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Suspect a 3 way merger is in the discussions or will be soon hence the October halt. IFC probably sold to shareholder(s) that will be participating in the $100m Calibre placement. Probably some funds managing New Court money. RB & his associates may also participate over there in the placement. Rick Rule /Sprott inc. certainly is. People were calling calibre a shell company prior to the B2 sale of two mines. meaning they didnt care much for their existing assets but knew Lundin/Newmarket were up to something.

Drone Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mscsV4J_X2Y

Pierre Lassonde said it best 1 or 2 yrs ago: Large mine financing funds have only been going to people who have built mines before and made money for them in the past. Makes sense - lowers risk of the lender.
IFC out is interesting. They represent the US/UK and the fight against communism. Especially the disposition timing of it last month just before B2 calibre deal announcement. Cant believe they were able to dump their 2.5m+ shares in a matter of days at around 17P on the market. The buyer(s) on the other side is probably someone they know that is helping keep the share price as low as possible. How can you dump that many shares on the open market that quickly without preparation?
I'm the one complaining about the CEO nero. He needs to go. Calibre needs to take over to see this to commercial production and beyond (possibly expanding to over 200k oz/yr, proving 5m+ oz, or finding the heat source porphyry). All those scenarios take time, require the right people, and the last thing you want is to have none of them accomplished at the peak of this gold cycle with an under performing stock price. It's in my interest along with other shareholders a merger happens and exchange of shares. The longer it takes, the more pain we'll see. I'm anticipating the pain (another -30% if need be) because I dont have much faith in MC. Classic case of good deposit & bad ceo.

Ross beaty, not intended to refer to Condor, said in his latest interview , "For an exploration team to say well we're going to build a mining company with this asset without any skillset to do that..... is a essentially a leap of faith.......don't do something you're not suppose to do".
https://soundcloud.com/resource-insider-podcast/episode-025-investing-like-a-billionaire-with-ross-beaty

We are approaching 4 years into this new gold cycle run. The bottom of the cycle was December 2015/Jan' 16 when the price hit around $ 1050. Gold price is near 375 points higher. 90+% of all the gold companies throughout the world are at least up 100% higher today than their respective 2015/16 bottom share price. We are trading at our cyclical 2015 bottom and that is rare. I would say we are under performing quite significantly. A rising gold price should floats all boats, but we shouldn't be relying on $2000+ gold to make this work. Before a lot of solid exploration companies go to raise funds, they normally pump the stock price and support it for several months financially through various means so that the private placement is at a much higher price minimizing dilution. Condor was unable to support the share price at all in anyway.
The market is not rewarding any drill results throughout South and central america unless it's a bonanza or big discovery. So Condor will not be trying to prove the ounces (do any drill) anytime soon unless that changes. MC has already hinted at this in many videos.

IFC (International Finance Corporation) is still a shareholder as of May 2019 per recent Condor presentation slides.

Isn't IFC still a shareholder? They were just diluted down below the 5% threshold, correct?
I thought it was City Financial that was dumping their entire stock.

btw. I wouldnt expect anything from Calibre for awhile. Pain before gain unfortunately. The market would have rewarded our shares by now If it thought it was a strong sign Randy Martin now has a significant stake. His warrants are probably cheaper than 99% of the people in this chatroom's entry share price.
Over at Calibre:
Dec 2018 was trading at $ 0.325. When the market found out Lundin had taken a position in Calibre, the stock price went up to $0.74 within 20 days. He's made MANY billions for shareholders, that's why many of his partners, retail investor, Private equity, funds, follow his lead.
Look at our share price.

Thanks Tester123 and ElectricLion.
My opinion only: The January Calibre interview was very interesting. Ryan King mentioned that Daniel Ortega’s father, a miner, worked at one of the La Libertad or El Limon mines and that Daniel was BORN in one of those mining towns. High level information in which suggests that Calibre has already sat down with Ortegas. There is serious sentimental value there. Clive Johnson mentioned the word “carrying on Legacy”. Well whoever is to carry on the legacy should probably have prior approval from Ortega himself. Meaning the government is likely on their side and would want to see production maximized throughout the country with them especially with a group that can get it done ASAP. Calibre probably has the extra $30 mill on hand just in case for us, but with MC not wanting to deal then it will probably go towards extending mine life at la libertad in drilling. Feb 2020 permit deadline is what we should watch and whether or not MC gets an extension. I have to stress again that it’s not about getting the large return now on a merger. It’s about being in position to maximize in this gold cycle like they said in their interview. Access to large institutions by being in production is what will propel this company the way Kirkland and newmarket was. Building the mine takes time. MC is going to try to not discuss or mention calibre at all and pretend like nothing happened. Observe.

