VML - Vital Metals

[barney]

Sad. So much potential.

Indeed Waterbottle.

My biggest suspicion recently has been that Lionhead are the ones trying to "take-over" the Company.

If so, they won't care how low the SP goes. They can just come in at the death and throw up a massive cap raise (which many punters wont even consider subscribing to), then mop up all the short fall etc, and own the bulk of the Company for peanuts.

Looking in from a distance, and having partially read their announcement, it's almost as if they want to destroy shareholder value for self gain.
Of course, that is just an opinion and probably fiction.

We are seeing the same "light" on the horizon I suspect Rock.

The SP has been so decimated recently, it might actually stabilize after this round of bad news

Irrespective, I have lost faith in the new management and sold the last of my shares today

As the great Ned Kelly said as they took him to his end ...... "Say-la-bloody-vee" (Australian spelling )

Could turn into a buying op in a few months however .... you never know.

 

[waterbottle]

Wow just read the announcement.

The project is dead.

They can't sell their product and the project is not commercially viable.

Not sure what value this company has any more, besides the mining title, which I would remind young players that this is only for resources less than 150m depth (below 150m is owned by another Canadian company!).

 

[frugal.rock]

They can't sell their product and the project is not commercially viable.

Yes, but.... They have retained the locals. You don't do that if a project isn't viable !?

I don't want to say that it really looks like a "stab the investor fest" to pick something up at bottom dollar, so I won't.

 

[waterbottle]

Yes, but.... They have retained the locals. You don't do that if a project isn't viable !?

I don't want to say that it really looks like a "stab the investor fest" to pick something up at bottom dollar, so I won't.

I don't think that's enough reason to believe that they'll become a productive company.

Rare earths are difficult because the product has to be made to spec. If it doesn't meet the buyers requirements there is no alternative source of income.

The only way I see them coming out of this is if they get taken over by a bigger company that will continue to develop North T. Even then, their output at Saskatoon may be too small to make it economical.

 

[barney]

I don't want to say that it really looks like a "stab the investor fest" to pick something up at bottom dollar, so I won't.

Hah ... Thats fine Rock ... I'll say it for you ....

All that aside, I've been following this little battler for many many years of course, so today's decision to finally cut all ties (for the moment), was a bit like deciding to put a long time pet down ... lol.

 

[waterbottle]

Hah ... Thats fine Rock ... I'll say it for you ....

All that aside, I've been following this little battler for many many years of course, so today's decision to finally cut all ties (for the moment), was a bit like deciding to put a long time pet down ... lol.

I had high hopes too and they definitely did well to sell the narrative of critical resources defined by geopolitics (which is still an issue) but they just couldn't follow through.

Having said that, this isn't the first time VML has been "reborn". Weren't they originally a gold miner turned rare earth miner? What's next, oil?

 

[barney]

Weren't they originally a gold miner turned rare earth miner? What's next, oil?

Tungsten and Tin I think it was. Interestingly the project was called Watershed @waterbottle

From memory, I think they pocketed around $16 million after costs in cash from that venture. Their cash position was one of the main reasons I got interested way back then.

Cash relative to market cap is always an interesting statistic with Specs. If VML happens to retrace to 1 cent or under, that stat could become interesting again.

 

[frugal.rock]

Time for a miracle.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

 

[barney]

If the boys still had Geoff Atkins at the helm, I'd firstly say, the current SP would not be anywhere near as low as it is, and ... even if so,

I would be accumulating like I did last time it hit these levels.

Bitten and shy for me with the "Lionhead" boys at the helm. Pity ... so much potential gone to waste.

Could still rise from the ashes, but a lot of unanswered questions at the moment.

 

[sptrawler]

Looks like I'm riding another one down. Lol

 

[barney]

What a de

Looks like I'm riding another one down. Lol

Yeah sorry to hear that @sptrawler I imagine you are holding a sensible amount of shares so the pain will be bearable.

