Fancamp Exploration

Because, generally, personal investments are a private thing, there’s good reason why we’re hardly ever using real names on Agoracom’s public forums. I respect the rationale behind that. Consequently, I wrote the following message leaving out names (except for that of our CEO). Keep in mind, however, I’ve been receiving help and advice from real people with real names. Thank you.

I realize I leave myself open to criticism because of my wordiness. However, I have in mind a remedy for that. I have a plan of following-up with the shortest-of-short messages and phone calls, which will pointedly ask for specific answers, conveniently referring back to the original, which will not require repeating. Also, by making the original lengthy, it will allow others to join me—or even take over the following-up—without needlessly wasting time saying again what’s already been said.


Hello Jean.

I’m writing today—and will be, again, in the coming weeks—concerning our share price, which is (as everybody well knows by now) lamentably unreal. Every single member of Shareholders for Accountability at Fancamp—without one dissenting voice—agrees that our under-the-radar invisibility is the primary cause.

Of course, when there’s several scores of different people, there’s bound to be differences of opinion and differences of attitude. For example, I strongly appreciate the excellent job you’ve been doing as CEO. Others—to put it mildly—do not. However, we’re all smart enough to understand that our differences are an unwelcome distraction. When I speak to you—as Spokesman of our organization—I’m very careful to filter out the personal views of mine I don’t share in common with the others. Therefore, consider the point of view I’m expressing today as the wider consensus point of view of our group.

Not to put too fine a point on it, Shareholders for Accountability at Fancamp—to give you a rough idea—accounts for more than thirty million shares. That’s not counting the institutional investors who, for the most part, have warmly received our message. We’re not an inconsequential fringe faction. We’re not hot-headed decedents. By the same token, we’re not an insignificant few shareholders who are about to leave their financial affairs to chance.

What unites us is our understanding that the reality of our company’s valuable portfolio of assets will not wear away. As well, unfortunately, there’s another side of the story, which also unites us. Having our rapt attention is the unending near term and intermediate term poundings our stock is suffering. Not one person in our organization has the slightest doubt that the decline of our stock is a bad setback, which has no business being left alone to correct itself.

There is no greater priority than defending our share price, given the present noxious environment. We cannot do less than give the market analysts and investment advisors our full concentrated attention until they pause long enough to take a good hard look at all we have to offer. Putting ourselves on the radar screens of two hundred or so influential people who move the markets will make all the difference. That’s putting it mildly; because “all the difference” means multiples of our present market capitalization.

There’s more at play here than the negative trends in the general market over the last year. I’m sure you’re very well aware—and justifiably proud—of the excellence of all you’ve achieved at Magpie (especially regarding the metallurgy research). Perfectly done was even the way you described it in the Fancamp Press Release you put out on 13 March 2013. Brilliant were both your logic and the straightforward explanatory language of your presentation. Admirable was the way you tied together your account of our new proprietary metals separation techniques with your account of our successful exploration results.

Now, ask yourself, what happened to our stock in the weeks following our great accomplishments (complimented by your great work explaining their significance). Ask yourself, how much better would things have been had we had the well-informed support and consideration of the wider investment community.

It’s hard to come to any understanding of your performance as CEO without admiring your tireless work ethic and excellent intellect. But, plainly, your talents and contributions are going to waste because precious few people are aware of what you’re doing. You should be the last person on earth to be happy with that. And, of course, the shareholders are not jumping for joy.

So, beyond the general discontent, what good is the broad agreement we share about it? We all cry together? We all wake up every morning, in unity, with the same complaints?

Give us more credit than that. Give yourself more credit than that. Nearly a year ago—very deliberately and very constructively—we put together the measures essential for our company’s well being. It took our large and diverse group time and effort. Naturally, we expected serious answers long ago (which were not forthcoming). Regrettably, we did not insist. Now, respectfully, we do insist. As a reminder for you and for your convenience, I copied-and-pasted (after editing in minor updates) those earlier essential measures as an Addendum to the end of this letter.

