RE: ReconAfrica’s corruption of Namibian public officials and its crimes against the people of Namibia.
March 2022
List of Contents
List of Contents 2
Executive Summary 3
Company Background 5
Summary of Key Issues 6
2.1 Conflicts of interest 6
2.2 The Right to Consent 10
2.3 EIA 11
2.4 Violations of Land Reform Act 12
2.5 Lack of Land Rights 14
2.6 Violation of UNDRIP 15
2.7 Drilling Inside Conservancy Areas 16
2.8 Bribery of Conservancy officials 17
2.9 Violations of Namibia’s Labour Act 17
2.10 Unlined Drill Mud Pits 18
2.11 Water Use and Disposal Permits 19
2.12 Head Woman removed for opposing ReconAfrica 19
2.13 Violating Namibia's Press Code 20
2.14 Two-dimensional (2D) Seismic Survey 21
Harms against investors 22
3.1 Once in Lifetime opportunity 22
3.2 ReconAfrica Told Investors Fracking 24
3.3 The role of Oilprice.com 29
3.5 Craig Steinke’s self-enriching Botswana Farm Out option 32
3.6 Insiders have benefitted 33
4. Recommendation 33
APPENDIXES 35
Appendix 1 - Copy of Letter from Shakwa Nyambe to Ministry of Labour 35
Appendix 2 - Objection to ReconAfrica’s Land Rights Application 40
Appendix 3 - Testimony of Phyllis Webster (shareholder) 43
Appendix 4 - Complaint to Namibia Media Ombudsman 44
Appendix 5 - Save Okavango Unique Life complaint about drill mud pits 46
Appendix 6 - OilPrice.com online Investigation 49
Appendix 7 - Thomas Ronk research 54
Executive Summary
A Canadian company has violated multiple Namibian laws and corrupted its offices and processes. ReconAfrica’s marketing displays a sophisticated awareness of best oilfield practices but the company's actions do not align with their stated ideals:
• Company founder Craig Steinke told the Globe and Mail that ReconAfrica consultations went above and beyond what is required by Namibia. Yet a lawsuit currently in the Namibian High Court details how the Namibian families were ‘unlawfully and forcefully evicted from their ancestral land.without notice or compensation.
• ReconAfrica has repeatedly told investors they intend to frack and have shared revenue estimates from fracking while it has no license to use this method. ReconAfrica tells Namibians publicly they do not intend to frack but, when pressed, refuse to rule out using the practice in this water scarce nation.
• The company pledged to use best seismic practices and only survey along existing roads. Instead, the company made kilometers of new cutlines through pristine forest and did seismic thumping so close to people’s homes that it has ‘’caused cracks and permanent structural damage to homes” in violation of their Environmental Management Plan.
• The company has not lined drilling waste pits in compliance with Canadian regulations, which require an impermeable liner. They have continued to focus on the makeup of their drilling fluid while dodging questions about potentially highly polluted back-flow from the down-hole drilling waste.
• A class action lawsuit was filed in New York on behalf of investors who claim that they were harmed by 'false and misleading' statements made by the company. Independent geologists say that ReconAfrica is misrepresenting the geology.
The Globe and Mail reported in 2013 that ReconAfrica’s former Chairman of the Board and Director, Jay Park, while leading a team of lawyers from Calgary firm McLeod-Dixon, was involved in suspicious payments in Chad while working for Griffiths Energy International who were seeking petroleum rights. After paying two million dollars to the wife of the Chadian Ambassador, the lawyers claimed they thought they were paying a long-standing consultant.’’ An RCMP investigation at the time led to a fine of over 10 million dollars for Griffiths, but Park was not charged or restrained.
In Somalia, Jay Park, while ostensibly representing the Somali government, was head of an organization that took a half million USD payment from Soma, a British oil firm incorporated just months before. Park’s organization then awarded Somali concessions to Soma, a transaction later investigated by the UK’ serious fraud office.
Namibian businessman Knowledge Katti is known for making hundreds of millions of dollars in commissions from state resources and for his close relationship with Namibian politicians. Katti is so close to some politicians that his former business partners claim he bragged to them, saying he has Namibian Ministers in his pockets. Katti’s relationship with the president of Namibia is well documented including the businessman footing of the president’s medical bills. To most Namibians, Katti’s name is synonymous with corruption.
Jay Park originally denied that ReconAfrica retained Katti, but his employment was later confirmed by a company spokesperson, drawing into question the possibility of potential serious fraud on the part of the company and related government officials, contravening Namibian law and the company’s stated anti-bribery policy.
Communities are left to wonder how an EIA was approved for drilling without having a critical list of interested and affected parties in accordance with Namibian law. President Geingob issued a thinly veiled threat to critics when he stated that ‘Namibians talk too much’ during a ‘courtesy call’ from ReconAfrica founder Craig Steinke.
During the Parliamentary Standing Committee hearings into the matter, the Chairman, Tjerko Tweya, asks why the local Communal Land Board did not hold the Canadian company accountable when they broke the rules. The Chair of the Land Board responded that his ‘hands were tied’ as the project was presented to the regional body as already having government approval despite the failure to consult residents.
ReconAfrica openly hired a member of the Namibian Traditional Authority to act on their behalf. In November 2020, Alois Ngende was quoted in the New Era newspaper speaking about the proposed development as a member of the Traditional Authority, but on the 19th of March 2021 he appeared in the Namibian Sun as a ‘community liaison’ working for ReconAfrica. Community members testified that Ngende played a key role in ReconAfrica’s ‘illegal occupation’ of communal land.
We are asking the Canadian RCMP to investigate:
• The distribution of shares to Namibian insiders.
• The suspicious trading that precedes updates.
• The distribution of payments to prominent Namibians, allegedly through Standard Bank of Namibia.
We also call for an investigation into the role of Haywood Securities and other Canadian organizations for evidence that the companies have profited from stock manipulation, partly by skipping insider filings that require those with insider knowledge to file SEDI reports, as well as falsely hyping the stock to unknowing investors, while selling their own shares for profit.
1. Company Background
Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd (ReconAfrica) is a Calgary based junior oil and gas company with an exploratory license to drill in Namibia and Botswana. “ReconAfrica holds a 90% interest in a petroleum exploration license in Northeastern Namibia which covers the entire Kavango sedimentary basin which is an ecologically sensitive, wildlife-rich Okavango Delta watershed in Namibia and Botswana. UNESCO recognizes the delta, a 7,000-square-mile oasis, as a natural landscape with “outstanding value to humanity.” The exploration license covers an area of 25,341.33 km2 (6.3 million acres), and based on commercial success, it entitles ReconAfrica to obtain a 25-year production license’’, according to the company website.
1. Summary of Key Issues
2.1 Conflicts of interest
The company failed to disclose that they engaged in a conflict of interest with Shambyu Traditional Authority member Alois Ngende. A November 2020 report in the state-owned New Era newspaper quotes Ngende as representing the Shambyu Traditional Authority at a meeting between the farmer’s union, ReconAfrica and the Minister of Mines and Energy;
"Since it was the first level of discussions, we could not go at the villages and inform the people, so we said let us wait until they come again and then we can go and conduct meetings together in the villages when we are sure of everything,": said Alois Ngende who represented the traditional authority at the meeting.
In 2021, Ngende sued a project administrator at a local university who claimed on Facebook that the reason for disarray within the Shambyu Traditional Authority was because of his involvement. She also claimed that Ngende had used his position within the traditional authority to obtain fishing rights for himself rather than the Shambyu people. Ngende denied those claims and sued. Ngende did not dispute the claim that he had a position of influence within the Traditional Authority.
Ngende was involved in the illegal awarding of land to the company and informing residents of the company’s claims and intentions. An article in The Namibian Sun confirmed that while Ngende was a member of the traditional authority, he was also working for ReconAfrica. The story notes that Ngende was married to the late leader of the traditional authority, Queen Angelina Matumbo Ribebe, who died in 2015.
Ewi IyaNooli, a regional Namibian newspaper, referred to Ngende as a ‘ReconAfrica’s liason officer’ and mentioned that ‘Concerns have been raised that he is advancing the agenda of his employer at the cost of sharing the full scope and impacts of the project’.
Ngende told a Namibian Sun reporter that the company [ReconAfrica] had awarded him a contract. The journalist asked the company to confirm his employment with them, which they did, albeit claiming it was via a third party, a distinction not made to the reporter by Ngende himself:
“When contacted for comment, ReconAfrica spokesperson Claire Preece confirmed that Ngende does work for the company, however, he is not directly employed by ReconAfrica but through a third-party company,”: she said.
“Preece could not reveal which company recruited Ngende on their behalf”.
ReconAfrica compensated Ngende, and continues to pay him, even though he remains a member of the Traditional Authority whose consent was crucial to the project. A Halifax Examiner investigation revealed that community members say that Ngende recruited people to clear land on behalf of ReconAfrica and was responsible for paying those workers.
The company hired connected Namibian dealmaker Knowledge Katti which has never been adequately explained. The company, through Canadian oil lawyer Jay Park, initially denied that they hired Katti, but later a spokesperson admitted to The Globe and Mail that this was not true. ReconAfrica then claimed that they hired Katti as a ‘’media advisor’’, though his known expertise is acting as a well-compensated conduit between high-level Namibian politicians, including the president, and foreign companies. Knowledge Katti is ill-suited for media relations and is known for taking media criticism poorly, often taunting The Namibian Newspaper and reporters via his Twitter account. Viceroy Research notes that during the period in which Katti was employed, almost no media was produced by the company.
Katti has a multitude of bribery and corruption allegations and boasts about his ability to ‘work the magic’ with Namibian Ministers and energy insiders.
The First National Bank of Namibia severed ties with Katti in a ‘derisking exercise aimed at fighting money laundering and corruption’ in light of Katti’s business relationship with Intaka partner Gustavo Savoi charged in South Africa for corruption and bribery allegations on behalf of Intaka.
The Namibian Investigative unit states: ‘Intaka’s relationship with Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services of over a decade has also been marred by allegations of the substandard delivery of life-saving oxygen, and questionable contract renewals’.
Many Namibians took to social media to blame the company for a critical oxygen shortage during the worst of the covid outbreak resulting in loss of life. This situation persists despite a 2010, World Health Organisation investigation which said Intaka was unsafe and did not meet basic standards.
The entanglement of Katti with ReconAfrica is understood by Namibians to mean that this is an inside deal.
Katti previously promoted Brazilian gas and oil firm HRT, where insiders profited from pumping the stock but no commercial oil was ever found. In 2013, then Prime Minister Geingob allowed Katti to use the state house to promote a find of (non-commercial) oil by Brazilian firm HRT lifting the share price for insiders.
“Katti stashed more than N$100 million in a Switzerland bank from 2010 to 2013 – the period he was accused of cheating his business partners, doing favors for politicians, and speculating with oil and phosphate licenses in Namibia.” according to The Namibian newspaper.
