George Frangeskides, Chairman at ALBA, explains why the Pilbara Lithium option ‘was too good to miss’. Watch the video here.
LOL Padmaster. Well done. Good luck
Roger I was directing my comment to you
Stay on the board and keep commenting on Solgold. There are too many ad hominem attacks on this board and I for one value your insights
Yes seriously. Neither of those projects has the potential that Solgold has found. Looking at what BHP and RIO have done themselves given their market capitalisation is poor compared with what Solgold is continuing to prove up. RIO lost its mojo when it moved out of Melbourne to London. BHP has not been a good explorer for a considerable time.
BHP and Rio and other majors are actually poor at exploring. BHP and RIO's recent records on exploration are not good considering the size of these companies. They rely on the Solgolds of this world for the big finds. Then it is a matter of how they take advantage of a great discovery . This ia a highly significant discovery. BHP is ending its run at Olympic Dam (which it acquired from taking over Western Mining which discovered it). I think it makes real sense that there could be a JV with BHP doing what it does well (building mines and operating it) and Solg continuing to explore. In my opinion BHP would be acting contrary to its shareholders' interests if it did not make a serious attempt to secure a stake in what Solgold has found (beyond its existing shareholding). I think the only way is up.
I think that is a valid point Addicknt. The new appointments are a very welcome development and a great signal to the market. But it is not that surprising that Solg would not have this calibre of expertise and experience on its board as it progressed from its junior explorer status to where it is now. I think of this as growing pains. CGP raised a valid issue governance. And Solgold addressed it. BHP may have also raised it. It can now pay salaries to people that the market recognises as highly experienced
Hi Father Ted. I am not sure who Matt is. But your questions are relevant. I would also appreciate other views about them.
As to 1. I do recall that when Solgold got its dual listing on the TSX, a purpose of it (as stated at the time) was to enable North American money to be invested in it, including from the USA. At the time it was presented on the basis that the TSX is a junior mining friendly exchange and has a history of attracting a lot of investment for start up mining ventures out of the USA. I am not sure that listing in a 3rd place at the present time would be of much assistance but am interested in other views.
As to question 2, my understanding is that there is nothing to stop Cornerstone selling out to Newcrest and (as of now) to BHP. But my personal view is that for either Newcrest or BHP it would be an expensive step. And once they bought out Cornerstone their intentions to takeover a majority in stake in Solgold would be revealed and the share price of Solgold would rocket and become very expensive for them. I think they would prefer to go for outright control than to do it in that way. Just my opinion.
BHP made a quarterly report to the ASX this morning Australian time at 8.20 am on 20 October. In 30 pages, including about exploration activities, there is not a mention of its stake in Solgold. There is a detailed appendix dealing with exploration for copper and gold at Oak Dam in South Australia. Seems quite deliberate not to say a word about it. There is one section of the report that mentions the word "Ecuador" (see the excerpt below).
"Minerals exploration expenditure for the September 2020 quarter was US$44 million, of which US$27 million was expensed. Greenfield minerals exploration is predominantly focused on advancing copper targets within Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Canada, South Australia and the south-west United States.
At Oak Dam in South Australia, the third phase of the exploration drilling program continues to deliver encouraging results. Further high grade mineralised intercepts of copper, with associated gold, uranium and silver, were confirmed. Multiple intervals ranging between 0.24 and 4.20 per cent copper were identified by laboratory assay results from 12 of the 14 drill holes, totalling 21,543 metres. For further details refer to Appendix 1. The exploration project will now be transferred to the Minerals Australia Planning and Technical team for assessment, and next stage resource definition drilling to inform future design is expected to commence in the first half of the 2021 calendar year."
I may have missed it amongst the long familiar debate about production, but has there been any worthwhile comments on today’s RNS?
