Before we begin let us reiterate that MFG is not an anti-mining group. We are against mining in inappropriate places and the Fingerboards mine is just about the most inappropriate place for a mine you would find anywhere in Australia.
Kalbar has been accusing MFG of lying about our claims of Kalbar Operations being 94% foreign owned. We stand by those claims as according to all the documentation available on ASIC, between 24 July and 28 September 2020 Kalbar Operations Pty Ltd was 94% foreign owned and controlled. It seems MFG drawing attention to the matter has led to some pretty fancy and frantic footwork on the company’s part.
Let us explain –
THE POSITION FROM 20 JULY 2020 T0 22 SEPTEMBER 2020
According to ASIC documentation lodged on 23 July 2020, AKNR purchased 5,000,000 shares in Kalbar Operations Pty Ltd on 7 July 2020 – bringing their total share ownership to 11,666,666 of Kalbar Operations Pty Ltd’s 12,396,668 shares (94.1%).
Around the same time an agreement between the companies entitled AKNR to appoint an extra director (to have the majority of directors) and removed the need for unanimous vote by the Board. This meant Dutch company AKNR had control of the board of Kalbar Operations PL and the future of our area was in the hands of people who were even less invested in our wellbeing than Kalbar Limited.
MFG had written several times to Kalbar Operations PL seeking information about relationships between various companies, foreign directorships, etc. but the company steadfastly refused to answer any of those questions.
Mine Free Glenaladale also wrote to the head of the Technical Reference Group, the Minister for Resources and the Minister for Planning seeking clarification as to why Kalbar Limited was allowed to transfer the ‘project’ to an untested and effectively foreign owned and controlled company. Kalbar Operations was set up as $2.00 company in August 2019.
WHAT’S CHANGED
Well it seems our inquiries struck more than one nerve. Events since then have shown we were right to be worried. Would you trust a company that took TWO MONTHS TO REALISE AND CORRECT A $147,302,737 MISTAKE
On 22 September Kalbar Operations lodged two documents with ASIC saying ‘Oops, we made a couple of little mistakes! Please change what we previously told you so those nasty people can’t accuse us of being majority foreign owned.‘ (Those documents were not publicly available until 28th September 2020.)
- On 24 June 2020 we didn’t realise we had 105,598,493 shares and not the 7,396,668 we told you and that they were worth $158,397,738 and not the $11,095,001 we said. It’s only a $147,302,737 error so nothing to worry about and no one should notice.
- We made another little, barely noticeable error on 7 July 2020 when we told you the total number of shares was 12,396,668 and they were valued at $18,595,001. We actually meant to say 110,595,001 shares valued at $165,897,738. A small error – after all what’s $147,302,737 between friends.
These changes conveniently bring the ‘apparent’ ownership down (for the time being) to about 88% Kalbar Limited and 12% AKNR.
A couple of changes to the directorships were also made but it appears KOPL is still AKNR controlled.
Makes you wonder just how competent this firm is. For the time being, because of magically finding $147million they didn’t know was missing, they can say they are not majority foreign owned.
Who knows what other accounting errors they have made along the way?