What a debacle Lionhead made of this when they got involved.

 

[sptrawler]

What a de


Yeah sorry to hear that @sptrawler I imagine you are holding a sensible amount of shares so the pain will be bearable.

What a debacle Lionhead made of this when they got involved.

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Are they in administration yet?

 

[barney]

Are they in administration yet?

Nah its not that serious yet, but not a great look based on today's announcement.

There is still a chance they can resurrect something out of the resource. I'm just pretty disappointed on how Lionhead have seemingly screwed up all the good work Geoff Atkins had done before they muscled their way into the picture.

Probably a bottom drawer Stock for a while, but there is always hope at the Spec end.

discl. (I don't hold any more, but left a lot on the table on the way down)

 

[sptrawler]

Nah its not that serious yet, but not a great look based on today's announcement.

There is still a chance they can resurrect something out of the resource. I'm just pretty disappointed on how Lionhead have seemingly screwed up all the good work Geoff Atkins had done before they muscled their way into the picture.

Probably a bottom drawer Stock for a while, but there is always hope at the Spec end.

discl. (I don't hold any more, but left a lot on the table on the way down)

Wont be the first, wont be the last, hopefully they resurrect themselves.
Down $8k, that is the problem with bottom feeding, for every winner there are two losers.
Must get back to just accumulating dividend shares and stop playing in the $hit pit, I don't know how many times I've told myself that over the years.

 

[barney]

Must get back to just accumulating dividend shares and stop playing in the $hit pit, I don't know how many times I've told myself that over the years.

I understand your frustration ....

Right or wrong, it is the only "pit" I play in. Most of the time the sand is filled with doggy doo, but occasionally, the ducks align and the rewards are pretty good! Can be a very frustrating end of the market.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

the handwringing and gnashing of teeth continues.
18 June 2024

Canada secures rare earth materials from Vital Metals​

By Glenn Dyer |

Canada’s government will buy stockpiled rare earth materials from the Australian company Vital Metals in a deal that will prevent the company from selling its production to China.
The small Australian company mines rare earths in Canada’s Northwest Territories and will sell its stockpiled rare earth ore to the Saskatchewan Research Council for C$3 million (A$3.3 million). This amount is nearly half the company’s market value on Monday on the ASX of A$8.4 million.

The shares fell 25% on Monday to 0.3 cents after news of the deal was made public, and investors realized the chances of sales to China, the major buyer globally, had been frustrated. The deal stops Vital from moving forward on a plan it started in December to sell that stockpile to China’s Shenghe Resources Holding Co. for C$2.4 million.

Canada recognizes the rare earths mine as a “strategic asset that contributes to the country’s prosperity and critical mineral goals,” Vital Metals said in Monday’s statement.

The intervention is part of a wider push to block Chinese firms from delving further into Canada’s critical minerals sector. Australia has done the same with rare earths and control of Northern Minerals, where the government has ordered Chinese shareholders to reduce their holdings. Northern has a project in WA and agreed to sell output to Iluka and its Eneabba rare earths processing plant, which is now being built near Perth.

Shenghe Resources was involved in attempts to gain control of Northern Minerals and earlier this month was told by the Australian government to reduce its holding in Northern, along with other Chinese entities. Shortly after, both companies reported their computer systems had been subjected to intense cyberattacks.
The Canadian move comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government warned it will closely examine all transactions between domestic Canadian mining companies and Chinese government-linked groups and only approve deals “on an exceptional basis.”

In 2022, it ordered three Chinese investors to sell their stakes in a trio of Canadian lithium firms. Last month, Canadian copper miner Solaris Resources dropped a financing deal with a Chinese firm after the arrangement was subject to a lengthy national security review by the federal government.

Vital’s stockpiled material will go toward a rare earths processing facility being built by the Saskatchewan Research Council, which has made similar purchases. The government-run council previously signed an agreement to import rare earth carbonate from Hung Thinh Group, a Vietnamese minerals producer.

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