So You Want Some Comments?How about putrid? Is this a joke? Is this a parallel universe we accidently got beemed into?
It would have been unrealistic to expect all problems to be solved in 3 months, but after reading the "story" for the second time it appears that the board is pulling it out of their butt. I can excuse the new ex-pats for now (and it's five now, not the three we were told prior quarter), as I've seen a number of manure piles left for new hires before. We aren't there, and have no idea what a mess operations has been in; we've only seen the operating results and excuses for missing the forecasts. And the board of directors is responsible for that, not the new hires.
We're into the second year of production, and NOW we're starting to study the different ore types and how their gold/mineralization content and leaching characteristics differ. NOW we're making plans on how to be PROACTIVE. Is this an engineering/feasibility study or management problem? After missing HOW MANY production forecasts?
I understand the rain issue, but only in the really out of line months, not all of them.
If the new hires can't get it under control in the 4th quarter (obviously the prior operations management couldn't), some company that can actually solve problems like this will come in and steal it from them, and us. And send all of the board and management packing as useless overhead, including repatriating the new ex-pat's.
The worst part is that the bad news is hidden until the day before the results conference call. Those with nothing to hide hide nothing.
I'll bet we sell off hard at the open tomorrow. I don't usually make predictions of SP, but this last quarter bites, reeks, and blows. From 150k ounces per year per the 2006 annual report to 105k. The only possible good news is that it appears that the new management positions have a clue what they are doing and are starting to make progress. It's going to take the next quarter to see if this is true.