How exactly is the mine, that we’ve walked away from after $250m+ (?) investment on the basis there were equipment delivery delays (despite the fact this was reported inexplicably late, in conflict with other positive news, and the equipment seems to have ultimately arrived?) and/or it can’t be mined productively (despite the fact it’s still mining) and/or there’s nothing worth mining there (despite repeated expert insistence from the start, and in repeated announcements and prospectuses, that Barrick had got it wrong and there was still good value in the mine) and/or that we’d run out of capital to keep the mine afloat (despite the fact it’s still mining) and/or liabilities outweighed assets aka it’s insolvent (despite the fact it’s not currently in liquidation?) (it’s hard to keep up from the announcements on what the actual reason was again), still chugging along so effectively now that we’ve apparently walked away?
Apart from the meltdown back in Aus, what’s stopping FFX resuming running the gold mine it apparently still owns now again?
It seems for me to take quite a number of mental leaps to imagine no one knew at least some of the events/opinions sooner in the process than we were ultimately informed of. Or at least if they truly didn’t that not knowing does not indicate material gaps in governance and responsible oversight. And there seems to be hints in recent commentary aka the AGM that the Board feels this did happen and have tried pointing to the subsidiary running the mine and its management team as apparently going rogue (!!!), apparently quite legally and ordinarily (!!!), and without this being officially announced or to my knowledge even noted in risk registers / prospectuses (!!!!!).
So who knew what when, what actions did they take, were those actions consistent with their duties to shareholders and legislation, and did anyone take actions with personal benefit without shareholder disclosure (trading, positioning, framing, timely exiting) etc.
To my simple mind, any director acting in the interests of shareholders would want a transparent and independent forensic investigation to be conducted in the circumstances in which all directors stepped aside as a matter of conflicted interest to permit full access. Indeed it almost feels like there should be provisions in legislation to ensure shareholders can demand this in such situations.
Apart from the cost of doing so, presumably far less than a few million which feels relatively minor compared to the almost inexplicable burn rate while we tread water, I can’t see how this would harm any fire sale on the remaining cash and escrowed LLL given the company has already written off its gold mine.
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