Ariana Resources Share Discussion Threads

[thanksamillion] 12/7/2022 08:35

Fair point D1G3Y.

[d1g3y] 12/7/2022 08:12

*over time

[d1g3y] 12/7/2022 08:12

Project leopard could also need a fair bit of cash if it is 100 percent AAU. Lots of land to cover and no one else to split the bill

[soulsauce] 11/7/2022 19:48

It's needed a home for a long time Thanksamillion.
Let's hope if they do have something in mind it is something they at least do have a bit of control over and has an Ariana hand firmly on the tiller instead of listing aimlessly from bankside to bankside.

[thanksamillion] 11/7/2022 18:56

soul, nothing specific, but most of that retained cash needs a home and now seems like an opportune time to expand the portfolio with more deals like the Western Tethyan and Venus. Finalising these will probably require face to face negotiations.

[plasybryn] 11/7/2022 17:02

Celebrating his birthday at the end of the month. Seeing his new HQ in Ankara and a binge to celebrate 20 years of AAU reaching 3.2p per share. That should be at least 10p per share if the directors had shown any business acumen.

[soulsauce] 11/7/2022 16:16

Thanksamillion what news are you expecting that requires Kerim to be in the UK?

[jaf1948] 11/7/2022 15:56

Thanksamillion,

I think we all agree that there is some very good and important news about Ariana to come in the next 12-18 months. My problem is that I do not believe that news, however good, will have a significant positive effect on the share price for the reasons I have outlined above.

[cinoib] 11/7/2022 15:40

soulsarce, nice to get a sencible reply for once.

[thanksamillion] 11/7/2022 15:33

The frustration is understandable however a little bit of patience required here. Kerim is not in UK for the good of his health. A lot of news is due to be reported and the longer it takes for the dam to burst only means it will be compressed into a smaller and smaller time frame.

[jaf1948] 11/7/2022 14:41

I've said it before and I will say it bluntly again. Kerim's priorities are exploration and discovery - the deals he has done have provided him with the cash to do his own thing and not have to worry about pesky details such as raising money from shareholders or indeed any consideration for shareholders.

There is no certainty that even if Ariana does make considerable profits that any of that money will flow back to shareholders rather than just be added to the already underused nest egg.

I admit I though Ariana had turned a corner earlier this year - I not longer think that.

[konil] 11/7/2022 14:34

soul, plasybryn, bb, thanks guys for the historical briefing and clearing up confusion.

i agree with plasybryn that they should beef up the bod.

i've previously suggested a business development head but perhaps a cfo is also required.

they had a narrow escape at the cost of heavy dilution, now the stakes are even higher so critical to get the financing done most efficiently. if salinbas is as big as they say, did they get full value for the 76.5% they gave up albeit of an undeveloped asset, or could the deal have been structured differently and possibly brought in millions more, we'll never know but relying on external advisers without having the relevant in-house knowledge to assess these things properly is not ideal.

another recent matter that has been niggling me is the deal with newmont. sure its worth having access to their database but not so sure the company gets much benefit from the $2.5m it collected for issue of new shares, the company is not short of cash so why dilute with new shares. perhaps an experienced money man could have arranged a more appropriate deal, one alternative for example newmont agree to take shares in return for cash at a time when aau need the cash for project purposes i.e. a defined requirement for the cash, and possibly on this matter alone could have paid for his annual salary many times over.

[plasybryn] 11/7/2022 14:06

I'm seriously hoping I'm going to be proved wrong this time and the drilling news we get, hopefully imminently, from Salinbas, will restore my confidence in backing a geologist. Let's see how this £8m has been spent. Let's see some world class grades and timescales to Resource/Reserve EIA, BFS, production etc. Please don't disappoint me again. I think generally patience is waring thin for many.

[plasybryn] 11/7/2022 13:54

Yes they had dubious ways of raising money and only those who were made insiders and bought in at the discounted price via the Placing made a quick buck as I recall. PG couldn't raise the necessary funds from their more blue chip Institutions so it was bucket shop stuff. As I've said some question our allegiance to the Nomad but AAU rarely listen to advice. Unfortunately I don't think they are at all City savvy. It shows so often. When I asked them if they took independent expert advise regarding the construction of the deal, I was told it wasn't necessary. That is the sort of naivety we are dealing with. As I've also said many times they urgently need to strengthen the Board bring in the skills they severely lack. I can't see things changing until such time as they wake up to these issues and start to demonstrate they want things to change for the better.

