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Hunt won't be sending its No. 3 rig back to Tasmania without first receiving a very large upfront deposit. They could even require the full anticipated cost to be paid in advance.
I should have said Conga Oil (not Condor) but both were early (and still are?) Bendall private companies that dabbled in oil exploration in the 1980s or thereabouts.
I don't consider to be accurate a lot of what Condor represents to be factual.
A hugely expensive Sasol-type coal to liquids conversion plant established to handle Mt Lloyd coal production - I'd like to see THAT! Anyway, apparently we already have an oil refinery on the drawing board (going to produce 5.5 million bpa of jet fuel).
Maybe you don't know that Australia has huge reserves of natural gas (mostly exported) which could replace domestic oil if need be.
You miss the point COMPLETELY! Coal can be liquefied and purified. Remember Coal to liquid is a real technology proven to yield petroleum.
Here is David Villareal Jr's curriculum vitae on his first-time appointment as a Director:
Mr. Villarreal has spent his career building and successfully managing companies primarily in the financial services industry as well maintaining significant long term organized labor and political relationships. He is the current President and Chief Executive Officer of Grand Monarch Holdings Incorporated and has been the Chairman of the Board of American Union Financial Services, Inc. (“AUFS”) since he founded it in April 2004. Previously, from 2000 to 2005, Mr. Villarreal served as the Chief Operating Officer of American Residential Funding, Inc., a multi billion-dollar national real estate and financial services company. From 1992 to 2000 Mr. Villarreal was President of L.S. Inland Ventures, Inc. which developed commercial real estate and moderate-income housing developments. Between 1998 and 2000, he was President and CEO of Solomon Trust Foundation, a philanthropic charitable organization providing direct financial assistance to low and moderate-income families to facilitate home ownership opportunities. Mr. Villarreal also served as Human Resources Director and National Director for the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 for a subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Co. during his tenure from 1980 through 1988 for which he received a Congressional Office Distinction of Service Award. From 1976 to 1980 Mr. Villarreal served as Administrative Assistant to former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley with responsibility for all organized labor relations and employees of the City of Los Angeles. Prior to recruitment into his Mayoral office responsibilities Mr. Villarreal was the youngest Field Representative for the Laborers’ International Union of North America (“LIUNA”) from 1973 to 1976 and attended California State University Los Angeles where he studied Business Administration and was a 1978 Trade Union Fellow at Harvard University - Graduate School of Business and John F. Kennedy School of Government.
I don't see in there that he knows anything about the oil and coal businesses, and if he was taken on for his financial expertise to use in lining up funding for Empire then he would have to be marked a fail. I don't understand why there should be any great excitement about his re-appearance.
Incidentally, in the same PR of 28 Sept 2010 was reported "Management intends to shortly be traveling to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar for a series of meetings to finalize its $180 million structured finance, secure the first $45 million disbursement and complete the $300 million investment in development of the Company’s flare gas remediation technology – to be rolled out in tandem with drilling operations in Tasmania. Additionally, the Company intends to meet with its potential joint venture partner to solidify contractual terms."
Have you heard anything lately of Dr Chuck Flynn (the doctorate in divinity)?
And yes, I read the blurb about a fraction of the coal at Mt Lloyd having being mined. Ho hum. Thin and fault-dislocated seams are not amenable to large scale mining. Next?
I have some difficulty deciphering your meaning, however, since Terrex Seismic has supposedly been contracted and mobilised to Tasmania (not by Empire though!) I don't see how capital raising through an AIM float to fund the surveying is at all feasible. The $2 million spoken of is apparently to come from NBD Partners (the same crowd who is supposedly going to fund the East Africa fun and games). Also if the coal seams at and around Mt Lloyd are as thin and faulted as the literature describes I don't see that seismic would prove very much at all - the profiles would likely resemble a bowl of Korean noodles.
Get it?
SPV, Special Purpose Vehicle to develope identified black coal potential... that the company is willing to spend 2 million to define and float the cost of production through APA (Alpha) reasonably) through the AIM, which is a brilliant proposition, knowing it's value based on it's seismic data reasonably not privy to the last lease holder wherein, even Empire admits
I though it was clear from the context that the "you" was not you personally. It's not about you.
Are you suggesting I'm a stock promoter?
Your double negative here would mean you think Empire IS playing games but I will give you the benefit of the doubt that it is not what you mean.
