Notes from the AGM (sorry for the wait!), page-12

Hi all,

Thanks for your kind words @jj2, @Lowkeyinvestor, @ davybabyk, @Rockyjack,

I recon there’s a catch-22 with spec stocks: they are small, and risky, so investors don’t invest much in each. But because we don’t invest much we often don’t bother going to the AGM’s, and so never meet directors. This, along with the limited time/resources small cap directors have for marketing and coms means companies like BAR often seem less trustworthy than they might actually be because the average investor doesn’t have a clear pic of what on earth is going on. I went to Perth to meet the BAR guys last year because I found their story compelling - a micro cap of essentially two, and now three people on the executive, run by an ex-investment banker/Macquarie Bank director, quietly lining up the ducks for a whole bunch of mining operations. The result – I like them, I think they are trustworthy and very modest in what they promise. And I sleep a lot easier at night. So I'm very happy to have been there to report back!

@jj2, I think you are spot on with your comment about Sean’s appointment. BAR directors are famously, and I think impressively conservative with expenditure. Bringing on Sean, a new director with extensive mine development experience at a decent salary (many times what they are paying themselves) is a step change in company activities.

@jy91, re the question asked at the AGM as to why investors were disappointed by the scoping study: many investors were expecting a Capex figure around $70Mil, and the scoping study came out at $212Mil. This resulted in some share dumping and plunged the SP by about 40%. I think this was a case of not comparing apples with apples, and also some poor communication by the JV. The JV’s $65-70Mil figure stated a few years back was for plant only, whereas the $212 figure in the recent SS is the plant (which I was told at the AGM was not far off $70Mil – around $100Mil or so) AND a whole heap of other costs that are required by ASIC/ASX when releasing an official scoping study – so $34Mil contingency and amongst other things a large sum for finance raising costs (which depending on which way things go may not be required). I think the JV should have been more clear with the initial figure of $70Mil, and hopefully in SS updates, and certainly in the PFS we will see cost breakdowns which will make this situation a little easier to understand.

@Rockyjack, I’m not expert at all re-today’s downturn, but it looks like bots to me – many sales of one share etc! Thoughts @Gipp? I suspect traders are playing on the fact that yesterday was the deadline for the capital raise, so there could be fears that the raise might have been undersubscribed or that people will now dump shares for a small profit. Around the SS we saw huge bot action. It may be that someone’s accumulating big time, or they may just be trading big time…

Cheers,

Solarbat