Member Info for Trinityman

Basher - This is an extract from a recent article (pre the Anglo offer) with quotes from the man who deals with investor relations relations at Sirius. The last sentence has lost me so many hours of sleep I've lost count. Hope this helps.

Farmers require six nutrients in their fertiliser: potassium, nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium and sulphur.
Sirius’s Poly4 product contains, as you might expect, four of these. It has been subject to 400 trials on 43 crops in 29 countries and the results have been sufficiently positive to attract orders totaling 11.7 million tons a year from agribusiness giants such as Iffco in the United Arab Emirates, ADM in the US and Wilmar in south-east Asia.
And this is very good news for shareholders, claims investor relations manager Tristan Pottas, who describes himself as a “seventh-generation codhead”, a reference to his Whitby origins.
“We will sell it for $145 a tonne,” he says. “As the operating cost of mining a ton of polyhalite, putting it up the shaft, sending it through the tunnel and loading it on board a ship to go to market is around $30, that’s $115 of margin on every tonne of rock we mine.
“Once you scale that up to our target in the first phase of 10 million tons a year it adds up to over $1billion that can either go back into the business or be distributed as a dividend to shareholders.”

Casapinos - Out of the several thousands of posters that I have encountered on this board over the last seven years, you are by far the most annoying by a country mile.

Please get back on your catamaran and set sail in a straight line as far away from this board as you possibly can and keep going....and going....and going....

FFC - The absolute key questions here are, 'In percentage terms, how sure are you that the Quataris will come back in with their bridging loan? How sure are you that you won't lose all of your investment.' Give me a % figure.

I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but as an individual retail investor, your 'no' vote (along with mine and thousands of others) may put this into admin and there is no information in the public domain coming out of Quatar to make a truly informative decision.

Hope you lose the crutches sooner rather than later.

ATVB

Nice to see you are still with us, your Friday funnies were a feature of this board and are sadly missed.

I reported the poster you refer to yesterday to the moderator, hopefully they have finally come to the same conclusion as most of us on here this time.

ATB

Gertfrobe - Many thanks for providing the link. Sorry for the late reply, but I only spend a limited amount of time on here, as like every other poster bar one, I have a life outside of this board.

Having closely read the pdf, it is much as expected - 'carries risk, but is doable as a general rule.' Much was made of this a major stumbling block at the time of the failed bond raise and was used by some as one of the contributory factors in not obtaining finance. The key word back then was 'perceived' and we all have a different perspective on risk.

I deliberately titled my post 'message to Gertfrobe' to ask your professional opinion and to dissuade the resident troll from interrupting what was basically a 1:1 conversation, albeit on a public forum.

It came as no suprise when I rejoined the board this evening to see the troll had poked his nose into what, under normal circumstances, would have been a private conversation.

The troll, who was rightly corrected by the poster 'RUsirius' last evening, tried to discredit me by attributing comments made by the poster 'SIPPnob' back in June of last year wrongly to me. He should have taken the time to read my next post 3 minutes later that evening back in June.

For the record, although I have attended a couple of AGMs over the years, I have never met Russell Scrimshaw and have certainly never been in a lift with him.

Gertfrobe -

Thanks for the reply. Much as I suspected, which leads me to the conclusion the the 'perceived risk' element of the aquifers was not as big a deal as it was made out to be at the time. It was merely used as a reason for not obtaining finance - not a tenable reason as it turns out.

Gertfrobe –

As you are one of the few posters with a professional background in the UK mining industry, may I ask for your professional opinion regarding the ‘perceived risk’ in drilling through the aquifers. This was never properly discussed at the time, due to the sheer number of daily posts, but I believe this was one of the pivotal moments in the decline of this share and was also the point when my inkling that we were all being slowly led down a long, long garden path turned into awful reality.

Anglo American describe this project as straightforward. I still remember my classmate at junior school losing her father and six other workmates to a mine flood back in the 1970’s, so I know only too well that releasing so much water under extreme pressure it is anything but straightforward.

