Yes because it was perfectly set to attract pip flippers who...

Yes because it was perfectly set to attract pip flippers who could exit the day they got the shares for a profit and keep the options for free (I even thought about it with this stock but I think the freebie options will never be in the money before expiry so I didn't bother). Notice the trading volume on the days/week that the new shares were issued? Likely the reason for the sell down to below the issue price if you associate a couple of c of value to the free options. Hardly long term investors who are interested in holding their stock.... but believe what you want. I'm a 708 "sophisticated" investor and I do this on many stocks - it's a good strategy. The company gets the money so they are happy, the placement manager gets their 4-8% fee on amounts raised, sophs/instos get to make a quick buck by flipping the shares on market the day they get them and the shareholders get left holding the bags. Normally when there is a SPP following an insto/soph raise, they have an announcement ready to go for the days/weeks following the issue of new shares to give the instos/sophs liquidity to sell in to and to prop up the share price to get maximum participation in the SPP. Didn't quite go as planned here with an operations update that lacked substance or good results.

I imagine if those same sophs were offered to partake in the SPP today like shareholders are, there would be no interest. They'll wait for the next raise to get in at a 10-15% discount and flip the shares on market again, keeping any options as free upside.

Amazing how this stock has performed when you look at gas and oil prices and how peers have perofrmed over the period. Imagine where this stock would be if oil was back at $40/bbl.