RE: My viewSorry BJ, I didn't realize where the $1.50 price came from. No matter, what Marc believes the stock should be worth is meaningless, particularly in this horrible market.
Clearly the infighting was an issue, although primarily because this one horrible shareholder did his best to divide the company by telling all the management how Marc was a negative, and he knew how to fix it. Not only did he fail in every way except to decimate the value of his own holdings, but he probably killed any credibility he ever had. To me, this clown represents the worst of humanity, and I wish him and his nothing but the worst.
First off, that shareholder looks to be out now (FINALLY), and the only BOD member to leave was Terry Christopher. I think Terry became a negative to SDRG earlier this year b/c he and Marc disputed whose fault the retraction was. Terry was clearly the senior geologist-type in the company at the time, but not an employee just a director. So he probably blamed Marc for letting the miscalculated results get out, and vice-versa. Either way, his leaving the company is clearly a positive, as he no longer was going to be a loyal SDRG stakeholder, in my view.
Colin never wanted to be CEO, but was thrust into that role when the capital markets were collapsing and certain shareholders advised SDRG that they would readily send in funds the second Marc stepped down. Marc did step down (against his own best judgement) b/c he deemed it to be the shareholders' will, and look what happened. These certain shareholders (my friend above included) basically reneged, and the resulting chaos is what you are referring to as infighting.
Not only was there barely any money to keep the company afloat, but consequently no new CEO. Thus, Colin was forced to deal with the horrible financial condition of the company and angry shareholders at the same time he was trying to run Nayarit, whose shareholders likely weren't too happy with the situation either. I think Colin did as best as he could, but given the circumstances you can see how he obviously was not a happy camper. Colin, happily, is now just a director, and one with a big stake in the company, both financially and time-wise, so I expect him to be an asset to the company's future. Not to mention he's a damn good guy, a real straight-shooter. Glen, from what I understand, has never presented a problem to anyone, and Manuel is as hard working and dedicated to SDRG as Marc, and likely a major reason why this great deal got done.
Now that the money is finally coming, all of this infighting is clearly going to dissipate, kind of like the difference between a team's morale when on a 10-game losing streak versus how it is during a winning streak. Plus, clearly the company will be adding to its personnel ASAP. I'd bet anything that the Chinese government will put a director on the Board, now that they own roughly one-third of SDRG, which would be a big boost to credibility, IMO. Then, of course, a new CFO, likely one not attached to another company such as Colin, at least one independent director, and, of course, some top operating personnel such as a COO, a mining CEO (pushing Marc up to Chairman), or a new head of Mexican operations.
As for past problems, agreed that some things were done wrong, such as the retraction (will NEVER happen again) and the investment of treasury funds into SLV, FR.TO, and QCOM (two years ago, and long ago dealt with). The decision not to produce in Mexico was not neccessarily a mistake, in my view, as of course no one could have known that the mining sector would all but collapse, making cash flow far more important to the Street than in prior years. Saying that the stock would have been on the NASDAQ by now (minimum $4 share price) is not only speculative at best, but basically ridiculous given that nearly every mining stock has been destroyed in the past year, starting in April 2007 when, not uncoincidentally, SDRG peaked.
Yes, there was some lack of focus as the company initially promised production, and that definitely contributed to a loss of confidence in the stock. But at the same time they have made huge discoveries in both Mexico and China, with Dadi in my view being one of the best discoveries of 2007 (ask the Chinese if you don't think so, as they are now essentially investing $13 million in the properties and SDRG at pretty favorable terms to Marc). So there was plenty of good to go along with the bad, and the fact that Research Capital, IBK, and Union spent so much time on the story should also give you an idea as to what the Street believes SDRG has.
Given all the company's been through, and all the changes that have been made (and are likely to be made), I think we are about to see the company move up to the next level in the coming months, especially as drilling in Mexico and China picks up, not to mention the pushes toward production in both areas. And the stock is trading at essentially nothing.
Well, I've said my piece. Once the full $13 million is in the bank (expected roughly two weeks from last week's announcement date), I think we'll all agree that this is as close to a slam dunk as you'll get anywhere in the financial markets, not to get to any particular price, but that the stock is going to move higher.
yoyo