I don't consider to be accurate a lot of what Condor represents to be factual. It was mostly a one-man show run by Malcolm Bendall who is not a qualified geotechnician, and as evidence of that the many oil "seeps" identified around Tasmania are not accepted as being such by qualified professionals.
I don't think Empire is NOT playing games w/funds as they undoubtedly know how much coal is down there through Conga here
The PR of 6 Dec said "the Board of Empire have extended invitations to Nicole Chesterman & David Villarreal to join the existing Board of the Company" and "former Chairman of the Board David Villarreal, will be rejoining the Empire Board"
The 8K filed the next day said "The strengthening of the Board of Empire is another positive, with appointments of David Villarreal and Nicole Chesterman announced yesterday."
But the PR did not say they were appointed but that they were invited, so is David Villareal a Director again or isn't he?
While MRT coal geologist C A Bacon exposed the shortcomings of the Mt Lloyd coal prospects (see post #23051) the chapter in the volume "Geology and Mineral Resources of Tasmania" (1989) of which Clive Burrett is a joint editor is equally unenthusiastic about the general coal prospectivity (i.e. resources of attractive size and mineability) of that part of the State:
"Seams (i.e. of Upper Triassic coal) vary in thickness up to 5 m but most are less than 1 m. Between two and ten seams occur in any one section but commonly number eight. Faulting and steep intrusions of dolerite disrupt the seams and are the main reasons for the relatively short life (almost all of the mines had a life of two years or less) of most mines .... In few places are the seams shallow enough for open-cast mining and the overburden commonly includes dolerite .... Total in situ measured and indicated reserves of black coal are 530 million tonnes for the whole of Tasmania .... the bulk of these reserves are in the northeastern coalfields in the Fingal, Mt Nicholas and Dalmayne areas"(p 337)
Note that in situ means as correlated and interpreted to be continuous in palisade diagrams of different sections and bore holes and it does not imply being capable of economic extraction.
The correct answer to that is he hasn't come back - he may have been invited but there has not been any formal notification of his re-appointment as a Director.
Maybe it's a case of "once bitten twice shy". He might well be waiting for Empire to obtain some real funding (as distinct from Malcolm's phony line of credit) and not waste any more of his time.
Now why would David Villarreal come back after stepping off early in 2011?
We we all know the answer to that.
There's no harm in playing games with prospective funds.
You can make it as simple or complicated as you want but the more complicated the better if you are a stock promoter. It would be much too simple and transparent for Empire to apply for coal licences in its own right and go it alone. Far better to tangle it all up with inter-company agreements and snakes and ladders percentages of who owns what.
I don't really think it's that complicated. Perhaps it could it be that Empire is diversifying the prospective funds from NBD?
Another possibility is kryptonite?
Hint, hint: GOLD!!!, as has been suggested. Or, even precious stones!
It's just another attempted distraction from the foundering main game. The ruse was also given away earlier with the wild talk of a possible deeper basement oil dome for which there is absolutely no evidence.
INTRODUCTION
The Triassic black coal from Mt Lloyd is similar in quality
and petrographic character to most other Tasmanian coals.
Part of one seam has a lower than average ash content. The
seams are thin, discontinuous and faulted, limiting the
potential of the area for future exploration.
LOCATION
The Mt Lloyd Coalfield is located on the western flank ofMt
Lloyd [DN967562] about 13 km south-west of New Norfolk.
A coal mining lease has been held over part of the coalfield
since 1953. Work carried out in the lease area has consisted
of prospecting activity and sporadic small scale mining of
some coal outcrops. Samples from two seams (West I, West
2) were given to the Department by the leaseholder.
Petrographic and proximate analyses were done on these
samples by CCI. Newcastle, in October 1984.
[Extract from report "Petrographic analyses of coal from Mt Lloyd" by C A Bacon, MRT unpublished report 1987/10]
Assuming funding materialises from somewhere and the licence applications are granted there is still a long way to go with this one.
Dr Clive Burrett hasn't done very well in the past estimating when a drilling rig is going to arrive.
Did anyone think to quiz Dr Burrett on the very low COS that has been calculated by RPS Energy for Bellevue? Since Empire Energy PRs have never alluded to the matter it would have been an excellent opportunity to question the Company's chief geologist.
As regards empire - they had a dr clive burrett who was over from Tasmania and he confirmed that they were read to start drilling and the drilling contractors were on standby. In the Q&A section he was asked when would drilling start he said as soon as possible before the harsh weather comes in. So fingers crossed could happen sooner rather than later!!
