Member Info for steward1

No... quite wrong.

Proceeds from the Hanes 2nd agreement is what is needed by Monday - I suspect that the amount is not huge and there might be a small placing but the funds, equally, could come from other revenues.

As for the Swiss funding, AP is looking at other options. Existing lenders are supportive plus one of them is involved in new offtakes. The owner of the collateral for the Alpha debt is also supportive. There's no current deadline for this to be resolved.

I said yesterday that this is as desperate a situation as one can get and I'm wondering where Canmax are in all this. Are they simply sitting on the sidelines waiting for PREM to fold so that they can pick up the remainder for £1? Or will they be forced into action if another suitor comes along?

I'm assuming that GR's recent trip to China didn't produce anything meaningful and that GR was unwilling to compromise.

There will be some kind of meeting - whether it is to give GR more headroom or to vote on whatever deal is being negotiated. I simply can't see a deal (buyout or jv) that is reasonable for shareholders. Every interested outfit out there will know the history, the state of the plant, the debt and exactly the kind of person GR is. It is highly unlikely that GR will be offered anywhere near a price that gives holders a premium on the current price... I would be gobsmacked! Even a JV will be costly for holders. The situation is as desperate as it could be and potential partners know this.

Best chance of getting a return is to retain ownership and support another massive dilution, I'm afraid.... BUT you then have the substantial risk that GR will not deliver again. I briefly considered buying again this morning but then came to my senses.

There are no charitable businesses out there who will be happy to give anything to holders and GR isn't in any position to negotiate.

The pump & dump conspiracy theorists are just not looking at the context here. If (and it is only an if) AP needs to raise funds for next week to plug a short term gap for The Hanes project then the sums are not huge in the first place... and the profit, if any, to be made from forward selling is not much at all... a few thousand quid?? Not sure that the 'wonga bucket shops' would get out of their beds for that sort of amount.

I wouldn't be nominating AP for CEO of the year but he is turning things around - massive cost reductions at BP and mining higher grades now. Could be very close to or now generating cashflow from it. With all the other projects bringing in revenue, it's possible that VAST is now in profit territory... and that bodes extremely well for a new finance deal.

sp is up 60% on the week - suggests to me that things aren't as bad as some have made out!!

My guess is that our Mr Jones was happy to hoover up yesterday!

I'm never convinced about the pump & dump argument... I mean, if it was that easy to manipulate prices, why would they have stopped at 0.14 this morning? If someone did pump to sell shares that are yet to be placed, I don't see that they got the price high enough for long enough. Don't think that's the explanation for today's rise. I think folks are just seeing the potential here and have jumped in after it turned blue.

Doubt if anyone now thinks that the diamonds are going to turn up imminently.

The real story here is not the debt either. The real story is the turnaround at BP and the other sources of revenue AP has somehow managed to secure.

VAST's lenders are supportive so any action to call in the debt is not expected. There is also a buffer with the collateral used and the owner of that collateral is also supportive and isn't taking any action against VAST. It would certainly be massive news if a new finance agreement has been secured.

BP's costs have been slashed massively and they're now mining higher grade... should be cashflow positive plus there's negotiations for new offtake arrangements... this is the key to VAST's future!

Limited short term working capital is needed for one project and the plan is for that to be covered by the 1st phase of that arrangement - if it doesn't come in time then there are alternatives... the sums shouldn't be onerous.

AP seems to have the goodwill of lenders/partners and to have bought sufficient time to get this turned around.

Most likely positive finance news is incoming - like others, I reckon that we should head back to 0.4/0.5 very quickly and then above 1p is entirely possible if we get finance sorted and if there's positive news from BP later in the month.

I'm hoping/expecting that AP will be confirming that BP is generating cash and that VAST as a whole will be moving into profit. What Market Cap would you place on a profitable VAST? £30m , £40m, £50m??? Still sitting below £3m currently.

If diamonds news comes on top (I'm not holding my breath) then we're heading towards £70m/£80m!

Livedata - the end goal is a company that can meet all its liabilities and provide a profit. I don't think that's very far away and the market cap will be significantly higher than it is now... more than compensating for any short term dilution!

