NML is due its interrim results now, last year it was the 28th of this month.

They are setting up a new site to explore/research/analyse and all the equipment to do this should be on site now, and drilling should start soon, all this extra news should be covered in the interims.

does anyone have any further positive views on this company ??

Which then resulted in the following two posts:

5carobDVS1 - 17 Apr'05 - 13:42 - 4782 of 5408
On another thread:

Anomalous - 17 Apr'05 - 12:59 - 114 of 114
They are not the only ones. That was just a couple of them. There are more, but I don't have all the data on them at the moment.

OT - I noted that post 49 showed that The Bank of Islam (Kuala Lumpur), which is different to the UK Bank of Islam. CSmyth indicated that they held 40% of the share capital of NML. If this is the case, then there is a serious concern that the biggest shareholder in NML IS the mystery seller. That's why the RNS would be useful to show the current situation. I'm visiting the LSE to discuss other matters. If the company hasn't regularised its affairs by then, the LSE will be asked to look into the matter and discover why there's been a lack of properly formatted declaration RNSs from the company.

Anomalous - 17 Apr'05 - 14:01 - 4783 of 5408
Quite so, Wendy's refusal to accept the truth and attempt to deny that anything is wrong, has prompted me to take matters further. The share price is being artificially depressed by someone selling large tranches at irregular intervals. We ought to find out if this seller is one of the major shareholders of NML, as it would seem that someone does not have the confidence in the project that the rest of the shareholders have.

If the share price continues at these prices, it will only serve to upset the investors and might actually put off other would-be shareholders. The lack of a up-curve to the share price is going to put off quite a few of them and could be one of any number of reasons why the institutionals have not invested
or the share has not been tipped by the tipsters.

So you can see that finally I gave up trying to convince Wendy D and wrote an official complaint to the AIM in the hope that they would get something done to convince her that she was wrong.

But the main reason for pushing for the RNS's, was to find out if we could locate the person selling shares, who was responsible for artificially depressing the share price.

Thank goodness I found the filter button before that lot!

My own take on this company can be expressed in just a few words.

1. The present execs, both in post for just over a year, have had a very steep learning curve.
2. The plans for how production would be implemented were changed on at least 2 occasions last year, leading to delays in acquiring and transporting equipment, and the unfortunate coincidence of its arrival on-site with the onset of the rainy season. Management had no concept of the impact the rains would have on the preparation of the site for production.
3. Substantial infrastructure was required to be built, which had not been allowed for in the plans. This work was also hampered by the rains.
4. A conformation prospecting period of 3 months was required by the terms of the licence - this, although again hampered by rain, has now been completed sufficiently to allow production to begin.
5. Endiama have now approved all aspects of the project and given it the go-ahead.

Most of the foregoing implies a management style which I have referred to on more than one occasion as shambolic. I am still of that opinion. However, although many of the delays were - or should have been - avoidable, a great deal of work has been achieved in the last 12 months. Healy and Cross are the only execs on the board, and effectively run the entire company in 3 separate locations - London, Australia, and Angola.

On the corporate side there have been lapses. Over-optimistic (and sometimes just plain silly!) statements were made to shareholders by new and over-enthusiastic management. I do not believe any deliberate deception was intended. There is a muddle over director shareholdings and interests. I do not believe it to be significant in the only context that matters, i.e. directors secretly dumping large amounts of stock - or not, as the case seems to be. The company now has a lousy reputation in the city and with the regulators. No-one wants much to do with them. That is largely not their fault.

But at the end of the day, the only thing that really matters is this: whatever the failings of the management, is it going to be possible for NML to pull an average of 10,000 carats of diamonds a month, with an average selling price of $180 a carat, out of the red gravels of C9? Will they be able to achieve an approximation of the forecast profit?

There will not be a definitive answer until about 12 months-worth of production, including another rainy season, has been achieved and an average output can be assessed. Unlike some, I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt until likely success or failure becomes plain.

Seems to me that for one who holds no position, the Lone Haranguer puts in an awful lot of time on 'research' and posting. What is the truth ... or the agenda?

bundu,

agreed, but at least he took the time to prove Wendy D wrong, rather than just trade insults!!!

you notice there was no reply, just the normal bb respnse of 'i can't be bothered' from the person just proved wrong...

seems like there are a lot of questins to be answered here...



anomolous1,

you must be a WORLD RECORD TYPIST mate!!!

Wendy and Anomalous - can we please conclude the history lesson and apply your evident in-depth knowledge and strength of feeling to an analysis of the current prospects for the company and the SP.

I have my own concerns about the holdings/disposals by directors and Badenhorsts and about the confusing RNS's around beginning of April about supposed start of production linked with some very volatile SP movements.