ReconAfrica paid the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) who has also faced allegations of impropriety. ReconAfrica made a payment of 15 million dollars ‘toward government vaccination efforts’ to the Prime Minister’s Office on June 21, 2021 according to a press release from the OPM.Iit is unclear why the company paid money to the Office of the Prime Minister instead of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, who are responsible for procuring vaccines.
The company’s Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) timeline for the 60 day period is detailed and is unambiguously generous in what it regards as social or community benefits. Routine activities normally done in the course of an EIA are listed as social benevolence by ReconAfrica. Yet, the significant 15 million dollar June 21st donation to the Office Prime Minister is not listed in ReconAfrica’s, otherwise detailed, 60-day ‘Timeline 2’.
The press release about the donation appears to have been removed from the company website, but a cached version is available. The press release says: ‘ReconAfrica has responded to calls for assistance by the Government of Namibia with its recent commitment of a N$15-million contribution to the country’s COVID19 Vaccine Rollout Campaign, which will support the procurement, distribution, and administration of vaccines.’
No evidence has been produced to show that the money was spent on vaccines and no updates have been made with regard to this donation.
A Namibian Sun story details how after a ‘donation’ of 50,000 Namibian dollars in office
equipment, Traditional authority leaders said that ReconAfrica should be free to do ‘whatever they want’ in the license area.
An investigation by newspaper group NMH, (Namibian Media House) published on Wednesday October 5 2022, uncovered a vehicle hire scheme being run by ReconAfrica. According to newspaper reports, politicians in the region where the company operates received direct payments from ReconAfrica for using their private vehicles.. Among those implicated were a deputy minister, Verna Sinimpo, and a Rundu Urban Constituency Councillor who is also Deputy Chairperson of the Namibian National Assembly, Victoria Kauma.
Namibian Sun states that the company spokesperson admits they have paid over 7 million Namibian dollars hiring private cars since 2020.
2.2 The Right to Consent
In mid-September 2020 Namibians found out about ReconAfrica’s planned oil and gas exploration through media reports. Affected community members say they were unaware of being excluded from an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process completed in 2019 which led to the Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) for drilling to be issued.
Kawe, located in the Kavango East region, was the first drill site. Community activists and residents state that no consultations were done prior to the arrival of the drill rig. ReconAfrica started drilling its first stratigraphic borehole on 21 December 2020 near the village of Kawe in a local farmer’s mahangu/pearl millet field without his permission.
The Mbambi community, which was the second drill site, had gathered at the request of the company on the 25th of January 2020 but ReconAfrica representatives did not show up, and later claimed that they had another commitment. In early 2021, the company, incorrectly, told the public that they had held all consultations.
2.3 EIA
Namibia’s Environmental Management Act states that the EIA process of high-impact developments on communal and conservation land must include voices of local and indigenous communities, experts, scientists and all organisations working in the region.
Namibia’s Environmental Management Act of 2007 stipulates:
(b) ensuring that there are opportunities for timeous participation of interested and affected parties throughout the assessment process.
The absence of the critical Interested and Affected Parties List in ReconAfrica’s EIA contravenes the Environmental Management Act 7 of 2007.
The company eventually did a January 22, 2020 public information session at their Rundu office where they were accused of bullying community members. Community members said the company made presentations in jargon-filled English only and refused to answer questions.
The company’s EIA is flawed, incomplete and biased
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) assessor Dr. Sindila Mwiya, paid by the company, on numerous occasions has sent threatening and intimidating emails to community members, interested and affected parties, as well as environmentalists and academics.
The company’s EIA has been criticised by international organizations such as the IUCN and UNESCO who cautioned against allowing ReconAfrica to proceed on the basis of this incomplete and flawed document. Experts have pointed to shortcomings such as:
• A lack of physical assessments of fauna and flora and the possible effects on local communities, on archaeological sites, and on groundwater and surface water.
• The assessment, consisting only of desktop studies without any fieldwork.
• The assessment left out key assessments and specialist studies.
• The EIA has not identified alternatives to oil and gas extraction.
• Water needs for the first wells are missing.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) took the extraordinary step of criticizing the EIA of a private company by adopting the following decision during the extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee in July 2021:
“… Expresses concern about the granting of oil exploration licenses in environmentally sensitive areas within the Okavango river basin in northwestern Botswana and northeastern Namibia that could result in potential negative impact on the property in case of spills or pollution….Urges the States Parties of Botswana and Namibia to ensure that potential further steps to develop the oil project, which include the use of new exploration techniques, are subject to rigorous and critical prior review, including through Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that corresponds to international standards, including an assessment of social impacts and a review of potential impacts on the World Heritage property”.
UNESCO identified the threat ReconAfrica posed to the region’s ‘’interconnected water systems'’ and added “Furthermore, IUCN and the World Heritage Centre identified some gaps and concerns with the EIA, such as the need for a more detailed spatial distribution assessment of species and to ascertain the connectivity of the ecosystems. Therefore, great caution should be applied in proceeding with any stage of this project.”
EIA for the second drilling program.
ReconAfrica did not do a full and comprehensive environmental impact assessment as required by the Namibian Environmental Management Act of 2007. The company chose rather to ‘file an ‘amendment’ to their original Environmental Impact Assessment. The company's amendment application does not match the Environmental Management Act’s definition of an amendment. An amendment is done to change a specific condition of an existing ECC. It does not and was never intended to cover new exploration. The Environmental Management Act states that activities that require an Environmental Clearance Certificate include
‘’‘any of the following areas’ - (a) land use and transformation; (b) water use and disposal; (c) resource removal, including natural living resources; (d) resource renewal; (e) agricultural processes; (f) industrial processes; (g) transportation; (h) energy generation and distribution’’
The Economic and Social Justice Trust of Namibia made a complaint to the company’s paid environmental assessor Risk Based Solutions (RBS), regarding the short timeline allowed for comment through Windhoek law firm B.D Basson. RBS responded to the demand for an extension of the due date for registration and comments by saying that the ESJT, despite registering as an Interested and Affected Party in accordance with the instructions provided in the public notice, were not eligible to comment on this application for renewal.
ReconAfrica’s 2019 list of interested and affected parties, sent to Namibian legal organisation, the Legal Assistance center, contained names that couldn't have possibly been in attendance including the late leader of the traditional authority, Queen Angelina Matumbo Ribebe.
ReconAfrica and their consultants at Risk Based Management used this distinction as a means to exclude interested and affected parties. ReconAfrica claimed that, because this EIA process was an amendment, only the original (2019) registered interested parties would be included. This means that parties near the drill sites were excluded from registration.
This distinction also means that no public hearing is required as would be during a procedural EIA process.
In considering an application to amend an environmental clearance certificate the Environmental Commissioner must have regard to the same matters which he or she was required to consider when deciding the initial application for that environmental clearance certificate.
This is clearly stated in section 39 which states that ‘The Environmental Commissioner may only amend a condition of the environmental clearance certificate under this section if he or she is satisfied that the - (a) amendment will not have a significant effect on the environment; and interests of any other person are not adversely affected. (5) In amending an environmental clearance certificate the Environmental Commissioner must follow the consultative process referred to in section 44.
Section 44 lays forward the consultative process which would have to be followed. Even if the court accepts that an amendment is valid, it must find that the consultative process in section 44 was not followed by REN.
The Environmental Management Act states that activities that require an Environmental Clearance Certificate include
‘’‘any of the following areas’ - (a) land use and transformation; (b) water use and disposal; (c) resource removal, including natural living resources; (d) resource renewal; (e) agricultural processes; (f) industrial processes; (g) transportation; (h) energy generation and distribution’’
The drill sites of REN contain many activities listed and clearly require an ECC be applied for. While the minister has the power to award an exemption under section 28 of the Environmental Management Act, no exemption was applied for by REN.
3. Sindile Mwiya of Risk Based Solution’s reply was that only people registered as Interested and Affected Parties in 2019 for the company’s original ECC application could comment:
“Your client is not a registered stakeholder with respect to the public consultation process that was conducted during the months of March and May 2019 for the drilling ECC No: ECC0091 with a serial No. tJMgvk91.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr Sindila Mwiya”
This process effectively means that no consent has been obtained by REN’s process as ReconAfrica did not include a list of 2019 Interested and Affected Parties on the original EIAs. EIA Assessor Sindile Mwiya admitted that he did not fulfill this portion of the EIA process.
According to documents provided by the Commissioner's office, att the Nkurenkuru meeting held May 09, 2019 the Governor made the closing remarks and a vote of thanks. The governor, according to minutes provided by REN, expressed: ‘with words of appreciation to the presenter. He requesting (sic) all stakeholders present at the meeting not to forget to inform the communities and the traditional authorities.’ This makes it clear that affected community members were not present, but rather only politically significant people in the region were invited. The attendance register of attendees is made up of members of the Regional Council and Governor's office and is over 100 kilometers away from the drilling sites.
Affected parties such as the Community Forest Association and the conservancies were not invited.
In an email sent October 12, 2020, Mwiya states: Annette Hubscule ‘The fact of the matter is I did not publish any advertisement as required by law requesting the public and stakeholders to register for this specific license and as such I am not so sure on what grounds you want to be registered. I am just a Consultant who was only hired to support the EIA for stratigraphic wells drilling operation meant to confirm the presence of the Kavango Basin as delineated from aerial geophysical data. The work for the proposed stratigraphic wells drilling operations was completed way back in June 2019 and the ECC was granted in 2019.’
Despite no list of I and APs provided by the commissioner's office over the last two years, On ReconAfrica’s list of I and AP’s was provided for the original 2019 EIA just a few weeks ago by REN, This list appears like it may be invalid and warrants investigation, since people who were deceased in 2019 are included in the list as well as many other concerning factors. IN FACT The list appears to be a slightly amended, list of people who attended ReconAfrica’s 2019 meetings. people in the rows 10 through 38 match exactly the participants who attended the meeting held in Nkurenkuru and they are listed in the same order. The balance of the list from 39 to 58 comes directly from the list of attendees at a May 10th 2019 meeting held in Rundu. It is clear that the List of I and APs provided by REN is actually a list of people who attended their meetings.
ReconAfrica’s exclusion of civil society organisations from participating in the public consultation process as required by the Environmental Management Act of 2007 is contrary to the spirit and letter of the law and the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia. People who live near the drill sites and will be affected the most by this destructive project are being left out of the process by ReconAfrica.
Section 33 (2) of the EMA states that in reviewing the application for the ECC the Environmental Commissioner must ‘take into account’ any comment received during the process. The EMA requires the comment of Interested and Affected Parties, but the process followed by REN ensures that no comments are made available for the EC to take into account.
This also means that the EC may be unaware of the extent and nature of the proposed activity. The EIA’s of ReconAfrica have faced international criticism. In an extremely rare move UNESCO took the step of labeling the documents as insufficient. Part of the criticism of those documents has been that they downplay risks and extoll the benefits.
