test,test,test

Both sites now down

That is the first I have heard of that in specific terms.

Thanks Moneypenny.

An RNS would have been nice though as he was a senior officer in Angel.

Any hints as to what was going on as far as the M&A activity?

Just NUNA? RRR? Anor?


Sorte_Engel

Here are the details to Kevin's redundancy



The company decided to recruit a new CFO last October and Nick Dove joined in December. Before the bottom fell out of our world, we were expecting Nalunaq to achieve production targets once we had high grade ore to process and we decided that we should attempt to diversify through M&A activity. Kevin was to become Development Director and concentrate his efforts on finding suitable acquisition and merger targets. His background is corporate finance/merchant banking, so this was an area that he was eminently suited to. Once the administrator was appointed the M&A plan became redundant and so Kevin was made redundant

http://www.yorkvilleadvisors.com/internal.aspx?pageID=31

Looks as though Yorkville are into this to the tune of £11,500,000 as per the above link.
Should that be the case then I think we have somebody with a bit of clout after all rather than us mere PI's as according to NH they are now the largest shareholders

I don't remember an RNS stating the CFO had been made redundant.

Was there one?

I know Mr Dove came on-board, but the job title was different.

Wasn't it confirmed by a poster on LSE that both NH and KM were still in post?

Is replacing a senior officer like CFO necessitating the issue of an RNS?

Sorte_Engel

Tried to get into arctic mining today can't access it but still able to access Angel ready to go live maybe?

I don't get much time to read through all of this stuff and being an Engineer in the subsea world I don't profess to follow the in's and out's of the finance world to any great level, in hindsight I only wish I did!

Very much appreciated though MoneyPenny for the time and effort you have put in with the meeting and writing up the report for us all.

Finger's (and toes!) crossed we still get some positive outcome.

Many thanks for your painstaking report, and best of luck with your op.

As we have discussed, I met with Nick a while ago and got exactly the same flavour; he meant well but it continually went pear shaped with him at the helm (and using other people's money).

I have been doing quite a bit of research in the background and will continue to do so.

At the moment I console myself that

- we are in administration but not sunk without trace; the administrators' first goal is to rescue the company as a going concern and Nick has confirmed that Arctic Mining is doing a lot better than breaking even
- Nick has confirmed that the Cyrus 75% of BAM was/is nonsensical and that Cyrus would not fund their share; perhaps the independence of the administrators might find a solution to this impasse which our present partners/executives/lenders found (or made) intractable
- the Bureau of Mines has to be content with the holders of the licences, so these cannot be flogged off willy nilly
- we are not subject of a pre-pack, otherwise we would have known by now.

I do know (and have evidence) of certain matters which lead me to consider that what Nick has permitted to be released is far from the whole truth, but I shall keep my powder dry until we have heard from the administrators. I am preparing documents to go to the FSA/UK Listing Authority if it transpires that shareholders are to be shafted.

Let us keep our fingers crossed in the interim, and hope that this will not be necessary.

Is Zen on here?

mim

Certainly that is how I read it how can they fold it when it appears to be now profitable. Not as up on these things as others here but again what court would sanction the break up of a business in this situation with a mine showing the potential it appears to be now I don't know. Maybe just maybe CG could pull something out the bag we'll know soon enough.
Also I repeat my reading of the news is that if the company does not ALL remain then Cyrus get nothing if they keep us in admin for a lengthy period they may receive a portion of debt owed to them but they won't get their hands on the real prize as they have no intention of financing 75% of BAM themselves never mind the whole project by what NH has said.

Thanks again everybody, i wasn't sure if the whole report should be made public but now i realise i have done the right thing.

There are more bit's of info i could have added but it was turning into an epic! The important stuff has been reported though

Everybody knows i've got my op on Thursday so i can't give anymore time to this now as i have so much to prepare. But when i get back and feel up to it I'll see if there are any other bits of info that may be of interest.

