Went for a walk this morning and listened to an investment analyst who was telling anyone who cared to listen that the Dow Jones was copping a hammering down 650 points at that stage because the Fed was considering lifting interest rates. He expected this correction to continue in the U.S given that inflation figures were also growing which would also put additional pressure on interest rate movements. Everything that he said was accurate but in the space of an hour the Dow ended up 100 points. A reversal of over 750 points in less than an hour. Suddenly the market was not concerned about inflation or interest rates going higher. Or maybe it was . Who would really know. Stay tuned.
For those who may be wondering why Trevor decided to acquire the Ukraine mine I will give you a brief summary. He had been trying to organise funding like so many other Graphite companies with little success. He believed by getting a producing graphite mine it would enhance the chances of proving to the bank that they now had an income producing asset that would help get Volt across the line for the 31 million U.S that they needed to get stage 1 up and running. It appeared that this strategic acquisition had proven a winner because about five or so months ago Trevor had been give assurances by Senior people in the Bank that Volts loan would be approved within the next month or so. They told him that Volts application was now with the Credit Committee but it was basically a done deal. There are 3 gentleman who sit on the panel of the Credit Committee [ the final stages of approving the Loan } . It was during this time that Trevor conducted a series of interviews and webinars and when asked the question about funding he told everyone we are close. He told everyone who asked the question the answer he was given by senior banking officials. Fancy him telling us what he had infact been told by senior officials !!
As the weeks past he eventually got the news on the funding. It seemed that 2 of the gentleman on the Credit committee had given their approval for the loan to be granted but the 3rd had decided he wanted more information which was supplied by Trevor as requested. This person then asked for more information after each weekly meeting. People can draw their own conclusions as to why this 3rd person didn't give Trevor a list of ALL the information that he wanted at once to help speed up the process. People can also draw their own conclusions as to why 2 of the credit committee gentleman had given their tick of approval but the third chose to go the longer path and continues to do so. For what it's worth the Credit Commitee usually meets each week, but sometimes they get cancelled for various reasons which only adds to the frustration . Imagine answering the question put to you by the 3rd person to then be told I have another question for you . See you in a weeks time and so and so on. My understanding is the questions are still being asked and the answers from Trevor are still being supplied to the satisfaction of the said 3rd person. In relation to the Lithium purchase a major shareholder had these tenements in Serbia which were right next door to RIO's Jadar project. Much had been written about how this could become one of the top ten Lithium projects in the world and Rio had been given assurances that the Serbian Govt was keen to bring this type of investment to their country for a whole range of reasons. Rio had already spent considerable money proving up this resource on that undertaking. When the opportunity presented itself to Trevor to acquire this land at a cost of 1 million dollars of VRC stock he jumped at that chance and why wouldn't anyone do likewise when you have a neighbour like Rio Tinto on the other side of the fence. What eventually happens with Rio's bid to become a Lithium producer in Serbia, only time will tell. HINDSIGHT is a wonderful thing . To be reading some of the posts this morning talking about how Volt shouldn't have acquired the Ukraine mine and should not have got involved with the Serbian Lithium when Rio had already doe most of the hard work to establish themeselves in that country is ridiculous chatter. Had the Bank honored what they said they were going to do perhaps Trevor would have gone a different path. Who knows. Maybe the conversation right now would have been on how our stage 1 was nearing completion and that we could start to produce graphite in Tanzania.
Trevor has done everything possible to bring shareholder wealth to this company. He still believes that funding will eventually happen all be it much longer than he would have preferred. He even went to the Ukraine last week when many might have suggested he don't go. But he wanted to ensure that things were moving in the right direction with the appointments that were announced a few months ago. He wanted to witness first hand that production was on the increase and the economics on running this plant were improving. He has since left the Ukraine a few days ago. I would suggest he has been very unlucky with some of the goings on that have been happening that are beyond his control. I have known Tevor for quite some time now and to read comments that he is a liar and full of Sh$t is very disappointing .What some people fail to realise is that there are all sorts of reason why things can take longer that you might have imagined . If Trevor has given individuals time lines about when things were supposed to happen ti's because others have given him assurance that they would. His biggest fault is he is too honest and perhaps he should not give out information to shareholders in good faith.
But Trevor remains fully committed to getting the job done . Something that Bosswhat has already pointed out in a previous post.
Cheers.
VRC Price at posting:
2.1¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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