We have all been conditioned especially in these times to be...

We have all been conditioned especially in these times to be sceptical.

Both Jordaan (ex SGI) and McInnes (ex VAN) both rightly coped a lot of flack from shareholders over the last 6 years as their respective share prices tanked but neither had been given the privilege or the temerity of obtaining free shares especially for just raising cash! Both were ‘given’ shares but were not free carry and had to be purchased at a higher strike price before being exercised. Over 98% of these performance bonuses were under water so were never exercised.

Both were articulate and precise in their quarterly and newsletters, James is not. Both had at least some broker coverage and both had made multiple public presentations to educate the public. James zero. We are being told that James has a plan, but we have not seen it! All of us are confused by his motherhoods and ambiguous statements in his only communication being the obligatory quarterly statements. James promised 12 months ago that the $22m capital raise (ONLY to a selected few hence dilution for everyone else) was done to mine Marymia! But nothing has happened except mousey words like we need to take a more tempered view of Trident as we flesh out the DFS (question: why even bother with a DFS/BFS if we are generating enough cash organically?). We know Marymia has over 65% open cut potential, CYL has mining approval all existing with pre indigenous arrangements, yet we stall.

We also know that AISC has had every known cent both capital and operating expense loaded in its cost to show it at its worse. James blames both VAN (con note) and SGI (gold loan) for balance sheet mess however not only did he know during the due diligence that these debts existed (which he factored in to give a lower offer price to SGI and VAN) he has since the merger extended the time and added additional debt amounts with both Collins Street and Auramet.

So, to the positive news: gold has gone up over 50% since Jordaan and McInnes left the building, James has consolidated the cluster fu@k of the legal embitterment that was the demise of both SGI and VAN. Henty has improved. And yes James has purchased with his money $1m of CYL shares at 75 cents.

But therein lies the real dashboard as to how we should judge James’s legacy as CEO of CYL. His purchase price was at a 25% discount to the last raising of $22m @ $1.00 (for which ironically he achieved free performance shares). CYL was once $3.40 which at today’s price of 86 cents is at a substantial 75% drop to a market that is experiencing historical gold record highs and peer MC embarrassment. So, IMO unless James delivers a multiple of at least 3-4 times our current market price in the next 12 months it’s a failure.

In short the only thing that matters to me is CYL’s share price!