4. In the absence of new interested and affected parties, a public meeting gains importance as a crucial information source for both the EC and the public. The EC is not receiving all the information required to understand the nature and extent of the proposed exploration activities.
5/6. Namibia’s Environmental Management Act states that the EIA process of high-impact developments on communal and conservation land must include voices of local and indigenous communities, experts, scientists and all organisations working in the region.
Namibia’s Environmental Management Act of 2007 stipulates:
(b) ensuring that there are opportunities for timeous participation of interested and affected parties throughout the assessment process.
The absence of the critical Interested and Affected Parties List in ReconAfrica’s 2019 EIA contravenes the Environmental Management Act 7 of 2007.
2.4 Violations of Land Reform Act
The Communal Land Reform Act 5 of 2002, stipulates that:
“a right of leasehold may not be granted in respect of a portion of land which another person holds under a customary land right, unless such person agrees to relinquish his or her right in respect of the land, subject to the payment of compensation as agreed to by such person and suitable arrangements for his or her resettlement on alternative land.”
The families in Mbambi whose ancestral land was taken stated during the interview that they were never willing to move or sell their land. Therefore, no payment was accepted or considered. No exchange of ownership has ever taken place. No arrangements for resettlement have been made. They have had no opportunity to protect or defend their land rights or oppose ReconAfrica’s illegal acquisition of their customary land. A lawsuit filed in the High Court of Namibia by Andreas Sinonge asserts that ancestral land, which his family has occupied since 1968, was taken by the company through procedures that violate Namibian Law.
ReconAfrica is engaged in an ‘’unlawful occupation’’ of the communal land where they started drilling for oil and gas according to a May 2021 statement from the Legal Assistance Center.
Community leaders in Kavango East Region have not been consulted on the oil and gas exploration and many object to this activity. Likewise, communal farmers in the region confronted the regional governor about the threat to their land but were simply told that the deal was done:
“The company is taking a lot of land in the villages. It is expanding its operations in different villages. There is no consideration when they construct roads through the mahangu fields (in violation of their environmental permit). And we have heard that there is no compensation since the government has agreed with the company.”
2.5 Lack of Land Rights
ReconAfrica’s Occupational Land Rights application in the New Era newspaper on May 14, 2021 confirmed that the company was only then, six months after drilling had commenced and the company illegally occupied the land, applying for communal land rights. Under the Communal Land Reform Act, 5 of 2002, a private for-profit company does not have the standing to apply for those rights. The act specifically omits private companies from the list of those who can apply.
After public pressure, the company, lacking the standing to apply for occupational land rights, instead applied for Leasehold Rights in July 2021. Both of the company’s applications were heavily objected to by the public.
ReconAfrica has no right to occupy land at Mbambi and Kawe villages without the ratification of such rights by the Communal Land Board. The Act further provides that any person who occupies communal land without written authority by the chief or traditional authority, and ratification by the board, is guilty of an offence.
The Communal Land Reform Act 5 of 2002 also stipulates that:
“before granting a right of leasehold in terms of subsection (1) in respect of land which is wholly or partly situated in an area which has been declared a conservancy in terms of section 24A of the Nature Conservation Ordinance, 1975 (Ordinance No. 4 of 1975), a board must have due regard to any management and utilization plan framed by the conservancy committee concerned in relation to that conservancy, and such board may not grant the right of leasehold if the purpose for which the land in question is proposed to be used under such right would defeat the objects of such management and utilization plan.”
ReconAfrica’s oil and gas extraction poses a threat to the fragile ecosystem in the areas in question, and cause irreversible damages to the Kavango-Zambezi ecosystem which defeats the object of the sustainable management and utilization of the land in question as stipulated in the Application for right of leasehold 31(4) section of the Communal Land Re Act 5 of 2002. Therefore, ReconAfrica does not meet the qualifications to be granted rights of leasehold.
ReconAfrica has erected fences across communal lands which contravenes section 44 (1) (Fences) of the Communal Land Reform Act 5 of 2002.The company undermines the rights of the local population to traverse their lands. Footpaths that have existed for decades have now been fenced off.
43. Unlawful occupation of communal land
(1) No person may occupy or use for any purpose any communal land other than under a right acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Act, including a right referred to in section 28(1) or 35(1).
(2) A Chief or a Traditional Authority or the board concerned may institute legal action for the eviction of any person who occupies any communal land in contravention of subsection (1).
Any allocation of a customary land right made by a chief or traditional authority under Section 22 has no legal effect unless the allocation is ratified by the relevant board in accordance with the provisions of this section. Section 29(4) provides that any person who occupies communal land without written authority by the chief or traditional authority and ratification by the board, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N$4,000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year.
ReconAfrica’s EIA amendment process for the second round of drilling also lacked the requisite land rights.
2.6 Violation of UNDRIP
Parts of the exploration area lie within the ancestral lands of the San First Nations indigenous groups. ReconAfrica’s drilling violates the rights of indigenous San communities under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, signed by Namibia in 2007, which guarantees the right to free, prior and informed consent by indigenous communities for any developments that impact their resources, livelihoods and cultural heritage. No such consent was granted to ReconAfrica by the San communities in Kavango East and West regions, or by any other communities in the region.
2.7 Drilling Inside Conservancy Areas
The Application for a right of leasehold 31(4) section of the Communal Land Reform Act 5 of 2002 also `stipulates that, before granting a right of leasehold in terms of subsection (1) in respect of land which is wholly or partly situated in an area which has been declared a conservancy in terms of section 24A of the Nature Conservation Ordinance, 1975 (Ordinance No. 4 of 1975), a board must have due regard to any management and utilization plan framed by the conservancy committee concerned in relation to that conservancy, and such board may not grant the right of leasehold if the purpose for which the land in question is proposed to be used under such right would defeat the objects of such management and utilization plan.
Max Muyemburuko, chairperson of Kavango East & West Regional Conservancy and Community Forest Association which oversees all conservancies in the region, confirmed that ReconAfrica has been drilling in protected conservancies and community forests. The company’s second drilling site at Mbambi, which they started to clear in January 2021, is within the Kapinga Kamalye Conservancy. The first drill site at Kawe is within the Ncaute Community Forestry area, which were established to protect habitat for charismatic animals such as elephants and rare sable antelope. The conservancy and community forest was also created to attract tourism and provide sustainable jobs in conservation jobs for some of its 3,700 residents.
The company’s original EIA for the Mbambi site shows that their drilling area was outside of the conservancy. The drill site was moved five kilometers to an area which had not been covered under the EIA, inside of the protected conservation area. This was done without the consent or consultation with the conservancy managers or an update to the EIA. The company is therefore occupying the conservancy’s land illegally.
The majority of the area covered by PEL No. 73 sits within the ecologically fragile and protected Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) – one of the world’s biggest protected areas. The goal of the KAZA TFCA is to sustainably manage the Kavango-Zambezi ecosystem, as well as its heritage and cultural resources based on best conservation and tourism models for the socio-economic wellbeing of the communities in and around the five-country-region.
Should ReconAfrica be granted land rights, it will violate the KAZA mandate of promoting sustainable land use, conservation of wildlife and landscapes, and rural development that were intended by establishing conservancies, community forests.
2.8 Bribery of Conservancy officials
According to National Geographic 19, Max Muyemburoko, chairperson of the Kavango East & West Regional Conservancy and Community Forest Association says that he and a colleague, Thomas Muronga, were offered jobs and uniforms in return for their silence regarding the operations of ReconAfrica inside the Kapinga Kamwalye conservancy.
Muyemburoko states that at a May 28th meeting in Rundu the company, through their lawyer and contractor, told the critics of the company that: “whatever assistance that we need, we can just tell them, and they can come up with some solutions.”
Muronga stated at that same meeting that he was told “if we want to be helped,” they would “take us to work for the company.” Muyemburuko informed National Geographic he was encouraged to take the offer by Nyambe, the company’s lawyer, because the conservancy’s “allowance is very small,” and “it cannot take you anywhere.”
2.9 Violations of Namibia’s Labour Act
ReconAfrica promised jobs and development. Their spokesperson says the company will bring schools and hospitals and clinics to an impoverished Kavango East Region. This did not happen as the company provides a few poorly paid jobs to locals who do not have the skills needed for this highly technical work.
ReconAfrica is violating Namibian labour law by introducing casual employment. The Labour Act (2007) does not make any provision for casual employees. The company hires workers for 2 weeks and then replaces them with new ones. It appears that ReconAfrica does this to claim that hundreds of Namibians are employed by the company. Such practices leave workers vulnerable, without any job security and potentially locks them into poverty. We also doubt that all of ReconAfrica’s employees have Namibian work visas. In February 2021, the company denied labour inspectors access to the Kawe drill site for inspection and then threatened to sue the labour inspector. (Appendix 1)
2.10 Unlined Drill Mud Pits
ReconAfrica is not following their own Environmental Management Plan which sets clear guidelines on disposing of harmful waste drilling fluids to prevent land and groundwater contamination. The company has not lined the drill mud pits in which it dumps waste fluids from drilling. The company states that no liner is required because it has been using an ‘organic’ water-based fluid to drill. Even if this is the case, it does not obviate the need for the company to line their drill mud pits with an impermeable layer.
The water that is returned to the surface after drilling contains (at least according to ReconAfrica; oil), a hyper saline brine, and potentially, naturally occurring radioactive waste. Canadian companies face stringent regulations with regard waste pits requiring a double lined pit along with a leak-detection system in Canada, as would be known to the directors of ReconAfrica. The company has ignored these safety guidelines and has issued public statements that have misled the nation of Namibia.
In October 2020, before drilling operations began, ReconAfrica’s spokesperson Claire Preece, told National Geographic that “potentially toxic drill cuttings from the oil test wells ‘will be managed in lined pits, cleaned, and disposed of offsite as per company and regulatory requirements.”
However, when National Geographic reporters visited the Kawe 6-2 well site during drilling operations — and took pictures of an unlined mud pit —the company began claiming their drilling fluids were “100% organic and biodegradable”, and that they intended to donate the untested wastewater to small farmers to use on their crops.
The company said waste fluids won’t seep into the underlying soil and groundwater because “we are using the same product used widely by farmers and others when their ponds start losing water” in the form of an unnamed gel,therefore, they say no pit liner is required. No test results have been released that show that the wastewater is safe to use on crops. Nor could the company provide the name of the product used to allegedly seal the pits.
In a published interview on OneAfrica TV (Friday, 6 May 2022), ReconAfrica spokesperson, Ndapewoshali Shapwanale stated that the company uses an ‘organic’ drilling mud, which she claimed has been tasted by ‘our people’. She echoed earlier statements by company founder Craig Steinke who implied on the NBC segment ‘ReconAfrica says oil and gas exploration activities in Kavango Basin are above board’ which aired on NBC March 30, 2021. Craig Steinke was on the NBC program Harklop on 31 May boasting about organic drilling fluid. Organic drilling fluid does not seem to exist.
