thing is though, there's always that allure with diamond explorers - what if they DO find something worthwhile? plus you can buy a truckload of its shares for a reasonable cost and just imagine how that would set you up.... and so it is that punters continue to support such companies even though they might consider other types of explorers with comparable track records as dogshit. Are you recognising yourselves here?
what makes matters worse of course is that LOM operates in Angola. Let's see, what's wrong with being an explorer in Angola? Well, you might want to do a bit of surfing to find out the esteem in which Angola is held by the international community. Ruled for 33 years by one of the most corrupt regimes on earth - that's not defamatory, it's a FACT. Try Googling how dos Santos daughter happens to be a multi-billionaire while the Angolan population starve and have no proper drinking water. Or you might care to check the numerous articles about how Billions of dollars disappeared between the Angolan government, the Russian arms dealers, and a big Swiss bank. (Doesn't Alrosa have Russian connections?) Then you might consider how Angolan oil profits just seem to vanish with only a handful of dollars profiting its people? The list of proven corrupt practices in Angola is virtually endless. Angola for all its resource riches doesn't seem to attract many reputable international companies, I wonder why? Is this a country anyone could faithfully do business with?
but I digress. Where does LOM fit in this Angolan nest of vipers? I'm not sure I really understand that question myself, but you'd have to think that the position of a tiny foreign company which maybe (that's a BIG maybe) sits on a potentially lucrative diamond field would certainly not escape the rapacious eye of the dos Santos government. And of course it hasn't. Even before you can start turning a shovel full of dirt in Angolan diamond territory the Angolan government takes 60% - yes folks, that's not 6% but 60%. And that doesn't include the many "taxes" and "fees" you are likely to have to meet along the way - such as the recent $800,000? heist we knew nothing about....
LOM has no big brother to protect itself in Angola, it's completely at the mercy of Angolan officials, why not let LOM discover Kimberlite pipes at LOM's (that's yours and mine expense) then simply refuse to issue any further permits? Oh, but that would raise eyebrows among the international community and damage Angola's reputation I hear you say. Trust me, Angola has no reputation to lose. Equally the Angolan government might just allow LOM to continue as a kind of showcase example of its 'integrity' in allowing such an inconsequential company to prosper in their midden, after all it's already got its hooks in anyway. Who knows?
but apart from the operating environment in which LOM finds itself, what's LOM actually doing in terms of progress towards achieving its own goals? Well, it's a very mixed bag IMO. Almost always fails to meet any timelines it has occasionally set itself, does not effectively communicate with shareholders about obstacles (the visa refusal, disclosure of more monies being demanded by the Angolan government etc) and little information in general about day to day operational activities - IMO a significant lack of transparency. All the above is reflected in its extremely poor market performance, merely bouncing along the bottom of many years decline in its share price - with a bloated share register and poor results to date in diamond recoveries, no surprises there, eh?. Don't tell me it's only at the exploration stage and not a miner - it's irrelevant. You have to ask yourself given the weak progress to date, will LOM EVER be a miner?.... yes, weak progress because even with the finds so far, if that's the best LOM can do it will never progress anywhere. And as for those 'valuations' of LOM being a potential multi-billion dollar company? pure fantasy, they'd need to be recovering thousands of carats on a regular basis to get anywhere close.
so here we all are in 2014, If I could care less, I'd go back to see posts from a year ago and I'm sure I'd find the same old posts from the same old people proclaiming 'this is the year...' LOL. The more things change the more they remain the same. Which brings me back to my opening para. Diamond explorers will always suck in money from those whose flights of fancy take them to believing that for a few thousand dollars they could be riding a multi-billion company which will change their lives. Oh, wait a bit, that's what the Lottery is all about isn't it? It's not that it COULDN'T happen.....
meanwhile, I notice the sp has just taken another knuckle sandwich to 8c. Oh well, there's always NEXT year.
LOM Price at posting:
24.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
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