RE: HBM - an investor's companyThank you Campine for your repartee. My replies in sequence to your points are as follows :
(1)marginal profits are subject to interpretation. What is considered marginal? In any case if you mean reduced margins of profitability under present conditions, then you would have to include a whole litany of mining names(including LUN,QUA BN) as other miners also faced the same cost increases, plus Canadian/US exchange rates.
(2)CAA suit is a moot point. HBM is innocent until proven guilty. The courts will determine that. For that matter QUA which seems to be your favorite has its own legal matters to settle in USA vis-a-vis their permits on one of their properties.
(3)Taxes are an inevitable part of life, and it is part and parcel of every matured company's lot to bear. So nothing new there. Just cost of doing business that is all.
(4)Zinc prices have hit their bottom. Other expert opinions proferred the view that there is now more upside for the rest of 2008 together withthe price of lead. HBM's plus is that it also has copper, gold and silver which are all strong for 2008 and likely beyond.
(5)Your statement that HBM's cash position is of no merit - to quote you ..." never given credit for its value" makes no sense. Surely you understand that cash is an asset of substantial importance on every company's balance sheet.
However if you intend to mean that it is the mineral reserves of a mining company that has more credit from financial analysts, then you would have realized from their NR that they have more than replaced their past depletion through new drillings. HBM has plenty of mineral reserves in their backyard from both drilled and those yet to be drilled.
(6)SRM has its own plans whatever that may be. But to say that their presence will impact HBM is tantamount to suggesting that they are more powerful than the remaining over 80% of investors who remain invested in HBM.
Underlying factor - whether it is SRM or it is anyone of us who are still investors in HBM - is that none of us would do anything to jeopardize their investment. More so, SRM since they collectively form one whole shareholder. If anything they have more to lose for any stupid move on their part. Have they sold any of their position yet? The answer may eradicate this very point concerning SRM. I do not think they will break their own nose to spite their own face.