The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health says that ‘drilling fluid is generally a water-based (the type used by ReconAfrica and most of the rest of the industry) mud containing mainly bentonite clay. Most drilling muds consist of aqueous slurry of 5% bentonite in amended with sodium hydroxide and a density-increased material such as barite, to help float out rock cuttings’. Water based is not the same as organic, and even though water may form the base of the fluid, chemicals are added as they are throughout the drilling process. It is still hazardous to the environment and unsafe for groundwater. For ReconAfrica to claim that these additives or drilling mud are ‘organic’ or safe to consume is misleading and false.
Drilling mud is used to keep the drill bit cool, return drill cuttings to the surface, keep the hole from collapsing while drilling and to prevent volatile gasses and fluids from entering the wellbore which would cause a disastrous blowout. If a ‘Loss of Circulation’ (Lost circulation in drilling is any loss of mud into subsurface formations) occurs, emergency additives (often hazardous in nature) must be introduced to prevent such a blowout.
The ReconAfrica spokesperson’s statement implied that the mud used in drilling ReconAfrica’s wells would be safe for human consumption, which is false. The fluid which comes from drilling is toxic and was dumped by ReconAfrica at both of their drill sites, into unlined pits with potential to contaminate groundwater.
In October 2020, ReconAfrica’s then spokesperson Claire Preece, said that “potentially toxic drill cuttings from the oil test wells will be managed in lined pits, cleaned, and disposed of offsite as per company and regulatory requirements.” Recon Africa's failure to properly dispose of this waste is a violation of the company’s Environmental Management Plan. The current spokesperson claims the document holds the company accountable, but in reality the company acts without significant oversight. .
ReconAfrica only focuses on their own drilling fluid while ignoring all the materials that come up from under the earth. Drilling fluids returned to the surface after drilling often contain hazardous materials from under the surface, such as hyper-saline brines, heavy metals, naturally occurring radioactive waste materials, as well as, potentially, oil. This toxic backflow is dumped into unlined pits by ReconAfrica.
Canadian oil companies face stringent regulations with regard to waste pits requiring a double lined pit along with a leak-detection system, as would be known to the directors of ReconAfrica. The company has ignored these well-known safety guidelines, yet has issued public statements claiming, despite substantial evidence to the contrary, to follow international best practices.
Despite the often repeated ReconAfrica talking points regarding the drilling of water wells- there will be no benefit to communities if the groundwater is contaminated by the careless disposal of drilling effluent. While the company claims that there is ‘no way’ their practices can harm the environment, their disregard for basic safety standards makes harm to the environment and groundwater all but certain.
Land Farming
ReconAfrica did not ensure that ‘’potentially toxic cuttings will be cleaned and disposed of offsite” as they said they would, instead this waste was dumped into unlined pits. .
The Canadian company now grows crops on top of the waste pit at Kawe. This is a process the oil industry refers to as ‘landfarming’. No third party verification of the safety of that soil was done before planting crops there. Many of the elements included in the drilling slurry which were included are harmful in high concentrations, but ReconAfrica also have never publicly listed the liquids which they disposed of in the unlined pits.
There has been no evaluation of whether the type and degree of the contamination in the soil is suitable for landfarming. Canadian regulations on landfarming stipulate that certain compounds such as petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals concentrations must be within limits. If the waste tests above those limits, it cannot be used for landfarming and must be declared ‘hazardous waste and handled accordingly’. We do not believe any such tests were carried out.
Canadian regulations also stipulate that studies must be done before landfarming takes place which show groundwater flows and potential harms to adjacent properties. No such study was done by ReconAfrica, yet the company still claims to adhere to best international practices.
The Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published a study ‘Soil Contamination Assessments from Drilling Fluids and Produced Water Using Combined Field and Laboratory Investigations on landfarming. They found elevated chemical levels present in the soil where drilling fluids had been previously stored including increased levels of chromium and nickel. The study also noticed that levels of calcium, sodium and chlorine tested over allowable limits for applications to soils. We ask the Ministry of Agriculture to test the soil and to protect the precious water resources in the Kavango regions.
2.11 Water Use and Disposal Permits
The company failed to obtain water use and disposal permits required by law before drilling. This was confirmed in writing by the Namibian Minister of Water, Agriculture and Land Reform, Calle Schlettwein. This is in violation of the Water Resources Management Act, 2004 which states that anyone extracting and disposing water should first get permits. Schlettwein’s statement was published in The Namibian Newspaper dated December 18, 2021, in which he summoned Canadian oil company ReconAfrica to explain why it drilled for water for its industrial operations in the Kavango regions without permits. The Minister stated that “we were unhappy with how the water aspect was done in the environmental impact assessment”.
The company began drilling without these permits and stated falsely in advertisements and news articles that it has had them. Since then it has worked retroactively to put them in place.
“They did it illegally. We had called them in. We reiterated that the rule is they should not drill for water without any permit. We threatened not to issue a permit anymore if they carried on like that,” Schlettwein said in an interview with The Namibian newspaper.
The Namibian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources, in its public hearings with relevant government stakeholders in the ReconAfrica matter, hinted that those discrepancies between government stakeholders were unfolding because of possible bribes paid to government officials.
2.12 Head Woman removed for opposing ReconAfrica
Research for a WoMin report found that some residents interviewed for this case study reported that, even if they had heard of ReconAfrica from neighbouring villagers, none of their communities had been visited by company representatives. However, they have seen the company’s vehicles drive by. They have also observed their regional councilor meeting with village development committee members and other community representatives, without inviting residents, and they never received feedback on those discussions (Interview done at Mbambi on 19 August 2021).
The Namibian newspaper reported that the head woman at the village of Mbambi was removed at the behest of the village development committee after expressing concerns about ReconAfrica’. She informed the newspaper that she did not give permission as claimed by the company. She told The Namibian that she suspects her removal is because she criticised ReconAfrica’s drilling.
During a 2022 visit to Mbambi by the ESJT, community members informed the authors that the headwoman was removed by the Vliiage development Council which, procedurally, should report to the head woman. Community members testified that the removal of the head woman has left the community divided between supporting the original head woman or the head man who is alleged to have replaced her.
2.13 Violating Namibia's Press Code
The company has been very aggressive with the Namibian press. They threatened to sue The Namibian newspaper over minor details rather than actual misreporting and could be considered a strategic move to intimidate the nation's most credible media voice. For example, the newspaper used a picture of the Okavango Delta to accompany an article which the company claimed misrepresented their license area, although their license area does cover the watershed of this natural wonder, and because it is upstream, does drain into the Delta itself.
The company claimed the picture “is misleading to the public”. ReconAfrica has been granted exploration rights by Namibia and Botswana to drill in an area of more than 35 000 square kilometres upstream of the Delta.
“There are many protected areas in the area which are not part of ReconAfrica's licensed area.”
The company’s marketing content was broadcast on Namibia’s state broadcasting channel during the news broadcast as if it were news. Employees at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) have confirmed that the company’s advertisement was paid content by the company’s local partner, the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy. No statements accompanied the content that let viewers or investors know that this was paid propaganda rather than Namibian news.
We know that when NBC tells the nation that ReconAfrica held community meetings before drilling started that this is not true. The paid content was filled with distortions that opposing voices should have been given an opportunity to challenge. Instead, those inaccuracies were presented to the nation as fact. The nation was not told that they should treat this information with suspicion. All of this damages the credibility of important state institutions.
A complaint was made to the Namibian Media Ombudsman by ESJT members Rinaani Musutua and Rob Parker. (Appendix 4).
The complaint was heard by a panel representing the Namibian Media Ombudsman which made a ruling on the 27th of June 2022. The ruling found that the NBC has breached the Namibian code of media ethics by failing to take reasonable efforts to allow opposing voices.
The media ombudsman ordered that the NBC ‘make amends’ with appropriate prominence.
The NBC appealed this ruling and subsequently a second ruling found that the broadcaster failed to allow opposing voices and featured only proponents. The company was again ordered to apologise to the nation for broadcasting misleading content and violating the media code of ethics.
The company has also disguised its advertisements as news in the Namibian Sun. On 26 October 2021, the Namibian Sun published "That is what we want." The article outlines how Namibia supports ReconAfrica, but has no author mentioned and does not mention that the content was paid for by the company, or that someone else other than a journalist contributed to this article. The article is unbalanced, yet tries to create the impression it is a journalistic article.
The Namibian media ombudsman found that The Namibian Sun failed to alert readers to the fact that the content was paid advertising copy rather than the news.
‘’Ndjebela refuted the allegations and insinuations that the media house was somehow bribed to deliberately mislead their readers’’ said the article. .
“It was a genuine human error,” Ndjebela said during a public hearing even though he has consistently attacked critics of the Canadian oil company.
The media ombudsman found that the newspaper violated the Media Code of Ethics and Conduct, which states: “The media shall indicate clearly when an outside organisation has contributed to the cost of news gathering”
In an August 2022 story published by Eagle FM, the story appears to be written by ReconAfrica rather than journalists at the station. The story contains no balance and uses the possessive pronoun ‘our’ to RecoinAfrica’s preliminary points. The ReconAfrica’s spokesperson is a former employee of the station.
.On 29 July 2022, Justice Thomas Masuku delivered the judgment. He upheld our preliminary points in that the applicants failed to meet the requirements for the matter to be heard on an urgent basis and that the court had no jurisdiction to grant the relief sought by the applicants.
2.14 Two-dimensional (2D) Seismic Survey
The company pledged it would only work along existing roads and not make any new seismic cutlines for their operations in both the 2D Seismic EIA application submitted in January 2021 to obtain their Environmental Clearance Certificate (issued by the Environmental Commissioner in July 2021 despite public objection) and at the 2D Seismic EIA consultation held in Windhoek on 2 February, 2021.
The company immediately violated this pledge, first by publishing a fact sheet “Best Practices: Seismic'' in April 2021 stating “95% of the ReconAfrica survey will be performed on existing roads/tracks'', and then by actually cutting 10s of kilometers of new seismic cutlines through virgin Kavango forest as detailed in the Namibian NGOs Frank Free Namibia (FFN) press statement of October 5, 2021. 5% of a 450 km 2D seismic survey equates to 22.5 km of new seismic roads that didn’t exist in this wilderness before, in clear violation of their permit.
The FFN press statement also detailed that Kavango residents are reporting damage to their structures — including cracks to and entire collapse of homes — caused by the weight drop “thumping” truck ReconAfrica uses to carry out its seismic survey operations. The affected community members were asked by the company to sign papers that they did not know what they were about and never received a copy of those papers. Residents complained that the survey damaged their homes. The company illegally violated their permit by drilling in close proximity to the homes of residents in the area, testing in crop fields, cutting new roads and driving offroad.