I wish i'd had more time to format it a bit better, but I was feeling the pressure !! lol

Got to say I'm a bit confused so from this:-
Cyrus agreed to back the plan with a drawdown facility so that even if we had a problem with the weather or whatever, there would still be the money there committed. But as part of the overall plan, the creditors were perplexing that money would only be used to operate the mine and generating cash, no money would be used for running the Parent Company, for example; paying the stock broker, stock exchange fees etc. Ours lawyers said under the circumstance to protect ourselves as directors they recommended we file for notice of intention for appointed firm , we had to suspend trading in our shares and the administrator were appointed.

So everyone agreed on the plan but didn't want any money to go towards the ANGM parent company am I reading that right?! So how do they manage to do that then and what actually happens now? ANGM own 100% of Nal mine through a subsidiary which now sounds like its covering costs and has spare money, how on earth can they fold ANGM?

I beliece the licenses can be sold on as they are held by the subsidaries not ANGM. The question is will Cyrus get their money back by selling the subsidaries on and would the Greenland gov approve it.
It all depends on what they are producing now. Suppose if it covers all costs and can pay back Cyrus over time how will the administrators play it.

The ONLY WAY Cyrus can get their money back and investors can really prosper is if the company comes out of administration and Black Angel project succeeds. My take for what it's worth is they will want it ALL to succeed as the licences cannot be sold on.
Cyrsus AND MRI were supportive previously and on the face of it still appear to be as they now have a standstill agreement in place which in effect freezes the current debt and interest thereon to allow for a restructuring of the company and as the licences cannot be sold on may give Angel a chance at the negotiating table.
They are now mining pillars which is going well and indeed is exceeding break even (how much though)

So it appears on the face of it (no rose glasses) that for Cyrus to get their money back and for the financing of BAM they meantime have to keep the company afloat in it's current form but again at a cost to the PI as Cyrus are not prepared to finance the whole shooting match themselves which we all knew was coming.

I still can't see how a court would wind the company up if it is now operating at profit and they have a supportive main creditor.

Now stands back and waits to be shot down

Echoing other respondents but just wanted to add my own thanks to you MP for your time and effort in both meeting Nick and for preparing the report.

As I read it, it's basically saying "I'm sorry for what happened but it was out of my hands".

I can't say that I fully agree with the last part of the above statement but we are where we are.

Fingers are firmly crossed for some form of positive outcome from the administration procedure but, from all the evidence I have read so far, this seems like a pipedream.

Sincere thanks Moneypenny for your time and effort.... sterling work
I get the feeling Nick is a genuine guy but lacks the ability to accept personal responsibility. I mean, it always seems to be someone else or something else's fault (at least my children are not alone)
I know it must be difficult to reach the site, but if the future of my company was in severe peril, and maximum production critical, I think I would have visited at the latter part of last year with a tent if necessary, to oversee 24/7 production.
The tax bill? – Not corporation tax, I presume. Was it employees PAYE payments?

well done moneypenny thank you for all your time and effort
all the best T-Tom

I think that answers most of the questions.

Angel has been recruiting 'poorly' for a long time and obviously the geologist was a bit of a numpty, but results can and should have been double-checked. It's not difficult!

Still too many convenient problems at certain junctures and too many soothing messages from the company and now with the mine functioning 'correctly' (apparently), it is too much not to be suspicious.

Nick can afford not to be being paid at the moment, so no sympathy there.

Outmanoeuvred by Socius AND Cyrus. Once may be seen as careless but.......

Looks as if someone else will be reaping the rewards of our company now.

Sterling effort Moneypenny.


Sorte_Engel

Thanks for the report moneypenny and your time.

Afraid he has too many excuses in that report and as some have mentioned management have not planned correctly.

The only positive was they are doing well now on production!!!! If it is doing well and covering debt then it will be interesting to see what the administrators do

If they are covering costs and have spare cash to pay Cyrus back can they really finish the company off?
Still can't see us getting anything back seems like we are being taken to the cleaners

It has taken a lot of time to do but with the feedback I’m getting back it seems it been worth the effort.

