rubbing salt into the wound...., page-19

if - as you say - UMC was left with no choice other than to sell Railway deposit to BHP because there was no other solution, then the board has totally misplayed its hand since Jim R discovered the deposit....they had the chance to raise cash > $2 (a la Brockman), they had the chance to get port allocations, they had chance to join the iron ore alliance...all opportunities passed up on because all along they only saw one game in town. So is it any wonder after throwing away so many other possibilities we are only left with an inferior one which totally shafts longer term shareholders? Effectively we held 3 aces and got bluffed into folding by BHP.

UMC didn't factor in the value of detritals when every other IO company on the ASX seems to place great value in them - and more importantly, so do the shareholders investing in them. Even FMS has dramatically outperformed UMC since we were 90c. To say with the high AUD we are uneconomic is laughable, and makes a mockery of the NPV the company released just 13 months ago. The takeover premium has been well and truly outperformed by the general iron ore market. There was no significant broker coverage or awareness in Australia, no roadshows that I am aware of (if there were, they were obviously monumentally unsuccessful!), no quality cornerstone investors (just sharks who hammered the share price during Opus Prime and the GFC)...so we found ourselves at the mercy of the bot and a share price of 90c subsequent to the announcement of a $1.35 placement!

Look at the GFC lows of any number of iron ore companies around December/January and they are today many multiples of that price. So please don't tell me $1.30 is a good deal, given we had one of the very best deposits in Australia.

I can't think of a time a share price fell by a third so soon after a placement had been announced, can you? Nor can I think of a time when a board accepted a full takeover at a discount to the placement price in such a short period of time, can you?

I can't fathom why the board decided we had a good deal at $1.30 for full takeover when a Chinese interest with funding capability and infrastructure expertise would pay a premium for a small stake, can you? I can't understand why the board would roll over to BHP when third party access is still on the agenda, can you?

I won't be voting against the takeover as I have sold all my shares. But I don't understand how or why they have done what they have done. I will watch with interest what happens to Mount Robinson and the other undrilled or underdrilled targets.

Never have I seen such a great opportunity thrown away for a pittance. For that reason alone I will avoid all the UMC directors from now on.

I can only wonder what directors with a little courage and initiative could have done with this great opportunity.

I am not angry or bitter, there are other opportunities elsewhere with directors who really want to build long term shareholder value rather than taking the easy option.