History
A small advertising shell turned rare earth explorer through related-party deals, then faced a writedown, a board fight, restated accounts and, by March 2015, a Nasdaq listing clearance.
2007-2010: An advertising business and a failed deal
The company, then called Calypso, began as a shell-like entity. In October 2007 it agreed to buy Media Depot, Inc., a Pennsylvania co-op advertising agency, and the deal closed on December 31, 2007, a little later than the expected November 21. The company reincorporated in Nevada and renamed itself Calypso Media Services Group. It issued 3.5 million shares to Media Depot holders, who then owned 70%, against 1.5 million shares outstanding beforehand. It became an advertising agency serving manufacturers, distributors and dealers in the US and Canada. The record is then quiet until September 2010, when Calypso agreed to buy WebiMax, a New Jersey search engine optimization firm, for shares, preferred shares and $2.5 million in cash, conditional on a private placement of at least $2.5 million. That deal was ended by mutual agreement in November 2010, with nothing issued or paid.
2010-2012: Into rare earths
In December 2010 Calypso turned to mining. It agreed to buy Seaglass Holding Corp., which held claims in Colorado aimed at possible rare earth deposits, issuing 5,900,000 shares, about 54% of the company afterwards. Seaglass principals Edward Cowle and H. Deworth Williams were each about 12% holders, so this was a related-party deal, which the company said it investigated independently. The company planned to rename itself Colorado Rare Earths and keep the advertising business. Shares on issue rose from 5.0 million at the end of 2009 to 12.3 million a year later.
In August 2011 it bought U.S. Rare Earths, with claims in Idaho and Montana, for 5,000,000 shares (about 25%), again from Cowle and Williams's side. The same filing disclosed $4.0 million raised from 80 units sold to 40 investors, carrying warrants at $4.85. Shares reached 27.6 million by the end of 2012.
2012-2015: Writedowns, a board fight and a listing
In April 2012 the company said three 2011 quarterly reports could not be relied on. Restated losses rose sharply, including $15.5 million for impairment of the U.S. Rare Earths acquisition, and $28.25 million was removed from mineral properties.
In September 2012 it issued a $650,000 5% convertible note, due September 15, 2015, to Unique Materials LLC, an entity affiliated with Chairman John Victor Lattimore Jr., and repaid the remaining $610,000 owed to Blue Cap for the 2011 acquisition. It also sued former directors Williams, Cowle and Geoff Williams over the removal of three directors, while Williams and Cowle filed a competing petition in Utah. Courts approved a settlement on June 5, 2013. Shares on issue fell to 10.3 million by the end of 2013; the beats do not explain the fall.
In March 2014 the audit committee found two 2013 quarters unreliable. An unrecorded option granted to Lattimore Properties in the settlement was expensed at $5.1 million, and 3,000,000 shares issued to Logic International Consulting were revalued, raising the June 2013 quarter's loss from $5.5 million to $13.4 million. On March 19, 2015, Nasdaq certified the company's securities for listing. Shares on issue stood at 11.3 million at the end of 2015's record.
Written from the 10 story beats below (2007 to 19 Mar 2015), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.