Have just read the
@Voytek post and now your response, I am not a long term holder, but have been buying for over 2yrs now.
With regard to mngmt I generally observe on many different company forums here on HC that poster sentiment is largely modulated by the SP and positive news flowing from any given company. On the whole right over HC most posters (some continually) are not content with the amount of communication they get from mngmt.
My sense of it is: that a lot of SHers in spec companies, after their initial burst of enthusiasm for their investment, can start to get tetchy when the going gets tough, particularly when timeframes are not met, timeframes are important but IMO they set both mngmt and SHers up for disappointment when not met i.e. the wet plant at Riley.
SHers start out being enthused by their new spec investment, but if price goes south the mood sours pretty quick, I understand nobody really enjoys staring at red ink, but I also get it that some SHers can sit on a company and watch serial disappointments pan out over a much longer timeframe than my 2 yr hold here.
As I'm not a LT holder (I look at 5yrs as getting toward that mark) I don't know everything that has happened here at VMS, however have been visiting this board for some time before making any VMS buys.
Would it be fair to say that the Green movement have contributed to significant delays in any progress being made at both Riley and Mt Livingston, I couldn't say how many years this scenario has held back VMS, but from what I have read here it has been a significant problem.
So I am not being an apologist for mngmt here, but both mngmt and SHers here have had to do some hard yards, and from what I know that cannot all be attributed to mngmt.
In the unfortunate case of Riley, I feel mngmt could have done it better, the wet screen plant was designed in 2013 and contingencies should have been adopted by mngmt to cover for any design problems encountered in the 2020/21 build (mind you if you are building a plant for the first time it is difficult to foresee some eventualities), however that was compounded by part supply problems because of the covid screwing up supply lines (not just here in Aust).
Then there was the crash in the IO price which I believe had been running at all time highs, but has now bounced back to what would normally be a price to support a healthy profit for VMS from their IO sales; however IMO the thing that has put the kybosh on Riley for the time being is the cost of sea freight.
Pre covid sea freight was running at $14/ton, currently (last time VMS reported) it was $54/ton, multiply 35,000 by 14 + $490,000 then try 35,000 by 54 =$1,890,000. This is what is holding up Riley, global sea freight rates have gone thru the roof, and currently it doesn't look like improving for a while, particularly for Oz because we are in a freight zone which is not in such high demand as Asia/Europe or Asia/USA, where ships are being allocated at lower costs.
IMO if Riley had not been affected by some questionable mngmt, (but much moreso just external events which have stopped production), then we would have a profitable story developing at Riley and SHers in general would be far happier. But the factors I have spoken to are by no means all atibutable to bad mngmt.
Having said all this I am still not happy with mngmt, I would like to hear what is going on with Riley
1. At what price point of IO and sea freight in combination make Riley viable again
2. Where the hell are the drilling results from GGN and where is a half decent report on that drill campaign
which should include a geo report and overview on what is next there.
3. Whats happening with the Mt Lindsay drill campaign, having said that I do understand that assay results all over Oz are in severe backlog (I hold enough miners to be very aware of that ongoing situation).
I don't need mngmt to hold my hand and report every month, and I don't want fluff too often without any real substance, but I would appreciate a better articulated vision of where they are at with their various projects. But also understand that the covid thing is actually really disruptive for everyone, and has really been a bloody curse on us all.
So I will vote down the remuneration, but I'm not one for cleaning out the whole board and really don't think retailers would be able to pull that scenario off - unless they were very well organized; but it would be nice to see VMS be doing as well as BSX which is really a standalone deal in Vietnam.
GLTAH
mc
