AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (AMC)

[Prudent Capitalist]

It is all right in here Stockman "a fool and his gold", especially the part on how Adam Aaron has a "whole army of primate hodlers willing to follow him off a cliff":

Hycroft’s only mine has been in and out of operation for several decades, but most of the easy oxide ore was mined throughout the 1980s and 90s. While meaningful amounts of gold remain in the ground, it is predominately difficult sulfide ore, and the concentration of gold is quite low. In other words, the Hycroft Mine is a low-grade refractory deposit from which it is nearly impossible to extract gold in a way that makes money. Not that others haven’t tried. ......

“The Company has previously discussed its strategy for developing an economic sulfide process for Hycroft. Based on the Company's findings to date, including the analysis completed by an independent third-party research laboratory and the independent reviews by two metallurgical consultants, the Company does not believe the novel two-stage sulfide heap oxidation and leach process ("Novel Process"), as currently designed in the 2019 Technical Report dated July 31, 2019 ("2019 Technical Report"), is economic at current metal prices or those metal prices used in the 2019 Technical Report. Subject to the challenges discussed below, the Company will complete test work that is currently underway and may advance its understanding of the Novel Process in the future.”

A technology miracle was needed to make the Hycroft Mine viable, and none was forthcoming. Virtually every major gold miner in the world has been working on finding economically viable ways to extract gold from refractory deposits, and to think that a decades-old mining operation that spends virtually nothing on research and development and relies on outside consultants and third-party research laboratories for their technology needs would produce a Holy Grail outcome is the height of lunacy. The stock traded below $0.30 a share, and bankruptcy seemed inevitable.

Enter Adam Aron.

As documented by this great thread (linked below) from the anonymous Twitter account @Keubiko – simply one of the smartest and sharply funny accounts in the FinTwit community – a mere 70 minutes after Aron was done pumping his deal with Hycroft via the aforementioned press release and Twitter postings, Hycroft initiated the dumping by quietly announcing a staggering $500 million at-the-market (ATM) equity offering led by the bucket shop, err, highly prestigious investment banking firm B. Riley Financial. .......

While watching this saga unfold in real-time, we wondered whether anybody was giving Aron sensible legal advice. It didn’t take long for us to find out, as Aron hastily canceled a scheduled appearance on CNBC where he intended to pump his new deal with Hycroft, and took to Twitter to say the quiet part out loud:

Twitter avatar for @CEOAdam
Adam Aron
@CEOAdam
I want to apologize to @jimcramer and @davidfaber, two extraordinary journalists, for canceling my CNBC interview with them today at the last minute. I am excited about our investment in HYMC, but there has been so much volume in that stock today, lawyers insisted I stay off air.

It has been an interesting two years for Aron and many believe he’s on a hero’s journey of sorts – called to new adventure, bringing AMC through its meme-fueled rebirth and looking for others to save. Happily for Hycroft, and especially happy for the sanctity of Sprott’s debt, this particular hero is attracted to shiny things. Even better, he is followed by an army of primate hodlers willing to follow him off a cliff.

https://doomberg.substack.com/p/a-fool-and-his-gold?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share