Another post by 911 chris (quoted below) is flat out wrong. The helium-bearing gas was not in the Bellevue pre-collar hole (no testing was done) but in a hole drilled on Bruny Island which has since been excluded from the exploration licence.
As for coal being at the surface at Mt Lloyd that is no big deal. Thin coal seams are exposed in road cuttings in some parts of the State. It would be of interest to know what the thickness of the seam(s) at Mt Lloyd is and whether it might be amenable to large scale mining.
It was a busy well attended conference glad i went along. Also in the presentation document they handed it out. Something to note was that when the drilled last time before the stoppage they found helium rich wet gas which is believed to be a good sign. TB also mentioned that empire has applied for the coal license for Tasmania because there is coal exposed at the surface!
If this was really said then it would be a very material development that ought to have been reported to the market. Or is Baldwin's "belief" of the same order as his believing his football team will win its next game?
Funds starting to arrive from NBD Partners would presumably mean the $100K option had been exercised and that would surely be a significant development that should have been reported.
T Baldwin stated that he believed the funds had started to arrive into Empire account from NBD
Why don't you send e-mails if you think there is anything to be gained by doing so? They are free so you can hardly complain at the cost.
do you have some conversation (via email), with bronte park, pectil or terrex seismic to verify what you have said!
Empire's "current past" PR was in monochrome and not fairground colours.
I did not say anything about Bronte Park, Pectil or Terrex Seismic so why would I be sending e-mails to them?
I said "Funding is not in place, rigs are not on their way to Tasmania, oil men are not gathering in Hobart" and that is an accurate statement of the current position.
As far as the names you mention go:
Bronte Park has been readied on earlier occasions for drilling crews that never arrived (a busload of drillers that set out from Launceston was not heard of again).
Pectil Engineering was mobilised in Jan 2009 but also failed to arrive (“Pectil Engineering’s truck mounted mud logging unit has been mobilized from Queensland and is expected to arrive at the Bellevue #1 drill site early next week.")
Terrex Seismic is in Tasmania at the moment, however, they were not mobilised there by Empire (as claimed in the PR) but by Overseas Energy Holdings who have been doing surveys in the north of the State. Terrex will not wait around indefinitely for work from Empire that doesn't eventuate, so perhaps Malcolm has included a back to site agreement written into the purported contract.
With no capital injection resulting from the conversions there is no comfort to be had for Empire (or its diluted stockholders). As you say it looks very much like RAB wants out. They are certainly familiar with the shenanigans that have gone on over the years.
If as you speculate on the iii board the $100K payment is supposed to be made by TXO then it certainly is a devious game being played. I see your concern at TXO possibly frittering away another $100K in such a fashion.
It would seem odd if following its early fling with Empire TXO did not have something do do with the appearance of NBD Partners on the scene, especially seeing they are supposed to be in on East African Oil as well.
There are some very strange aspects to this whole affair.
I have said I suspect the serendipitous Mt Lloyd coal has some ulterior motive because it would otherwise make no sense at all at this stage.
The reply you received is of questionable value.
Good job of holding TXO to account DS. I know complaints have been made to the SEC about Empire's behaviour but nothing is ever done about it.
You have provided some very interesting information here about TXO that we wouldn't otherwise have known.
Truth will out even on UK message boards where there is considerable fury (and personal attacks) at its daring to be spoken. The sense of ownership of the boards there by closed-minded cliques is astonishing.
Funding is not in place, rigs are not on their way to Tasmania, oil men are not gathering in Hobart.
It's sad when a company sinks so low as to become the butt for jokes. Malcolm doesn't understand how ridiculous his PRs mostly are. The 14 holes this summer was a real sidesplitter.
Shoud read 16 May 2011
by 16 May 2010
On today's trading it is no better than room temperature.
This stock (EEGC), is red hot and will go through the roof. If you are not in it, YOU LOOSE [sic]!
I can't conceive a scenario in mid-May in which Empire has the committed funding ("money in the bank") to cover the drilling of the Bellevue and Thunderbolt wells and is not well advanced in a drilling program at that time.
I think it to be a reasonable deduction that if no drilling at all has been carried out by mid-May then there are no funds to hand and there is no question of the licence being renewed.
Empire/GSLM is already on shaky ground through not having carried out the drilling of Bellevue in the first year of the licence (i.e. by 16 May 2010) as required under the conditions of the licence grant.
