Yeah, a few...
This is NOT a good thing at all (IMO), for several reasons, and may likely add to the current gradual decline of the stock price.
1) Mr. McConnell is likely not interested in putting anything into production, only selling the company as he did with Western Keltic Mines. The share price was only 32 cents when he sold that company at a premium around 50 cents. Looking at the past history of WKM, the stock was WAY better off when Mr. McConnell wasn't there. Victoria's VP Nevada Projects, John Goyman, also served as VP Construction and Operations for Western Keltic.
2)In 2008 Mr. McConnell had a short excursion into a zinc mine in Tennessee with Strategic Resource Acquisition, which ended up in bankruptcy. Mr. McConnell was SRA's COO, making him responsible for operations at the zinc mine. Did Mr. McConnell make money on that deal, even though the company went into bankruptcy? He did become Victoria's Exec. VP shortly after, in early 2009.
3)Mr. McConnell is on the board of at least two other companies, which means, unlike Chad, he may not be entirely dedicated to Victoria or the needs of ALL of its shareholders. Chad was willing to devote his full time to Victoria (serving as both CEO and a director), I don't expect Mr. McConnell will. It is common practice for executives to serve on the boards of several companies at once, but that doesn't always mean it is a good thing.
4) The Cove-McCoy project/Helen zone resource estimate error! Being an experienced mining engineer, I would think Mr. McConnell would have reviewed the resource estimate and identified the error reported. He was the Exec. VP at that time, what was he doing??? Will Victoria truly be able to go underground at Cove-McCoy, and is that truly the intention? What was Mr. Goyman doing? How did he miss the error as well when he is responsible for advancing Victoria's properties in Nevada to production? Perhaps this is why there has been no resolution to the Newmont back-in issue (they knew the resource was not reliable).
5)Why has there been no development or exploration work on Big Springs since the Gateway purchase in 2008?? Big Springs has 1.2 million ounces at a much better grade than Dublin Gulch/Eagle, yet the focus is the Yukon. Was there a similar screw-up as Cove with the Big Springs resource? Yukon-Nevada has a mill/roaster by the Big Springs property that is capable of processing BS ore. It seems to me that the capital expense of doing additional mining at an existing mine site, with nearby processing and a good average Au grade (2g+) would be much, much less than that for a very low grade deposit in The Middle Of Nowhere, Yukon. This really makes me question whether or not production is a real goal.
6)Victoria is bleeding geologists here in Nevada. Why?? Raul Madrid, long a prime driver, and good geologist for the company, left. Several other geologists, who worked for Victoria for many years, left recently as well. Now the CEO quits, and Mr. McConnell is put in his place? Turnover, especially of long term employees AND the CEO gives me caution; something is not right at Victoria.
7) Was the resultant massive dilution of the Gateway and StrataGold purchases driven by Mr. McConnell or Chad?
Victoria has very good projects here in Nevada, but with the departure of Mr. Madrid, the other geologists who worked the projects for years, and now Mr. Williams, I am not convinced Victoria can truly become a sustained gold producer, or that production is the goal anymore. That is, of course, entirely my opinion.