The seismic survey was carried out in elephant migration corridors. Elephants use seismic communication to send messages to one another concerning food, location of other herds, breeding and nearby predators – helping each other to survive. The environmental impact assessment report for ReconAfrica’s planned 2D seismic surveying was misleading regarding the impact of the seismic survey on elephant behaviour according to regional scientists.
It was always surprising that ReconAfrica conducted its 2D seismic survey after drilling its initial stratigraphic wells, given the well-established industry practice of first acquiring seismic data then drilling exploration wells in new areas. Such unorthodox operations by ReconAfrica supports the widely held belief that the “Kavango Basin” exploration project has always been a prefabricated marketing campaign to dupe unsophisticated investors into buying this Canadian company’s stock in order to enrich it’s founders as outlined in the May 21st National Geographic story.
1. Harms against investors
3.1 Once in Lifetime opportunity
The available geological data — including the recent results of ReconAfrica’s initial exploration wells — raises serious doubts as to whether there is even any commercially viable oil to produce in the Kavango.
The company consistently signals to investors that they will extract 120 billion barrels of oil and gas, despite having no evidence to base this statement on. The company uses numbers like this to market the stock as a “no-brainer” to unsophisticated investors.
ReconAfrica has consistently represented the region as unexplored, but their data was based on core samples and aeromagnetic data from two previous explorations which had found no recoverable oil.
Oil and gas exploration began in the Owambo Basin during the 1960’s. Until ReconAfrica’s recent pre-drill claim of a “30,000 ft deep Kavango Basin discovery” starting in 2015, the Owambo Basin was defined as having its thickest area north of the Etosha Pan in north-central Namibia and shallowing to the east across the Kavango region (what ReconAfrica now refers to as the “Kavango Basin”). No oil and gas exploration wells were ever drilled, and no seismic surveys ever acquired inside the Kavango region (until now) because previous oil and gas exploration companies concluded the area wasn’t prospective.
Based only on two wells that were drilled blind and the old aero-magnetic data, ReconAfrica claimed to have found a 30,000 foot marine shale basin, which would make it one of the biggest ever discovered. Based solely on this singular data set, ReconAfrica began promoting a “30,000 ft deep Kavango Basin discovery” before any seismic surveys had been acquired or exploration wells drilled. To date the company has offered no proof to back up these remarkable claims, despite saying they have found a “working petroleum system”.
Gravity data, which the company has never published but which has been leaked by the government, suggests that the company is not sitting upon a deep sedimentary basin at all and that any possible oil discovery would not be financially viable.. The company has omitted the gravity data from public release. Expert petroleum geologist Matt Totten Jr. says that this gravity data conflicts with the interpretation of the magnetic data the company is using to promote the project.
The depth of the Owambo Basin is already well established by multiple exploration wells and several 2D seismic surveys. From this existing data, the Owambo Basin thickness is established to be between 12,000 ft to 15,000 ft thick — less than half the thickness of ReconAfrica’s claimed “30,000 ft deep Kavango Basin'' interpretation. But because ReconAfrica’s own aeromagnetic “depth to basin” map shows the previously explored Owambo Basin to be deeper than their “Kavango Basin”, this means ReconAfrica failed to calibrate their depth interpretation to the existing data in the Owambo Basin. This led the company to (potentially illegally) promote a grossly inaccurate thickness interpretation for their new “Kavango Basin'' play. Independent Analysts such as Canadian Geologist Elisabeth Kosters believe that ReconAfrica’s lease is actually on the Owambo basin and has no commercially recoverable oil.
The company predicted a total drill depth of both of their wells in the last year of 12,000 feet, yet their results were actually only 7,526 feet and 9,121 feet respectively. The company’s Short Form Prospectus, New Issue published on August 12, 2020, laid out a budget. ‘’Mudlogging and communications (50 days) – $133,730’’, for reporting drill mud logs results, yet the company has failed to disclose these results. The failure to disclose has prompted Viceroy Research to claim that this is a ‘’’tacit admission’’ of failure. This would also be materially misleading to investors.
The company has also failed to release drill stem tests and hydrocarbon intercept depth, yet continues to represent to investors that this is a sure thing as recently as a press release in January 2022.
The company did not allow questions during their AGM with shareholders in July 2021 (Appendix 3).
3.2 ReconAfrica Told Investors Fracking
The company has consistently told investors that there would be fracking, and the exploration was originally sold to investors as an ‘’unconventional’’ play. ReconAfrica structural geologist and company insider Dr.James Granath co-authored an article titled “Why Not Both Conventional and Unconventional Exploration in Sub-Saharan Africa?” in February 2018. The article emphasizes unconventional opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
ReconAfrica hired Sproule, an energy consulting and advisory firm, to write a preot in 2018, which was updated in 2020. The report said there was a very low chance of commercial success (less than 4%), and that any extractable reserves would be unconventional (industry speak for hydraulic fracturing or fracking). Sproule based the possibility of recoverable assets strictly on fracking: “the undiscovered petroleum initially-in-place and prospective resources included in the 2020 Sproule Report represent the unconventional (tight gas, shale gas and tight oil) resources on the company’s lands and do not include potential conventional prospective resources. The company did not commission any other report and relied on the Sproule report as the basis for their investor presentations.
October 28, 2019, then ReconAfrica chairman and insider Jay Park made a presentation at the 121 Oil & Gas Investment Autumn Conference in London where he compared the Kavango Basin to the US Eagle Ford and Whitehill formations which are also other unconventional plays. Park also said that unconventional shale gas was the primary target.
Jay Park said in a Feb 2020 YouTube interview with Proactive:
“In particular, we noted how the shale revolution has changed things so much in the oil and gas industry in the United States and in Canada,... We filtered through all the places that had the right geology, the right geophysical terms combined with a good petroleum regime and Namibia came out very high on that list.” He added that “The basin [Kavango Basin] is the size of the entirety of the EagleFord [an unconventional frack oil & gas basin], it has thousands of wells in Texas.”
The company’s investor presentations included a slide that made mention of ‘’production from horizontals’’ and ‘’modern frac stimulations’’ for 11 consecutive months from May 2019 to March 2020.
According to public securities complaint filed by CIEL filed against the company, the company made changes to their website:
In Junell references to “unconventional” and “shale” disappeared from ReconAfrica’s website and investor materials, but were replaced with words that can be interpreted synonymously (e.g., “source rocks” because “the source rock is the shale”),
“The survey and analysis confirm that the Kavango Basin reaches depths of up to 30,000 feet, under optimal conditions to preserve a thick interval of organic rich marine source rocks.”
• “The main objective is to confirm organic rich source rocks and conventional opportunities in Namibia and Botswana.”
• “In the Kavango Basin, the existence of this organic source rock is proven by the ST-1 well, which is located due west of the basin.”
• No more usage of the “Shale Play Valuation by Acreage” chart.
• Play concept map still shows wells in the same locations but now they are called “Source Rock Basins.”
The ReconAfrica Research Report July 2020, now deleted from their website but a cached version is still available, stated clearly "While the initial target is an unconventional play in the lower Permian aged Karoo shales, the potential of shallower conventional targets will also be tested."
The July 2020 report went on to assign a value estimate of the resource: “Given the low government burden, and expectation of relatively low operating and transportation costs, we estimate a potential net asset value implication ~C$0.12/sh for every ~ MMBbls of recoverable crude from a conventional discovery and C$0.67/sh for every 10 MMBbls from a resource play.” This was done even though the company had no license for fracking.
Company geologist and insider Dan Jarvie’s presentation entitled Petroleum Potential in the Kavango Basin from September 2020 that stated that the basin represented a ‘’PERMIAN PETROLEUM SYSTEM’’ which was allegedly confirmed by ST1 well (Kawe drill site). The slide also stated that the basin was ‘’Continuous with Shell SA Permian Unconventional.”
In a September 01, 2020 interview with Oilprice.com, ReconAfrica Geologist Dan Jarvie states that “The Kavango Basin has all the characteristics necessary for conventional and unconventional petroleum”.
The website Oilprice.com is used by ReconAfrica to disseminate to investors, and also admits that it is a large holder of the company’s stock. The company and its representatives’ appeared in articles by Oilprice.com and made numerous indications that unconventional shale gas and oil was part of the exploration in Namibia for ReconAfrica.
The company was still marketing shale gas and fracking to investors in September 2020 through “interviews’’ with the publication where the board member Steinsberger was referred to as ‘the father of fracking.
The article’s central theme is that Kavango represents one of the last great fracking opportunities and that Nick Steinsberger was an expert in fracking and could recover these resources for commercial value. The article begins with the following:
‘In an exclusive interview with Oilprice.com, Steinsberger reveals:
• Why Namibia is our best chance of a shale boom repeat
• Why the country’s Kavango Basin is looking like it could be the next Texas Permian
• Why the man who invented ‘slick-water fracking’ is ready to drill the Kavango Basin’
Two days after the Steinsberger ‘interview’ was published, on September 18, 2020, the Namibian Ministry of Mines clarified that no license for fracking had ever been granted in Namibia, nor had any license for fracking ever been applied for.
The company then denied their intention to frack to the Namibian public, deleted all mentions of fracking from their website, and blamed the narrative on journalists.
In a response to geologist Matt Totten junior at a February public consultation, who asked how the company came to determine fracking was no longer part of their plans. Claire Preece, company spokesperson, said ‘’We launched a comprehensive regional tectonic and stratigraphic study that was completed in March 2020, and established that conventional oil and gas and fundamentals are the “basis of our operational program”.
Yet, long after June 2020 when the slides were removed from their investor presentation and the study was complete, the company continued to market the play as unconventional to investors through their dealer broker, Haywood Securities and their own paid online content.
Other site ‘authors’ at Oilprice.com such as ‘James Catley’ reference the Sproule report as late as December 21 which states that it was clearly an unconventional resource play.
On June 30, 2021 Viceroy Research released a recorded audio with the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) Petroleum Commissioner, Maggy Shino, where she emphatically states:
“We have no intention of licensing any company, whether Recon or any other company, to be able to do fracking in Namibia. That is not something that is to be done in Namibia.”“The Namibian government stands firm against any fracking activity and there is no way that we will license or ratify any company, whether Recon or any other company to come and do unconventional hydrocarbon exploration in Namibia.”
“You can repeat it again, we are saying it over and over again, you can transmit it and multiply it as many times as possible, this is the position of the Namibian government, there will be NO fracking on the Namibian soil.”
Yet, in ReconAfrica’s latest public report they left the door open for fracking again. It’s a certainty that “fracking” will remain an oil and gas development opportunity for ReconAfrica until either the Namibian government outlaws the practice nationally or the company fails to find commercial oil and gas in the Kavango.
