RE:Most Interesting Interview I have seen ... How on Earth can you actually believe that Renaud Hinse didn't look for his replacement because he intended to sell the company at some unknown date in the future when Gold is at Price X? Ten years ago he was 84 years old! This man had his beady eyes fixated on the Elder royalty the day he acquired it.
Lets look at your reason:
Firstly, consider that a younger CEO could have done more with this company, and thus have made more of the share price. Hinse would have made more money from the sale of the company with his shares in that scenario, if the share price was around the independent valuation (adjusted for higher gold prices). Renaud Hinse has consistently under performed with the share price. The independent valuation at $1200usd Gold was around 25 cents. The share price is currently 13 cents at $1700usd gold. The man was too old at 84. He knew that then.
Secondly, consider also that a CEO of Abcourt that is not Renaud Hinse, and not related to Renaud Hinse, could have developed different assets. This of course would be too risky for Renaud Hinse that had a royalty on the Elder Mine. Developing Barvue, for example, would have been absolutely no good for getting royalty payments from Elder. When Renaud Hinse was 84, he knew that then.
Thirdly, consider the wages Renaud Hinse has gotten from Abcourt. A new younger CEO that is more dynamic and capable of doing more would make Renaud Hinse's wages look like really bad value for money. So, he stays, he gives out the impression he may look for a replacement and then retire, but continues to do nothing. Renaud Hinse was 84 a decade ago! Elder was not developed, and he had the royalty payments burning away in his mind.
Finally, consider how bogus a reason it is that you give. He always intended to sell the company. Renaud Hinse's actions are those of a man focused on extracting wealth from the Royalty at Elder. There is little evidence of anything else. Barvue has not been advanced one iota in a decade. Think about that. During that period Renaud Hinse still failed to meet targets of development, and targerts of price. So, he still took far longer to get things done at a far higher price even though he didn't have Barvue occupying his time. These are not the results of a gifted CEO that at 94 deserves to still be in the post. The cognitive decline at that age is terrible. Even those in good condition are in good condition relative to the age. What they are not is at the level of performance of a 50 year old with a degree and modern management experience behind them, looking for a company that could be a stepping stone to much bigger things. Abcourt Mines is almost ideal for an ambitious person in the industry.
If Renaud Hinse had the interests of all the shareholders at heart he would have retired a long time ago, and moved to an alternative post on the board, replacing another member of his family. That way he would have been available to offer his experience to the CEO without the conflict of interest getting in the way of good decision making. Barvue could have had 10 years of developement instead of zero. Barvue could have added to the share price, instead of being worth zero to it.
The real Sleeping Giant on this board is the slumbering Elephant in the Room. Abcourt Mines has a 94 year old CEO raking in Royalty Payments from Elder whilst all the other shareholders are getting screwed by a decade of missed development targets and missed targets of price. In short, chronic underperformance, and an awful lot more could be say about that, as I allude to in this paragraph.