Ann: MCB Project Mining Permit granted by Philippine Government, page-450

Rather than a single elephant in the room as to why there is no take offers on the doorstep, i think there are a herd of elephants. The first is that it is the Philippines. It has possibly one of the worst reputations for foreign investment into mining in the world. It's consistently ranked close to the bottom in the annual Frazer Institue Survey. Another elephant is that there is not a bankable or definitive feasibility study, only a scoping study. The mine permit does not permit a tailings dam or open pit, so there is a large technical risk that needs to be addressed in a proper feasibility report. A third elephant, is why isn't any Philippine mining companies interested? This would be a steal for them surely? One reason may be the location of the MCB mine. It's a few km's from the infamous Batong Buhay mine that closed down over 50 years ago due to insurgency and no one has been able to do a deal to restart it. The locals have a fierce reputation. It's an absolute credit to Hume and his team to get as far as they have, but spending $250M capital expenditure is another story. You would want a reputable Philippine partner mining company as the operator and so far, none have come forward. Lets hope the new guy is focussed on that.

I am not sure what SVM thought they could have done to derisk above, but CLA rejecting their offer has been a disastrous decision in hindsight. At 1c it's not worth selling, and i am certainly not prepared to average down with such uncertainty. It is a good orebody, and maybe some miracle will happen.