Having said that, this is 2020 and the chosen mining contractor DMC have modern machinery and a track record of success in this specific technique. I just cannot believe that senior Sirius construction/ board members, along with representatives of DMC and Herrenknecht couldn’t have convinced any interested parties or strategic partner that the risks invloved in capping the aquifers was manageable.

This has been niggling away in the back of my mind for months now, so your imput would be most welcome if you can find the time. Thanks in anticipation.

Hi Fred -

Take a look at this extract from author Michael Taylor’s no-nonsense January blog on his ‘Shifting Shares’ website. This is a professional investor’s view on the current situation.

It captures what most of us are thinking in a nutshell….

‘Anglo American has come in with an all-cash offer of 5.5p per share for Sirius Minerals’ stock. This was at a premium to the previous close of 4.1p, and in reality a higher premium if we ignore the fact that blatant insider trading was going on, with Sirius Minerals’ share price rising on heavy volume into the close.
Given that the company raised more cash from private investors at higher levels, and was trading above 20p earlier in 2019, the share price of 5.5p represents a huge discount to many private investors’ averages.
This is obviously not good, and many shareholders have been left feeling sold down the river. This is exacerbated by the fact that Chris Fraser has done and will continue to do exceptionally well out of the company.
Chief executive Chris Fraser, who lambasted bulletin board users as “sitting in their basement in sweatpants” just does not care.
In 2018, Chris earned £475,000. He paid himself a bonus of £548,625.
In 2017, Chris earned £475,000. He paid himself a bonus of £332,500.
Even worse, he owns 1.77% of the shares- awarding him a further £6,819,855 at 5.5p. The vast majority of which he did not even pay for!
Sometimes, it is better to be the man at the top rather than the shareholder.
One has to wonder the likelihood of Sirius Minerals’ directors of achieving plum positions at Anglo American. Of course, nobody knows for certain – but if I was Chris Fraser I would certainly have explored those options.
So with in mind, here is one final question:

Is the Sirius board recommending the takeover because it is in the best interests of shareholders or is the board recommending the takeover because it is in their best interests?

Casapinos - 'Hi folks I'm just off a boat(!!!!!)' - You just can't help yourself can you? Always telling us how much better your life is than ours. You are the annoying holidaymaker everyone tries to avoid.

Your collective term for posters of this board is 'you lot'.

One of the few tiny positives of being taken over is we won't have to endure you attempting to talk down to us. CFDs - don't try and educate us you pompous idiot - anyone can read up and understand what these are in five minutes if they wish to do so.

ffc - Your stance doesn't annoy at all. I respect your stance and hope it works.
You have been a decent poster for long enough now, but you may need to start spending less time on here over the next few weeks, come April there may well be no sxx board to comment on.

I agree the fundamentals are still there, but there are no other takers, no bidding war, no 'white knight' investor. I still can't believe one of the other major miners haven't taken a serious interest as yet, there is still time, but the sands are running out fast.

When I sell I won't be walking away until this is a 'done' deal, I'll be sat on the fence watching (maybe even praying) for developments.

ATVB

ffc - very good, I forgot to include Jonsey and his £5 predictions. I genuinely hope he's recovering mentally after being in denial about the unfolding events for so long.

I know Myo is doing his bit over on Sharesoc, I'm just trying to tempt him out of his radio silence, he'll still be totally across this board - been on here much longer than my mere 6.5 years, so I doubt he'll just drift away.

I've always got along fine with the fella, we only touched swords once back in July when I posted this:
'Posters can share knowledge about the salinity of the water in Lockwood beck or the name of the vessel that carried the tbm to teeside etc, but NONE of this matters if we don't get the next tranche of bonds sold in September.'

I think it touched a nerve as he said he was 'disappointed' that someone was focusing on the finance when there was so much good work going on regarding the build. With hindsight etc.....