As for Equinox, I follow very closely and it could fit in RB’s 1m oz per year target production by 2023. It is a possibility down the road Equinox ends up merging with consolidated Nica assets. But with Newmarket as Calibre management, I think they will look to maximize the sale of all Nicaragua assets to a much larger player imo down the road. Possibly the largest Chinese gold miner, Newcrest or a Goldfield type. These guys know what they are doing so I would really want a premium now and straight conversion to Calibre shares ASAP so I can be part of Newmarket 2.0. No deal down the road is also a possibility bc very hard for MC to let this go since he’s been working this project for 10 years. Hopefully common sense prevails and he sees the value of ACCESS TO CAPITAL. They must convince Mellon – he is the key to MC. Equinox/ RB access to capital is impressive – Mubadala $130M investment recently, Sprott mine finance build $ 150M of Aurizona in Brazil last year and now Blackrock $ 25 M as their new 5% holder. It is a shame that RB has not helped in any financings in 2 years for Condor. There is a reason why and you guys should ask MC why. We should put pressure on MC to get this into full production one way or another. Building a small mill is not the answer. Ortega will not be impressed - he wants maximum royalties and tax NOW not 10 years from now. They just finished a crisis and need money.

I am also skeptical that a deal would be soon but because MC is too tough to deal with. I met with MC a few times in the past. I’m not impressed with the guy. A military guy doesn’t make for a good M&A business man. Jim Mellon is probably the only person that can get through to him. No other CEO goes out and continuously promotes their deposit to be over 2x what they have proven. We need to stop saying 5M oz. Nobody does that. We need to pay to prove it first even if we have good idea it’s there. Another one of his tactics to try to boost share price, but it hasn’t worked.

A Calibre deal breaker:
In addition to his 5.5% stake, MC has an agreement w/ Condor for a bonus of 2% of takeover/merger price + 1.587 m as long as the share price is over 150 P (verified). This is part of his motivation. We are at 19P. That is nearly 8x from this price and not going to happen. However long it takes is better for MC because he makes 178k pnds/year in payment from Condor anyway flying throughout Europe, North America, and Nicaragua presenting the same Spanish slides.

Clive Johnson on Bloomberg
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/b2gold-sells-high-cost-mines-in-nicaragua-for-us100m~1722467
"There's a real chance to grow production in nicaragua further and I think they have a great team at Calibre. They have some good experienced people and they got history in the country."
"We wanted to carry on a legacy with a good team"

Saw on another article that collectively Calibre is the largest individual exporting operation in the country. Government, Calibre and B2 will want consolidation of Nicaraguan gold deposits if we dont start building the mine. Should Lundin (via Lorito/Zebra) end up with a 20+ % stake in Calibre through the $ 100m private placement, it would mean to me that he has already sat down with the government/Ortega family to discuss strategy and prospects of future growth of their company. That's just what his family does before entering any country.
Clive said they will truck ore from the Pavon project (40km away) to Libertad in Northern Miner article earlier this year. From the Calibre presentation slides, it looks like they will try to increase reserves at all their new sites. In MC's last presentation, he suggested La Libertad will run out of ore soon (seems as tho he is assuming they will come to the table eventually). The 2 questions:
-how long can La Libertad mine last?
-and how long can we go before mine finance dilution or permit expiration?

even their presentation slides are on a different level than ours. Why do ours look like they are prepared by a high school teacher?

B2 were in discussions with Calibre since January 25th.
https://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2019/07/b2gold-and-calibre-took-six-months.html
Mark of IKN knows his stuff in Latin America. He leaked news on Barrick's Randgold merger before it was public on his site.

