Some thoughts on why I think there's a still a good risk/reward setup here and why I don't think the approvals are a problem yet:
A) It's not a surprise that we don't have the secondary approvals yet and they are not needed as urgently as some commentators here are making out. In the
amvest webinar on 17 June:
- ~22:25 Mike says secondary approvals expected in 'next few months'.
- ~29:20 a question is asked about 'how are you sure works will be sufficient?'. The explanation is basically that Vimy determines what is sufficient. Julian also says "if it turns out we haven't done enough, the way it's actually written is, as long as we keep going and eventually get to substantial they won't ever stop us. So I'm confident that the work that we'll do before that deadline will be substantial. But if it doesn't, nothing will stop us from just keep going."
- ~55:10 there's another question about the last two approvals being held up. Julian Tapp says "It's just taken longer than we expected" and gives examples about some of the minutiae they are being asked about. "We are in a good position, we intend to do some early works later this year because we will have everything in place to start work."
B) Those in the know seem to remain confident.
- See Julian's comments above. He's the approvals expert (and also has the right family connections... step daughter is Environment Minister of WA).
- Mike bought more shares at 11c in a SPP in July.
- No movement from large shareholders, including Twiggy (who should know a thing or two about mining in WA).
C) The price current price has a lot of uncertainty 'baked in', IMO.
D) Contrary to what others think, I don't consider Mike a 'salesman'. Quite the opposite. He's pretty rough around the edges and does a poor job of marketing. But that just means there's some good assets being undervalued. That's the opposite setup to Bannerman, where there is a high valuation on a less attractive asset just because the CEO is amazing (and I agree, I could listen to Brandon talk all day).
I'll guess we'll just have to see if Mike can get another mine running...that's what matters.