Maritime Resources Corp. (MAE:TSX.V) screwing their own shareholders isn't the worst case of stealing and self-dealing I have seen in the last 17 years. For certain that would have to be Ian Rozier and his band of merry men who totally raped their shareholders back in 2014.
In comparison all Douglas Fulcher and Allan Williams did was make sure their shareholders couldn't possibly profit when a real mining company made an offer to pay 40% more for their shares than the market thought they were worth.
Maritime Resources has a wonderful gold deposit called Green Bay that consists of the former Hammerdown mine in Newfoundland. The deposit could produce 100,000 ounces of gold a year and make a lot of money. If only they had a mill. They don't.
So management plays at being a mining company and drills some holes now and again to pretend they are adding resources to what would be ten years of production if they had a mill. They don't. In reality they are running a "Hobby Gold Mine" where you have everything you need to collect paychecks except a mill and income. But as long as shareholders are dumb enough to keep you in office, you can keep cashing those paychecks.
For all practical purposes management hasn't advanced Green Bay in five years since posting a 43-101 resource back in 2013. They have drilled meaningless drill holes but this isn't a mining company it's more of an expired lottery ticket on what could have been a great project. Along comes Anaconda Mining Inc. (ANX:TSX) and they throw a monkey wrench into the works by offering Maritime shareholders a 64% premium.
Anaconda is a real mining company with mines, income and management. Best of all, they have a mill in Newfoundland that they could use the feed for. It's one of those no lose deals where practically everyone profits. Anaconda picks up a million ounces of economic gold, Maritime shareholders own a major piece of a real mining company. What is not to love?
Well, Maritime management realized the days of their paychecks were numbered. Even in Newfoundland there isn't a big demand for deadbeats who can't advance a mining company. If you have no qualifications in mining management and won't even take a real stake in your own company, you want to move to Toronto or Vancouver. Deadbeats have a real future there.
The chairman of Maritime seems to be the only person who is a serious mining guy. He has been a director in 53 different companies that I have never heard of before. He must have made a major contribution to all of them. I suspect it wasn't enough of a major contribution to make his fortune. He is about the only person in management who owns any real position in the shares. If you consider $60,000 US as a real position.
When I read about guys who are directors in dozens of companies, I always have to wonder just how many of them they could name in five minutes.
When presented with the offer from Anaconda, the management of Maritime, and I use the term in the loosest possible way, panicked. It was obvious to them there wasn't a chance in hell of them continuing employment with any serious mining company. They threw every possible obstacle in the way of Anaconda including misleading press releases and a highly dilutive private placement a mere four weeks after closing a placement that took more than three months to close.
Anaconda finally got tired of dealing with self-serving idiots who would screw their own shareholders and on July 12th canceled the offer to Maritime shareholders thereby proving not only is there a God, she has a sense of humor.
Maritime shares promptly dropped to a new yearly low of $0.08 and Anaconda shares went up. If nothing else the market has a keen ability to discern fools and reward them appropriately. The insiders at Maritime who just screwed their fellow shareholders in the $0.10 PP only for insiders got to watch their shares drop 20% below what they just paid.
Don't expect any new high for the stock anytime soon. There aren't that many fools in the world.
Realizing that this was the deal of a lifetime for Maritime shareholders I bought shares. Even I didn't realize Maritime management and insiders could be so obvious about screwing their shareholders so they could collect paychecks until the shareholders wake up.
I will wait an appropriate length of time and dump those shares. I see no future for the company.
Other than holding some shares that would better serve as wallpaper in Maritime I have no financial relationship with the company.
I do hold shares in Anaconda and they are an advertiser but there has been do discussion about me writing a piece so they have zero input to this piece.
Do your own due diligence.
Maritime Resources
MAE-V $0.09 (Jul 12, 2018)
MRTMF-OTCBB 86.4 million shares
Maritime website.
Editor's note: this article was corrected on July 13: "The CEO of Maritime" was changed to "The chairman of Maritime."
Bob and Barb Moriarty brought 321gold.com to the Internet almost 16 years ago. They later added 321energy.com to cover oil, natural gas, gasoline, coal, solar, wind and nuclear energy. Both sites feature articles, editorial opinions, pricing figures and updates on current events affecting both sectors. Previously, Moriarty was a Marine F-4B and O-1 pilot with more than 832 missions in Vietnam. He holds 14 international aviation records.
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1) Bob Moriarty: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Anaconda Mining and Maritime Resources. Anaconda Mining is an advertiser on 321 Gold. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector.
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