3.3 The role of Oilprice.com
A Viceroy research report explained: ‘The rise in RECO’s share price has been accompanied by several shill pieces either commissioned by RECO or written by parties with a clear conflict of interest. These campaigns are clearly aimed at unsophisticated investors unfamiliar with oil and gas exploration.’
The company has paid third party website Oilprice.com to disseminate their marketing narrative.. Glowing articles about ReconAfrica’s “Kavango Basin” project published by Oilprice.com seem to be authored by James Stafford, under pseudonyms, making claims that the penny stock would grow exponentially in value to become worth billions of dollars. These articles target retail investors with tales of a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’.
Numerous promotional materials fail to disclose the specific compensation paid to various publishers. The use of technical analysis and research reports that appear independent, misleads the reader by not informing them that the publisher is not a disinterested party and has a financial interest in the materials disseminated, and importantly, how much the publishing party received as compensation for their services.
ReconAfrica used oilprice.com to do more than pump the stock, the website actively promoted false narratives to investors. On May 27, 2021, an Oilprice.com article quoted a report from Buyins.net and the analyst (a pseudonym) claimed to have ‘phoned Tom Ronk’ with regard to ReconAfrica. Ronk’s Buyins.net website, which purports to have detected a ‘’massive short position’’ in ReconAfrica, was described in 2007 complaint to the SEC as a ‘’scam website’’ and likened to ‘’astrology software’’.
Ronk, a former broker who says his website can identify stocks poised for big increases because of developments that are likely to trigger so-called “short squeezes’’ was charged by the SEC with disseminating false and misleading information. Multiple charges were levied in connection with unregistered offerings of securities in two companies accused of being ‘’pump and dump’’ schemes.
The SEC 2018 complaint stated that ‘’Unless Ronk is permanently restrained and enjoined, he will again engage in the acts, practices and courses of business set forth in this complaint and in acts, practices and courses of business of similar type and object.”
OIlprice.com assisted the ReconAfrica in changing their shale basin ;father of fracking’ narrative that they had done so much to promote. When pressure mounted on ReconAfrica, and The Ministry of Mines published their press release, the site seamlessly switched the story to conventional oil.
3.4 Haywood Securities
Haywood Securities are securities brokers based in Vancouver, British Columbia, are registered in 50 US states, and are members of FINRA. FINRA regulated broker dealers are required to conduct a reasonable investigation of both the dealer and the securities offered before recommending them to customers.
Broker Dealers are obligated to follow up and disclose missing information or ‘red flags’. There were several red flags that would have been raised for any dealer broker.
Haywood has previously been indicted for failing to detect pump and dump schemes and in a previous settlement admitted that ‘’They ought to have known that the trading on the OTCBB companies was sufficiently suspicious, possibly manipulative or possibly for an improper purpose”.
ReconAfrica’s offering used the Sproule Report which was conceptual in nature and based on possible analogues from gas fields in other nations. Even then, Sproule only gave the company a 3.3% chance of success.
Haywood Securities’ 2020 report ‘Chasing a giant oil resource in onshore Namibia‘ does not disclose the miniscule percentage but talks about massive potential and quotes 'source rock specialist’ Dan Jarvie as estimating 100 plus billion barrels of oil with no evidence to support such an estimate and without disclosing that Jarvie is a shareholder and insider of ReconAfrica. Haywood assigned the prospect of success at 27 percent without any justification.
That 2020 Haywood report shows David Elliot owned 7,338,916 shares with warrants of 1,189,975 representing 9 percent of - ReconAfrica and was described as an early shareholder.
David is also a founding member and Director of Haywood Securities. Haywood’s website says ‘’David is a long-standing member of Haywood's Board of Directors and Management’’.
Haywood ignored the materially false and missing statements and raised approximately $25 million dollars from selling ReconAfrica securities to investors, including Canadians.
The company continued to market ReconAfrica and produced nine research reports over a 12 month period, none of them disclosed Haywood-BC’s substantial conflicts of interest.
After Transaction and Concurrent Financing, Mr. Elliott’s holdings represent 11.6% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company, on a non-diluted basis, and 12.9% on a partially diluted basis, assuming the exercise of the Warrants forming part of the Units. Mr. Elliott beneficially owned or controlled 500,000 common shares of the Company (on a post-consolidation basis), representing 9.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding common shares, prior to the completion of the Transaction and Concurrent Financing.
In August 2019, the company filed Form 62-103F1 Required Disclosure under the Early Warning Requirements with regard to the shareholding of Mr.Elliot.
3.5 Craig Steinke’s self-enriching Botswana Farm Out option
Craig Steinke’s — founder and majority shareholder of ReconAfrica — private company R2 Energy renamed itself Renaissance Oil in 2014 and became a publicly traded company. Renaissance then purchased several fracking-based assets in Mexico which Steinke told investors was a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’. The Mexican government banned fracking in 2020 making Renaissance Oil’s frack assets worthless.
During all of Steinke’s other global frack ventures, he founded ReconAfrica in 2013, apparently with the goal of bringing fracking to Namibia. The initial groundwork of acquiring PEL no. 73 from the Namibian government was done between 2013 and 2015, but due to the collapse of oil prices in 2015, Steinke shelved his Namibia frack project until 2018 possibly because the price of oil began to rebound.
After the Mexican government banned fracking in 2020, Renaissance Oil (of which Craig Steinke is the CEO) purchased a 50% farm-in agreement with ReconAfrica (of which Craig Steinke is the founder and majority shareholder) within ReconAfrica’s Botswana PEL lease area — in Botswana but adjacent to the Kavango in northeast Namibia. In April 2021, near the peak of ReconAfrica’s stock price, ReconAfrica bought Renaissance Oil via a farm-out deal which enriched company founder Craig Steinke at the expense of stockholders, who were told the deal’s main asset now was the Botswana property, which Steinke had held in a shell company based in Washington state. Both companies were publicly traded at the time.
When ReconAfrica submitted its Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire Renaissance Oil, it did so for equity at a ratio of 1 Renaissance share for 0.046 ReconAfrica shares — transforming Steinke’s 30 million low-priced Renaissance Oil shares into 1.38 million high-priced ReconAfrica shares. This effectively increased Steinke’s worth by some 10.5 million Canadian dollars at the time of transaction without Renaissance Oil ever drilling an actual well.
3.6 Insiders have benefitted
A number of company insiders have been recorded as selling their stock into the market when share prices were inflated. For example, Dr. James Granath, head geologist, sold 40,000 common ReconAfrica shares — worth $286,793 Canadian dollars at the time of transaction. Dr. Granath made this transaction the day before he gave a presentation to the Africa E&G Conference promoting the drilling success and potential of ReconAfrica’s project in the Kavango Basin.
Other company insiders such Craig Steinke (Founder & Majority Shareholder), Scot Evans (CEO), Ian Tefler (Independent Director), Carlos Escribano (CFO) Anna Tudela (Corporate Secretary & Chief Compliance Officer), Nick Steinsberger (Senior Vice President of Drilling & Completions), Shiraz Dhanani (Independent Director) are all on public record as having each sold tens to hundreds of thousands of ReconAfrica shares totaling some 3.8+ million Canadian dollars. These are just the publicly reported transactions.
Needless to say, ReconAfrica insiders have already taken small fortunes off the table for themselves whether they find oil in the “Kavango Basin” or not, all based solely on investor’s money
4. Recommendation
On February 5, 2013, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced that the federal government is amending the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA) to “redouble its fight against bribery and corruption.” This announcement comes less than two weeks after Griffiths Energy International Inc. pled guilty and paid a C$10.4 million fine in respect of a C$2 million bribe in relation to oil and gas contracts in the Republic of Chad.’
Yet, the Griffiths lawyer, Jay Park, who led the team of lawyers that paid the bribe which had Canadians talking about getting tough on foreign corruption is the former Chairman of the Board and current board member of ReconAfrica. The same man who was not truthful to the Globe and Mail about hiring Namibian fixer Knowledge Katti.
The Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act in Canada makes it an offense to: “order to obtain or retain an advantage in the course of business, directly or indirectly gives, offers or agrees to give or offer a loan, reward, advantage or benefit of any kind to a foreign public official or to any person for the benefit of a foreign public official.”
ReconAfrica’s hiring of Alois Ngende, traditional authority leader, constitutes a violation of this act. His position as a traditional leader was crucial in facilitating the occupation of communal land. His ongoing employment by the company and payments to him are a reward for his facilitation within his normal job as a leader in Namibia.
The job offers to Max Muyemburoko and Thomas Muronga also constitute a bribe according to the above definition. The offer was to employ these conservancy leaders or assist them financially and otherwise -in return for not reporting company violations of the Environmental Management Act of 2007.
It is highly possible that an investigation into the dealings between James Jay Park and Knowledge Katti could possibly turn up share distribution and potentially illicit funds within Namibia to public officials through the banking group Standard Bank of Namibia.
APPENDIXES
Appendix 1 - Copy of Letter from Shakwa Nyambe to Ministry of Labour
Appendix 2 - Objection to ReconAfrica’s Land Rights Application
Objection to Reconfrica’s application of occupational land rights after notice appeared in New Era Newspaper on May 14. This is long after the company had cleared and fenced off communal land.
RE: Objection to RECON Energy Namibia ’s occupational land rights application on communal land.
We, the undersigned, are in objection to Reconnaissance Energy Namibia (PTY) LTD (a.k.a. RECON Energy Namibia/ReconAfrica) application for occupational land rights in a communal area in Mbambi and Kawe for oil and gas extraction. The land in question falls under the jurisdiction of the Shambyu Traditional Authority.
As stipulated by the Communal Land Reform Act, 5 of 2002, Part 3 of Occupational Land Rights (Power to grant occupational land rights):
Section 36A. (1) Subject to subsections (3) and (4) and sections 36B and 38, a board, upon application, may grant to a ministry, agency, office, church or any other institution providing public services an occupational land right in respect of a portion of communal land, but an occupational land right for agricultural purposes may be granted only in respect of land which is situated within a designated area referred to in subsection (3).
(2) The following occupational land rights for the provision of public services may be allocated in respect of communal land for -
(a) Government projects;
(b) projects of a State-owned enterprise as referred to in the State-owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006 (Act No. 2 of 2006). [Act 2 of 2006 was re-named the “Public Enterprises Governance Act” by the Public Enterprises Governance Amendment Act 8 of 2015. It has been replaced by the Public Enterprises Governance Act 1 of 2019.]
The applicant does not have the legal right to bring this application. It is clear from above that RECON Energy Namibia’s application suffers from defects which causes the application to be non-compliance with the requirements set out in the regulations. RECON is none of the entities mentioned above that have the legal right to apply for occupational land rights in a communal area. Neither does RECON offer a public service as prescribed in the provision. The law is clear in its intent. Communal land is not to be turned over to private companies for the sake of profit seeking.