Nick Mather has to keep talking about going to production, until he gets the right price. Otherwise he would be stalemated if he said he was just a seller. I think he would prefer to cash out for a very large sum at his age and after the sweat he has put into Solgold. But in the meantime he is acting consistently both with someone going to production and also someone who wants to sell out at the highest price. Every quality resource that he proves up de-risks investment for a major and will drive any price up to take it out. I think if he does not get the price he wants he will keep going towards production, whether Alpala first I don't know. But he will want a big price now as he has driven this process and believed in it for numerous years
I don't understand by the way why Quady says a "serious poster" will have at least one million pounds in shares. Does that mean someone without a sense of humour?
You are correct Addicknt. Inaccurate language on my part. But I still think there would be shareholders of Cornerstone who expected more sensible behaviour from their board
The silence from BHP has to be deliberate. It would defy logic if they were not very closely watching Solgold
Hi Copperpot. Hope you are very well mate
Very interesting to read your comments and those of Scliemel, Iceberg and Colonel
A couple of things I am thinking
First, if I was a shareholder in Cornerstone I would be disturbed and annoyed that the board had let the offer lapse and let ego get in the way of negotiation. Forget about the so called EGM of Solgold. Cornerstone’s board will be facing its own challenges
Second, I have been watching BHP’s reporting and announcements and it could not be more silent about Solgold and Ecuador. I think this means they have a team working very intently on what their next move is. BHP would have liked to see Cornerstone cleaned up. But they will have a plan B
The next few weeks will be exciting
Good luck to all
Forgive me for saying especially good luck to the long term holders. The time’s they are a changing
I note that point 4 of the RNS states that Cornerstone must repay 15% of Solgold's expenditure on Cascabel since earn in was completed out of "90% of Cornerstone's share of earnings or dividends from ENSA or the Cascabel tenements". Does that mean that Cornerstone has no liability to start repayment until there are earnings or dividends generated from Cascabel? That could be a long time away. Unfortunately I do not have the original agreements available to me to look at but point 4 seems quite clear
The volume is about 8.5 million shares before 11.00 am. It is much better to see trading at high volumes than the extremely small volumes we have had for so long. Building volume is important to building a durable share price in the medium term
I agree Colonel. I think your post is well put. I am not trading in and out of Solgold. But if some people bought in at 10 p and are selling part or whole of their holding at 40 p that could be a great decision for them. And good luck to them. It is not surprising there is some profit taking. I think the price can go suddenly up in the next weeks and personally want to stay invested
Grundles, it does not require a signed agreement to be acting in concert. If BHP had an agreement in principle with Newcrest they would still be acting in concert and would be breaking the law if this was not disclosed and they did not make a takeover offer. Neither company could afford to do this. My view is that BHP did not appoint a director so that it could be seen to be completely independent of the board and Nick's decisions and any association with Newcrest (when it had a director). They may want to do a deal with Newcrest and vice versa. Your guess is as good as mine. But I don't think that has happened yet. And the more BHP (which is much larger than Newcrest) sees this resource, the less inclined (I think) it will be to want to be sharing it with anyone else. While people on this board talk about the options of takeover or going to production, no one seems to speak about the possibility that Solgold will sell off assets held by its subsidiaries and use the money to fund further exploration and pay dividends. It is an uncertain and exciting time
Grundles, if BHP had made that deal with NCM they would have been acting in concert with NCM as a shareholder. They would have had to announce any such deal to the market.
Meant to say thanks to Sasha 12 for a very thoughtful post yesterday, which I missed after I had gone to sleep. Very much appreciated and great to see someone not motivated by greed. I think a lot of us on this board have shown a lot of loyalty and patience over the years with Solg. And there have been some bumps. But it is good to see the tenacity of NM and his experience starting to count. Good luck to all.
Thanks Bubble.
I agree with Zoros and yourself on the point that this is definitely not a time to be out of Solg or to be mucking around trying to trade in and out of it
Redknight, can you assist by explaining more clearly what you mean about someone financing the 2.25 MMs short. I am not sure what you mean. Thanks