Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
I am wondering if the sentiment expressed by WA and others extends beyond 88e. Duster Dave must have profound credibility problems in the O and G industry. He is turning Alaska into a Swiss cheese using other people's money. Could potential buyers/parters be waiting until he is finally slung out on his ear before they do anything? Wait until he is finally sacked, then we will deal with someone they have faith in. He pointed the finger at PMO, and I assume all other potential FO partners would be very much aware of this. They will wait until 88e is breathing it's last, then move in. Napoleon said: "never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." For enemy read competitor.
Good evening WA,
I can't agree. Wall doesn't earn $11000 per week, he is paid $11000 per week. Assuming he was paid what he actually earned, the numbers would look different. Then again, perhaps if we had someone competent instead of Wall other numbers would also look different, starting with the SP.
Good afternoon Brombarb,
Thank you for your reply. I am making a distinction between the date of the report and the content of the report. I know the content will be price sensitive, but I did not know if the same applied to a date. Looking at it commercially, buyers/sellers could of course wait for the whistle to blow and start a free for all. However, that will happen anyway. The only difference is knowing when. Quite honestly, it is driven by frustration. I completely agree I could research other oilers for comparison, but it would not help. As you say, Wall may not be the worst, but finding out he is better than some others tells me more about them than it tells me about Wall. Stay safe.
Good afternoon Brombarb,
I absolutely agree we are on the "wibbly wobbly way" and will be for some time. There is no such thing as a free education, as I know to my cost, literally!! My concern is Wall does not appear to have any maps of the wibbly wobbly way, and may be taking us in the wrong direction. "In the near term" or "in the coming weeks" aren't helpful phrases. I cannot understand why we do not have fixed dates for the publication of results. They must know how many tests they will do, and how long they take. Times added together gives a deadline. I have no faith in Wall, and I am worried this lack of definitive information is significant, for all the wrong reasons. I have worked in various business sectors, but have never been in a situation where there are no deadlines set.I wouldn't do business with a plumber who said he would come and fit my new bathroom in the coming weeks, or a dealer who would service my car in the near term. I don't like this one little bit.
It has been suggested the announcement of results could/would be delayed until after the XCD deal was done. Perhaps the lack of information is stalling/delaying the uptake. A lack of information from Wall? I can't believe I even thought such a thing!! I forgot, he moves at his pace, and we wait obediently until the great man sees fit to share information with us.
Good morning chrisev1,
I have read your post to Brombarb with some trepidation. I am making the assumption that if 88e are the majority shareholder at 50.1% shareholding, it will not make for any kind of productive working relationship, given the "objective may differ from their own" which could then result in key people leaving, or significant shareholders selling up, not seeing any future benefits. I wonder what that would feel like?
Good morning MW93,
I dread to think what the answer will be. We will need the most extraordinary results if we are ever to recover. At the moment, given our leadership, it may as well be called: "Keystone Cops go drilling"
On a positive note, super Dave will be paid $11000 again this week!!
Good afternoon,
Have been reading the RNS dated 20/04/20 again. Two statements stand out, which are leading me to ask questions I can't answer. Any help in this respect would be welcome. Both are statements from Wall, quoted verbatim.
Statement: "The Seabee targets are extensive and have had excellent oil shows"
Question: In view of this why did PMO run screaming from the building, having spent £23m?
Statement: "The significance of these observations in Charlie-1 will be confirmed by lab results in the near term"
Questions: What is near term? Is this Wall speak? Surely there must be a length of time it takes to do the evaluation, which means the date for publication could have been published a the time of the announcement. Timescales in groundbreaking research have no fixed end date, but this is neither groundbreaking nor research. I have read posts suggesting it will be during June. PMO SP had doubled since they pulled out, and they are in the oil exploration business!!!!!!!!!! "Excellent oil shows" followed immediately by "we're off" Really?
Have been following events at AML recently. SP on 14/05/20 is 30.70p. CEO replaced very soon thereafter. New man appointed. Previously Director of Performance at MB. SP on 05/06/20 is 72p. Increase of 134%. A man with credibility at the helm, and the picture changes, almost in the blink of an eye.
I have posted some thoughts over the last couple of days regarding Wall, and some fellow LTHs have been kind enough to respond. I was not being malicious or vindictive. I am having sleepless nights thinking about how much money I am down, and the questions keep coming. I seem to remember reading a post in the lead up to our latest duster, saying Wall had quoted COS as 50/50. I am not saying I read it, I think I did. Assuming I am correct, the latest of many questions which keep nagging away at me is: how can he say our chances of success are 50/50 when he already thought we were drilling in the wrong place?
Good morning Keefy,
Thank you for your response. I don't blame Boris for our situation. I try to be measured in my views. Perhaps I don't always succeed. I agree Wall did not take my money. I handed it over. No argument. Boris is in a situation we could not have foreseen or predicted. As with every leader in the world, he is making decisions based on changing information. We are in a unique situation. I am not petulant, and I am not being spiteful. I am invested, in the most literal sense, and I no longer have any faith in the man at the the top. Boris has been in the job for six months. Wall has been in the job for five years plus, and we have not yet seen a single drop of oil. We will no doubt be told we have more data, more info, 2D seismic now upgraded replaced/updated by 3D seismic, and this is all valuable and instructive. This leaves me asking one question: with all of this at your fingertips, and a team of specialists around you, why have you not found oil Davey boy? Frustration rather than petulance. We have been drilling holes in the Alaskan landscape for quite a while.The way this is going our great, great grandchildren will be told we are close to a commercial discovery following the latest analysis of of the latest 88D seismic.
Have a great day. Stay safe.
I asked a question recently regarding what Wall does. It was not based on spite or vindictiveness. I am thousands upon thousands of pounds down, but I know I am not the only one. What I am trying to evaluate, objectively, is what value Wall adds. What does he bring to the party? My rationale is based on the next attempt to find a FO partner. Were I the CEO of a potential FO partner I would be sceptical. The proposal is to give Wall £Xm of my company money for a drill. His track record could not be worse, it really couldn't. He takes your money, you take the risk, and if it fails, yet again, he will instantly distance himself before rattling his tin under someone else's nose. Surely we would be better off with someone who has some level of credibility. I don't see how he can have any. This is not about Wall, it is about trying to get my money back, and, hopefully, I come out ahead. We can all dream!! We are all in the same boat, to a greater or lesser extent, and we need a new man on the bridge if we are ever to salvage anything.
The key phrase for me is: "he just goes off and spends money" and has done so on several occasions. My problem is we are putting our hard earned money on the table and waiting to watch the roulette wheel tum. Wall then decides to move the money we have placed to a different number. As stated "He just goes off and spends money" but keeps losing. Every time he loses, the value of our stake plummets. I chose the adjective carefully. As I understand it, Wall can keep placing bets using our money, with no questions asked. Where else would he get away with it??
I have tried to understand the situation we are in by being objective, and not allowing my opinion of Wall cloud my judgement. Over the last several days I have read posts from individuals whose opinions I respect, but it has not proven helpful. The reasons for drill failures have been put down to the late PB, PMO and science. I can see the logic in such arguments. They make commercial sense. This leaves me with one question: What is Wall actually responsible for? He can point the finger regarding dusters, and continue as before. I cannot see this logic. The one thing common to every failure is the presence of Wall at the helm. However, he is not responsible for the failure. He is the man at the top. How is he not responsible?