In case some here don't know, here in Austraalia the government takes companies that owe tax according to the ATO to court, and gets a court ruling. Can someone point me in the direction of a court ruling that gave Mali authorities permission to grab Randgolds assets??
This is a company the govt has been partners with for 16 years? that they have just stepped in and grabbed assets. This does not happen here, so yes it raises sovereign risk issues very substantially.
If you want to discuss PLS then go to the PLS forum, it is not for discussion here.
The oops heading was a sudden warning about a change of how the govt seems to be reacting. BGS are meant to be in discussions with Randgold over use, JV, or buying BGS ore for the Morila facility. It was a short term issue 10 months ago, yet discussions are meant to still be happening.
IMO suddenly Randgold's attention has been pointed elsewhere, so I don't see anything happening with the gold in the short term at all. This then brings up the question of cash, yes $8m currently, but when I was holding I saw the gold as providing extra cash to start on developing a mine for the lithium. Instead we have enough cash to do more drilling and some studies that tell everyone what we already know about a profitable mine because of the grade, and best option is to put a Li-OH plant next to the concentrator.
The govt seizing assets is a definite oops momment, or some rather more substantial words come to mind. To me it means cash from gold OFF the agenda short term. Then for anyone to put in the $US240m or whatever a conversion plant costs, a sudden EXTRA risk of govt risk. It makes getting investment in anything in Mali much harder. IMO a really stupid thing for the govt to do. I don't think anyone would disagree with that.
I'd like to know what the motives of those that don't want to discuss these issues are? This is very relevant to BGS, did some just want no discussion at all?
Do some people really think this is good as BGS might pick up the Morila plant cheaply, and Randgold will not take whatever legal action that is open to them to get their assets back??
This issue is not just going to go away if I stop posting, it is real and it will affect the share price and IMO already has.
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