Hi Red are you back in? Hey how about that Gerle Gold. Ouch. I hope you dumped it. I really like the stockwatch release.
Gerle Gold Ltd -
Gerle's Blob statement ticks Kaiser
Gerle Gold Ltd
GGL
Shares issued 22,411,858
1999-05-04 close $0.24
Tuesday May 4 1999
KAISER FUMES OVER 'MASTERPIECE OF BAFFLEGAB'
by Stockwatch Business Reporter
Gerle Gold traded down to its 52-week low of 20 cents intraday on Tuesday after
the company issued a press release updating drilling at Blob Lake and Fox Lake
that letter writer John Kaiser described as a "masterpiece of bafflegab." Gerle
recovered somewhat to close at 24 cents on Tuesday, down eight cents from
Monday on relatively high volume of 222,200 shares.
Gerle's announcement, released on Monday, updated drilling on four targets
below the frozen Blob Lake in the Northwest Territories, and one in nearby Fox
Lake. The work, carried out with partner Monopros (De Beers), is so far
inconclusive. President Ray Hrkac said the company "remains confident that its
systematic and innovative approaches to identifying drillable kimberlite targets will
prove useful." Five targets remain to be tested.
"Nowhere in the news release does Gerle actually say it failed to hit kimberlite,"
Mr. Kaiser grouses. "But, given the promptness with which De Beers is reporting
new kimberlite on Mountain Province's Kennady Lake property to the north, we
can reasonably conclude that no mention of kimberlite means no kimberlite found."
On any given day, many companies issue equally noncommittal statements. The
difference for Mr. Kaiser is the statement comes after two weeks of failing to
reach Mr. Hrkac and because the hardly-ever-acerbic Californian has supported
Gerle year in and year out since he began publishing in 1994. Mr. Kaiser has
recommended the stock at least nine times over the years at prices ranging from
26 cents in December 1994 to $1.95 in February 1997.
"The clenched-teeth tone of the news release and the way management has
handled investor relations during the past couple of weeks engenders that sinking
feeling Doyle Lake is headed toward a major bust," Mr. Kaiser bleats, adding
correctly that he expects the stock to come under selling pressure.
Still, he sighs, "as the play's strongest booster and a fairly large shareholder, I am
committed to staying on board until I know definitely Gerle is a lost cause."
The letter writer made a similar, but more measured, comments in November
1997, when he complained about the timing Ashton Mining's news releases. In a
Nov. 11, 1997, Bottom-Fish Tracker, Mr. Kaiser referred to Ashton's "supposed
arrogant and even manipulative attitude toward its shareholders."
In his Gerle report, Mr. Kaiser speculates that Mr. Hrkac's reluctance to talk
publicly about the drilling program may be related to the company's May 28
annual meeting and the possibility of a proxy battle. "It's a fact that management's
grip on the company is vulnerable to the whims of grumpy shareholders" unhappy
with the company's lack of results, he writes -- grumpily.
Mr. Hrkac declined to return a call.
(c) Copyright 1999 Canjex Publishing Ltd. canada-stockwatch.com
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