Core Gold - $1.00 stock, $200million market cap, Bidding WarThere is every reason for Core to be once again a $1.00 stock, with about a $200 million market cap - just for starters. And then upwards from there - $2.00, $5,00 who knows how much before fair value would be reached.
Core Gold has the best gold asset package in the world. That is not bravado - it's what is being said at the mining shows, and among the real (actual) mine-builders of the world. There is no other mining locale on earth with a healthy, ready-to-develop gold district like Core's Dynasty, Copper Duke and Linderos. And for strange reasons of recent history, it's essentially available for pennies on the dollar, even at 25 cents, 35 cents, 45 cents, 60 cents, 80 cents. Dead cheap for what it is and will be. It's on a scale of Fruta Del Norte - truly suitable for major development, a whole spectacular district of value, major production potential in the 100,000 - 200,000+ ounce/year range easily. Gold itself is going up solidly, $1400+ per ounce, and the gold mining stock sector along with it, finally. The timing couldn't be better.
Core has a couple of 43-101s, updated recently, showing what is it? - 5 - 6 million ounces of gold or so. And possibly 2x or 3x that there, if it's drilled up - would we see 20 million ounces? Ecuador is the "hot" mining country of the globe right now - everybody who's anybody, wants in.
It's easy to forget that Core was technically in liquidation from 2016 until September or December 2018 (depending on how you count the end of it), with a very hard-won struggle to get past that. And overlapping that was the terrible period of the ugh-deal (won't even mention their name) as if cooked up in the background by the current bad board less Keith Piggott, it seems largely behind the CEO's back. God forbid that crew should stick their heads up again.
How laughable and absurd that they thought they could swipe the whole thing, as if real shareholders wouldn't throw up at largely a paper deal, staggeringly weak paper, with a shell company whose shares could only be traded in Australia - the arrogance of that idea is astounding. It takes a certain kind of self-centered thinking to imagine that shareholders wouldn't have pitchforks and burning torches ready for that kind of ugly scheme. The completely tone-deaf nature of the circulars and press releases, perhaps so much and so bizarrely focussed on attacking Keith Piggott because they couldn't come up with any good or real reasons for their plan, made it all clear. In a bad way.
Because of Keith and the incredible, unique family of shareholders that said "no way!", an astounding court battle, history-making, was won. The judge made it perfectly clear that notwithstanding the BOD4's representations, Keith was fired just for standing up for shareholders, just for rejecting an unfair, unreasonable bid, as it was formally decided. And it's obvious to any 4 year old - and all of us too - that Keith was fired exactly when he brought a top bid to the table - the BOD4 slammed the door at exactly that moment. Equally obvious that Keith should be reinstated, with his options and his expenses paid, and that the current board can't possibly expect to continue as-is. They're dreaming. They have to change. The Lead Director that brought all the trouble, this calumny on shareholders, hugely wasted money, energy and time, should obviously be the first to be replaced. What some have said: you didn't properly represent the true interests of the company. Failed fiduciary duty. Zero credibility now with shareholders. Get a move on.
The crushing legal decision in favour of shareholders is going to be cited for decades to come - it will be a standard of case law. A few miscreants with too much self-interest vs. real people, real investors - a lot of whom have been dedicated to Core Gold for 10 years or more. The case may have formally been with Keith Piggott - but it was always obvious that it was Keith Piggott + the shareholders on one side, shareholders he unfailingly represented, vs. the BOD4 (as they have been described), the rump board that did not represent shareholders, not real ones.
As one of the shareholders put it - don't mess with a bunch of largely retired people and their life savings, people who have a lot of time, energy and expertise on their hands. Seeming bandits figured they could easily slide this superb set of assets away from shareholders .. and they figured wrong. They budgeted 15 minutes in court - that's how much self-serving overconfidence they had.
So, there is naturally a state of shock, e.g. same as once a person has been through surgery, and survived brilliantly, after a long hard fight. Even with a win, you have to adjust to it. That's where shareholders are now. A couple/few weeks ago, a judge came down massively in favour of the real, true, average-person shareholders, hundreds of them voting "No!". Not the trumped-up insider count that the current management apparently still pathetically quotes, not just a few entities stacking the votes, locking in commitments long in advance in their favour - but real, actual, true shareholders, real people, hundreds of them, who had put their hard-won money into Core and didn't exactly feel like having it whipped away from them. The state of shock after winning, takes a little while to get over. Shareholders have been in shock. The market has been in shock. And then ... then it's time to move on, and see that the company and shareholders are in a good place.
It's absolutely clear that Core Gold is now in play. If it was news before, it's NEWS now - the Core Gold story has been spread all over the mining pages, the stock pages, the legal pages. And what normally happens at this stage - and what wouldn't surprise at all now - is a contest to bid, a bidding war. Lots of solid companies expressed interest to shareholders in the past year - it's pretty obvious that the Core Gold concessions are unusually, extremely valuable, one-of-a-kind on the whole earth. Ridiculously high grades of sweet oxide ore at surface at all the projects (4 g/ton, 6 g/ton, 13g/ton), and completely obvious gold-bearing porphyries popping right out at surface too at Celica (Dynasty) and Copper Gold as well. It's an utter dream for any capable, real-mining-company to develop.
It takes weeks, of course, for companies to rub their eyes and see clearly that Core is in a position to accept bids, even if management is improperly dragging their feet opening the data room, and then for those companies to do at least some due diligence, and to actually file the paperwork to make some proper bids. The current board and management are just waking up to the fact they lost in their schemes, and perhaps they aren't exactly running top-speed to restart a true, fair, honest process - but they must. The courts will insist.
And there are a ton of reasons for companies to bid. As one of the companies that expressed interest put it - "the ground makes up for everything" - i.e. superb mineralized bodies make up for all the problems of the past, all the problems of the Core board that so desperately needs a (ahem) "refresh" now, needs a refresh desperately badly. It may be August - who knows? - when bids are before the board and the public, but all the old-timers know - this is the time for bidding.
We can forget the past period of Core's struggles to get back into production. We can begin to forget the ridiculous attempt to take Core away for the benefit of insiders and some Australian shell corporation, totally hated by real (true) shareholders from the start. Time to see Core for a normal company with superb assets, and position oneself and one's thinking for the months to come. In however long - days, weeks? - we should hear of some solid, committed interest with real money by real mining companies, and likely enough by late Summer or Fall, Core should be in a solid place, with major development in progress and money in the kitty to back it. Time to step back and see the big picture - Core Gold has an entire district of world-topping assets, and it's inevitable that there will be plenty of real-dollar interest in Core.