RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Strange... I agree in many ways Slash. But I've thought on it overnight and essentially it is a JV that is not so different from most JV's. Take Soquem & FMS, we expend on exploration costs to buy a percentage of Kwykibo, fine.
Here, we expend on Grafoid to earn a 40% stake as part of the JV.
That said, the issue for me is it has all been a little underhand from the Management, as it looks like we were always in a JV with the Gary, Jeff and Gordon, right from the start, but that this potential fact was not adequately disclosed.
Remember the initial JV announcement, ownership was essentially hidden imo.
40% Focus (fine)
10% Gordon (I have no issue with this, it is open and transparent, if he is the inventor he is owed a decent cut)
10% Private Korean Company = GORDON?????
40% Private Hong Kong Company = GARY & JEFF?????
I asked Gary about the ownership of these private companies and he told me he could not provide that information. I assumed it was because the companies themselves as private 3rd parties would not allow disclosure. I can see now that these private companies were actually likely controlled by Gordon, Gary and Jeff and at that point they did not want shareholders of common Focus stock to know that they were actually the 3rd parties involved. By implication it looked like we were in a JV with companies not linked to the Directors in anyway, likely offering financial or scientific support, but clearly this does not appear to have been the case. They should have just been open from the start.
They already have exposure to Grafoid through the 40% of Focus, by virtue of large shareholdings in V.FMS. So in reality they own more than the stated 20% each anyway, both directly and indirectly.
I also have an issue (maybe unfounded I note) regarding where the management have been concentrating their work efforts. Since Decembers NI43-101 we have heard nothing on the progress of Lac Knife Graphite mining. The company Feb 2012 presentation states publication of the scoping study early 2012, but we have not seen it yet and for me we are past early 2012 now. I feel they may have been concentrating on Grafoid a little too much, potentially at the expense of Lac Knife regular business.
If I remember rightly, It was supposed to be Graphite today, Graphene tomorrow, not the other way round!
So yes, I agree 20% Gordon, 80% FMS would be a far more appropriate structure for this. I would like to see the Grafoid destiny of Gary and Jeff fully tied in with the other holders of FMS.
But, I can also offset my scepticism a little. Jeff started the whole process buying from IAMGOLD. He brought on Gary, they brought on Gordon. Gordon may have discovered a cheap manufacturing process for Graphene from Lac Knife ore and Focus have 40%. Without these guys and their vision, we had nothing anyway. I will certainly stay invested here as a long.
I do also note in the NR that they have pledged their shares against the loan, so this does indicate they expect a positive outcome. We as Focus shareholders do therefore have collateral against the loan:
? The borrower pledges shares it holds in its name over to the lender as additional security for a loan being granted by the lender.
? The lender will keep possession of the shares until the loan is repaid, so there is a risk they can lose their shares to the Corporation.
? The lender has the right to vote the shares and to receive any benefit (such as dividends) from the shares while the shares are being held as security
Now though, they need to get on with mining Graphite from Lac Knife and start adding some value for us regular shareholders from that. Look how NGC has overtaken us, excluding cash they are valued +60% more than us by mkt cap an unacceptable reversal of fortunes. This is because they make regular operational progress on getting their mine up and running, whereas we seem to have stood still for 4 months, since the Dec 2011 NI43.
But onwards and upwards. GLTA holders.