Following the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board's stay of Powertech/Azarga's NRC license, John Tsitrian offers a hardnosed take on Powertech/Azarga's dubious plan to mine uranium in the southern Black Hills. Tsitrian likes drinking water as much as the rest of us, but he looks at Powertech's designs on our sacred Hills less from an environmentalist perspective and more from a business perspective. And in Powertech, Tsitrian smells bad business:
...When a permit for the mine was issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission three weeks ago, there was much hoopla generated by the Powertech/Azarga public relations honks, but I remained dubious, mainly because the company's stock refused to budge from its measly 7 or 8 cents a share valuation. I mean, it's been nearly a month and the stock yesterday actually traded below its price on the day the NRC news broke.
Hard as the company's insiders have tried to tout its prospects, speculators just haven't been buying it. Now comes word today as to possibly why the stock has remained depressed. Three administrative judges on the Atomic Safety and Licensing board just suspended the much-hyped NRC permit. I thought that was big-time breaking news, but apparently it didn't come as all that much of a surprise. In this morning's Rapid City Journal story about it, reporter Joe O'Sullivan made this intriguing note: "The stay, which both uranium supporters and opponents expected, will allow uranium opponents more time to make their case against the proposal." I believe that if the stay of the NRC permit was indeed "expected," Powertech/Azarga completely ignored the prospect of it in its effusive announcement about it earlier this month [John Tsitrian, "That Was Quite A Doozy That Powertech's Head Honcho Told Last February About Its Pemitting Prospects In The Black Hills," The Constant Commoner, 2014.04.30].
If Powertech will stretch the truth to its investors, the people giving them money to forward their plans, imagine what they might be willing to say to local residents and regulators who might stand in the way of their plans.
I'm going to buy a few shares of PWURF stock today: it's at its lowest in a long time. Am in Rapid for a week or so if anyone cares.
Heck, at 7 cents a share, you can't really lose money.
(And oh, Larry! I wish you'd have been around last week: we could have confronted Annette Bosworth together! >-) )
Powertech really does just seem like another South Dakota get rich quick scheme. Dairies, turkey plants, Northern Beef Packers, garbage dumps, uranium fracking, why do all these schemes end up in South Dakota? Is there something about our political DNA that encourages all these questionable deals? Throw in TIF districts that rob tax dollars from all the residents of a jurisdiction to give to a few of the richest residents of the jurisdiction and it's enough to make this liberal scream and find common ground with Steve Sibson.
If Joop and Richard had included mining in the third SDRC amendment, Powertech would have been a shoe-in for EB-5 investment.
Did Powertech finance dry up with EB5?
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Thanks for Joe O'Sullivan, a great reporter, obviously paid only by the company he works for.
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I hope all the folks finding hope in the money and scientific BS on this mining effort don't forget the importance of our potable ground water to the future of the Black Hills.
Penny stocks thrive on rumors and "announcements," which is why company-generated information has to be scrutinized carefully. As readers of my post can see, I've invited Powertech/Azarga spokespeople to address the issues I raised. For those who want some deeper background on penny stocks and their pitfall's, here's NASDAQ's summary, provided by Investopedia. Strictly a "caveat emptor" market, indeed: http://www.nasdaq.com/investing/lowdown-on-penny-stocks.stm
Oh, jeez. "Pitfalls".
are there companies that do not mislead investors?