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Funny thing I haven't seen any PR stating that GSLM is facing a winding up action for unpaid debt.
Well if it is in a PR then it MUST be true. LOL.
To be strictly accurate the RPS Energy report concerns prospective resource and not a formal reserve classification. There is a very big and important difference which Empire itself sometimes seems to be unaware of. A reserve involves identified hydrocarbons potentially of interest for commercial extraction which the GSLM exploration targets presently are not.
What evidence do you have that shows Bendall is a smart guy? No retraction yet and the clock is running down.
It may be that any serious financial irregularities could occur in Empire Energy rather than GSLM so that a Liquidator would not be in a position to discover and investigate them.
The now notorious $50 million line of credit was claimed in an Empire PR without any reference being made to GSLM.
All the same a forensic examination of GSLM's affairs could be quite revealing. There would be some sort of money trail to follow through.
A 1 for 2000 would be safer because the post-split pps would be likely to erode quickly. I have put this post in bold to show how important I think it is.
The word by some in the know is the flare gas business alone will be worth a pps of more than $800.
It's a pity there isn't a "Strong Buy" box that could be ticked so we could show our faith in the great future of this blue chip stock in the making. If GSLM is wound up and the exploration licence is lost I wonder if the $180 million might be diverted into other tremendous opportunities that Empire could find through its numerous business contacts. Or perhaps there would be new oil and gas opportunities could be found in Kazakhstan or some other good address.
It is strange that the amount of cash raised by the rights issue was never stated in a PR. That was the purpose of the issue when it was announced, but then, times can suddenly change.
It is not so long ago that folks were praising Malcolm for NOT doing a dilutionary joint venture and so maintaining the interests of the minorities. Times certainly do change.
With an application for winding up GSLM scheduled to be heard next Tuesday some might think his back is well and truly against the wall. Perhaps the $50 million line of credit will save the day where it wasn't able to do so for the rights issue.
$1.5 million or so is a lot of money for a small debt-ridden company that doesn't have it and needs it urgently.
Of course we will see what happens down the track but in the meantime there is no reason why the matter should be off limits for discussion. My reponse was directed to sydneyboy who enquired courteously and was replied to courteously by me.
The outcome of very many applications for a company to be wound is that the company disappears without trace.
Exploration licences can be transferred between different parties with Ministerial approval but I agree that whether a Liquidator (who assumes control of all the property and affairs of the company being wound up) could sell the EL by tender is not a clear area to me at least. If anyone was prepared to pay money for it then it might be considered to have an asset value for the amount of exploration funds (or a proportion thereof) that had been expended on it.
Malcolm spoke in the last PR of a "certified asset value" of impressive worth on the basis of unproven oil/gas resources but that may be stretching things somewhat.
Either way the real point is whether Hunt hopes to force payment of its debt from GSLM and if not successful to sink them once and for all.
I have wondered the same thing. Could Empire be building up Grand Monarch Holdings in order to have something to rattle on about should they find themselves no longer in the oil exploration business and their flare gas technology story has run its course?
The choice for Hunt Energy is not "nothing or the lease". If Great South Land is wound up the licence would become vested in the Liquidator who would presumably endeavour to sell it to the highest bidder (with MRT's approval). Hunt could bid for the licence but as you say they would be unlikely to do so. Any surplus remaining from the sale of GSLM's assets (such as they are) would be distributed pro rata to all creditors who prove up and not just to Hunt Energy even though they brought the action.
I'm guessing that Hunt hopes GSLM/Malcolm/a powerful friend will find the $1.5M hidden away in a hollow log somewhere (maybe on the shores of Lake Geneva) so they can be paid out, withdraw their court action and walk away from the whole sorry mess.
Hunt has heard all the promises and hard luck stories before and they are not likely to be swayed by more of them into calling off the action IMO. It's time to concentrate the mind Empire management.
Six people to run the moribund Hobart office is excessive. What do they all do?
This link does not connect to the correction notice although from its address it apparently ought to.
I agree it is poor form to keep bringing the deceased Mr Callaway into it. In any case he was an accountant as I understand it and not qualified to interpret geophysical data. We paid RPS Energy good money to do that and I don't see any mention of Kazakhstan in their report.
If GSLM is wound up the exploration licence would likely be held by the Liquidator as an asset for disposal for the benefit of the creditors. He would presumably offer it for sale and MRT would probably have no objection to it being transferred to a new licencee under its existing terms. It is unlikely proof of exploration funds would be required by MRT in view of GSLM not having been able to show evidence of funding when the EL was granted earlier this year, also with the short term the licence has to run.
Whether a buyer could be found for the EL must be considered problematic.
