This is my biggest complaint with PLA. I think they have some superb operational talent, and can obviously execute very well on finding resources and getting them into production (no small feat), but their public company / investor relation skills are lacking IMHO.
I think the previous placement at $1.02 was poorly handled in relation to the Chinese investors, they attempted to raise more than the company needed (which in itself is not bad if you can take advantage of positive market sentiment) but in this case it backfired when it didn't close. With all the uncertainty it caused around the placement the SP suffered so when they ultimately needed to replace the Chinese investor it became a lot more expensive and all holders suffered extra dilution.
Secondly all the good news that has come out since would have been better coming out before the "re" placement giving the SP a chance to recover, although it could be argued how much was the Soros bump, and how much was uncertainly removal bump, and how much was Kalplats bump. So perhaps the SP would have been capped anyway.
And finally as you guy have noted when you've got a big shareholder dumping, which has happened numerous times over the last 12-months, it would be better if the company was proactively trying to match sellers with friendly buyers to avoid the SP 'death by thousand cuts' that must be endured each time -- the company just doesn't have the liquidity to support these big movements.
All in all a good company with great potential and great operational management but I wish they'd get a handle on shareholder management.
PLA Price at posting:
96.6¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held