G'day all... I've just sent my reply to Mr Herbertson at 1240 today 04/05.
I had some considerable difficulty determining my response as it seems that the Company Secretary has not been taking my enquiries seriously. I believe that I have been fed glib lines of the usual obfuscation that is a feature of IGE announcements. So I've stepped up a gear to make this approach more productive.
Blame shifting is an insidious tool and should never by used by a company in dealing with shareholders or the ASX. I felt very angry at Mr Herbertson's effort to blame holders for "unfounded, inflammatory" postings. As I explain in this response the cause of such comments is the nature of the company announcements. As such, I've taken the time to read and try to understand my own feelings and thoughts on the matters before us and to gather if my perceptions of others posts confirm or deny my own responses.
I hope that other holders will write to Mr Herbertson to share their own perceptions and thoughts of the company communications and Mr Herbertson's response to me on Friday.
cheers, Scott.
Good afternoon Joshua,
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate that you have taken the time to be aware of Hot Copper shareholders’ concerns.
As you are aware I have always informed you that all communications between us will be posted on the Hot Copper forum offering the URL address for you to access. Therefore you would also be aware that all information you provide in answer to my questions would be made public. I have also written that I do not represent other shareholders but share your responses.
Members of the forum, as you are aware, have become very anxious to access information regarding the company and funding sources. This is due to the nature of IGE announcements being confusing, eg. the announcement of ADIA being the source of Tangier funds confusion and the repeated changes to SGC drawdown dates without adequate or accurate explanation. This has led to increased speculation and scepticism. As little information has been made available to shareholders some of the healthy scepticism has become cynicism. This is not due to anything other than the lack of accurate, timely and meaningful announcements from IGE. This has been exacerbated by difficulties contacting IGE which caused shareholders to make repeated enquiries of the company and to become increasingly frustrated by the lack of response from the company.
Therefore, if shareholders posts on Hot Copper are “unfounded, inflammatory” or “undermine the integrity of the market” it is due to the lack of information that can be accepted as credible. You further write, in regard to the resignation of Bevan Dooley, that “the thoughts and perceptions of you and other posters are incorrect”. Of this I agree as speculation becomes heightened with the lack of quality information concerning the matter.
In all our communications I have tried to ensure that my own views do not contaminate or alter in any way the import of your explanations/responses to my questions and when posting on Hot Copper I have tried to maintain a neutrality so as to not bias readers or provide anything other than a clear understanding of your meaning. Only after some days have elapsed do I allow myself to post my own perceptions and thoughts on issues raised.
The use of the word “imminent” is a key example of IGE communications. Shareholders expect the company announcements to reflect the true situation of the company and when words are used to express a time-frame, such as imminent, it is expected that the normal understanding of the word used will be accurate. As such “imminent” denotes a time that is certain to occur in the immediate context. Yet the latest announcement of yet more delay, regardless of the reasons, undermines shareholders confidence that the company is telling the truth. “Imminent” is a word that provides no tolerance of delays. The word provides an expectation of immediate fulfilment. It has now been 27 days since the April 9 announcement and all we read is yet more delays. I think that the word “imminent” has passed its use-by date and I require a better explanation than that which has been offered.
So, from this, I believe you can now think and perceive that shareholders comments are explicable by means of the poor quality of IGE communications with shareholders and that your complaint regarding posters comments being “unfounded, inflammatory” or otherwise undermining is caused by IGE communications being inadequate, of very poor quality and inconsistent with the true situation of the company.
As a shareholder I expect and require that the companies in which I invest my money should provide open and complete information regarding the current conditions that the company faces. This is a requirement of The Australian Securities Exchange.
In the latest announcement, “Quarterly Operations Review and Appendix 4C” 30/04/20, the company now identifies GEP Fuel and Energy as a “funder”. I understood that GEP was obtaining funds from Tangier Services.
Can you please provide a clear, full and thorough explanation as to the actual nature of the funding arrangements, including what company is providing the funds, the actual amount including the schedule of drawdown, the timeframe for repayments, any collateral that the loan requires, the interest required for the loan, and a reasonably accurate timeframe for the receipt of these funds. Please include a comment providing an accurate and detailed explanation the delay issues.
This, as I understand the situation, is the key to IGE being enabled to complete its commercial plans and is key to the suspension of IGE market trading. The lack of this information has been the signal issue which has materially “undermined the integrity” of the company and the ability for shareholders to trade IGE shares.
I no longer consider phone communication to be adequate for me to provide an accurate report of IGE communications to my fellow shareholders and ask that all future correspondence be made by email. I trust that you have no objection to such.
I thank you for your attention,
