2/4/16
Tahoe Resources (TAHO) (THO.to) in late stage talks to buy Lake Shore Gold (LSG.to) (LSG)
All you really need to know is in that title, the rest of this scoop post is just a few details and then a special message for Kevin MacArthur.

But indeed IKN can confirm that Tuesday this week saw a visit by a whole busload of Tahoe Resources (TAHO) (THO.to) people to the head offices of Lake Shore Gold (LSG.to) (LSG) which just oh so coincidentally happened to be a day on which the whole of the LSG board of directors were there. The happy people from both companies then set up camp in the LSG boardroom for a few hours and even had lunch together, which I’m sure was nice and tasty. What we now understand is that the talks are at the stage where the only question left on the table is the final price for a friendly deal (by the way, THO wants it to be all-paper).

I’ll leave it to LSG and THO to issue one of those “we don’t talk about that kind of thing” denials-that-are-not-denials. But LSG, THO and IKN all know that the above is 100% true.
And to round off, here comes that special message for Kevin MacArthur: My stars man, you’re lost back in the 1980’s aren’t you? Your company is the single worst miner I’ve ever encountered on the question of corporate governance. First you refuse to admit the workplace death of one of your Guatemala employees (which you still haven’t admitted three months after the fact but you have to put it in the 4q15 and YE M&A by law, don’t you Kev?), then you deny Shahuindo had poured first gold on December 22nd and then when you’re rumbled say it was a “minuscule” amount when it was over 1,000 oz, and now you think you can have a whole bunch of your top management team stroll into a fellow mining company and not be recognized by anyone hanging round the lobby? Your “secrets” are blown in Guatemala, in Peru and now in Canada and you think the problem lies anywhere else than at your own doorstep? Have you ever heard of the internet, Kevin? Have you ever considered that your company mail system might have been hacked, Kev? You think you don’t have enemies at Goldcorp, Kev? Do you think that your arrogant pig-headed attitude towards people comes at zero cost and the people around you right now in your office in Reno aren’t fed up with the way some of them have been treated and take pleasure in sticking it to you by ratting on you to a pissant blog?

One final thing Kevin: As a shareholder of Lake Shore Gold (which I am, full disclosure) it would be in my own interest to see you come to a deal and buy out LSG at a higher price, in the near-term at least. But I’ll tell you now, I fervently hope that this post that blows the whistle on your zero-secret M&A ego-trip ambitions helps the deal fall through (seriously, getting Tanya to puff-piece THO in the Scotia mailer on Wednesday and send Makuch the not-so-subtle message was a mega-hoot). And why so? Because LSG is a far better run company than yours and needs no intervention from an inferior level management team to keep growing and adding true value to my investment. I’ll be happy to hold LSG for the long-term and watch it create real value, instead of seeing it being bought out by you and watching all value disappear when the Guatemala end of your creaking empire implodes through political scandal and legal actions.

UPDATE: IKN is now getting a whole bunch of hits from Reno Nevada, including the THO offices and Maupin Cox Legoy legal beagles. Hey, wonder why that is?