I have tried to reflect a true and honest account of the meeting that I possibly could. Also just to add Nick was aware I was there on behalf of shareholders and he knew whatever he said was going to go up on a BB. It’s up to each individual to cast their own opinion, at least it gives an understanding on why it all went so wrong but Nick was never going to tell us what will happen next. I do believe him when he said he doesn't know that himself.

I have emailed the report to a few posters but if anyone would like a copy just let me know, a bit easier to read.

Thanks very much indeed Moneypenny. Just endorses the impression I got from the AGM of how shockingly little Hall and McNair actually knew about mining in the first place. If Cyrus were looking for a bunch of incompetents with wads of other peoples cash hanging out of their back pockets then they certainly got a result here. Saying that I am sure slippery Nick will come up smelling of roses out of all of this. We will be left with a different aroma. And how can you employ a head of mining without a medical? Beggars belief!

Do we have a "where to next" option?

Thanks from me as well for taking so much time out of your personal life to get this report to us.

On the surface, it does read as if events have conspired to thwart us almost every step of the way, however the underlying feeling I'm still getting is that either the company was pretty incompetently run or that it was encouraged to flounder from the start. Poor contingency planning, poor key personnel recruitment, poor communications between management and the site, poor RNSs not reflecting the true picture on the ground. Lame. Now, voila! we are currently producing more gold than ever just at the time we shareholders are swirling around the pan - great!

If I had been Cyrus, investing with integrity and good intentions, I would have long since replaced NH as chief, perhaps keep him as financial director, but no way would I have continued without a competent mining brain on board over seeing my $30m investment and potential $2Bn+ assets. I still smell a rat.

If mistakes were genuine, let's wait and see if we can continue to produce in respectable amounts and possibly survive, however previous events indicate that we would continue to struggle.

If the whole situation was contrived from the start, we will know when the new company suddenly manages to 'turn a corner' and begin to prosper as it was supposed to, as in the publicity touted to us unwary investors from the beginning.

Thank you Moneypenny. Well done! I was a bit worry about you as no sign of life on this board, but I thnk you had to spend a bit of time on the report to make it simple as it is.

My feelings are that the shareholders should meet administrators now as we know more after reading the report. ANGM was too close to win to say over now!

so no hope for shareholders??

Thank you for reporting back. Lot of question marks but at least we can start with the Greenland tax office and go on from there. With reference to the pillars and passing on blame to others, frankly not acceptable behaviour and I personally find his comments that the mine is now doing really well, at best insulting and offensive but that is only my opinion.

Firstly. You have been very thorough - I feel that given the time you were given by Nick you actually managed to cover a fair bit of ground. Well done! Secondly, the report itself has clearly taken time to piece together so another well done - prefixed with "very".

I have never met Nick but I have held the opinion he would be slippery. Your report doesn't befit that image and I have to say that is because he comes over as genuine. Only you can judge on that and if you feel that this account reflects what he said and that his answers reflect that, I think we have to accept it as such. I do think you have reported accurately, that is why it has taken the time - thinking, reflecting and crafting the way you pieced it together. At the end of the day you and Nick are the only judges of that as you were there - nobody else was! I have absolutely no doubt in your ability nor integrity.You did well and you did not let him walk all over you! My only reservation with that is that Nick comes over as too plausible! Somehow it still doesn't quite fit comfortably for me - maybe the continued uncertainty is the real problem! As always in life, the most difficult things are the ones we don't know the answers to.

I never expected you would get any real answers to the real issues but in fairness, I think he has a degree of integrity or he is one very smart cookie. I don't think he is that smart!

I only hope that others do not let off steam and say they still don't have the answers they want - it simply is not going to happen while we are in Administration. If we come out, it might but I think we would be better to learn a lesson or two and move on. For me there is still a chance we might have something left but I think the big win has gone - Cyrus have out maneuvered the BoD of ANGM - what does anybody expect from a hedge fund?

Many, many thanks MP4. I sincerely think you have done a very good job with this and all the effort you have put into the forum.

If anybody says they could have done it better - why didn't they step up to the mark - because they couldn't. Lets see what the general consensus is.