POSTING NUMBER 2
TO: BARRAMUNDI MANAGEMENT, EX-CEO BOB BURBAN AND ALL OTHER SHAREHOLDERS
FROM: PETER CONVERSE (independent shareholder)
Probably both the Barramundi management and Bob Burban will not be able to respond to my questions due to Burban's current lawsuit against the company. And yet it is important that shareholders have an idea what is going on with the company as soon as possible, so that we can have a say at this pivotal time.
Do we really want to get rid of Bob Burban?
Is the current management/direction satisfactory?
I want to know the facts and have an informed say before perhaps more irreparable damage is done to this company's prospects.
So this is an exercise in bringing the management to account for its decisions of late, and to have them disclose the current legal situation, in order for us shareholders to be able to give an informed assessment of the situation and decide whether to get rid of Burban or to get rid of the current management and get Burban back.
What is happening?
It is possible even probable that our company is in the process of figuring out how to pay out money to Burban in the process of getting rid of him. And yet I still have not been told why we would want to push Burban out in the first place, as surely the decision to go against him and sign with Newmont pushed him out.
Newmont must be justified.
Why did our company go ahead and give so much control of a property of ours to a big company. That was not the plans of the company I invested in. That company was intent on working towards a big picture, intent to get by on its own as much as possible and thereby keep as much control of our properties as possible until they paid off. We had confidence in our properties in our geology, and certainly, by the amount of interest from other companies in those properties, that confidence was not misplaced. We were supposed to be working toward becoming a fair dinkum mining house and work up to mining Hunker Dome, which we spent so much time and effort leasing. NOw what are we? How did we manage to not only sellout to Newmont when it looked like for once we were in a pretty good position, and in the process lose Bob Burban? This must be justified now. (It should have been before this lawsuit.) Is this a public or private company? Well for all intents and purposes if it isn't public now, I suggest we make it public again in a hurry. What is our company doing? I want to know about it and I want to vote about it.
Another point that needs to be clarified.
If the lawsuit/Burban`s dissatisfaction has something to do with our company not paying him money ;i.e., a fair salary, when he was with the company, then I`d certainly like to know that. If that were the case, why on earth didn't we pay him properly? It seems to me that as soon as we became somewhat solvent, we should have looked to look after our greatest asset. I'd like to know what happened with regard to his salary. And if indeed it comes out that there was a problem with payment, how ironic it will be that the directors of our entire mining exploration company would turn out to be accountants who weren't even good money managers. It will be totally unacceptable if it turns out that our company managers finally pay out Burban as he leaves the company, in lieu of not having paid him correctly as (our critical) company employee.
Act quickly and all might not be lost.
I believe we are in the process of losing everything we invested in Barramundi for, and at a time when we could finally be going well. We made it through the worst part somehow and now we should be building, instead we're shooting ourselves in the foot. It's my opinion that moneymen came into the company with no understanding of the properties or the nature of the industry, didn't get the quick return they envisioned, panicked and are selling us out. We are getting so far away from becoming a fully realized mining company i fear. Show me the evidence to the contrary.
Immediate proposition.
I propose that we invite the two parties to let us know what the lawsuit situation is so we can vote on what action we want our company to take with regard to Burban.
[or]
If it is not possible to conduct such a referendum before the lawsuit concludes, then I propose that we have a vote after the lawsuit regarding who should be directing our company.
The questions.
I have prepared questions for the mgmt and Burban, and will forward them to both parties. I'm printing them. I hope that the two parties' response to them may give us, the shareholders, sufficient information on which to base our own decision regarding the burban case.
Show your view now.
If you can give an idea of your view now, please do so.
I am providing two email addresses especially for the shareholders who might read this and not be able to respond at siliconinvestor.com
First of all, if you are interested in having burban reinstated, send an email to reinstateburban@yahoo.com
If you think my effort is doing more harm than good, than email to dontinterfere@yahoo.com
If you want to write something to me that i'll read, send it to peterconverse@hotmail.com
The letter : preamble(recapping of general feeling about the state of Barramundi/reason for the questions) and questions in point form.
To the Barramundi management and Bob Burban,
Could you please send answers where appropriate to the following questions. I am an independent shareholder and have written the following questions so that I may know more about, in particular
-what lead to Burban`s split with Barramundi Gold
-the lawsuit
-the future direction of the company
-the management?s method of paying employees and its effect on share price
I am doing this because I am very concerned about Barramundi Gold. I feel that this is not the same company I bought shares in. I am not confident that the company is being run in my best interests. I have designed these questions in order to see if my feelings are correct, for all shareholders to see what's going on, and from which to base further action.
