Asa Resource Share Discussion Threads

[nomz] 28/4/2020 18:06

Eckhof’s deal was dodgy as hell and was thrown out months ago. He tried to get SOKIMOs holding in Kibali as well for next to nothing. I’ve heard that the licences have been taken by another company, whose name I won’t mention on here. But whatever happens you can be sure that Mwana/Asa won’t get a cent. They didn’t pay fees for years and also didn’t meet the criteria of the JV with SOKIMO (the state mining company). If Dearing wants to take that to court then good luck to him

[plasybryn] 28/4/2020 17:07

Re: Zani-Kodogold it also says:- The DRC authorities have initiated proceedings to take over this site, which contains at least 2m ozs and has recently attracted the keen interest of the serial mining investor Klaus Echo (Africa Intelligence 10/03/2020).
Hopefully there are some assets which can still be sold.
The directors appointed Duff & Phelps to conduct the voluntary liquidation. I'm sure it wasn't expected that once the secured creditors had been satisfied that they would walk away leaving shareholders high & dry, especially as the directors like Dearing and Henry were holders of considerable shares themselves. How could that go so wrong in the Terms of Reference? But here we are and it's right that Dearing fights to stop them washing their hands, especially as I'm sure just satisfying secured creditors made their job easy and meant they didn't have to fight for competitive prices. Seems a bit of a shambles to me.

[gfrae] 28/4/2020 15:44

Was Dearing paid by Ning for enabling him to steal from the company, in cash or otherwise ?

[nomz] 28/4/2020 14:32

The Zani licences have long been rescinded due to non payment of fees. So scratch that one.

[plasybryn] 28/4/2020 13:20

Bit more meat on the bone:
Ian Dearing also wants to appoint additional directors to the ASA Board to help safeguard our position and preserve the value of our interests in the numerous potentially very lucrative projects in the DRC. Duff & Phelps, having satisfied the creditors, no longer need or indeed want to seek a buyer for these remaining assets or to protect them. This is what Dearing is keen to prevent. That walk away decision....we've completed our duties and shareholders are now on their own.
Dearing is apparently asking the Court to afford these future Board members a certain latitude in overseeing the operations of the Co. and its subsidiaries during the period leading up to the conclusion of the administration process.
1. Controlling stake in the Zani-Kodogold venture in Ituri, not far from Kibali, a mine which produced 800,000 ozs last year for the giant Barrick Gold Corp.
2. 20% stake in state owned diamond Co., MIBA
3. Interest in property & agricultural land in the Kasai region, two sectors that are currently booming in the DRC.
Go for it Ian. We wish you well & every success.

[plasybryn] 27/4/2020 19:11

There is a subscription article out today in Africa Intelligence which sets out what is proposed. All down to the UK Courts now to agree Ian Dearing's proposal. Fingers crossed. Light at the end of a very long tunnel again perhaps.

[nomz] 27/4/2020 19:01

He should have been protecting shareholders when we was Legal Counsel and Company Secretary.

[plasybryn] 27/4/2020 17:17

Ian Dearing is still in, batting at the crease on shareholder’s behalf. He wants to keep the Administrators involved to ensure shareholders have some protection. We might hear more around mid year I believe.

[nomz] 21/4/2020 19:07

Ning’s around. Here’s his latest dodgy venture.

hXXps://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/amabhungane-earthcrimes-limpopos-dirty-great-white-elephant-20200407

[timgw] 21/4/2020 14:46

<<Has there been any attempt to get back the money stolen by Ning ?(The man Dearing helped to put in control).>>

I don't think anyone even knows where Ning is let alone the money. My suggestion would be for the administrators to offer a bung to the local Triads who I am sure would welcome a "success" fee!

[silenzi01] 01/4/2020 11:58

Pretty good summary, Braid.

Niall Henry is very much a big time scum. I hope he gets locked up and his business wound down. He lost me a lot of money.

