I received an alert today with the heading "My previous post got deleted maybe sarcasm is" and only the following text "My previous post got deleted maybe sarcasm is not allowed on this board? All i know is jbw has been around since 1998 and has always given bullish ..."
I do not know who posted the message, but I have only been a shareholder since the year 2000. (Sad in ways, I know.) Maybe I have been bullish because I see positive aspects for this company that the low share price does not reflect at this time.
With the exception of 2003, I have been to every shareholder's meeting since 2000, so I have witnessed many projections that have not been fulfilled over the years.
However, Micromem has really been two companies during that period of time, since their "MAGRAM"/"VEMRAM"/"HEMRAM" technology was abandoned around 2005-2006 in favor of the Dr. Harry Ruda (University of Toronto Nanotechnology Center) developed "MRAM" technology. The "MRAM" Magnetic Non-Volatile Memory was also identified as an excellent Hall Cross Sensor, and due to its sensitivity, the company abandoned trying to produce the cells as memory and pursued the development of sensor platforms instead. I guess this took place around 2008 or 2009.
The management of Micromem-MAST determined that selling these HCS sensors in bulk was not lucrative, and real money would be made using the unique sensor technology in custom solutions for clients that had unaddressed problems.
So I think of Micromem-MAST as really being a company that re-invented itself in the past decade. Since the "MRAM" cell is the basis for the sensor, and this evolved into sensor platforms, one could argue the "new" company began with Ruda's work.
Micromem has had its share of problems and bad luck, though. Micromem developed successful sensor-based solutions for some companies that did not have an adequate business of their own to allow the technology to be implemented. The supply company that wanted a washable keyboard lost their contract to HP. The company that marketed high speed air bearing spindles dropped out of that market as the Micromem-developed speed controls were being readied for production. The New York company that wanted Micromem's breast tumor detection sensor technology was found out to be fraudulent.
So there have been set-backs, to put it mildly.
However, there has not been any major problems with the sensor platform solutions that were developed or with the technology itself. There has been a shortage of operating funds to fuel the development of projects and that has curtained the pipeline and put some on the backburner.
This year, 2017, should show some real progress from what has been mentioned on the grapevine, namely the Castrol "wear materials" and Chevron "interwell tracer" projects. I have not talked to Micromem management for months, so I am not passing along any comments from those quarters.
It will be a real disappointment if things do not improve this year.
--JB