Let me expand on where I'm coming and the reason for asking you so many questions. When I bought shares, I was under the impression that Barramundi was to be a mining house which would mostly develop its own mining properties. It seemed apparent that we had/have excellent properties by test results and certainly by the interest shown in them by many major companies. I was under the impression that we meant to give over as little control of our properties as possible in joint ventures--to give over just enough to get the ball rolling so that we could eventually develop our properties ourselves and control them ourselves. And we would work up to being able to excavate Hunker Dome mostly by ourselves--the property we worked so hard to lease and which (we have a credible theory and tests to suggest) may be the source of the Klondike gold. Now it appears we are merely leasing out our undeveloped properties and prospects for supposed short term gain. From a fledging first world democracy we've become a banana republic out to make a quick quid and that hasn't even worked. We have the lowest share price ever. What plans/direction/personnel do we have that's going to change that.
What happened to the backbone of our company--Burban`s geological and strategic planning in tandem with his properties. Does the company also intend to hire mining consultants to advise on the Burban properties Barramundi sees fit to retain the lease on? And which will they be? Do they intend to consult Scott Broughton? I'd like to see exactly how much Broughton knows about exploration mining; how much success he's had in identifying world class mining properties (as Burban has), and also how useful and helpful he was to the company in its direst straits compared to Burban. If he has/was, I want it shown before we hire him to do anything for us again.
Anyway, I hope that paints a fairly clear picture of where i'm coming from and the kind of things i would like made clear to me. I do not expect answers to the above preamble directly though. Please direct your responses to the following questions instead. I hope they will prove a more methodical way to clarify your decisions and the current situation.
1. To BAM (Barramundi Gold management):
I'd like to know if the management agrees (and if not why not) with the following list of assets/skills the ex-CEO, Bob Burban, brought to the company.
-his experience and knowledge of the industry both technical and financial
-his discovery/identification of one hundred percent of our prime mining properties
-his excellent standing in the industry
-his ability to attract investment in the most dire times and in other times
-the lack of anyone comparable in the Barramundi Management team (if the BAM management feels there is someone comparable, then please name him and back it up.)
2. To BAM:
I'd like to see the current management provide examples of the ways Burban`s corporate judgement has jeopardized the interest of the company in the past. In other words, I'd like to see what precedent/rationale the current management had for doubting his judgement on Newmont and jeopardizing his future connection with the company.
3. To BAM:
And then, if there wasn't any precedent of Burban`s having bad corporate judgement, I want to see why the Newmont deal was so blindingly good (as to force them to ignore all precedent, and not only go against Burban`s judgement but in effect kick him out of management; i.e.,In what capacity could Burban have continued to operate as CEO after such a big agreement was made without his approval?)
4. To BAM and Burban:
I'd like to know if there was other interest in BAM and its assets by other big companies/investors at the time, and why Newmont was so preferable. Why couldn't we hold out from such a deal in order to safekeep the future proceeds for Barramundi Gold?
5. To Burban:
I'd like to see Burban`s view of the deal.
6.To BAM and Burban:
I'd like to know how the split actually took place within Barramundi. I`d like to know if Burban was clear on his position before the deal was signed; for example, what meetings were held previous to the decision. Was Burban ever consulted before the decision was made, and if not, why not?
7. To BAM and Burban:
I'd like to know how a deal gets signed without the signature of the CEO.
8. To Burban:
I'd like to know exactly what the law suit is from Burban
9. To BAM:
and what current management's (my company`s) defense is.
10.To BAM:
I'd like to know if the current management foresaw a lawsuit, and if so, what impact did they see it having on share prices/the future of the company, and if not, why didn't they foresee a lawsuit?
11. To BAM and Burban:
I'd like to know what equity/payment schemes the company has used and how they feel this has benefited the company. I'd like to know if employees (past or present) have been forced to dump shares in lieu of getting no cash payment from the company.
12.To BAM:
I'd like to see the present regimes long term plans for BAM, including an assessment of our considerably and expensively researched properties.
13. To Burban:
I'd like to see what Burban`s vision for Barramundi Gold was and what he could still do with it.
14. To BAM:
I'd like to see with whom the current management consider replacing Burban; i.e., which members of the board can cover for his experience and expertise. I'd like them to name them and give a detailed account of their comparative experience and expertise.
15. To Burban:
I'd like to know on what basis Burban would consider dropping his lawsuit and being reinstated as Barramundi Gold CEO. |
