Marakand Minerals Share Discussion Threads

[wassapper] 24/8/2006 09:18

A clear explanation of the situation in this article

Marakand Minerals Finds Itself In A Major Muddle

By Rob Davies

In a great demonstration of the risky realities of exploring and developing mines in emerging markets AIM listed Marakand Minerals suddenly learnt on Tuesday the 15th August that it didn't own the Khandiza project in Uzbekistan as it thought. At the start of the day the company was capitalised at £12 million, by the end of the day it was worth £8 million. The market had already got frustrated with Marakand's lack of progress on Khandiza as well as the unusual corporate structure of Oxus Gold holding 85.78 per cent of the equity and the recent change of tack to acquire two copper gold interests in Turkey. But this news was the final straw.

Prior to yesterday's news the last specific statement on Khandiza ... more ..

[leopold555] 23/8/2006 22:01

Just found this through my data mining software looking for recoverables...

I too am sickened by the way you guys have been fleeced by a tin pot regime!

Hope you can recover something :-(

Leo

[chipperfrd] 23/8/2006 00:41

Comment from Minesite - but nothing new or encouraging I'm afraid ...

[hutchoman] 19/8/2006 00:26

That's it for me too as far as ex Soviet States is concerned. Never again will I be ripped off by these crooks, for that is what they are. Still hold MKD, but I shall now consign the shares to a dusty bottom draw for five years and then see if a) the company no longer exists and I've lost the lot, or B) a miracle happened and they are worth a fortune.

It's such a shame for MKD and OXS. There was such huge potential, all for nought because of corrupt regimes. Oh well, that's the gamble we all take I suppose.

[robin_of_loxley] 18/8/2006 19:24

quite Hectorp - complete nightmare, will be very careful on eastern europe / ex ussr in future

[hectorp] 18/8/2006 19:18

Good grief, it is utterly out of order. I am sickened by these territories' Governments so-called Uzbek and so on, and I'm avoiding any further investments in them.

I'm very sorry for good peeps including decent chaps and girls who I know and respect who bought in here or held OXS shares or whatever. I'm out of them for some months and I will not stay nor gloat, it would be very unfair . All the best,
Hector.

[nobull] 17/8/2006 20:33

The use of the workd "stripped" in "stripped of its license" in the above link suggests Oxus/MKD staff did something wrong. It is hard to believe they did anything wrong if all they did was wait and negotiate in good faith? A.S.'s assertion they will do all they can to protect our rights seems a bit unrealistic, given OXS has debt outside Uz and is totally reliant on the cash flows from within Uz. There's a limit to how hard they can fight this one? I hope they will do the decent thing and buy us out (the 3 for 1 offer they had). The Uzbek decision appears to make the 8m$ spent on the BFS a charity donation. They've also had the benefit of the value of zinc call option (in other words if the zinc price had gone down, we might have been lumbered with a barely profitable project?).

[nobull] 17/8/2006 20:10

It is a bit strange the Uzbek Govt. accepted the BFS, and went through so much of the permitting process, only to rescind a decree (one that gave an OXS subsidiary the exclusive right to negotiate the development of Khandiza?). When I bought my first tranche of MKD at 15 point something pence, the zinc price was around 1,300 or 1,400 $ a tonne. It is now over 3,000$ a tonne? Either the NPV, IRR and Payback period were too favourable to give to a foreign company as a result of the zinc price rise, or there is some other hidden agenda here: President I.K. earns Brownie points from cooperating with other SCO members? (Russia and Kyrgyzstan?) (The Kyrgyz foreign minister has just visited or is about to visit Uzbekistan?). Mugging us for our wealth stops us from criticising them? We have to be nice to them to get it back? It also enables them to buy the things with a high price tag we criticise them for lacking: tolerant ways of dealing with dissent, social justice and democracy (you have to spend a lot of money to persuade faulty thinkers in a democracy?: it is cheapr to persuade them to change their mind by pulling their finger nails out and boiling them alive in oil?).

[hardben] 16/8/2006 14:54

LUCKY I SOLD ALL MINE AT 58P.

HB

[mikehardman] 15/8/2006 22:53

holders - my sympathies also - lousy luck

[robin_of_loxley] 15/8/2006 22:51

Bloomin heck, just randomly popped in to see what was going on....havent held this one for a while.....

Commiserations to holders, doesnt look healthy. Very very unfortunate, to say the least.

no advice intended,

RoL
>>>>--------------------------->

[nobull] 15/8/2006 22:24

ETR, no, I was perhaps an exception to the herd years ago to take out a repayment mortgage (everybody else I knew had endowment mortgages). I read a very boring Daily Telegraph Guide to Mortgages book, and had to fight like hell against pushy salesmen to get what I wanted. I saw no reason to buy a savings scheme at the same time as buy a flat. I bought separate term assurance to deal with death before expiry of the mortgage. Sadly I wasn't experienced enough not to be taken in by the large metal in the ground value figure for MKD.

[eriktherock] 15/8/2006 22:09

nobull, Did you claim for being missold an endowment mortgage?

[nobull] 15/8/2006 22:04

It is a pity the risks section in the prospectus didn't state that rising base metal prices might increase the risk of approval for the JV being refused. Experienced mining share investors don't need to be told that?, and are capable of inferring it from " In addition, approval is required for the contractual structure finally chosen by Marakand
following its negotiations with Goscomgeology within the framework of the Primary Exploration Agreement
for the mining activities on the Khandiza Deposit. Although the Directors are not aware of any reason as to
why such a decree and subsequent approvals and consents should not be forthcoming, there can be no
assurance that they will be forthcoming, or if so, on what terms."

[cezary] 15/8/2006 20:44

Management has lot to answer for here, but no doubt Trew has made a few million out of it, even if it goes bust. What a bummer!!

[captain kurt] 15/8/2006 20:42

Best advice I can give, is buy some CDN when they re-list....I'm sure Phillis will back me up on that :@)

[eriktherock] 15/8/2006 20:38

To GS. note above post.

[wolstencroft] 15/8/2006 20:37

nice quote eric but I'm interested in share prices and fundamental value, especially when they are different. Many CEOs out they are sweating and devoted and half will fail - most businesses do after all.

Probably my last OXS/MKD post at least until I think of buying again if that should arise.

[eriktherock] 15/8/2006 20:22

GS, Always good to move in the direction you feel is right. Equally good to not move in haste. When I'm sure what to do I step into it. When I'm not sure what to do I do nothing.
No advice intended. EDIT: I should add the following >It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory or defeat. Teddy Roosevelt

[giant steps] 15/8/2006 20:18

If, which i suspect is true, Khandiza has been deprived to Marakand,
Oxus will in turn suffer a sharp drop.

Sentiment is everything.

I am now considering selling up everything in OXS/MKD.

I will not be investing in OXS/MKD again given that Marakand
has played games with us ordinary investors.

I will also refrain from posting on MKD/OXS threads;
will watch events unfold.

Ready to close this chapter and move on.

No advice intended.

[phillis] 15/8/2006 20:12

GS - can't see any prospect of legal action. Too much danger of upsetting the AGF applecart.
Low heads for a while I think is the best policy
PS: need to change the header