6 questions lodged at 2023 Ramelius Resources AGM
November 23, 2023
Below is the text of the 6 written questions lodged at the 2023 Ramelius Resources hybrid AGM held on November 23.
Q1. John Howard and Peter Costello foolishly sold off two thirds of the Reserve Bank's gold reserves at historically cheap prices shortly after being elected in 1996. This stupid move has cost Australian taxpayers billions. How important is central bank reserves to a strong gold price and have we lobbied the new Albanese Government to set some funds aside to rebuild the Reserve Bank's gold reserves. Do we sell much gold directly to central banks?
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Q2. When disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions today, including this remuneration report item, could you please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to what happens with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and was a voluntary disclosure initiative adopted by the likes of Metcash, Altium, AUI, Dexus, Webjet, Tabcorp and Myer over the past two years. The ASX itself and Qantas both did it for the first time this season. You've got the data, so why not let the sun shine in.
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Q3. The likes of Dexus, Carsales, Brambles, NAB, JB Hi Fi, Origin Energy, Viva Energy and many other companies have all disclosed the proxy votes to the ASX before their latest AGMs started along with the formal addresses. Will the board agree to do this next year so that interested shareholders and other stakeholders, including institutional investors and proxy advisers, have an early insight into the proxy position before the AGM debate commences and can ask relevant questions if there have been any protest votes. Also, many thanks for hosting a hybrid AGM again this year. Keep it up so us east coast shareholders can participate and don't forget to publish a full archive of the webcast on your website.
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Q4. There was a 22% protest vote against last year's LTI grant resolution. Have we made any changes and what did the proxy advisers say in their reports this year? Also, could the CEO summarise his past LTI grants as to whether they have vested or lapsed. Please don't say look it up in the annual report and through ASX announcements. It's complicated and the CEO could factually summarise the situation in 60 seconds.
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Q5. Our annual report appears to be deficient in that it doesn't list any beneficial owners above the 5% substantial shareholder disclosure threshold and also doesn't say that there are no substantial holders. However, it does publish a top 20 saying HSBS Nominees is our largest holder with 33%, but this is obviously a custody holding for many holders. Macquarie and Vanguard both filed substantial notices with the ASX during the year but could you please advise exactly who are our largest shareholders at the moment seeing as this can't be deduced by reading the confusing annual report. Please undertake to fix this in next year's annual report.
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Q6. It is great that we have a mining professional like Colin Moorhead with many years of gold experience on our board. The chair lamented the loss of our CFO Tim Manners to Delta Lithium, which is backed by billionaires Gina Rinehart and Chris Ellison. Could Colin comment on whether he thinks our gold sector is losing its lustre with everyone talking about iron ore and lithium these days. How does Colin think we can boost the reputation and profile of the gold sector.
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