Even though, I’m listing (at some length) the main substantive details—even though, certainly, that’s important—it doesn’t diminish the simplicity of the logic behind the task at hand. At this time in our development, Fancamp needs to change direction. This will not require moving mountains. This will not require great expenses. Just the opposite; it will save us most of what we’ve been spending.

To accomplish the task at hand, all we need to do is reorient ourselves. All that’s needed is getting a few of our brain cells—which have been telling us to think of one thing—to think of another thing instead. All we need is one fundamental relatively easy-to-make course correction: Go from building a valuable portfolio of mineral resource properties to building a valuable book of business (which will consist of two hundred or so influential investment advisors).

Putting aside anything unconstructive that anybody’s been saying or doing in the interim, take a fresh look at what the Shareholders for Accountability at Fancamp have favored with a unified voice all along (the following Addendum). So far as urgency, obviously, it has only grown. In spite of all the good you’ve done (or all the bad, as others would have it), we’re now all on top of this issue and won’t let it go. The share price remedies we’re courteously putting out there for your approval, deserve the correspondingly same courteousness in your swift response.

Look at the title the shareholders have chosen for their shareholder organization. “Shareholders” and “Fancamp” are almost a given. Beyond that, the key word is “Accountability,” which is our raison d’être.

“Count” is part of “Accountability.” Setting up ways which make “counting” unavoidable are part and parcel of running a business responsibly. According to the new modus operandi, our new investor advisory alliances will take root twice-a-day. As the numbers climb, we will all take delight and take a passionate interest in the count (which will measure our progress, almost by the hour). Nothing you do will benefit the shareholders more than making yourself accountable for putting us in front of the investment community. Growing numbers of investment advisory supporters are the numbers that count, even more so than our vast numbers of genius exploratory drill operations.

In light of all that has gone badly, at this point, we’re all looking for timely measures to set things right. We will not be satisfied with work completed, which is not unmistakably verifiable. It matters how often our Office (physical or virtual) makes outgoing phone calls. It matters how well we identify who we want to persuade. It matters how well we communicate our message (and how many times we do it). It matters how often we reinforce the message we’ve previously communicated. It matters whether or not our book of business (consisting of our friends in the investment community) is growing or shrinking.

Without question, increasing the number of investors who know about us—and who understand the value of our assets—will drive our share price higher. There’s no controversy in that (and in we saying it and in you responding to what we’ve been repeating).

What do investors or funds do before investing? Most often they consult with investment advisory institutions or (at a minimum) look into the comprehensive research material the company puts out. In other words, it’s not the norm for investors to figure it out on their own. They don’t buy without advisory people selling it to them or without advisory information being convincing. We are now experiencing the consequences of being under-the-radar (of leaving in-the-dark 99% of the influential people who could bring reality to our share price).

Making ourselves unapproachable and sitting on a high horse is not cost free. Making ourselves too important to make even rudimentary introductory phone calls (with the investment institutions we sorely need to recruit) is costing us many tens of millions of dollars in lost market capitalization. Every one cent change in our share price gains or costs our shareholders more than one million dollars. This is the “counting” part of “accountability.”

Counting also teaches us that reaching one institutional investment leader can mean reaching as many as ten stock-brokers (or more). The institutional leaders (after understanding our message and our value proposition), in effect, will be working for us for free. We have a choice. We can keep the veil of darkness as it is. Or, we can hire the investment advisors to work for us for free.

How many businesses do you know of where you can hire people for free who will increase the value of the business by millions of dollars? What’s the catch? In our case, we need to hire (not for free) the person who does the recruiting (of the people who work for free). Think about it. Of course, it’s worth it, especially in our case because we’ve already put together the valuable portfolio of properties (and don’t need to spend years and years doing it again).

Besides that, we’ve successfully begun scientific metallurgical studies, which are proving how very profitably we (or another interested party) can bring to market what we have. So, even now, the value of what we have cannot be denied, even when it’s just sitting there. It’s set in stone (literally). Given half a chance, what we have to sell will sell itself.