Incidentally if Bellevue were to be drilled and prove a duster I wonder what appetite the funder would have for drilling a second expensive deep well at Thunderbolt with its even lower COS.
If there is verifiable money in the bank, could get a renewal of some sort.
There is no chance at all that the exploration licence will be renewed if no drilling has been carried out come May.
Furthermore, without authentic evidence of an ability to fund exploration the recent coal licence applications will not be granted.
b. they won't drill this year but extend the lease
His name is spelled Batista (the same as the Cuban dictator who Fidel ousted). If you want to show proper deference you should put Esq. after it.
With Mr Paul Batista Esq. apparently running the line that Empire Energy was a joint venture partner with Smart Win and was therefore owed a duty of fiduciary care by them I'm inclined to wonder whether Mr Batista Esq. even knows what day of the week it is.
Ye gods, do NBD Partners know what danger they have put themselves in by even discussing the possibility of a joint venture with Empire Energy!
Daily variations up and down have been the norm. What of it? I don't see anyone tearing their hair out and screaming it's the end of everything when the price eases.
But I agree Monday could be an up day although based rather on hype and hope than on substance. Look in the last two releases for where there is any concrete evidence of funding and you won't find it. Funding is all that really matters and it's not there.
+5.88% on the day not for the week, and for a huge, mind-boggling $2400
With all the hype the latest non-announcements have generated and novices taking the bait the rise that could result on Monday would represent a good opportunity for an out. Maybe even management will be taking the last exit to Brooklyn.
Why coal NOW?
It rather looks like NBD Partners have not been too impressed by Bellevue and Thunderbolt and the small amount of coal mining done in earlier times at Mt Lloyd (which happily is within the licence area) has suddenly taken on attractive proportions. It is apparent that the "Special Purpose Vehicle" making the coal applications is destined to be offered to NBD as part of a joint oil-coal project. The attempt to tie in oil prospectivity to an imaginary basement dome at Mt Lloyd gives the game away: the whole thing is an eleventh hour scheme to try to convice an obviously reluctant NBD Partners to sign the JV and open up its cheque book.
If in the slim hope NBD Partners does sign a JV with regard to EL 14/2009 then as things stands the funding would have no application to the coal areas and Empire would still be unable to demonstrate ability to fund any exploration of them. But with NBD a party through a separate coal JV the funding Empire chronically lacks to carry out exploration (see the long list of refused licence applications at MRT website) would be supplied by the well-heeled NBD.
The beauty of the plan is that NBD will be being told even if (perish the thought) Bellevue and Thundebolt are duds there are still vast quantities of coal at Mt Lloyd just waiting to be to be dug up and sold (don't you South Koreans need lots more of it?) and as a bonus we (i.e. Malcolm) have this feeling there is a giant oil bearing dome under the coal as well so you will still get the oil.
Will NBD Partners buy this beat-up? I doubt it.
I'm more optimistic than you. I give us a 1% chance of obtaining funding so that the best chance of finding oil becomes 0.02%
But think the chance of getting funding and oil AND gold would be zero.
My math's a little shaky... can you or Biggtom help me out? What's (0% chance of funding) times (2% at best chance of actually finding oil) equal?
I keep coming up with zero.
At this stage you are betting on funding and not oil pumped out of the ground (itself an abysmally low COS).
No funding and it's all over. Two months on from the Great Asia Expedition and it's not looking promising despite Malcolm's recent garrulousness.
Any investor with just 5,000 shares at a cost of $.02 per share or $100 + commission could be worth over a $million in time and possibly much more. I don't know what the answer will be till we determine the amount of oil is pumped up out of the ground, but with those kind of numbers don't you think it makes sense to make a small investment.
Aside from Empire having no onshore oil, no offshore oil and no coal who is this Frazer guy? Is he a Scotsman with North Sea oil production experience Malcolm will soon be putting on the payroll to manage our offshore oil production?
Now add in coal, off shore oil, Frazer, and a nice PER and you can guess the potential future value.
Really? How about no funding?
Drill and oil means BIG dollars. Nothing can be done to stop it either :)
Do you ever ask yourself why with the drilling rights Empire failed to complete a single well in the past seven years?
Do you ever ask yourself why it is so difficult for Empire to obtain funding to drill?
Do you ever ask yourself whether NBD Partners will sign a JV Agreement and hand over large sums of money to Empire to make hay with?