Eudai I was just about to post very similar sentiments myself, particularly about this being a corporate raid. Although that is a term which gained prominence in the 80's and seems to have fallen somewhat into disuse (at least in general parlance) the  proposed "transition" exemplifies the priciple to a "t". No doubt the proposed merger of (un)equals  will  be couched with whitewashed objectives of bringing synergies and value to all shareholders ,however,  there should be no doubt that this deal is a trogan horse, and the the SoZinc directors/insiders will be the only ones who end up riding away triumphantly on that horse, leaving those shareholders who have remained , holding a bag of horse manure.

• Such Corporate raider’s strategies are not long-term strategies. Divisions are closed down or sold, people are sacked, and development is halted.
• They get the opportunity to flip the management of the corporation might use such powers to his personal gains, which might tarnish the image of the company.
• Corporate raider brings with him to harvest, divest, and load up the company with debt. The companies, before the acquisition, eliminate investments, sell off valuable subsidiaries, and assume substantial debt before a rider comes

(Diagram and bullet points are from https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/corporate-raider/ )

I have been somewhat ambivalent about former CEO Peter Smith myself and agree that under his leadership,  opportunities have been squandered and misteps made. Although he might not have participated directly , he was the captain of this ship. Now we have entered potentially perilous waters, and it is my opinion that we are surrounded by sharks.

No doubt that assurances will be made to current Fancamp shareholers, "Dont's worry , we will set aside cash flow to explore /develop that huge stable of Fancamp properties , to allow those horses to provide a Windfall to FNC (Noront shareholders will understand the relevance of me using this word /name , as it was sold for $15 million, and the new owners are infact sitting on a goldmine (resource) worth billions). I am also worried that the best "cuts of meat " of the animal that is Fancamp , will be meticulously extracted (or more likley butchered out) and sent gift-wrapped to family and friends to feast on , whilst we hover around the table hoping for some crumbs to fall our way.

 But what is the timeframe upon which development of current FNC holdings would  occur, in  the event that they actually  have honest intentions and follow through ? FNC current cash position and CIA holdings amount to ¬$25million at this time, and as I've alluded to in a prior post, will likely amount to near $35million by the end of 2022 (based on the projected re-rating of CIA once it finishes its expected doubling of annual production). Look at page 24 of the ScoZinc 2020 PFS:

"Pre-production Capital Costs, including refurbishment and upgrades to the processing plant, precommercial production costs and mining pre-stripping costs are estimated at $30.8 million, including $2.7 million contingency and $1.2 million finance costs, with a payback of 29 months (2.4 years) from commercial production... the Scotia Mine has a relatively short time frame to commercial production of between 9 to 12 months."  That's essentially 38 to 41 months past April 2020. Based on the above, one would be looking to restore FNC to it's expected  cash-equivalent holdings of $35 million (my projection as noted above) ,  approximately 18 to 20 months later. Yes at that point we might continue to garner additional monies to spend on exploration from expected cashflow of Zinc/lead concentrate , but how many longstanding  current FNC shareholders are willing to wait that long. I could understand making an argument for holding on that long if one has just taken a position in the company with the last year or so, but I suspect that the majority of us here have been holding for many years. (myself since 2008). 

I summary, I don't like this deal based on the ROI as Eduai reports , nor the way it has been spawned. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps the Webinar might serve to cover up that taste, at least for a short while. But I suspect that it would need to provide current shareholders with a much sweeter appetizer to do so. I agree that an entirely new slate of board of directors should be voted on during an AGM that should be held prior to this proposed deal being given any further consideration.

Luker (Let-tem-eat-silver) aka Mike