VAST's lenders are supportive so nothing is expected to happen anytime soon if at all.

There is also a buffer with the collateral used and the owner of that collateral is also supportive and isn't taking any action against VAST.

BP's costs have been slashed massively and they're now mining higher grade... should be cashflow positive plus there's negotiations for new offtake arrangements.

Limited short term working capital is needed for one project and the plan is for that to be covered by the 1st phase of that arrangement - if it doesn't come in time then there are alternatives... the sums shouldn't be onerous.

AP seems to have the goodwill of lenders/partners and to have bought sufficient time to get this turned around.

...and, in the meantime, Vast becomes profitable, the sp soars and the debt becomes irrelevant.

Mr Jones knows this and that is why he is continuing to buy... now holding over 13%.

Blue day today!

I'm not one for stating the obvious (!?) but it is 26th September and, so far, there is no doom-ladened RNS!

As I've said before, VAST has supportive lenders and partners. BP situation has been transformed. Revenue coming in from other sources.

Could AP have turned VAST around?

I get where ASI is coming from... booking a loss can save CGT if other gains have been made. You can still re-invest the funds after the loss has been booked.

I think that we're all disappointed... without exception! But you're wrong about the rest - VAST has supportive lenders so nothing is expected to happen tomorrow. There is also a buffer with the collateral used and the owner of that collateral is also supportive and isn't taking any action. BP's costs have been slashed massively and they're now mining higher grade... should be cashflow positive plus there's negotiations for new offtake arrangements. Limited short term working capital is needed for one project and the plan is for that to be covered by the 1st phase of that arrangement - if it doesn't come in time then there are alternatives... but the sums shouldn't be onerous.

Whilst AP has to be responsible for the mess, there has been clear steps taken to give VAST the best chance of getting over the line. My strong preference is for him to get a comprehensive financing solution - BP may well be showing enough improvement to enable lenders to be confident about VAST's future. I reckon, though, that AP will be happy to accept the support of existing lenders and partners for as long as he can get away with. Either way, I'm way more comfortable with my holding today than I was on Monday.

I clearly missed the connection earlier but am I missing anything else?

Short term working capital is needed for Agreement 1 (11th September) and this is planned to come from Agreement 2 (11th September). How much funds would come from marketing 500 tonnes? Can't imagine that it is a huge amount. They need these funds by 7th October or thereabouts.

Apart from the above and solving the debt issue (which doesn't seem as foreboding as has been made out), are there any other working capital requirements? AP seems to have attempted to give a full picture this morning and hasn't mentioned any so can we assume that BP doesn't need anymore capital and is now wiping its face or generating free cash flow? After all, there are new offtake agreements being negotiated.

If the working capital from agreement 2 are received and if BP is cashflow positive now or will be very soon then we're in a much, much better place than some are suggesting.

I reckon that Mr Jones will still be buying!

Thanks for clarifying the 2nd point, ASI. Like others, I misread that section.

On the 1st point, I guess that Alpha could be happy to continue extending for years! Reinforces the fact that we're not going to see the demise of Vast anytime soon.

Very disappointing - I'm sure he said they had £600K in the video call!

As others have highlighted, he can't do a placing at these prices.

I'm a bit late to the games this morning but, for me, AP could simply have worded the RNS much more concisely. Nevertheless, it was a helpful clarification.

It is striking that Alpha and Mercuria are still very supportive - most lenders would have taken action long before now. Why would that be the case.

Don't miss that Mercuria are discussing new offtakes which I guess is partly the fruit of the changes at BP!

Reading between the lines, the Swiss investor has been given until 7th October to cough up.

The main message though is that AP has time to get BP flowing with cash without being consumed by debt issues.

I still think that AP has good chance of turning this around.

The added complication is the potential to re-start operations in Zimbabwe... which would be the much, much bigger prize.

I agree, ASI - this isn't going bust anytime soon but that's all been priced in. One would've expected BP to have taken a huge step forward given the upgrades and restructuring (won't be reflected in Q2 but should see evidence in Q3) - question is whether AP has done enough to get cash flowing and into profit. I reckon he's close.