I'm not a shareholder of VEC, but know a bit about the main...

I'm not a shareholder of VEC, but know a bit about the main asset, the DRC and VEC. I'm sorry to say that this one is a dead duck.

There is so much wrong with the whole VEC story that it is difficult to know where to start....the project's location (terrane, vegetation and access), the local community, the security situation, the DRC in general, the ownership structure of the project and company, the deal with the original vendor, the parastatal project partner, the funding package and structure and the equity capital markets for this kind of a story. On top of all that management is way, way undercooked in terms of having the requisite experience to operate successfully in the DRC and also to have market presence to attract the continuing equity funding that it needs.

Notionally, there is a lot of gold there, but there are so many other issues to take the shine off this prize. Management misstepped a few times on this one and once that happens, it puts the company on very slippery slopes. That's where good, experienced management and a strong balance sheet would come to the fore. Unfortunately, VEC has neither of these attributes.

This thing will tank and shareholders won't be the winners. Riverfort will take a beating but may live to fight another day. One person that has done well out of it and will probably continue to do well, is the original project vendor.