear he almost certainly knew more about the energy storage industry than everyone on this forum put together (especially the self-proclaimed “expert” AC). But of course, his views were derided because he wasn’t saying what people wanted to hear. I’d also point out that, during the pandemic, battery installations continued apace, but predictably, they were nearly all Li-ion - the ones utilities, data centers, etc. actually want. The only reason many people invested here was because of the fake carrots that were dangled in front of them: VRFBs being the next big thing, a dividend that was clearly never going to happen, etc., etc. This was a BS company from start to finish, and like so many other fairy tale penny stocks, the directors enriched themselves at the expense of others. The rampers made their task a lot easier by dragging in others and ruining lives in the process.

Yep. Share prices are low for a reason. There’s a reason every failing penny stock has individuals spouting the same moronic conspiracy theories about MMs manipulating the market every single time the price goes down. Evraz offloaded their mine, “cheap”, for a reason. Utilities overwhelmingly chose to continue buying li-ion batteries for a reason. There was a reason the Bulls**t Perspective only actually had one perspective. There’s a reason so many grifting CEOs list their companies on AIM. I genuinely feel sorry for those who got sucked in, but those who incessantly shouted this c**p from the rooftops are responsible for causing permanent harm to others. Truly vile human beings.

Thanks, Blueboy28. Sadly, there are many on here with egos so high / IQs so low, they instantly bandy about words like “troll”, “idiot”, etc., etc. (yawn) whenever anyone dares to voice an opinion that doesn’t align with their preferred version of reality. This “investment opportunity” was built on false narratives. Strip away the endless hype, and the money-making potential clearly favoured the directors and a few swing-traders. Obviously, there were those who took profits before the house of cards inevitably collapsed, and good luck to them, but it doesn’t change the fact that BMN always was an old nag masquerading as a racehorse.

That’s how the story goes. It’s incredible how many people were prepared to push this c**p onto family and friends. Despicable!

My question would be what went right with BMN? What ever happened that aligned with all the pie in the sky promises made by Fortune, the aforementioned cult leaders, and their trickle down disciples? When Fortune, “the amazing businessman”, bought the mine from Evraz, “cheap”, he got an asset that Evraz openly admitted was a struggle to run competitively at typical prices. Evraz also stated it was more cost effective to be a secondary vanadium producer than a primary producer. However, according to the hype factory, that was all going to change due to a structural deficit and upcoming demand for VRFBs. Neither of these statements were backed up with anything other than wishful thinking and cherry picking of available information. Inevitably, the statements proved to be false. BMN’s only “success” was during the irrational price bubble caused by the Chinese government enforcing rebar standard in a way that spooked manufacturers into stockpiling vanadium in far larger quantities than they would typically hold. Of course, this price bubble had to end, and with all that vanadium sat in warehouses, it was inevitable demand would reverse direction. Let’s also not forget that the price bubble fell into the lap of Fortune and the rampers. When the mine was purchased, none of them knew the bubble was going to happen. It was good luck for Fortune and the rampers, as it naturally raised the share price and helped them to reinforce the narrative that BMN was a great long-term prospect. What really happened, of course, was some market participants believed the hype, and then the swing-traders seized the opportunity to make quick money at their expense. After that, what was left, other than aging uncompetitive vanadium assets and utterly ridiculous investments in VRFB assets? Of course, Fortune did alright!

The “over-expansion” was part and parcel of Fortune’s hype train to drag investors into a company that he’d “grown” by using other people’s money to buy up assets that (for obvious reasons) other better funded, more experienced players didn’t want. There was never much demand for VRFBs, and virtually all the hype came from those with a vested interest in their success, not from potential customers (the crucial indicator). Given that the prospects for VRFBs were so dire, building a vanadium electrolyte plant in Africa made about as much sense as opening a beauty parlour on the moon. I genuinely feel sorry for those who lost money as long as they didn’t push this steaming pile on others. Sadly, however, many did, and many have suffered as a result. Anyone reading this who, deep-down, knows they ramped it, should perhaps think twice before ever doing that again!

Personally, I think that categorization belongs to those who relentlessly hyped this with, at best, their own lack of basic knowledge, and at worst, outright lies. I know people who lost serious money on this, and although they're ultimately responsible for their own decisions, it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the actions of certain individuals here. Those very same individuals who were happy to throw insults at anyone who, however politely and rationally, dared to suggest that this might not be quite the dead cert so many were making it out to be.

Given that we know there’s a “structural deficit” and that VRFBs are in such huge demand, surely the US will have to carve out an exemption for vanadium? Oh, hold on, my mistake, the structural deficit never materialized and nor did the demand for VRFBs. Who’d have thought that the fortunes of an AIM stock could be based on such misinformation? (Apart from anyone who knows the slightest thing about penny stocks and AIM of course!) Let’s hope nobody here ramped this to the point of dragging in “friends” and family who in some cases would have lost life ruining sums of money. Oh, my mistake again, many did, didn’t they! :-(

If you think sinking money into blatant BS, like this was, is a reasonable investment strategy, I'm very glad I'm one of the people who doesn't "get it"!

Fortune absolutely lived up to his name. He made one! Like so many fairy tale mongering penny stock grifters before him, he did it at the expense of shareholders. If you want words of wisdom, they're very simple: if it sounds like BS, it very likely is. This always did, and it always was!