[gfrae] 01/4/2020 09:46

Has there been any attempt to get back the money stolen by Ning ?(The man Dearing helped to put in control).

[braid] 31/3/2020 22:14

Let's be clear what took place. ASA was a reasonably healthy company that was taken into administration to serve the purposes of a management team that was being outflanked by RPI. I believe D&P initially suggested that it would get a better price than the 2.1p being offered by RPI. However,despite an enormous rise in the price of nickel, Bindura was sold for a shockingly low price to a friend of the Zimbabwean government. All the time D & P have been making millions out of a company that never, financially, needed to go into administration. Two key questions need to be put to D & P - hopefully in a court of law: 1. Why was the company not sold to RPI, if as it's now turned out this was the best offer on the table? 2. How can D & P justify the 28, or so, months of administration? Sadly, I doubt they will ever have to answer these questions, and what money shareholders had in the company is now all but gone. I welcome anyone who fights our corner, but I expect little if any cash to be returned in the end.

[casabella2] 31/3/2020 20:34

Lets hope he can come up with some sort of plan for us all.

[plasybryn] 31/3/2020 20:17

Skidaddle - that's the point - there is no longer going to be a dividend to shareholders. Duff and Phelps changed their position. From going to make a payment to shareholders as advised in Nov. to now saying we are not covered by their remit. They have been advised by a QC that that is legitimate. Hence Barry is fighting.

[skidaddle] 31/3/2020 19:04

Lets wait and see the size of this dividend to shareholders then.

[plasybryn] 31/3/2020 18:37

Skidaddle: In the 14th November 2019 letter Duff & Phelps said :-

"The Joint Administrators also expect sufficient funds to be available to pay a dividend to shareholders".

So I don't think you remark about never giving any consideration towards the shareholders is correct.

If you read their latest letter there seems to be only 28 days allocated so I can't see it dragging on. It's just weather Barry can accomplish what he aims to do in the timescale.

[skidaddle] 31/3/2020 13:05

Like I said previously, it's the least he can do.

I support it but I doubt we will get a say in it either way.

One could argue that the Administrators never at any time gave any consideration toward the shareholders. This was about bleeding the company dry for 2 years.

I seem to remember in the early days that the Admin thought that shareholders would get a better payout than RPI were offering at the time and that was when gold and nickel prices were down and out.

I hope it does get clogged up in the courts for years, and all distributions frozen, at least then there may be a compromise. Otherwise we get nothing.

Who knows, things may come out in court that the Administrators would rather be kept quiet on the sales of Bindura and Freda Rebecca and the buyers connectios with the Zim government.

[plasybryn] 31/3/2020 12:59

But do you support Barry's efforts? What is the alternative? I've no clear idea how we are going to otherwise extract any value.

[skidaddle] 31/3/2020 12:30

Dearing let Ning and his crooks in not RPI.

RPI came in later when the Chinese crooks scarpered! But never took control. At least that's the way I read it.

[gfrae] 31/3/2020 12:14

Dearing is the man who got control of Mwana for RPI. I was at the AGM when he first mysteriously appeared, Ning was very pleased to see him and congratulate him as a saviour of the ordinary shareholder !
He organised a shareholder revolt in cahoots with the Chinese feigning to be acting on behalf of ordinary shareholders.
He was almost certainly paid by the Chinese thieves that he helped take control of Mwana.
Perhaps he is the right man to help, maybe he has been stitched up by Ning ,perhaps they didn't give him what they agreed ?

[plasybryn] 31/3/2020 11:40

I'm sure Ian Barry Dearing is a big shareholder, so he is on our side. Perhaps he's our are only hope now of achieving some resolution. I believe he is a practicing solicitor and has a history, so I believe, of being pretty good at this sort of thing. The fact that the Administrators have dumped us to get on with it ourselves seems grossly unfair and not what they appeared to be originally indicating in their communications. Suddenly they want the easy route out. Just settle the preferred (secured) creditors and leave shareholders to their own devises as unsecured creditors who must accept the risk of investing as common shareholders.
That came as a great shock to me and I'm sure when the ASA Directors opted for voluntary liquidation they had no idea Duff & Phelps would adopt such a cavalier position.
So I'm all behind Barry to achieve what ever he can and make it as difficult as possible for the Administrators to wash their hands of shareholder interests.