November 2018 was the earliest I directly heard of the B2 Condor NDA. MC had a head start on negotiations and obviously what he was offering is not what Clive wanted. Again going back to the bonus management agreement problem we have and "crazy premium" comment from Clive Johnson.
I believe MC knew of the B2's unwillingness to deal and has since introduced a potential NEW option of buying a small mill for smaller production in his latest presentation. B2 mines are not small mills.
Metallurgy tests I assume were for B2, but in reality for Calibre.
Clock is ticking for our conditional La India permits to expire on Feb 2020 based on the issued permit RNS. MC said so himself, the government wants to see us moving along with this project. Wonder where we are with the conditions. MC sure doesnt want to spend the $5+ million on the detailed engineering required. MC was hoping for a B2 deal this whole time. I tell u guys this: It's in the acquirer's interest that our permit expires and share price to tank again. They could possibly wait many years before making a move on Condor. The key is when will MC want to come down to earth and sit at the table to make a reasonable deal for everyone. City financial was dumping their +/- 4% stake in Condor over the last year and MC didnt do anything. Good managers with strong backing and access to capital would have arranged a private buyout of those City Financial shares instead of it being dumped onto the public market while punishing US the shareholders. How much more pain do we need to endure before new managemnt takes over this deposit to bring us to commercial production?

Those guys are in at 40P and 62P and are in the hole like most of us. I'm sure they don't want a loss, but they have a long time horizon to see this through.

There isn't any link. Just studying their deals and what they say. Rick Rule always invests with Ross Beaty and has been since the start of Beaty's first mining venture. When they mentioned, "Sprott Affiliate" in the RNS- almost certain it's Rick Rule personally. Marin Katusa manages his money outside of sprott inc through KCR.

It makes sense for sure. We need a mill and they need a large proven deposit. I personally would want my Condor shares exchanged for Calibre ones (not cash) on a merger and obviously with a small premium to todays price. There is going to be share value creation w/ the quickest and lowest cost to build the mine (w/La libertad mill shipped to La India), once La India reaches commercial production, and the gold price runs higher. kirkland lake exploded 10x after the Newmarket merger, so the focus shouldnt be on the price they offer to purchase condor. It's about future value creation as large funds start purchasing shares (which will provide lots of liquidity) after the merger once milestones achieved and possibly part of future mergers into a larger company. Kirkland Lake Gold combined assets, increased production, proved found more ounces, and all in an improving gold market (the large funds like blackrock and van eck start taking positions in the company). Access to serious capital is key and you only get that with a proven track record management. Another thing found interesting: Cannacord Genuity and Sprott are leading agents for the $ 100M Calibre financing to purchase the B2Gold mines. Those two are both shareholders of Condor (Sprott via Rick Rule/KCR Fund). It's not rocket science to see what's going on their side. No such thing as coincidence in this game. They have control of Condor's best options to get to early produciton: either toll agreement and/or purchasing the La Libertad mill. I dont see them giving MC a deal for either one without obtaining control. They want full control of our deposit IMO and I'm very comfortable with it as long as we get a small premium and exchange for shares. MC probably could not get a meeting with Clive Johnson back in May when he was in Vancouver bc he did not have access to $ 100m to buy his mines in Nicaragua. Note B2gold also retains a 31% stake in Calibre as well. Clive Johnson is betting on their management because they have proven success (arguably better than his own success at B2). B2 might be one of the final purchasers of all the consolidated assets in Nicaragua down the road. I guess it depends on the political situation in their view later on. There is a big difference between Lundin's family (Adolf Lundin) who have been building gold mines since the 1980s vs someone who is trying to build their first mine. Many things can go wrong with first time. There's enough risk in this industry. MC management agreement w/ his bonus is a big problem for shareholders imo.