[soulsauce] 11/7/2022 13:23

Well they would have said that wouldn't they. More of the same not taking ownership.
Beaufort weren't excellent at getting money raised. They could only do what they did at the expense of companies allowing their shareholders to be rolled over big time.
It was good that you had pockets deep enough to take advantage of it but no consolation for those that couldn't.

[bigglesbingham] 11/7/2022 13:13

The going bust line creeped in from board after the event . I took advantage of it at 1.3p. But Beaufort were excellent at getting money raised but methods were dubious

[soulsauce] 11/7/2022 13:11

Yes bigglesbingham but we continue to wonder when if, if ever, will that freed up cash be used for something tangible or is it just going to continue to sit in 'a' bank as the Asgard money obviously did for several years.
Another area of obscurity where we are not afforded a view of the bigger picture apart from scant references.

[bigglesbingham] 11/7/2022 13:04

The reduction to 23.5% I believe was taking advantage of crystallising value at the same time reducing exposure to Turkey. I wouldn't put it past edrogen of reducing foreign ownership if mining activities to 50% or even 25% in future and reducing to less than 25% eliminates this risk , frees up capital to explore and diversify.

[bigglesbingham] 11/7/2022 13:01

They are committed to $8m at salibas

[soulsauce] 11/7/2022 12:28

Renniks no insider knowledge. It's all there when they started drilling and how much they had achieved in the last update. Yes much of it has been through a challenging winter but they should have got going in late summer/autumn.

But maybe again it's down to the dearth of actual information we are provided with.

[soulsauce] 11/7/2022 12:25

konil historically we have had two JV partners before at Salinbas and although money was spent and some drilling done neither company had the willingness to take it forward due to them having more important projects in their portfolio and I guess the price of Gold.
I am hoping it's 3rd time lucky, especially since we have given so much away, but up to press Ozaltin have a similar feel to the previous JVs in that it appears not high in their list of priorities and I doubt we will see production from there before 2028.

[renniks2016] 11/7/2022 12:18

I take it there are a few here with insider knowledge of what is happening on the ground at multiple sites? other wise how does anyone know that Ozaltin are not performing or not bringing anything to the table, great if you could share the source/sources, or is this just based on not having any information so assuming the worst?
Either way I share the frustration in the SP, but in this market any news is and will be falling on deaf ears, so might not make a huge difference to share price unless transformational, I support the delay in the Venus IPO, just take a look at the chart for copper and ask yourself ' is this the right time to be trying to realise value from this asset, no point in giving it away for the sake of getting it started, same resources will be there when ever it starts. Again not good timing for those looking or hoping for decent rise and exit. But in the words of KS 'keep the faith'
You just never know what is around the corner.

[plasybryn] 11/7/2022 12:15

They aren't connected. Beaufort were used, against shareholder advice, to raise much needed cash, as is the case with all explorers who rely on raises to keep moving forward. As soulsauce says I can recall them being backed into a corner and having to raise at a deeply discounted rate as they left it too late and ran out of options. We never heard the full details of course as is par for the course. That was quite a few years ago now. The more recent liquidation of assets was supposedly to support the new strategy which reverts again to a more exploration & development focus which is Kerim's raison d'etre. The 23.5% of the producing assets (Tavsan & Kiziltepe) provides them with enough free cash to fund the E&D programme and hopefully reward shareholders with a regular dividend.But we owned 100% of the Hot Gold Corridor assets and these we're supposed to be the elephant in the room. So giving away 75% can be hard to swallow especially when we see no progress.

[soulsauce] 11/7/2022 12:10

No konil there is no link between Beaufort and Salinbas or the drop to 23.5%.
It was a historical issue and a particularly painful time for shareholders, but one of the reasons we have no institutional investment and over a billion shares in issue.
Luckily it is unlikely that Kerim will ever need to approach the markets again.

[konil] 11/7/2022 11:56

red imp, thanks for that.

soul, your post exposes skeletons for newbies like me (only 2 years here). strengthens my opinion that aau are more than ready for having the bod beefed up.


still dont get the connection between the beaufort/cash raise issue years ago and ending up with 'only' 23.5% of salinbas. i may be conflating the two things and sorry for being slow but can anyone clarify?