Other regulations in the Communal Land Reform Act that make RECON Energy Namibia ’s application for occupational land right defect are as follows:
Application for occupational land rights
Section 36B (2) An occupational land right may not be granted in respect of a portion of land which another person holds customary land right, unless such person agrees to relinquish his or her right in respect of the land, subject to -
(a) the payment of compensation as agreed to by such person; and
(b) suitable arrangements for his or her resettlement on alternative land.
None of these conditions have been fulfilled. There was never a party willing to sell.
Therefore, no payment has been accepted or considered. No exchange of ownership has ever taken place. No arrangements for resettlement had been made. The commonage of the land is being disrupted by this private company. We risk despoiling the water and thereby our way of life, including agriculture and wildlife. The noise pollution from the drill site is relentless and tortures the air in an area so remote we do not have cellular or internet reception. The noise goes day and night disturbing one and all. The company erects fences without having the right to do so. The company disturbs our right to traverse our lands. Footpaths that have existed for decades have now been fenced off by the private foreign company.
The illegal cancellation of land rights through the occupation of RECON has no legal effect unless the cancellation is ratified by the relevant board. The cancellation of our land right was not carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Communal Land Reform Act. Community members had no opportunity to protect or defend our land rights or oppose RECON ’s acquisition of customary land. In any event, even if an allocation of a land right was made by the Shambyu Traditional Authority, that allocation had not been ratified by the board as stipulated in section 24 of the Act.
In terms of the Act, it is an offence for a person to take abode on communal land without first having been allocated a land right by the Communal Land Board. The decision must be reviewed and set aside, and RECON be issued with an eviction order to vacate the land and to remove any infrastructure therefrom.
The following regulations also apply to RECON Energy Namibia:
43. Unlawful occupation of communal land
(1)No person may occupy or use for any purpose any communal land other than under a right acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Act, including a right referred to in section 28(1) or 35(1).
(2)A Chief or a Traditional Authority or the board concerned may institute legal action for the eviction of any person who occupies any communal land in contravention of subsection (1).
Based on RECON Energy Namibia’s current occupational land rights application, we conclude that it is unlawfully occupying the communal land they have started drilling for oil and gas. RECON has clearly breached the conditions set above. The occupational land rights sought by the applicant is invalid insofar as the applicant didn’t follow the procedures required to occupy land in a communal area. It did not comply with the provisions of the Act which deal with the allocation of rights in respect of communal land.
The applicant has no right to occupy our land at Mbambi village without the ratification of such rights by the Communal Land Board. Any allocation of a customary land right made by a chief or traditional authority under section 22 has no legal effect unless the allocation is ratified by the relevant board in accordance with the provisions of this section.’ Section 29(4) provides that any person who occupies communal land without written authority by the chief or traditional authority and ratification by the board, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N$4 000 or imprisonment for a period nor exceeding one year.
The destruction of our home after RECON cleared our land for oil and gas extraction, the displacement of our family, and the fact that we are being forced to change the way of life by the unlawful occupation of our land by RECON, is an infringement of our fundamental human rights.
About 70% of the Namibian indigenous population derive a livelihood from communal areas in which rainfed cropping and extensive livestock farming are the main agricultural activities. Since the majority still depends on communal land for survival, it is urgent to fully protect their land rights in order for them to have access to and ownership of key resources for their survival. Commonage resources in rural areas must be protected for the benefit of the indigenous traditional communities who depend on these resources for survival. No commercial ventures must threaten the tenure security and customary land rights which guarantees a lifetime tenure security, and unreasonably interfere with or curtail the use of the commonage by indigenous communities. Awarding RECON Energy Namibia occupational land rights only means that the state isn’t interested in protecting indigenous inhabitant's land rights, which will result in the loss of resources which are important to the survival of many of the poorest people in Namibia.
Appendix 3 - Testimony of Phyllis Webster (shareholder)
ReconAfrica AGM on June 8th, 2021
The AGM was on the telephone and obviously had people from around the world because there was a number for Canadians and an overseas number. Those of us who attended the AGM were instructed to indicate that we would like to ask a question by pressing #1.
I did so when the first item of accepting the Board of Directors was announced because I wanted to ask why there were only three directors and to inquire how they had gone about trying to add to that number. Most companies have at least 9 to 13 directors. Almost immediately, the person who was the chair of the proceedings said, “There being no questions....” and continued on.
Thinking that perhaps I needed to be much quicker, I did the same for the third thing on the agenda.... and once again, we were informed that “There being no questions” probably less than 5 seconds later.
It was very obvious that no one was going to be able to ask a question. The whole meeting including a long talk about how well the company was doing took less than 25 minutes and all motions were seconded by an “appointed person”. Apparently, most shareholders had appointed someone to represent them so there was an immediate declaration that the motion had passed. None of the shareholders were able to ask for clarifications or to ask questions. I heard only the voices of those chosen to accept the motions.
It was a very orchestrated meeting and completely unprofessional. I have attended many AGMs in person and on Zoom during COVID which were properly run and discussion and questions were allowed. ReconAfrica’s meeting was simply a farce.
Phyllis Webster
Appendix 4 - Complaint to Namibia Media Ombudsman
Dear Mr Nakuta
It is our belief that democracy relies on the informed consent of the governed. If people are not able to access the correct information, then how are they able to participate in the decisions which affect them?
Journalism is an essential component of a functioning democracy. Namibia prides itself on being among the top nations, not only in Africa but the world, when it comes to freedom of the press. This is the home of the Windhoek Declaration and some of the continent’s best-known media houses. The public broadcaster Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) is essential in the daily lives of Namibians as we are learning during this work stoppage.
We believe that the public broadcaster has a duty to citizens to report honestly and fearlessly on national issues. We believe that NBC has failed in this regard when it comes to the Canadian oil and gas company, ReconAfrica.
NBC TV's recent reporting (29 March 2021) on ReconAfrica has not been the reporting of their journalists, it has rather been paid content from the Ministry of Mines and Energy. We admire and support the working people of NBC. There are many excellent reporters who benefit all of us through their reporting at NBC. We do not believe airing paid content without informing people is what journalists at NBC want. We believe that these decisions are imposed by management.
This complaint is not about workers but decision-makers who have carried paid advertisements and presented them as if they are ‘the news’. It is customary in journalism to be very clear to differentiate paid content from the news. A failure to do so harms many stakeholders. It harms NBC.
You cannot fool all of the people all of the time. There are simply people who know about the subject NBC is reporting on. For instance, we travelled to the site and interviewed affected individuals. We know that when NBC tells the nation that ReconAfrica held community meetings before drilling started that this is not true.
We know that the paid content was filled with distortions that opposing voices should have been given an opportunity to challenge. Instead, those inaccuracies were presented to the nation as fact. The nation was not told that they should treat this information with suspicion. All of this damages the credibility of NBC.
We have worked in and with the media for many years. Paid content sends a signal to the world that this company is not able to withstand the scrutiny that comes with journalism and has to resort to paying for one-sided propaganda. That is what paid content is. It is a company attempting to disguise its public relations as the news.
It is obvious why the company would do this. Having failed to consult communities, having failed to obtain the correct paperwork before drilling the company is now covering its tracks. They want to imbue their narrative with credibility.
It is far less clear why NBC would agree to this. Some people watching will know that the broadcaster is not being honest and will stop believing NBC. Distrust of the national broadcaster can have far-reaching implications.
The other affected party is the viewers. The public has every right to know what is journalism from NBC and what is, in fact, paid propaganda by the Ministry of Mines and Energy on behalf of a company that has violated Namibian law and is now despoiling national institutions in an effort to cover up the facts.
Viewers who are counting on NBC to give them a reasonably factual account end up thinking that content created by a law-breaking foreign company represent the news. The important information is not reaching Namibians. Just as the company has failed to consult communities, they are working hard to ensure the nation of Namibia does not get a clear view of their full intentions until it is too late.
We are hereby lodging a formal complaint against NBC for not distinguishing between paid content and the news. We feel that it is in the public interest to be informed who decided to withhold the disclaimer that should have accompanied these paid segments.
We feel that it is in the public's interest for NBC to publicly inform the nation that the content they viewed was not fact-based, and let us attempt to restore the damage done to the credibility of our national broadcaster.
We look forward to hearing from you with a positive response regarding the way forward with this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Parker and Rinaani Musutua
Content appearing on NBC on March 29 paid for by the Ministry of Mines. It was not disclosed as paid content: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=793867861512115&ref=watch_permalink
We suspect all of this below is also paid content:
ReconAfrica says oil and gas exploration activities in Kavango basin are above board – NBC March 30, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47nFOaDKUds
Early oil and gas discovery onshore Namibia rules out fracking – ReconAfrica- April 18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bm5NWCMlPo
Canada's ReconAfrica shares plans for oil exploration in the Kavango Feb 2 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aie4WyOwoIU
ReconAfrica's environmental impact assessment on oil exploration availed for public input - April 12 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux4JY_KpV6A
Appendix 5 - Save Okavango Unique Life complaint about drill mud pits
ECONAFRICA FAILS TO PLACE A LEAK PROOF LINING SYSTEM IN THE DRILLING FLUID CONTAINMENT POND. DRILL SITE 6-2 KAVANGO NAMIBIA
ReconAfrica is a Vancouver based Canadian petroleum exploration company that has acquired an exploration licence for the PEL 73 area located in Kavango East and West in Namibia. Drilling of the first of two permitted exploration boreholes began in December 2020. The borehole, referenced BH 6-2, is situated approximately 600m from the ephemeral river Omatako Omarumba, and all earthworks required to facilitate the drill rig have been completed. This includes a below ground level drill fluid containment pond.
The pond is approximately 45m in length, 30m in width and some 3m in depth and capable of holding almost 4.2million litres of liquid waste It is not known if the capacity of the pond has been designed to contain at least 110% of the largest expected wastewater volume at any given stage as is standard practise. During the drilling process, water-based drilling fluids are used to provide lubrication to the drill bit and to stabilise the borehole amongst other reasons. The drilling fluids are circulated down the
borehole and pumped back to the surface for storage in the containment pond.
As drilling progresses the borehole will initially intersect shallow groundwater aquifers that typically occur at a depth of 10 to 30m below ground level, with greater depth, at the base of the Kalahari beds and beyond into the underlying Karoo formations, beyond an anticipated depth of about 900m, highly saline groundwater will be intersected. This was revealed in the Environmental Impact Report prepared by Risk Based Solutions. As drill fluids circulate back to the surface they will bring rock cuttings and a quantity of groundwater which are stored in the containment pond built for the purpose. Due to the proposed ultimate borehole depths of 2500m, hypersaline fluid brine will be intersected in the deep Karoo sediments. The return drill fluids that will be placed in the containment pond will therefore contain drilling mud and rock cuttings from the Karoo sediments that are known to contain naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMS), and hypersaline brine – a cocktail that must be treated as hazardous liquid waste.
