Ray Ashley - He's a good guyI liked Ray Ashley from the moment he breathlessly announced the discovery hole from his truck at the JR zone. There was a boyish enthusiasm about the way he stumbled emotionally through the importance of hole 35. He was a refreshing change from the stonefaced pretenders that populate many of these juniors.
When Ray was moved into the President's position in April, I thought was pretty cool of Dev to reward Ray for his years of service. And hey, throw a bone Sam's way too. He seemed to be instrumental in the discovery. A little undisciplined, from a Corporate perspective, but that was all good with me.
Sam's disappearance, after a job well done, followed by Ray's announcement of the findings of 5 holes after 37 days of drilling put a lump in my throat. But it was Ray's performance in the Red Cloud propaganda show that was most disheartening. Once again, Ray's boyish glee surfaced .... this time it wasn't for the JR zone ..... but for the A1 B conductor and its two sniffs that were miles away from JR.
Stupidly, my "look on the bright side" said, well, Ray will find something in the A1B zone in the New Year. We may not benefit from the Sandstone part of the deposit, but we'll at least get something out of it.
How bloody naive!
If they get the votes on Nov. 20th, there will be no drilling by Ray for F3 in the New Year. FUU will not exist in the New Year. As Dev unwittingly revealed, "this company will exist in a different form by the end of the year".
I can't speak to Ray's thinking on this, but I've abandoned my thoughts of him being an innocent bystander. Most of the financial gain that I'm entitled to will be taken, for sure, but Ray will lose much more. He will lose what Dev gave up many years ago - respect.