I emailed Alistair Cade at Daniel Stewart, the NOMAD, on 23rd April (posted here on that date) with my concerns. Having received no response to date, I emailed John M. Cross, CEO, last week with a copy of my original enquiry.

If I get no response, I will forward my emails to FSA and LSE. Whilst I am quite open-minded to there being reasonable explanations, no response and continuing lack of news on the production front suggest (from experience) that there may be trouble at t'mill (or should that be trouble at till!).

I will report progress (or lack of it).

sd

Stockdog,

I believe John Cross is in Angola, although he should still be able to receive email there, but just in case, I suggest you repeat your mail to Shane Healy.

Having said that, I emailed him recently and failed to receive a reply.

Like you, I found the two RNS at end of March, and begining of April, a few days apart to be contradictory, and confusing.

If I had sold (I currently don't hold) as a result of the first RNS, I would not have been happy to read the second one.

Pease keep us informed of any progress.

Willco, Andy

The arrogance indicated by failure to reply is anti-correlative with other good companies in my experience.

sd

It could just be that they have not got time to reply to shareholder queries as they are too busy mining the diamonds.

Having said that, they could hire a secretary or just set up some auto-reply stock answers.

Aimtrader -

If you read what Anom actually wrote, he did not prove me "wrong". The facts of that particular case are not at issue - Anomalous' own posts show what he said and did.

Anyway, I REALLY can't be bothered to go through it all again for your benefit. And the reason I couldn't be bothered in the first place is that the argument has already been done to death on other BB's and I have lost patience with both him and the issue. If he chooses to raise these issues in a new forum, that's his affair - I am not obliged to restate all the same old arguments yet again, beyond an initial attempt to show him as not totally competent to form the opinions which he presents as gospel truth.

And that goes for any company, not just NML.

I sold out of AFD when Anomalous started making waves with his condemnatory dossiers to the FSA. If he continues to stir up the authorities against NML and use his "opinions" to further his BB attacks upon the company, I may well do the same. I would not touch EPD with a bargepole, because irrespective of his current fondness for the management, it's only a matter of time before he will be reporting them to the FSA as well, and posting diatribes about being lied to on the BBs. Follow the pattern, all the way from Conroy onwards - it is very, very clear.

If I make a mistake, I take it on-board, admit it, shrug it off and move on. I don't lurk around BBs slagging the company off interminably, reporting them to the FSA once a week, and accusing them of lying, to excuse my own errors.

As regards NML. I believe they have a good chance of succeeding with the Lapi River project, in spite of management muck-ups, incessant (and often avoidable) delays, disruption by rain which they simply failed to predict, and a couple of relatively small discrepancies in director shareholdings. Recent evidence from an experienced consulting economic geologist and a local company - who had the support of a deBeers geologist - is clear, and by Jan 2004 C9 was one of only 14 out of many thousands of applications gazetted by Endiama after the "outbreak of peace." There are diamondiferous kimberlites on the licence area, for which NML have applied for a separate development licence. Alluvial project ops are in charge of two experienced men, who recently took shares in lieu of the final payment due to them for equipment. A number of stones were found during sampling, some of them of a good size. Directors have accepted 4 years worth of directors' fees in shares. A 12-month convertible financing was also redeemed with shares, at the outset, by the lender, who could have waited the year and drawn interest. Money is tight - revenue can hardly arrive before August, if then, and more may yet be required from the market. There may be further unforseen delays lurking of which we know nothing. Production targets are based on the original project economics and may not be correct.

These are the facts. You can interpret them how you like. At just 6 mill market cap my own feeling is that it was worth a reasonable slice of my minex portfolio.

Hi SD,

Yes if you could keep us updated with any correspondence you receive from nml it would be much appreciated.

Anomoulus

fortunately i came out with a 20 profit, god knows how. What alarmed me was when my broker rang up to sell (he tried to get me 6p) there were about 9 sellers ahead of me!!!! so i just got 5.70 or 5.75 (i can't remember) after buying this at 5.5p.

Too many questions need answering here for my liking.

Keep smiling and good luck all.

Anomolous, is what you have heard something to do with the use of nml cash or the amount of a certain persons wage by any chance??!!

legend
nice that you retain an interest, in spite of selling out. Anomalous1 chooses to believe that NML are using the kimberlite money for the alluvials.
The directors don't get wages. I think you must be confusing this with AFD, Anomalous1's other anti-crusade.

Thanks for this takahe....

I have nothing against nml or any of its holders. I really do wish people well and to make money on these.

I hope the company will be honest enough to let you all know what the hell is going on.

What would be the consequences of using the kimberlite money for the alluvials and why is it so bad?? (sorry for being thick!!)

>legend290782

It was something to do with NML cash, but not to do with a certain person's wage.

IMHO, the company was attempting something which would have alarmed the shareholders on the BBs and forced the regulators to take a very close look at the company.

