Shares in Vancouver-based South American Silver Corporation (
TSX:T.SAC,
Stock Forum) spiked by as much as 66% Tuesday before settling in to a solid 37% rise, up from $0.83 to $1.14, on news the company had
announced a new President and CEO.
In actual fact, the new CEO is an old CEO, in company founder Ralph Fitch, who was replaced on an interim basis by former COO Phillip Brodie-Hall in August 2012 after SAC had its primary mining operation nationalized in Bolivia.
Brodie-Hall will return to Australia to “pursue other business interests.”
Fitch said in a company news release, “Mr. Brodie-Hall came into the role of President and CEO in the immediate aftermath of the Malku Khota expropriation in Bolivia. He has done an excellent job in the role and has led the company very capably through a difficult transitional phase. The Company is well-positioned to extract full value from Malku Khota through its
strong, third-party funded arbitration claim against Bolivia and is now very lean and refocused on creating additional shareholder value through exploration and development of its key projects.”
“We are very fortunate to have had the services of Mr. Brodie-Hall and are sorry to see him go,” he added. “The board and management appreciate his efforts and wish him every success in his future endeavours."
South American Silver found its operations in Bolivia in peril when employees were
detained by locals protesting the company operations in the area. The company had planned to invest $50m in the project before
President Evo Morales told farmers, "Nationalization is our obligation, I already raised the issue of nationalizing (the Malku Khota project) last year, and I told (local residents) to reach an agreement, because when they want we're going to nationalize."
News of the stand-off was not released by the company until the
share price had crumbled.
Fast forward through the Brodie-Hall administration, and the company has apparently rehabbed, with an upcoming vote on a
takeover of High Desert Gold(TSX:V.HDG, Stock Forum) and the splitting of shares into those looking toward the completion of the arbitration case and those focused on ongoing exploration.
Says Fitch: "The Company looks forward to the meeting of its Shareholders to be held on December 9, to approve the Plan of Arrangement which includes the acquisition of High Desert Gold Corporation ("HDGC"). It is noteworthy that the share prices of both SASC and HDGC have doubled since the announcement of the transaction. I believe this shows that shareholders understand the significant additional value that has been added to the Company by putting the near- term, near surface, likely heap leachable Gold Springs gold-silver deposit, located in the safe and mining friendly jurisdictions within Nevada and Utah, together with the right team and funding. `
On the split: From discussions with shareholders, it is clearly also important that the Plan of Arrangement splits the outstanding shares of SASC into two classes of shares. This allows shareholders who wish to invest in the outcome of the Malku Khota arbitration to purchase the SAC.B shares (Class B) and those who want to focus on the outcome of continuing exploration and development of both the Gold Springs project and the longer term Escalones porphyry copper-gold project in Chile can hold the SAC common shares (Class A)".
T.SAC stock has risen 541% since July, when it bottomed out at $0.155 per share. It traded at around the $1.25 mark before the Bolivian expropriation.