PREMIER GOLD: Developments + Questions What am I missing?
As anybody with access to the internet can see, Premier is starting to underperform once again. Yes, it has outperformed over the past couple of months but almost any period before that looks horrid.
Short interest, according to the last report from June 5th, has gone down slightly to 12.7mn shares but is still close to all-time highs and has been climbing steadily over the past few years:
Orion Mine Finance, the largest shareholder of Premier at 14%, recently completed a reverse merger and listing of Guerro Ventures under the new name of Nomad Ventures. Two of the key assets in this vehicle are Premier’s silver streams and gold financing. More here:
https://www.caesarsreport.com/interviews/interview-with-vincent-metcalfe-ceo-of-nomad-royalty/
Orion’s partner in Nomad Ventures is Yamaha Gold, the same company that sold the underperforming Mercedes asset to Premier for $122.5mn in 2016. By underperforming, think AISC going from $811/oz in 2016 to $1,883 last qtr. and barely breaking even on a cash basis while gold was close to all-time highs. Press release here of the transaction here:
https://www.premiergoldmines.com/premier-gold-mines-announces-financing-arrangement-with-orion-mine-finance-for-the-purchase-of-the-mercedes-mine.
From what I understand, when this acquisition took place Premier was aspiring to move from an exploration company to a self-sustaining production + exploration model. Their financial “partner” during this transaction was Orion Mine Finance. Unfortunately for Premier, they were in a vulnerable position and agreed to terms that in hindsght were not in their best interests. From the press release above and subsequent releases, Premier has essentially signed away not only all of their silver production, but quite a bit of their gold production as well. In addition to that, they sold stock and have debt obligations with covenants that get materially more onerous should their share price decline substantially. Who stands to benefit if this happens? Perhaps Centerra (maybe a better price if they bid for HardRock?), Orion and/or Investec (the people with whom Premier has a $50mn credit line)?
As Mercedes underperformed and S. Arturo's production plummeted due to the planned transition to a new mine, Centerra happened to be running low on cash. In an opportunistic and I would argue desperate move, Centerra filed their bogus lawsuit claiming that the return profile of Hard Rock/Greenstone was below the agreed upon hurdle rate...even though they both signed off on the independent report? Premier was burning through cash and their new production model was falling apart due to Centerra’s lawsuit and Mercedes issues. With limited options Premier opted to place 22mn shares of stock at C$1.50/share. Who stepped up and acted as an anchor in this transaction? Our friends at Orion of course. In addition to once again accumulating stock at distressed levels, they were also able to renegotiate the terms of existing agreements to their benefit..at least that's how it looks to me.
So now you have Premier again underperforming while their predatory partners benefit. Short interest is close to all-time highs, cash is starting to burn again, markets are weakening…something needs to be done.
A follow-up question is this: there are only three shareholders that have more than 12mn shares: Sprott, Wellington and Orion. Who would want to lend that much stock and why?