I think you need to manage your expectations over the coming weeks though, the good people at Sharesoc are just giving us a dignified burial really. I'd love to see a rabbit pulled out of the hat just as much you, but in all honesty I just can't see it happening at this late stage.

I think Fraser's silence is most likely down to the takeover conditions set by Anglo - He won't be allowed to comment until well after the deal goes through. It appears that he has been reduced to a mere puppet CEO at this stage.
In other words, someone's got their hand up his a... and his mouth is sewn together right now.

I'll reluctantly sell my remaining tranche of shares as close to the voting date as I dare, keep one share and then vote 'no' by proxy.

ATVB

It’s the Oscars this evening, so as it’s Sunday let’s lighten up for an hour or two before hostilities resume again on Monday morning.
My nominations for posters on this board are as follows, please feel free to comment (nicely) and add your own if you like.

Most honest: Fred16 – Always tells it like it is and has no hidden agenda.

Most devious: GK – Played us like a fiddle for years and went off laughing with the cash.

Most annoying: Superleggra – His year long spat with Scotman was the most tedious of all.

Foreign language poster: Chesh – All these years and I still have no idea what you’re on about fella!

Poster you’d most like to flatten: Casapinos – Always had to tell us he was just getting on or off a plane or boat before telling us how wrong we all were.

Best writer: PAAA – Could construct a good paragraph and was master of the ‘put-down’, but made a fool of himself with that infamous ‘I looked Fraser in the eyes’ post. Where is he now?

Most prolific: Myosotis - With over 20,000 posts an easy choice, but another who has gone missing in action (again) - Not one to have beside you in the trenches.

Over to you fellow posters.

'Thatscoffee 00.53' - Yorkshire is far from the sea? May I politely suggest you type 'Whitby' into the search bar of Google maps.

Chilting - I guess that the use of your christian name at the end of our post means we won't be hearing from you much more on this board over the closing weeks.

I've always been impressed by your balanced imput, analysis and integrity, especially over the last year. You may be being over generous to the BOD at this stage though, but time will tell.

All the best to you in the future.

T

Pterois - I rather suspect that you are just one of many thousands of 'silent' shareholders who share your thoughts exactly.

You have eloquently summarised what many on here either can't or simply don't have the time to put forward and I thank you personally for that.

Maybe you could join the new members over at 'Sharesoc' and share your thoughts - Posters of your calibre are few and far between these days.

Whatever you decide, your post was a great read, good luck to you in the future.

FFC - As things stand, this board won't exist come springtime, so we have to give the Sharesoc site our support over the next few crucial weeks.
It has been a pleasure to learn from many of the more savvy posters/ investors on here over the last six years, but you have to admit standards have fallen over the last few months and we all know why. I'll keep dropping in here, but we have to reluctantly re-focus our attention for now.

ATVB.

FFC- I have always took note of your posts over the years, but this board has become unregulated over the last few months, so it would be refreshing for members to be able to read and contribute both negative and positive opinions without having to trawl through the daily dross - that's what you get on Sharesoc.

Could you imagine what it would be like if we all posted 30 times a day on here? You'd be looking at 3,000+ posts per day.

LSE should be ashamed to have let this board get into such a state. Many good posters have left because of two or three disrupters. No one wants to read the 'so-called 'happy clappers' all day, but a selection of balanced views containing new ideas and insight. Sadly you won't find that on here an longer - this board is now a cesspit. Leave the creature to talk to himself from now on.

ATB

Hi steady, Yes it is a 'troll free' enviroment over there with some good, balanced discussion.
Worth £45? - I think so as a last roll of the dice.

ATB

Cliff - Thank you for your imput and continuing efforts here, please keep us updated where possible, although many of us are migrating to Sharesoc on a daily basis.

ATB.

IBAB FO - Better than the telly this - I know you can't keep this up for much longer, as I guess you have a life to live (unlike your alter ego) but it's fun while it lasts - top marks.