[skidaddle] 31/3/2020 10:43

It's the least Ian Barry Dearing can do. He was part of the problem from the start.

The so called Administrators were little more than liquidators. The sell offs were at firesale prices. The shareholders have nothing to lose and perhaps something to gain.

The honest shareholders were taken for a ride just as much as the creditors.

Sod the Administrators!

[plasybryn] 30/3/2020 22:59

TO ALL KNOWN CREDITORS AND SHAREHOLDERS
27 March 2020
To the creditors and shareholders of ASA Resource Group Plc (In Administration) ASA Resource Group Plc (In Administration) (“ASA Plc” or “the Company”)
This letter should be read in conjunction with the Joint Administrators previous letters to all shareholders dated 22 January 2020, 5 February 2020, 13 February 2020, 19 February 2020 and 2 March 2020.
Joint Administrators are pleased to advise that on 25 March 2020 the Court approved their application under Paragraph 65(3), 79(3) and 98(2) of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986 and granted, inter alia, the following orders:
a. Permission to make a distribution to creditors;
b. The termination of the administration with effect from the filing of a sealed Order with Companies House (and an extension of time in which to do so); and
c. That the Administrators’; statutory release shall take effect from the filing of the relevant Order at Companies House.
The Joint Administrators intend to commence the dividend process as soon a possible, including advertising and sending their Notice of Intended Dividend, together with instructions on how to submit any claims, to all known creditors. We have been provided with an estimate advising that, due to delays caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the earliest possible date to publish our Notice of Intended Dividend across the necessary global jurisdictions may be Friday, 17 April 2020. We are currently exploring options to expedite this process and will provide creditors and shareholders with an update in due course.
Ian Barry Dearing, the director of the Company, has issued an application in court seeking an order that the Administrators agree to the proposed appointment of additional directors of the Company (not to be removed by the Administrators without the leave of the Court), and that the Administrators use their reasonable endeavours to agree a protocol with any such directors for the carrying on of the ‘proper activities of the Company and its subsidiaries’ prior to the administrators release in accordance with ‘c’ above (“Mr Dearing’s Application”). Unfortunately, due to the limited statutory powers of the Administrators and having taken senior QC’s advice, the Administrators have little choice but to resist this Application and seek an exit from Administration as soon as possible in
accordance with the order that the Administrators obtained at yesterday’s hearing.

At the hearing on 25 March 2020, the Court gave directions in respect of Mr Dearing’s Application, which culminate in a hearing being listed for the first available date after 28 days, with the Administrators having 14 days (from yesterday) to file evidence in reply to Mr Dearing’s Application and Mr Dearing having a further 14 days to respond to the Administrators evidence.
As Mr Dearing’s Application has now been filed and listed, unless Mr Dearing withdraws the application, the Administrators will have to incur time and costs in responding to this application. It is the Administrators understanding that the adjudication process and exit from administration may in fact occur before this matter is heard by the Court, unless Mr Dearing has sufficiently strong grounds to apply for this matter to be expedited by the Courts. Please note, given the current global pandemic caused by Covid-19, the UK Courts are only hearing urgent matters. The Administrators will be seeking to prioritise their exit from Administration in an expeditious manner.
As previously advised, please note that all future updates to shareholders are to be published to the following website:
• hxxps://micro.duffandphelps.com/ukrestructuring/cases?caseId=1381 Should you have any questions, please contact Oliver Jones of this office.

Seems like Ian Barry Dearing is trying to do his best to protect shareholder interests, as shareholders not classified as creditors under the Administration and not therefore eligible for the distribution. At least that is how I understand it, although Duff & Phelps don't appear happy with his course of action. Any thoughts?