I agree with you, but i must disagree with you on the point of takeover
@rexsh . Here is a recent, real story that people should consider.
I was on the ltr thread from 2019-2021. There were so many posters there saying oh wes/min/bhp/rio can buy us out for 50c, 80c etc.when the SP was 20c. I looked at it and always was of the opinion the only time SH will ever get real value out of this is if they take the asset into production. I picked up the bulk of my stock at 10c, and still have it.
Their board was consistent all the way along saying we're here to be producers. Posters were still saying things like, oh if we get taken out by this that etc...it made my stomach turn. Even after they appointed their new CEO, a seasoned mining dude, people were saying oh now rio will take us out and bhp etc...the SP had hit 80c and theyre still waiting for t/o. So in the end, they got the financing, secured off-takes, they put the people on they needed so they could go to the next step and they are now executing construction contracts for the mine itself, having already procured long lead items even before they got the financing. Ring a bell? and btw, have a look at their SP now - north of $2. And also, they recently dipped down to $1 after Golden Sacks said the lithium market was going to die in the ass. So some poor SH were shaken out and left their windfall on the table, for the smart guys to pounce taking advantage of GS's BS.
Now by sheer coincidence, one of the former board members of stx...just happens to be the visionary chair and major SH of ltr. This guy used his power to make sure no one ate his (or his shareholders) lunch. He and his team set out a forward plan for ltr to create a value add enterprise and keep it all in country...remind you of someone else? They were then backed by the capital markets and customers keen to get the offtakes and were able to implement it. Does this dynamic have a familiar ring to it?....if i substituted gas for lithium?
To my mind, that is what investing in these companies is about. Find a resource and then get to work developing it to maximise the value of your find. Not all boards can do it. But when you get a team that sets out a vision leading to real value add, and they put their money where their mouth is and make tangible steps toward achieving the goals, thats what you want.
Why should i look to bpt or anyone else as the only people that should be "allowed" to develop resources?? do they have proprietary and exclusive know-how that is out of my reach? do they have more rights than me or you to develop resources? In Australia we have this lemming like mentality that a take over is the biggest value add proposition we can achieve...thats maybe why a lot of our resources are owned by foreign entities.
So to say that I should look forward to someone like bpt mitsui etc to "take out" stx or wgo makes me sad. It says we do not have faith in the current boards to get us to the next step.
As for payout...Id much rather tax free dividends than have to pay half to the govt in one hit in the event of a t/o. And if i have to wait a bit for it...well so be it. I know full well if wgo and stx get to produce the gas they have found, the cash flow will help them find double that amount in the current permit area (see below). And when tax free dividends come out, the shares will take on a pricing model that includes capital growth and dividend income stream.
