Which begs the same question to be repeated of why the company's current management has been unable to raise critical financing for such a long period of time.
Clearly, it appears that any potential financiers either do not trust this project/Albany deposit, or the company's current CEO, or possibly both.
It should be noted again, that the company's ongoing struggles to raise funds or move forward with any real progress were never communicated honestly and transparently to shareholders, including at the AGM in September 2017.
Neither was the fact that basically all work had stopped at the company by that point, which likely also included Mr Jordan's work on the long-awaited metallurgical report and everything else of importance that is still required.
Had all the facts been made known earlier, it now seems that the upcoming shareholder revolt/proxy vote scheduled for May 11th (which will hopefully get everyone's vote for major changes) should have actually been pre-planned and prepared over last summer in time for the September 2017 AGM.
By now, new management could already have been in place and the company may have possibly been in a better position to create new relationship dynamics with the capital markets and/or attract interim financing to at least begin moving forward again.
Therefore, the "cone of silence" approach from the current CEO appears to be a strategy employed mostly to conceal from shareholders the various uncomfortable realities that have unfolded, and generally stall for time whilst the company remains more or less grounded to a halt.
It's certainly proven by now to be a strategy that is not to be trusted in the least and one that cannot be allowed to continue further.
In addition, if the concerned shareholders' published claim is presumably true that the current CEO was more than an hour late for a planned conference call (and only offered 15 minutes of his time only to side-step tough questions), such unprofessional behaviour reflects an individual who is being evasive instead of forthright, and suggests an intent to not want to take personal and professional ownership and responsibility for the company's failures and his failures as a CEO.
Back in November 2017, Mr Discern also posted in this forum a summary of an unexpected phone conversation he had with the company's current CEO in which he was told that there would be an improvement in communications with shareholders moving forward.
The CEO has not been communicating anything. The company's chairman, Keith Morrison, has.
The installments of Mr Keith Morrison and Mr Richards also suggest a strategic effort to further barricade and insulate himself from disappointed shareholders while simultaneously seeking outside help as a last resort.
It is obvious that there was no "Plan B", and one can't help but wonder how objectively realistic his original "Plan A" actually may have been, given that we are now well into a third lost year of seeing virtually nil progress for the company.
It is my sincere hope that both Mr Morrison and Mr Richards would have by now already discovered and fully recognized the limitations of the current CEO and that a replacement CEO and other personnel changes to the board are vitally necessary if there is to be any future for the company.
In their March 27th news release (https://web.tmxmoney.com/article.php?newsid=6088953997179140&qm_symbol=ZEN), the wording suggested that they do.
But we have obviously heard nothing regarding personnel changes or anything else since (other than a suggestion that shareholders vote "using only the green-coloured proxy").
Until the company gets stabilized and there is clarity established on a viable, financed plan forward that would be executed under the leadership of a new CEO who has the true skill set and business acumen to reach for the stars, the share price will continue to languish.
As such, I have previously had several opportunities to average down my holdings (even at these daily 52-week lows) but have chosen not to do so until I see major changes and progress forward.
I suspect many observers in the larger market currently on the sidelines probably feel the same.
[Dragon] |
