<![CDATA[CTGO: Closed my position]]>Contango Ore is a company that should be releasing news but isn’t.  The reason to own it is if you think that it has a promising deposit that has very good chances of turning into a mine.  In that scenario, the logical next steps for CORE are:

  1. Complete a resource estimate and then a pre-feasibility study.
  2. Start hiring people with mine engineering experience.
  3. Start working on financing.  The company could bring in a partner that brings mining experience and some financing, e.g. seniors like Goldcorp, Agnico Eagle, Teck, etc.
  4. Perform additional drilling and/or announce plans for the next exploration season.

The lack of news makes me very antsy.  Something may not be right, e.g. the company has had difficulty selling the deposit or raising capital because the deposit is a dud.

Is Brad Juneau a good CEO for Contango Ore?

While I’m a fan of Brad Juneau, I don’t think that he is a good CEO.  He clearly does not have CEO aspirations because he didn’t want to be the CEO of Contango Oil and Gas (MCF).

At CORE, Juneau decided to hire Petrie Partners to help the company explore “strategic alternatives” half a year ago.  This is a strange choice as Petrie Partners advertises itself as a “boutique investment banking firm offering financial advisory services to the oil and gas industry“.  Contango Ore is a mining company, not an oil and gas company.  Secondly, I’m not a fan of investment bankers as I feel that their services are generally overpriced.

The bottom line

It was an easy decision for me to sell at a profit.

Links

My original thesis on the company.

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