Member Info for Shedulike

Not so far Teaye but it's early days. To continue my rock music analogy I'm not sure Myles is the ideal front man given that he looks more likely to nod off in interviews than inspire any new investors. Still as I said the other day he should be respected for the things we have done well but the next board appointment just has to address the non-fieldwork matters that have been terrible for us shareholders. As we haven't had a seamless transition it's looking like LR's departure wasn't planned by either party, while it wouldn't be wise to rush anything we don't want an ongoing vacuum either. I wonder if a simple statement that operations are progressing as planned while the CH looks to strengthen the board would be wise.

..... guess we can assume LR's departure wasn't orchestrated then? To paraphrase the immortal words of ME Smith it's going to be Myles and his Gran on bongos at this rate :)

Funny thing Highside, BM as a player was despised on my old patch but I've got a lot of time for him as a commentator. Not sure if it's because we know a lot more about his troubled background or if I think he speaks a lot of sense about sorting out the farce that is the scrum. That is, apply the original basic rules like a straight put in and you'll soon see front row forwards looking like they used too, short round b%ggers who scrummage without the impossibility of their feet being so far back. Plus I bet you wouldn't see one on the wing trying to defend against a winger. Hey ho, an unlikely Grand Slam or even Triple Crown gone for another year but to anyone north of the border congratulations you deserved it.

Just another thing on Bennelong, when they first emerged I asked a lot of questions about them and there seems to be a distinct difference between the way they and DB operate. Time will tell of course but it sounds like Bennelong aren't going to passively sit on their investment. This from Vox:
"But if Bennelong can bring new deals to the table and enable Europa to perform in a manner similar to Alien, then gripes are likely to be few and far between.
After all, the turnaround that the current team at Alien managed to effect when they took it over resulted in a return of upwards of 15 times for some investors".
Not counting chickens, as I said only time will tell but I expect them to get involved.

We shouldn't be critical of MC because he is Australian? That makes sense, I also think Eddie Jones shouldn't be criticised for substituting Marcus Smith. Only problem, MC isn't Australian.

Now to look forward and try to be positive, just as Myles was obviously closely involved with the failings to be fair he was also at the heart of the things we have done well. I believe there are to be no near term seismic changes in the op's plan which is good for me, but I hope he has an honest appraisal of where he and LR have gone wrong and the next Board appointment specifically targets a reversal in our corporate shortcomings.

What do you need to know that isn't obvious? He has been on the board since Oct 17, became Ex Dir the same year and was a consultant prior to that. I suppose it might be reassuring to hope that he hasn't been at the heart of all the corporate failings and has now been magically relieved of his burden but that just isn't realistic. As the only two Execs for the last 18 months I'm certain that they will have had equal weight in decision making, yes the buck stops with the CEO and LR has resigned but how on earth you can say that we shouldn't be too critical of Myles is beyond me.

“I don’t think anyone should criticise Myles”, in the words of JP McEnroe ‘You cannot be serious!!’.

My least wanted candidates - Justin Tooth, Adam Hadib, Boris Johnson & Eddie Jones need not apply.

Morning Bricks - start of the Six Nations one of the best days of the year for me! Luis is an important part of the team but I feel we need a corporate big hitter on the board. Operational success has given us hope but from this position our only chance of SP success is to maintain steady fieldwork but also to get a result at corporate level. How do you feel about MC, I notice he never comes in for any flak? For me he is either at equal fault with LR for the position we find ourselves in or else he was holding EUZ at arms length while taking the same money as LR which is probably worse.

Sorry CHRI5P just got in and catching up. Bit up against it with domestic stuff now so I'll just address the copper which has always interested me. As I understand it although we have copper throughout the block model with good levels in places (0.93% in one of the last drills) but I was told it is not sufficiently abundant to consider a viable product in the current model. However the geology suggests that the feeders below 1000m could well be significant. That's the good news, the bad news is to put a single drill below where we are closed off could cost US$0.5m, in other words we can't afford it as things stand. The money available for drilling in the near term is to be deployed in the high grade zone, I guess the lowest risks of cash and most likely way of improving the indicated (maybe measured?).

G & H - I honestly don't know (obviously) and suspect I never will. I just sense that because of the evidence of the AGM voting that this wasn't planned in either scenario (a knifing or LR walking). I do know that LR was increasingly dispirited in not seeing op progress converting into mcap (yes I know try being a PI!) and I just wonder if a disagreement in strategy lead him to move on. I genuinely don't believe it would have been the new remuneration or doubts over his own abilities that would have caused him to quit. I know he strongly believed in the merits of Toral and wouldn't have taken this decision lightly, whether the decision was entirely his own or not. Finally I do think we need to consider the performance as a joint responsibility between LR & MC, it's a small company and I think their duties behind the scenes would have been interlinked rather than the public facing CH & CEO. In other words nothing significant would ever have happened without them both being closely involved and in concord. My best guess is that something has arisen that meant this was no longer possible and one of them had to go.

Ha ha I'm already worried Grappa, it looks like it wasn't planned and we have to ask why LR left. I don't for one minute buy this stuff about him suddenly having an epiphany that he wasn't up to the job, he just wasn't that kind of character. I don't rule out entirely that he was pushed but if it takes a while before news of a new appointment it will look more and more like he walked. I tried to find some info in the Corp Gov Code about how long you can only have one Exec Director or even if it is obligatory to have more than one but couldn't find anything definitive though I must admit I got very bored and my search wan't exactly forensic :)

mfm I have found it difficult to have an opinion on the prospect of another asset at it remains unclear how it would be possible. I can only assume it would be by giving up a share of Toral, some sort of farm in, in return for a load of cash that would finance the BFS and allow us to spread our wings, but disappointingly we haven't had any clarity since the strategy was first announced.

Or they could have just knifed him......

I'm not so sure mfm re. 'Best News'. Time will tell of course and I can see a series of events that improves matters but I also have an uneasy feeling about how this has panned out. I also think that LR went on his own accord but I don't think it was amicable. I have my own reasons for thinking that based on a picture that built up over recent months not from any factual comms today I should add but what is certain is that LR could have been eased out at the AGM but the big boys voted for him. I think it is telling that there is no traditional "I would like to thank...." comment from LR. What concerns me is that something has happened since that LR isn't happy about, if I'm right the question is what is coming up? Top of my fears is a low ball deal for Toral that turns a swift couple of bags for the new investors and gets DB away with a modest profit. I guess many of us would take that though. Ps. I don't know anything definite just thinking aloud for therapy :)

Bennelong can advise on corporate matters and it’s not unusual to have an investor on the Board. I’d rather LR had stayed for these final drills but I’d imagine the targets have been set already and Luis provides some op’s continuity.

Mailgirl I have similar fears as my main concern is that we need the work programme to stay on course to have any hope of success. I know we can't ignore the fact that LR has presided over a worsening mcap but as you say MC is an equal part of the problem. I have a feeling this happened quickly, certainly if we don't hear swiftly about the makeup of the new Board it will look like LR walked suddenly.

Maybe Bennelong will want to be represented on the Board Newbie. I agree that we need someone with proven corporate credentials and no doubt there will be few on here sorry to see LR go, but in the field LR has advanced this successfully which is ultimately why there is still hope here. Don't forget that MC is just as much part of the corp failings at EUZ but undoubtedly for all the great op's as shareholders we've been badly served by both of them. I'm certainly not celebrating anything until we hear about the replacement.

Must say I'm surprised, when I saw 'Directorate Change' I thought it would be the other way round. Will a replacement come from the new investors or CB back?