Hmmm....

I am growing concerned about the prospects for Ironbark, based upon recent price action.

They appear to have miscalculated in their expectations of working with China Non Ferrous for minimal share dilution. During the China Non Ferrous era, there appeared to be no emphasis on a Plan B, which in hindsight looks like inferior management.
Now that all of the emphasis is on Plan B, the share price shows no evidence of any marketplace tension regarding the likelihood of a financing transaction.  

The Board advertises it's financial industry capabilities via resumes of two directors, together with the appointment of Cutfield, and a separate Finance Advisor. (see IBG description of these below, along with the March announcement regarding finance).

I think these credentials are beginning to look a little overstated.

To suggest that a trip by financiers in August is all that is required to turn this story into a fairy tale begs the question of why it did not happen months ago - the costs of delaying certainly outweigh the costs of a briefing trip.

In the meantime, the price action suggests that anyone can drive the price down for the cost of a few hundred thousand shares - and the positioning of a few million shares on either side of the current market price.
The conspiracy theorists will say that they are cappers, and shorters, but even if true, they can only do this because of the market uncertainty - which comes back to company messaging, key investor support (currently noticeably absent), and maybe the quality of current management team.


Peter Duncombe Bennetto- Non Executive Chairman
Peter has over 30 experience in banking and investment. He has had deep involvement in capital, currency and commodity markets with Societe Generale and Banque Indosuez. Peter has held company director positions in exploration, mining and manufacturing companies listed on the ASX since 1990. Peter was also a founding director of Anaconda Nickel Ltd.


David Kelly – Non Executive Director
Mr Kelly has over 9 years’ experience in finance industry in Australia and  the United Kingdom; he has held senior roles at Deloitte Touche Tomatsu, Chartered Accountants and Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group plc. Mr Kelly is a qualified Chartered Accountant, and is currently working for Ironbark’s substantial shareholder, Glencore International.

From March 7th announcement regarding key appointments

John Fitzgerald – Finance and Commercial Advisor John has over 25 years resource financing experience and has provided project finance and corporate advisory services to a large number of companies in the resource sector. John previously held senior positions at NM Rothschild & Sons, Investec Bank Australia, Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Precious Metals. John will work closely with Cutfield Freeman on the Citronen debt financing and will provide ongoing commercial input to the Ironbark team.

Cutfield Freeman & Co. Recently Ironbark announced the appointment of Cutfield Freeman & Co., (CF&Co) a highly credentialed tier one international financial advisory firm to assist Ironbark structure and secure the financing for the world class Citronen zinc project. CF&Co is an independent corporate finance house with offices in London, Toronto and Hong Kong providing independent advice to companies in the mining and metals sectors. CF&Co advises on all aspects of corporate, project and offtake-related finance, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. CF&Co has acted on a wide variety of transactions for a range of mining companies including BHP Billiton Ltd, Dynatec Corporation, Molycorp Inc, Zijin Mining Group Co., Anatolia Mineral Development Ltd/Alacer Gold Corporation.