Stock price when the opinion was issued
Had a court injunction to shut down their big silver mine in Guatemala, which is about half their NAV, but recently won a decision to bring it back on. They are fighting locals who now have road blocks up, so timing is hard to tell how aggressive they want to get to move the protesters. He got out because he saw better value in other places. He would revisit this once there is more clarity.
Had owned this because the Escobal project was one of the best silver deposit out there. The problem has always been Guatemala, which is why he sold his holdings. In July they had a court decision that suspended the mine. They have to deal with the suspension as well as a legal blockade, and in the interim, they have had to readjust their guidance, amend their credit facility, as well as suspend all dividend payments. As a single asset company, they get very highly discounted. There is still a lot of risk embedded in the stock.
This is a name he has avoided due to the uncertainty of their Guatemala silver mine investment. Social license is a big issue for some of these countries. Half of their net asset value is in this country. He worries about the potential for public company conflict with the various levels of government there.
This can become a great Canadian mid-cap producer in 2-3 years’ time, and then you get the valuation bump as well. However, with what they actually have today, the stock is expensive. The other problem is that they have had a run. Gold has had the run, and the Cdn$ has had the run at the Cdn$ gold price. Because of that, he is cautious at this time.