I did, mate, I did! When management made that bold statement that never was confirmed by the pitiful production numbers they released, I started selling down my once significant position. And I'm certainly NOT going to buy back in yet, if ever! Because the thing that drew me into CNQ stock was their headstart vs. all the other wannabe-producers. Unfortunately this headstart has turned into a total disaster that now sees CNQ *LAG* most of its peers with regard to scheduled production start from hard rock. Several big players with a combined production capacity of almost 10x that of CNQ's proposed hard rock production (if - considering this horrendous track record - they really find somebody willing to finance this adventure) are likely to enter the market EARLIER than CNQ and this is likely to put further pressure on already depressed tungsten prices. Even Sisson, once a Johnny-come-lately project, now looks like it could go online sooner than CNQ HR. Nui-Phao, Sangdong, Hemerdon, and a number of others, too.
The picture that I see is this: CNQ has spent 5-10 millions on a plant that has generated nothing but losses on revenues of below 1 million. And the quarterly report confirmed it continues to severely underperform at about 15% nameplate capacity, 10 months after its official opening and 4 months after phasing in new equipment that was supposed to fix the production issues. What a nightmare! The tailings project's objective - in stark contrast to what I deem your very own reinterpretation - was to make money, generate 10M in sales per annum and contribute to the hard rock phase's financing! This is well documented in glossy presentations and prospectuses (still available on ASX) that have been put before us when they were asking for our money to finance the tailings project back in 2011. As it turned out, CNQ missed on the budget, missed on the time line, missed awfully on production. In my book they failed on all fronts. And think about it, Mitsubishi is not exactly well known for honoring (or being associated with) continued failure.
CNQ Price at posting:
7.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
