There are a lot of rats still left to jump ship. This 11% buy by...

There are a lot of rats still left to jump ship. This 11% buy by Talley's may ironically get more of them to come out....the Singapore funds now own 43%. With that 43% ownership, they have done zilch for the company. So most of the shares are still owned by lottery winners, not people who know how to run/guide a business.

At 11%, Talley's means nothing yet. In theory, they could buy a heck a lot more before it makes any difference to anybody.

If Bathurst management had listened to our repeated requests to buy more and buy forcefully all these months, then most likely the rats would not have been jumping ship. In addition, we would not have been at 14 cents...but much higher.

If the Talley's news is really so bullish, then you would have expected even more buyers to show up after this announcement...yet, I see that we opened offered at 14 cents. Mr Market still does not a hoot about this 11% buying from Talley's.

Why? Just look at the company's last few announcements.

First, they used to boast about "risk management at all levels"...basically, foolish hedging of their met coal sales. Now? True to their cover up behavior, we get no inclination of how much has been hedged. Only meaningless statements like "our received price was NZ$214". That tells me nothing. Is that NZ$214 the benchmark off which they got 80% of NZ$214? What about the royalty payment of 6%? In short, total obfuscation. You are of course fine with it, given your cheerleading attitude, and letting management get away with sheer incompetence...Mr Market is not.

Second, look at their cash flow statement. Free cash flow was practically zero in the first half! No dividends paid by BT Mining to BRL either. In short, whatever little cash flow they made, was all sunk into god knows what. We got precious little in terms of an explanation for what they did the cash. A mere laundry list is not information...full disclosure would require a detailed explanation. Try looking that up from their pitch book.

I feel upset about the mess at BRL...but there is nothing to do. Lottery ticket 43% owners are no good. Hopefully Talley's boots out this management and brings Dan Clifford from Stanmore back to run BT Mining. Having met Clifford recently, I feel he is the ideal guy to run BRL...assuming he can be persuaded to do so. No hedging for Clifford...makes no sense as he rightly says.