Michel Bouchard and Jean-Marc Lacoste's Monarch Mining Corp. (GBAR) added one-half cent to one cent on 2.56 million shares. Monarch dropped one-half cent to one-half cent on 12 million shares Friday after the company said it had been notified by Investissement Quebec (IQ), the exploration arm of the Quebec government, that it was exercising its right as a secured creditor regarding loans it had extended Monarch.
Mr. Lacoste, CEO, says that Monarch owes just over $10-million to IQ, adding that he and his crew were "currently assessing the range of possibilities" that are available to them, perhaps better characterized as licking their wounds. It could be a quick assessment, as those possibilities appear few in number and probably range from undesirable to abhorrent -- especially to those investors who paid as much as $1.31 for a share in early 2021.
Monarch's stock was halved in late summer of 2022, when the company "made the decision to slow down mining" at its Beaufor mine, one of three projects the company currently owns. Monarch's stock was halved again about a month later, when it turned out that by slowing down, Mr. Lacoste and his crew meant "stop."
Along with Beaufor, which remains on care and maintenance, Monarch also owns the McKenzie Break and Swanson properties, and all three are near the company's 750-tonne-per-day mill in the Abitibi district of Quebec. (Speaking of the possibilities being assessed, you might recall that Monarch owned a fourth project -- Croinor -- but it sold it to Probe Gold Inc. (PRB: $1.33) this summer for $2-million in cash and $2.5-million in stock.)