AGM...thanks for the info and some questions and commentsYesterday was looking like a slow day at the office...I take off to do some errands and things get active on the TAO front, both on the markets and on the bullboard.
Before proceeding further, did anyone happen to catch who bought/sold the big blocks of TAO shares in the last 10 minutes of trading?
BTW, I have to say that this bullboard has functioned over the past 24 hours much more like I (and I'm sure many others) anticipated when I joined Stockhouse...information being posted that I/we otherwise would not have had acess to, questions + answers generated, exchanges of information and opinions...all done respectfully.
cateshill...thank you so much for posting the information you gleaned from the AGM...I, and I'm sure many others, would like to have attended...it was great to be able to read details of the AGM that otherwise we would be ignorant of.
verypoor, uptowndog1, WCSB2013...thank you all for shedding some light on what the implications and possible solutions to encountering a coal seam while drilling Cardiff-3 might be. I guess we all have a better understanding of why it has been so difficult to drill at Cardiff historically, and a more sober perspective on what difficulties might be involved with trying to develop this resource.
benduck and uptowndog1...I agree with both of you in regards to TAO communication of the Cardiff-3 situation. TAO has always maintained the bare minimum of communication to its shareholders and, in this instance, is following the typical corporate playbook for when things are not going to plan: downplay and delay acknowleging any issues until well after the fact, and well after cleansing measures have been undertaken. To reference my favourite subject of questionable corporate governance, consider Jamie Dimon at Bank of America...as the London Whale derivative bet was coming to light, Dimon dismissed concern as a "tempest in a teacup". Well, billions of dollars in losses later, we know that where there was smoke there was a fire burning (let's not even get into the myriad of other multi-billion dollar penalties and settlements that BAC has paid under Dimon's watch!). So, TAO's communication has always been an issue. As investors we either have to decide to live with it for the sake of the potential prizes to come, or get out...because, TAO's recent efforts to improve communication notwithstanding (i.e. the website's blog, the latest newsletter that WCSB2013 brought to light today, etc.), TAO management is not likely to improve either the timeliness or the content of its communications to the extent that we small investors want.
As for the recent blog posts about the Cardiff-3 drilling, I read the situation as follows: problems occurred, as they often do when drilling deep wells, in this case when the coal seam was encountered...efforts were undoubtedly made to rectify the situation but, eventually, equipment, time and money were sacrificed to be able to come back up hole and sidetrack from 3000m...the original drilling budget would not be able to finance continuing...this probably happened just about the time (i.e. ~mid-October) that the financing @$4.40/share was arranged, and was the reason for the bought deal financing ...TAO has had 2 months since the problems were encountered to raise the needed money to continue, and to recommence drilling on the sidetrack from 3000m...so, the blog post dated December 10th may be neither inaccurate, nor a lie...they may be just about at TD now on the sidetrack...which, if correct, would still allow TAO to complete and begin testing Cardiff-3 before year-end. I'm not trying to "pom pom" the situation...just to understand it with the information available. As I have said many times, I remain cautiously optimistic that TAO can bring Cardiff-3 and the East Coast Ngapaeruru-1 through completion, testing and into production (otherwise I wouldn't still be a shareholder)...but that doesn't mean I am naive enough to think that it will happen without any difficulties. As uptowndog1 said (although I don't have his 40+ years of oil patch experience, I do have 30 years+ of investing experience in junior resource companies), he's seen a few things in his day, as have I...there is no such thing as a sure thing. $hit happens, often when least expected. All over the world, there are huge deposits and reservoirs that will never be developed in our lifetimes because of technological issues, or inability to get consents. Let's hope that TAO management can overcome this reality...that's why we're all here.
jmalecan...thanks for posting the link to the oil exploration, appraisal and production videos by Richard and Laura Lau...I'll look forward to viewing them and getting better insight into what TAO management face as they try to develop their permits.
EastVanMan... as a former Vancouverite who still follows the rollercoaster fortunes of the Canucks, I hope you enjoyed your Canucks game last night, and that it was just a warmup for tonight's main event against the Bruins.
And, finally, my old friend crazy...can you please clarify something for the board...many of your posts allude to you being in the RED on your TAO investment, and yet your post of earlier today said "So you longs need to see our side once and a while (sic)"...does this mean that you are NOT long....that you are SHORT? Say it ain't so!
I've been involved with this stock for 8 years now...the path to get here has not been easy, nor do I expect it to be so going forward. Despite the recent difficulties, I still feel we are closer than we have ever been to determining whether TAO has the prize(s) and whether they can be developed. A bit more time, money and effort should give us our answers.
As always, GLTA.