There is no reason for the Mercury to retract its report as being a hoax (as has been suggested it will be). The story was genuine.
EarnestDD, a small correction is in order.
Hunt Energy isn't "suing" GSLM but applying for them to be wound up with any resulting surplus going pro rata to the creditors. I imagine if GSLM could settle the debt in the meantime the action would be called off.
There is absolutely no chance the Tasmania Supreme Court would be influenced by Tasmania supposedly needing money from pie in the sky oil revenues. One wonders what kind of a court system is run in New Jersey for you to even suggest it.
Hunt has apparently run out of patience, perhaps due to the grandiose claims being made of large funding dollars in the pipeline going towards purchasing a new drilling rig while their own substantial debt is being ignored. They must also be rather bemused to learn the cash RO was "oversubscribed".
Oil prospector's woes
Oil prospector's woes
SALLY GLAETZER September 04, 2010 09.06am
A SUPREME Court application has been lodged to wind up controversial Tasmanian oil prospector Great South Land Minerals.
Hunt Energy, which is owed money by Great South Land, has started legal proceedings in Hobart to have the company wound up on the grounds of insolvency.
It has been reported GSLM has said it will "vigorously" defend the legal action.
The company's chief executive, Malcolm Bendall, has been searching for oil in Tasmania since having a "vision" from God in 1977 telling him there are structures containing oil and gas in the state.
The company has spent $50 million of shareholders' money looking for oil and it is understood more than 200 Tasmanians have invested in it.
Mr Bendall's company contracted South Australian firm Hunt Energy to set up a drilling rig at Bellevue, near Bronte Park in the Central Highlands, in late 2008.
But the anticipated drilling operation has repeatedly stalled and Hunt Energy is now taking court action, seemingly in a bid to recoup the money it is owed.
Court documents allege GSLM has not paid a "statutory demand".
Launceston-born Mr Bendall, reportedly in New York at present, flew to Tasmania from Monaco in late 2008 to oversee the drilling program.
Mr Bendall, in his early 50s, brought his then 19-year-old Russian wife with him to stay at his hilltop Sandy Bay mansion.
Drilling was planned to start in December 2008.
Mr Bendall could not be contacted for comment yesterday, nor could GSLM chairman Clive Burrett.
The Mercury was advised by Hunt Energy that no one from that company would comment on the legal action.
In 2003 an advertising campaign seeking investors featured Tasmanian sporting identity David Boon and axeman David Foster.
Mr Bendall left Tasmania a short time later for about five years, alleging he had received death threats from "parties" wanting to take over his company's exploration licences.
Tasmanian Resources Minister Bryan Green said GSLM was granted a further exploration licence this May after its previous one expired last September.
Under its terms, the company is obliged to carry out drilling of the Bellevue and Thunderbolt wells during the two-year licence period.
Mr Green said yesterday the Government would review any change affecting the licensee's ability to meet its obligations.
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/09/04/170631_tasmania-news.html
What happened to those directors who were supposedly coming onto the Board on the successful conclusion of the rights issue? Now we have more in train, this time guys who dabble in credit cards. Comical isn't the word.
Ancient news. Geominex Resources was another Empire fiasco that came to nothing.
It is not "nanotechnology", just technology. It presumably will be some sort of compression process that refrigerates and liquifies the gas. Flare gas recovery plants look to be quite large from pics of them on the Web. They don't look to be small and simple, easily installed units.
In the Press Release of 9th July it was said Empire has first option on the North and South American rights to the flare gas technology. No details of the option were given and it doesn't seem to have been a formal option agreement (there's no no such thing as a "first option", you either have an option or you don't) but it is instead some unwritten understanding on the part of CEO Bendall.
There has been remarkably little detail given of what is supposedly an extremely valuable property. I am not saying I doubt it really exists (and so running the danger of having this post deleted) but just that I am within a hair's breadth of doing so.
Several here have referred to an oil well having been located by divining rod somewhere in Tasmania. I have not been able to find anything about it by asking for a link and looking thru past messages. Can anyone tell me anything reliable that would confirm it as factual or is it just hearsay? My question is particularly asked to wshaw14 rigman and Howardhaftel but anyone at all with information is welcome to reply.
With the stated reason for the rights issue being to raise badly needed cash I don't see how it would be possible for the directors to pay for theirs in any other way (such as by a "technology for equity" swap). IMO opinion the "debt for equity" swap was contrary to the purpose of the issue and should not have taken place. Those who subscribed their cash did so on the understanding the directors were doing the same.
Its surprising any company would drill a very expensive oil well on the say so of someone using only a divining rod. Where did you get that information from, do you have a link to it? Thanks.