OREA - Montagne d'Or unlikelyPT, believe you me as a OREA shareholder I would love this idea to occur that Montagne d’Or and Maripa will eventually come to fruition. However, I just don’t see this regardless of the potential economic impact on FG (politcs trumps economics - just look at the US presently).
Why?
Again, since 2019 Marcon’s gov’ have said no to the Montagne d’Or mine before even the apps/reports were to be submitted (it’s the very reason NG went to legal war in June 2020 with France, to get large scale damages not even worrying about asking for any exploration permit renewals, never mins an actual mine permit – NG wanted out!).
Macron based his reelection bid in part on the 3 projects he had blocked re., the environment; Montagne d’Or was front and center. Macron also signed the non-deforestation agreement at the recent COP 26 meeting.
How on earth would he now do another 180 on this present stance? His future political career would likely be zero. Likewise, he would porbably also take down a number of others in his present gov'. Further, you can guarantee that the environmental groups would block any such decision for years in French courts, while villifying Macron publically all the time. IMHO, nobody is getting Montagne d'OR. Just look at the article below; all this is for apparently allegedly selling beef just linked to deforestation, not digging one heck of a gold hole in the FG rainforest.
Mordashov has every incentive to get out of Montage d’Or. He is a US/EU sanctioned Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin. His nuclear family is under sanction and he doesn’t even have the potential safety net of NG being a public company, therefore, with potentially damaged/wronged non-Russian shareholders with recourse to the courts.
Further, Mordashov’s own Montagne d'Or court case via the French Russian 1989 Investment Treaty is now likely stalled in the courts; it could be held up for years. Also, Montagne d’Or could still be expropriated via sanction (again Mordashov recuperative legal action here would probably mean years of expensive litagation). So, why not go now for a low-ball sunken costs settlement with France, if he is lucky.
OREA may well also get a settlement from France. Afterall, 1. they are a public company (non-Russian - get Ng’s Oleg off the OREA board now) that has demonstrably been share price damaged by French and Russian legal (political) maneuvering. 2. OREA were misled (before NG even came into the picture) by Macron up to 2019 re., political support for further costly exploration of Montagne d’Or. Also, 3. OREA can agree to walk away from (the probably defunct) Maripa (to Suriname) with a settlement from France (sunken costs around US$30 mill plus…?) and 4. finally, agree to withdraw their right to any award (daily amount x days) made by the lower French court for French gov’ failure to grant the exploration licenses, should the French SC eventually(?) rule in their favor, even though, again, the mine is still dead.
This would IMO be a win for France, OREA and a ‘get away’ for NG.
We will see
GLTA -
https://twitter.com/EarthsRare Activists Decry French Retailer Over Amazon Deforestation Environmental groups and indigenous representatives from Brazil are protesting outside the main Paris courthouse, urging quick trial for a France-based supermarket chain that's accused of selling beef allegedly linked to Amazon deforestation. By Associated Press | June 9, 2022, at 9:40 a.m.
An indigenous representative from Brazil protests outside Paris courthouse, in Paris, Thursday, June 9, 2022. Environmental groups and representatives of Brazil's Indigenous community are protesting Thursday outside the main Paris courthouse, urging a quick trial for a French supermarket chain accused of selling beef linked to deforestation and land grabs in the Amazon rainforest. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
By JADE LE DELEY, Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Environmental groups and representatives of Brazil's Indigenous community are protesting Thursday outside the main Paris courthouse, urging a quick trial for a French supermarket chain accused of selling beef linked to deforestation and land grabs in the Amazon rainforest. Several leading Indigenous representatives are in Paris and Brussels this month to denounce international threats to their territories and attract public attention to cattle farming practices in the Amazon. Climate groups and Indigenous activists filed a lawsuit last year against France’s Casino Group, which has supermarkets around the world, accusing it of violating human rights and environmental rules. The company has said it “fights actively against deforestation linked to cattle raising in Brazil and Colombia.” A hearing is scheduled Thursday to set a date for a trial.