On top of that I've now received more intelligence which is equally disturbing. Although I would not pass this on through a BB, I would say that if you want to find out the truth for yourself, take a close hard look at the people employed by the business.

Anomalous1
what does that mean? Are you inferring that NML are not going to develop the kimberlites and are using the new money raised, for their alluvial operations?
People employed by the company???? I don't understand what you mean.How do I find out the truth?

Chairman and Non-executive Director - Senator David Johnston
Deputy Chairman and Non-executive Director - Datuk Fung-Chee Lim
Managing Director and CEO - John M Cross
Non-executive Director - Dato Azizi Yom Ahmad
Finance Director and Company Secretary - Shane Healy
Non-executive Director - Chong-Kiat Lim
Mine Management, Angola - Piet and Neils Badenhorst
Independent Geologist - Dr Michael Harold Smith, FIMM, C. Eng, from Scotland
Consultant Geologist - Bernard Neehoff, AUSIMM, Perth, Australia

Which one of these people is Anomalous1 attempting to defame now?

Don't know mjr and I don't care...he obviously has nothing better to do or an alternative agenda. It is not worth reading his posts. I am sure news will be out soon and then Anomaly will clear off to deramp another stock!

>Stockdog
Please do keep us updated if they do respond. My guess is that they will not.

It's very likely that the company was contacted by the FSA last year and dissuaded from making inappropriate communications by email or telephone. This was after one of their directors had been sending emails (and telephone calls) about the company to private shareholders. It was as a result of these communications that the whole 'barge' argument started. Not to mention the statement that the company was "going for it" from the moment the equipment was on the ground.

WendyD likes to gloss over this incident, but the person concerned, with virtually no experience in the mining industry, was making statements as a director (on behalf of the company), which were at best extremely misleading and at worst deceiving. In a short while, I'll dissect Wendy D's post for you and show you what she has casually missed. Important facts that a shareholder should be aware of.

As for me, I've invested in dozens of companies. A fair number of them are mining related or actual diamond producers. Some have made me a great deal of money - FDI being one. In all the time I have invested in them, I have known more than a few of them to get their estimates or their dates of completion wrong. However, when I have discovered a mining company that has deliberately lied to their shareholders, I have taken a special interest. This is where I devote a large amount of time to research and posting on BBs.

IN the case of Conroy, I found out that the management had misled the shareholders about the survey being done in 2004. I had been told that the survey was to be used to capture a JV. That the survey company SRK was to be drilling and that this extra drilling would help the company prepare for the feasibility studies. It was only shortly before the survey was released, that I found out there was no extra drilling. The survey did not say anything remarkably different from one taken 3 years before and the company was then dreadfully short of funds. In the meantime, the management were listed as having large salaries and expenses paid trips. They split off the diamond venture (Karelian), saying that it would list in August 2004. It never has. When I realised what the company was up to, I wrote about it on the BB. I accepted that I had been fooled and that I had made a loss. I did not go running to the FSA or LSE about it, but have since kept an eye on the company to see if they pull some of the same stunts again.

In the case of AFD, well, that's covered on the ADVFN BBs. Suffice to say that the company put out a series of RNS last year, including the "we will be a diamond producing company in 8 weeks" RNS of January 2004. These RNS's were extremely misleading. Even AFD's own Chairman regrets making them. But one has to ask why he made them in the first place. If one examines the share price and the issues made by the company, you can possibly see why. To top all this, a director with an impeccable record and one of only two geologists on the board resigned on a matter of honour, when the Chairman used his vote, in my view Ultra viries, to award himself 1,000 per day for working on AFD. Something that was unjustified. The Chairman elected his own son to the board to railroad through these resolutions. At the AGM last December, there was a serious disgreement between the directors over the handling of the company. I have been in contact with shareholders of the company and a complaint has been made to the AIM, FSA and the DTI. We are still awaiting the outcome of the regulators enquiries. But as you can see, I have been involved in this company's affairs, because the management misled the shareholders.

In the case of NML, it is crystal clear to me that the company is also misleading the shareholders about their abilities. Even WendyD has stated that the new management are 'incompetent'. As I dig deeper into the affairs of the company, I discover more that alarms me.

Despite what Wendy claims, I do not report companies to the FSA every week. I do have a relationship with the FSA born out of the Room Service Shorting Scandal. I am keen to see that Private Investors are protected from the rogues on the market. Be they market makers or companies that are abusing their position.

I am also keen to see that Investors are protected from derampers claiming 'insider news'. Your post 'As I dig deeper into the affairs of the company, I discover more that alarms me.' rather falls into that category, without any back-up information. It is an easy thing to say that there is bad news...derampers are alwayd doing that..and your whole tone is very much that of a deramper.

Anomalous1- how can you substantiate that NML have 'deliberately lied to their shareholders'?