The new Calibre management team were the Newmarket Gold management. Newmarket Gold was merged with Kirkland Lake Gold and the Calibre management helped build that company and now has a market cap of $ 11.8B. If Condor wants to use the La Libertad or El Limon processing facility, they will need to make a deal with Calibre. If you read my post a month or 2 ago (when Lundin bought Pierre Lassonde's 10% stake in Calibre), i wrote that Calibre needs to merge w/ Condor and THEY take over management so that they can get us to full production. Now they have the leverage on Condor with control of B2 mines in Nicaragua. Calibre AND the Nicaraguan government want to put La India under production for 150k oz per year not some small fraction. As the new management of Calibre stated in a presentation a few months back following their entry into Nicaragua, they will be looking for a 100oz/yr project, but will be patient. They don't overpay. I trust these guys taking our project at Condor forward without a doubt to achieve the highest shareholder return in this gold cycle. MC is not a mine builder and his objective is NOT to build the mine, but his BONUS per agreemnt upon sale/merger of the company is a problem. I think the agreement stipulates that he needs to achieve a price of $ 1.50 or so per Condor share so that he gets an extra few % of the sale price as bonus or something along those lines. The agreement is on SEDAR. We will not get to that share price the way things are going- we need to stop dreaming. Tester123 already stated the connection w/ Ross Beaty & Lundin. Our shares are in the crapper already. We'll need to take some pain in order to achieve serious gain. I hope a merger happens so we can move forward. Calibre has the power to bring the La Libertad mill to La India to achieve over 100k oz quickly on our deposit. Forget partial production. Like i said, these are serious players with connections to governments and access to capital (ex. Orion - Lundin Gold $700M USD mine finance).

This Link:
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/kl.to?ltr=1

click on their 5 year performance

this is what the Newmarket team along with Lundin built most recently:

https://www.google.com/searchrlz=1C1VFKB_enCA757CA757&ei=PlIbXeXdN43StQbP8qiQDA&q=kirkland+lake+gold+stock&oq=kirkland+lake+gold&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0i71l8.0.0..7019...0.0..0.0.0.......0......gws-wiz.ihgO6XhdMrE

Condor Shareholders click on their 5 year share performance.

At least there is now clarity on B2. Calibre management (Ex Newmarket team & Lundin) have a serious track record of M&A, building and operating mines.
The government will want an operator that is going to maximize production. Not someone who is going to buy a small mill with a fraction of the permitted production capacity. Calibre guys are on a different level as they've all built multi billion dollar gold producers. MC's main concern is to earn his BONUS per the management agreement on a sale or merger. Condor is somewhat trapped in that sense. Only way for a deal with Calibre is on win-win terms. They will be patient. The sooner a deal happens the better so new management can get the financing and put this thing into construction . Time is being wasted.

MC probably should have never mentioned B2Gold at all. He was just trying to boost share price, but didnt work obviously. People should stop hoping for B2Gold to come around and we need to move on.
Note that MC was in Vancouver on the week of May 8th. Either he had a meeting with Clive Johnson or he couldnt get one. May 9th, this news release comes out:

https://www.miningmx.com/news/gold/36914-spread-the-word-no-ma-from-us-says-b2gold-ceo-clive-johnson/
The message seems clear to who it's directed to- "No M&A" and "Crazy Premiums".
Now MC mentions trying to buy an old small mill to put into partial production. What a poor developer plan- this is suppose to be a public company. It's clear they don't have access to capital. Mine lenders are loaning capex funds to billionaire mine developers with track records (debt preferred instead of dilution). It's because these guys have delivered 10x many times in the past.

Fruta Del Norte, Ecuador Capex $700M USD -2017 financed & construction almost complete
Cerro Blanco, Guatemala Capex $200M USD - financed by end of year
Both are considered risky jurisdictions, yet they get it done.

This was the first I heard of Zimbabwe Shamva mine and B2Gold. Seems to be their first choice to buy this already producing mine (They'll look to increase production) at a time where country can be turning the corner. Quite a contrarian play. And it's a Goldfields asset, which is backed by Rothschilds via anglo/oppenheimer. Priority to keep these shareholders happy. Probably the reason why they havnt made any commitments to any deals proposed in Nicaragua, Burkina and Namibia. They are waiting for this Zimbabwe government to make a decision. Proves they are willing to spend another 150m elsewhere other than Fekola immediately. Should this deal fall through, could be good for La India. Probably second on their list.

Perhaps a reason why B2Gold has not made any strategic asset purchases in Namibia, Burkina and Nica over last few years is because they are also a potential buyout or merger target. The largest miners are merging so that they gain inclusion into large ETFs, which will provide their stock liquidity and more algos trading their stock daily. The large funds dont have interest in nicaragua.