Ann: Director Resignation, page-2

Well this is certainly a big surprise, one must now have to question why all the recent resignations and the way the previous 2 board members departed.
~ Callaghan leaving I can understand given his recent resignations from ASXF1 & ASX:VMM, being domiciled in Argentina & IMO he was only there as a stop gap until more suitable Directors were sourced, although I fail to see his replacement as being more suitable to an Iron Ore project.

Taylor resigning is more bad news for the Company, with his lauded credentials in the Iron Industry he will be missed by the Company.
~ a posters quote on his appointment:
"I think even the most sceptical would say the new boss is no mug, and a specialist in Iron Ore from all accounts"

It has (IMO) only added to the current headwinds facing the Company:
(i) what will be an extended delay until:
(a) suitable accomodation can be found for the cultural heritage group Yular Heritage, avoiding mining camps and population centres in the Pilbara due to Covid concerns.
~ the mind does boggle at this request, and I don't envy the Company trying to negotiate and implementing this, maybe a fleet of caravans that can be moved around the boundaries of the project easily?
(b) the time to complete the Heritage Survey's
~ currently they are only looking at the target drill areas but will eventually have to do surveys across the whole Hamersley Project: anywhere that ground will be broken, including something as simple as having a grader make track roads.
(c) after the surveys have been completed, final agreement from the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation (WGAC)
(d) when all the above has been completed, organise drilling contractors
~ with the shortage of contractors currently being experienced in Western Australia this could cause further delays. as I highly doubt that the Company would have give drilling contractors an estimate timeline
~ Taylor does say in the announcement, "the Company has taken the decision to delay the drilling campaign until such time that the Heritage Surveys have been completed." -- I will make the assumption that means, the surveys completed for the drill areas? and surely not for the whole project area?

(ii) Iron Ore prices have come off the recent highs (March) and have stabilised around the US$125 - US127 /t
~ I expect this is due to China's Covid lockdown


~ Ignoring the Western Australian budget forecast of US$66 /t, Iron Ore is expected to trade at US$119 /t by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, they estimate it to trade at US$107 /t in 12 months time.
~ keep in mind that is for Fe ~ 63.5%, which is somewhat higher than the current EQN resource figure of Fe ~ 55.2% but has high impurities that will attract further discounting to price. I will take a guess that these figure will improve with further infill drilling (planned) and more testing work.
~ the previous scoping work / studies performed by original management WFE indicated that the Iron Ore price needed to be sustained above US$100 /t for the project to be viable - again, I suspect that may have been based on the current quality of the resource.


(iii) who is left to be able to progress the project?:
(a) Wallis was appointed as General Manager of Geology, Heritage, Environment and Safety
~ helpful for the negotiation with WGAC
(b) Fyfe appointed COO and senior leader of the Company's development focussed strategy for the Hamersley IO Project
~ previous experience (30 years) includes positions held with Rio, De Beers, integral role in the Kalia Iron Ore mine and processing plant
(c) the new flavour of the month Martin, has now been in director roles of 2 companies for 3 years

~ If find it amusing that with the delays to the drilling program as a result of consultation and extra requirements imposed on mining Company's by the Aboriginal Heritage groups (absolutely justifiable given the damage cause by Rio) some shareholders see Taylor as reason of slow / no progress.
~ In what appears to be some passing shots at Taylor on his resignation by the happy posters on the bird, indicating that now Martin is on board there will be some rapid share price appreciation.
~ It is becoming the norm now that share price appreciation is deemed to be driven by who is on the board and/or in the Top 20 and/or Substantial Shareholders, the common links if you missed them ......


Yep, finger pointing it is all Taylor's fault ..... SMH
The expectation of share price appreciation has little to do with the quality of the assets versus the who's who or the registry
~ short memories prevail:
It isn't the driver of the car as he just steers, its the car that gets you there until it breaks down and needs a new suspension

With all the expected delays, there is some buyers
Maybe driven by happy hands on the bird








Or fake bids on the buys side? being screen shot ......
If that doesn't get you excited then there is nothing like a director buying on market,
~ to which IMO we may see some more "Changes of ....." notices.

cheers