If you were set in your ways, conceivably, you might consider the additional responsibilities I’m bringing up to be burdensome (on top of everything else you’re doing). But this is more a question of change for the better than anything else. By no stretch of the imagination is it a negative to institute accountable management. Keeping track of your business is as basic as it gets. On a personal level, when you own a business (and your livelihood depends on how many business transactions you complete), you will not waste time sitting around waiting for the business to come to you of its own accord.

At this point in our history, our customers are investment institutions. Are we having at least two in-depth conversations per day with them? Who’s doing the calling? Who’s tracking the calls? Weekly (or, even, daily), how many pieces of supplementary informational literature are we mailing out to persuade the key people in our industry (or reinforce the message we’re giving them)? What’s the feedback? What have we learned from it? Or, is the business side of our business being left to run itself?

Best regards. Art.
[My name in the original]. Shareholders for Accountability at Fancamp.

Addendum

Reform #1 / Change the Mindset at the Executive Level.
The Directors need to act according to visualizing the company as being made up of Three Main Divisional Operations. All it takes is picturing this, as though it were written on a blackboard:

Operational Division #1 = Exploring for Metal Ore
Operational Division #2 = Arranging for the Monetization of Our Discoveries
Operational Division #3 = Rewarding Shareholders for Their Investment

So far as Operational Division #1: As a result of our excellent work, we’ve had many extraordinary successes. Right now, there’s no great urgency for much more.

So far as Operational Division #2: Our agreements with Champion, Argex, and Bold exemplify progress. We also welcome and applaud our progress demonstrating the economic feasibility of extracting saleable metals from Magpie’s titaniferous magnetite ore.

So far as Operational Division #3: It is essentially dormant and non-functioning.

Obviously, the attention needs to be rebalanced. That is, shift it away from where it’s needed the least to where it’s needed the most. We cannot afford to leave Operational Division #3 the way it is. Leaving it broken is costing us tens of millions of dollars.

Reform #2 / Hire the Fulltime Investor Relations Manager.
At the heart of our investor-base-building initiatives will be a manager, on staff, who’ll have the responsibility of developing a list of Influential People at Investment Advisory Institutions. Our goal will be to make those key advisory people aware of us and, increasingly, arouse their curiosity.

According to experience, talent, and performance, the manager will have autonomy and authority. To keep us on track, “Shareholders for Accountability at Fancamp” will contribute (for free) the more-than-sufficient business-building expertise we have amongst our members. The beauty of this set up is the $100K to $150K cost per year, more or less, compared to the $1.18 million increase in our market capitalization we’ll be getting for each one cent increase in our share price.

Another way to look at this is according to the monetary value per phone conversation. Will one thousand in depth conversations and mailed information exchanges with influential investment advisors result in a one cent or greater increase in our share price? If so, the value of each phone call is $1180 or greater ($1.18 million divided by 1000). Naturally, if the 1000 calls result in a ten cents or greater share price uptick, the benefit per call would be $11,800 or greater.

Reform #3 / Identify Key Investor and Media Institutions.
To start, our IR Manager will compile a list of approximately 200 companies active in the investor community. This list will consist of prominent companies that provide research, analysis, information, and advice to investors. We will build strong relationships with the Investor Advisors, as each one becomes more and more familiar with us during our several conversations per year.

Most exploration companies of consequence, on their websites, typically list three to six investment companies under the heading “Analyst Coverage.” We will redefine what that means. Instead of being three to six in length, our list will be hundreds in length compared to its present length of zero. We will go from being in Last Place to being in First Place.

When it comes to “Analyst Coverage,” instead of the subject being an embarrassment, it will become our strength, as we will set new standards of excellence. Our list will grow to include every single desirable media publication and media outlet. It will target investment advisory firms, individual analysts, investment research companies, stock brokers, and selected investment bankers.

