Friday Thoughts Good evening - I am a substantial (to me), long time LME investor who remains bullish on the company and the decisions I made along the way to invest in it. I enjoyed the stock trading at $1.00+, was hoping this whole thing would be done by now and wish I had full visibility into the work being done to sell the company. I think that puts me in the same boat as a lot of people on here - so I figure what I'm thinking might be useful.
If you think owning a junior miner that is focused on its terminal value and not spending time and money to juice up its share price is bad - or difficult - try owning a junior miner that invests its time and money to juice up its share price. In my opinion and in my direct experience LME has always been clear on this point - the shareholder value they are trying to maximize is the terminal value at deal time. A smooth upward ride would be amazing - but this has always been about the final transaction.
People can come on here and complain about LME - point out its flaws - and be negative - OR they can complain about the lack of new interest in the company (and upward price movement that could come with it) - you can't do both. There aren't any/many gold stock promoting brokers anymore - so forums like this are a big part of what people have to get info. If you were a new investor curious about LME and you read this forum - would you buy in?
You want the stock to go up? Buy some of it. Tell someone else about it and maybe they will buy some of it. Being long - having stock and a view on the stock - no matter how positive or negative - does nothing to move the stock price.
Doug's job is to free up Cynthia to focus on developing and selling the business. As long as he is doing that - I say he's doing a good job. His work isn't the point. It's her work that counts.
I trust Cynthia's instincts on this property and her skills to develop it - but I don't need to. I can trust the fact that she - and the board - and all the businesses involved in this enterprise - including USCG - like all of us - are economically motivated to make money - are not insane - and not part of some vast, long term conspiracy to take your money. We ALL own exactly what they own - and their only way to win is to sell this thing - and when they do we will identically.
Anyone who can look at a CEO exercising options and derive something negative from it is thinking too much. Her selling stock is bad. Her buying more can't be
We KNOW that LME is actively being marketed. Assuming again the USCG is economically motivated, not insane, and not part of a conspiracy - it is likely that there are material discussions underway - and that these that would - or at least could prevent insiders from trading.
No one needs to guess - or read the tea leaves - to determine that LME is being marketed to the private market - it is being marketed to the private market. The board was restructured to do it - USCG was hired to do it - and I have every confidence that they are doing it - because they said they are - in public statements that need to be factual.
All indications are that the process with USCG is advancing and nearing an end - an end that I hope is successful But all business deals are volatile - and until they are done - can unfortunately become not done. I think it is safe to connect some of the dots from the past - including Cynthia's comments at the last AGM - and say that they had a deal progressing well - based on some of the public 'this is the year' info that was sent out - likely progressing very well - but then the pandemic and the Ukraine war got in the way and that deal went away - and a lot of the 'deal is close' stock gains with it. Details? I have none - but it fits I hope this time the ending is different.
In the meantime, I expect Cynthia and team to continue to all the things necessary to continue developing this company as if no deal is being pursued - so that the company is strong at the table - and prepared for any eventuality. I believe anyone who sees business as usual behaviour (raising money, drilling, power washing rocks) and concludes that it makes any deal activity impossible - is making an understandable but incorrect conclusion. Cynthia and team can and do both at the same time. They just can't tell us about the deal work.
Last thought - I've been helped to understand that not all gold deposits are the same. Some have big chunks of gold scattered here and there and the challenge is to find them - but when you do - it's like winning the lottery!!! Others - like the Ishkoday - have less concentrated gold - less exciting numbers but is far more pervasive - the challenge here being less about finding it (because it's everywhere) and more about processing it profitably. Increased gold prices disproportionately improve the viability and ultimate profitability of an open-pit-suitable property like LME.
Gold is a good store of value - an inflation hedge - sought after by people - useful in all electronics we use - ridiculously mispriced - and not being created the number of places on earth where it is possible (and safe) to invest in gold mining is getting smaller all the time. The senior producers know what they are doing - and their business model requires the acquisition of properties like the Ishkoday LME is debt free, cash rich, responsibly run, has a single class of shares, high exec ownership, is focused on selling - and once again it appears - close to getting that done. If they don't - it will be more valuable down the road when they do
Here's to a deal! Soon - whatever that means