Ann: Erin Secures Option to Acquire Medical Cannabis Business MGC, page-10

Norfolk Island shows us up as dopey mainlanders

• by: Tim Boreham
• From: The Australian
• May 20, 2015 12:15PM

Tim Boreham

Criterion Columnist
Melbourne


The irony of the rush to listed medical marijuana plays is that Australia doesn’t produce any of the stuff legally and domestic therapeutic usage is still verboten.

It’s taken an unlisted company to rectify the first shortcoming, with the Perth-based AusCann winning tentative permission to grow and export a crop at a secure two-hectare site on Norfolk Island.
We say tentative because while the semi-autonomous Norfolk Island government has granted the licence, special administrator Gary Hardgrave can always veto it.

A similar proposal from Tasman Health Cannabinoids was knocked back, partly on concerns about security of the crop.

AusCann should have no problem shooing off disoriented stoners, having engaged the service of a mob called Lockforce that’s staffed by ex-SAS operatives.
For the Norfolk Islanders, it’s the potential export industry they need following the recent demise of wordsmith Colleen McCollough.

The tricky politics of the deal are being championed by AusCann chairman Mal Washer, who championed medical pot in his time as a moderate Liberal MP.
Washer says that as Hardgrave has had the details for five months now and raised no objections, the omens are good.

AusCann initially plans output of one tonne scaling up to 10 tonnes by 2018.
“The entire first one-tonne harvest is destined for Canada where AusCann has strong interest from leading licensed producers to secure these unique, high-value medical strains,’’ AusCann says.

The ASX-listed pot plays are also focused anywhere but here.
Capital Mining (CMY) intends to buy 49 per cent of Canada’s Broken Coast cannabis for $7m of cash and $25m of stock options.

The deal may not be over the line: Capital Mining yesterday requested a trading suspension because “the renegotiation terms are incomplete and the company is not yet able to make an announcement”.

Erin Resources (ERI) on Monday said it would eschew million-ounce gold prospects in Senegal in favour of buying Israeli cometic cannabis outfit MGC Global.

Phytotech (PYL), the first to list here, initially focused on Israeli-based delivery methods but now plans to merger with Canadian grower MMJ Biosciences in a $15.5m deal.

International Goldfields (IGS) plans to buy 85 per cent of Uruguayan “cannabis innovator” Winter Gardens, which specialises in non-synthetic products and delivery systems.
Why Uruguay? The South American country gazumped Colorado as the first regime to legalise the full chain of the process from R & D to consumption.
This makes our regulators look like dopes when they are shaded by a small South American country and — no offence — Norfolk Island.

Meanwhile, AusCann is open to a listing later in the year but currently does not need capital.
AusCann is owned by 26 individuals including Nevil Schoenmakers, the father of cannabis genetics who established the world’s first marijuana seed bank in — where else? — Holland in 1984.

The Australian accepts no responsibility for stock recommendations. Readers should contact a licensed financial adviser. The author does not hold shares in the stocks mentioned.