Reform #4 / Build the Book of Business.
Every organization we identify as a valued source of possible investor interest will be converted from being attractive but uninformed about us to being attractive and well informed. More and more, as we develop our list, its value will increase.

Our IR Manager will converse with the key investment people at every single one of the 200 companies we’re initially targeting. This will happen at a regular but not rigid pace of two per day, more or less. Information acquired, at our end, will be treasured. If we perform our job well, the information about us, at the other end, will be treasured as well.

Of course, when we’re shaking things up with a new venture, besides the anticipated questions, there will be unanticipated questions. We will correct course and change course according to what we learn and according to what we accomplish.

Our activities will be carefully planned and performed according to schedule but will leave modest scope for revision. The IR Manager, in concert with the shareholders, will track and monitor and document the daily progress.

Reform #5 / Improve the Quality of Our Business Relationships.
The IR Manager will converse regularly with the influential people initially reached earlier. We will get to know them. They will get to know all about us. There will be a greater and greater meeting of the minds after every conversation and after every exchange of information. We will treat our every business relationship with care and respect, as though the financial well-being of Fancamp’s shareholders hangs in the balance. It does.

Every investor advisor will be treated according to the progression of how our individualized relationship is evolving. The conversations we have will not be by rote. Different people have different interests. Differentiated literature will be mailed according to the common subjects of interest and according to the nature and the stage of the relationship. We will track statistically and otherwise an investment advisor’s client relationships and assist the investment advisor accordingly.

Keeping up with all this requires discipline and dedication. It requires keeping our eye on the ball. It requires the feedback we can only get from generating real-time or soon-after reports. We will learn how we’re doing as we’re doing it. There’s no substitute for actively tracking our progress. New investment advisory relationships are precious. By developing a bank of knowledge about our conversations with each investor advisor, we will put ourselves in the best position to make our case each time we follow-up.

Resulting from our planning, scheduling, and strategizing , we will begin accumulating advocates who trust us and who’ve taken the time to investigate us. In turn, our new friends will talk to their associates and to the investors who trust them. We will develop an educated and appreciative following. In the investment industry, there will be a proliferation of respected institutions and influential analysts and commentators who’ll have hard statistics to highlight the positive things they’re saying about us.

Reform #6 / Issue Regularly-Scheduled Website Progress Reports.
On a daily basis (even broken down by AM and PM), how many conversations did we have with Investment Advisory Firms? How many were first time? How many were follow-ups? What kind of literature do we need to prepare to reinforce our message? From what we’ve already mailed out, what’s the response? In general, what’s working? What’s not? How can we improve what we’re doing? Who’s writing us up in the industry media? When will the articles appear? Are we getting TV interviews? What are our outstanding successes?

We can summarize and describe much of this and put it on the Investor Section of our website. With pride and confidence, we can refer the Investor Advisors to that website page as well as the other pages where we update the information daily. Refresh the information regularly and they’ll keep coming back. Most of the time, confidentiality will not be an issue. So we shouldn’t make it one. Unless the conversation is “off-the-record,” we should post, as a matter of routine on our website, all the information we have of interest to present shareholders and future investors.

Reform #7 / Display Important Investment Information on Our Website.
Why aren’t we displaying what investors want to know? Yesterday, what were the closing spot prices for Titanium and Iron? During the trading day, what were the trading ranges of Champion and Argex stocks? How is the market valuing the reported resources (tonnages of metal ores) of our competitors compared to how it’s valuing our reported resources?

Dynamic content drives web traffic. We want people to keep coming back. We don’t want people to pay us a visit one time, look around, and never return. General industry information (which changes daily in interesting ways) should be tied together with Fancamp investor information (which changes daily in interesting ways).

We have the platform to drive web traffic our way. Why not use it? We have the platform to tie together our corporate officers, shareholders, retail investors, investment advisors, and people generally interested in the exploration and metal ores industries. Are we better off without these people? Are we better off sending them their separate ways?

To be continued.