An onsite visual assessment of the containment pond located adjacent to BH 6-2 has revealed that the containment pond has not been lined with an appropriate waterproof barrier system. Although not explicitly stated as a requirement in the Environmental Management Programme prepared by Risk.
2. Based Solutions, the requirements for a liner are implied. The report makes it a requirement of ReconAfrica to “...Never allow any hazardous substance to soak into the soil”. Furthermore, the document also requires that upon completion of the drilling, ReconAfrica must “... allow the pollution control dam to evaporate completely, scrape all waste that has collected in the pond and dispose of these and the pond lining at a suitable site.”
No lining or efforts to render the containment pond impervious have been made despite the implied requirement that there should be at least a single pond liner. As reported by National Geographic on 29th January 2021 a spokesperson for ReconAfrica indicated in a written reply in October 2020 that potentially toxic drill cuttings from the oil test wells “will be managed in lined pits, cleaned, and disposed of offsite as per company and regulatory requirements.”
Given the vulnerability of groundwater at this site, it would be expected that a double lining system would be required, coupled with monitoring of the pond lining, the interstitial pond fluid (i.e. the fluid between the two liners), the returned wastewater quality for selected parameters such as electrical conductivity (EC) and radioactivity. Regular monitoring of the groundwater quality in the immediate vicinity of the site must also be implemented.
Management guidelines for saline fluids for hydraulic fracturing published by the British Oil and Gas Commission in April 2019 provide detailed requirements for the impoundment of saline flowback such as anticipated in Kavango East and West. Among the many design requirements specified in Canada some include:
• The primary synthetic liner must be a minimum of 60 mil (1.5 mm) thick, have hydraulic conductivity of 10-7cm/s or less and must have properties that are fit for the purpose intended and conditions and temperature extremes encountered.
• The secondary synthetic liner must be a minimum of 60 mil (1.5 mm) thick, have hydraulic conductivity of 10-7cm/s or less.
• The design must incorporate a leak detection system within the engineered seepage pathway leading to at least one leak detection well, vault, or port. This must allow for water sampling from the lowest point of the pond, positioned between the primary and secondary liners and be designed for accurate measurement of leakage rate.
The BC Oil and Gas Commission also provide guidelines for the management of containment ponds which include some of the following actions:
• The pond must be constructed and bermed in a manner that does not allow surface runoff from the site to enter the pond. A minimum of 1.0 m freeboard must be maintained within the
• containment pond at all times.
• The primary containment liner be regularly inspected for evidence of leaks and damage and that records of issues related to inspections and corrective actions be maintained.
• A groundwater monitoring program must be developed by a qualified professional to evaluate potential groundwater impacts that could be associated with the pond. Monitoring wells must be used to establish baseline conditions for groundwater levels and chemistry prior to use of the containment pond and the baseline monitoring.
3. Samples from the leak detection system and sub-drain must be collected and analysed on a weekly basis. Visual evidence obtained from the site indicates that ReconAfrica is not in compliance with their own declarations made in October 2020, and do not comply with the requirements of the EMPR. They are therefore in violation of the Environmental Compliance Certificate issue by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. In addition, ReconAfrica has chosen to ignore Canadian industry approved guidelines issued by the Oil and Gas Commission in British Columbia, the state in which the companies head offices are located.
Despite the fanfare and extensive publicity that ReconAfrica have generated over the drilling of water wells adjacent to each exploration borehole will be made available to the communities once the exploration holes are completed - there will be no benefit accrued if the groundwater is contaminated by drilling effluent. The conclusions and inferences that can be drawn from the cavalier attitude of ReconAfrica is that there is a lack of respect for the rural indigenous people of Kavango East and West whose livelihoods are totally dependent on access to clean groundwater.
Further information can be obtained from :
Jan Arkert
jan@africaexposed.co.xa
Appendix 6 - OilPrice.com online Investigation
Oil drillers media partner fabricate analysts – Rob Parker
An online investigation into the digital media footprint of Vancouver company ReconAfrica has revealed a pattern of sponsored content and analysis being presented as ‘’news’’. A key player in ReconAfrica’s marketing is the website oilprice.com, edited by James Stafford. OilPrice.com has authored at least 16 articles on ReconAfrica.
A recent National Geographic article reported on a complaint to the SEC from an anonymous whistle-blower which alleges over violations including misrepresenting the stock and false advertising.
It is apparent that Oilprice.com wants investors to be exposed to and the articles signal to investors about the ‘huge upside’. The upside is, according to Oilprice.com, huge because the regime is ‘investor friendly’ and the company will pay very low royalty rates. The articles stress how it is unusual for a junior company to secure the rights to an area so large. A basin that, in North America would have dozens if not hundreds of companies sharing the action. This differs from the narrative the company presents in Namibia. The articles appear to be news until you get to the bottom, and there is a disclaimer which clearly states that Oilprice.com are shareholders.
A recent article in OilPrice.com is by ‘Ann Gregory’: ‘
’It’s also shocking to find out that ReconAfrica, which has a market cap of only $350 million, owns the rights to the entire 8.5-million-acre basin’’. Texas’s Permian Basin has produced 28.9 billion barrels of oil and 75 trillion cubic feet of gas, with no sign of letting up. As of the time of writing, the Permian basin is producing over 4 million barrels per day’’.
By Ann Gregory - Jan 29, 2021
This is the only article that Ann Gregory has ever written for oilprice.com. Ann Gregory does not show up anywhere else on the internet that we could find, writing about the subject of oil exploration, energy or even stocks. Nor was such a profile found on LinkedIn or other places freelancers congregate.
The next most recent article was authored by ‘Polly Steele’ and hits the same themes. An extraordinary opportunity exists because Namibia gave ReconAfrica the whole basin on incredibly favourable terms. “Offshore, Exxon has scooped up 7 million net acres …Onshore, ReconAfrica is the superstar -and the only player with significant acreage in the field. That's because it bought up oil and gas rights to the entire Kavango sedimentary basin from Namibia all the way to Botswana before anyone had time to blink.”
By Polly Steele - Jan 21, 2021
Polly Steele, Like Ann Gregory, seems to have no past of being an oil analyst before writing this highly specific article. Indeed, Polly Steele does not seem to exist anywhere else outside of this single article for oilprice.com.
The article previous to ‘Polly Steele’ was released by ‘Cliff Shrew’, ‘Cliff’ wrote the article on 14 January 2021. Cliff hits the same notes as the others who came before and after him.
“In Namibia, an African venue that is being set up as the scene of the world’s next—and possibly last—major onshore oil discovery, the oil and gas rights to an entire 8.5-million-acre sedimentary basin are owned by a single, small company.”
“But onshore, it’s all about ReconAfrica, which strategically swooped in to acquire the rights to the entire Kavango sedimentary basin from Namibia all the way to Botswana.’’ The article appeared in oilprice.com as “Is this the hottest oil play of the decade”.
By Cliff Shrew - Jan 14, 2021 but showed up in other places as “Big Oil Missed This, Now It Could Be Worth Billions”.
This is the only article Cliff Shrew ever wrote for oilprice.com and other than this very detailed, yet very similar article to others on this site, it appears he has authored no other articles on oil or any other subject in his entire life. He does not appear to be a freelancer or employee; he is not on LinkedIn or Facebook. Indeed, it appears as if Cliff Shrew does not exist at all despite his article being shared across numerous websites such Bloomberg, financialnnewsmedia.com streetinsider.com and others.
The next article is by Timothy Mole. Timothy Mole authored this single article for oilprice.com and seems not to have ever written professionally about the subject before or after. Timothy makes the same points, in remarkably similar language as the other analysts.
“Reconnaissance Energy Africa is a small $300+ million company that has secured petroleum licenses for an entire sedimentary basin in Namibia and Botswana...two extremely resource-friendly countries with very low royalties fees.”
‘’Namibia is one of the most exciting up-and-coming African oil venues and that’s precisely why companies like Shell and Exxon have been scooping up assets in the region’’. Timothy Mole wrote on Jan 13, 2021.
The article before that is by Jeff Black only a few days before. Jeff Black has written no other articles on Oilprice.com and seems not to have written about the subject ever before offering this analysis of ReconAfrica.
None of the authors of the ReconAfrica articles appear on the linkedin profile of Oilprice.com where they list their employees.
‘Jeff Black’ also drives home the point about how ReconAfrica have acquired an area usually worked on by numerous producers, not sold to a single junior.
‘’And at 8.75 million acres, that’s nearly the size of the massive Midland Basin in the Permian, which is owned by countless different producers today”.
‘’They scooped up the entire Kavango Basin, giving them exclusive petroleum licenses to a property that’s millions of acres in size”. Jeff Black - Jan 10, 2021.
Article frequency could be interpreted as having an intent to pump the stock rather than inform. Articles came rapidly in January on the 5th,8th, 11th, 13th, 14th and 21st, all using similar talking points and graphics.
Five days prior to Jeff Black’s article we get the most recent article from the editor of the site, James Stafford.
At this point similarities in language are becoming apparent. Readers of the articles see the same language and talking points repeated. The phrase ‘scooped up’ appears throughout the articles. Articles in this vein appeared throughout 2020 on oilprice.com by authors who have no other appearance on the site and use similar language.
‘’Onshore, Reconnaissance Energy Africa has scooped up the entire 6.3-million-acre Kavango Basin’’, Sam Kennedy 24 Aug 2020
A letter from James Stafford to investors also uses that exact phrase:
“I have already scooped up a large position in ReconAfrica” - James Stafford. investor letter A number of the ‘authors’ use the exact same comparison regarding the size of the area ReconAfrica have rights to:
‘’Their land position is now almost the size of Switzerland’’. - Peter Catley December 21
“That’s a basin over 8.5 million acres, almost the size of Switzerland.”- Cliff Shrew 14 January
‘’Earlier this month, Jarvie came out with his own estimates showing the potential for this basin not only almost the size of Switzerland but to be aligned with the Permian in Texas.” Freddie Lambert - Jan 11, 2021
“The newly discovered Kavango Basin, almost the size of Switzerland” - Steve Drew - Dec 16, 2020
An article by James Stafford on January 05 makes the same points as the others, references to the same analogues and references to the one-sided and unusual deal.
(“ReconAfrica”) is a small company that has secured the oil and gas rights to an entire sedimentary basin in Namibia and Botswana - both very friendly to oil exploration, with very low royalty fees (5%) and prospects for discovering an estimated 120 billion barrels of oil (yes, 120 billion).
By James Stafford - Jan 05, 2021,
A November article by Stafford echoes very closely and in similar language all the other alleged analysts on his site, using the same graphics and references, drives home the point again about Namibia’s small royalty fee on such a huge property.
“Reconnaissance Energy Africa is a small company that has secured the oil and gas rights to an entire sedimentary basin in Namibia and Botswana - both very friendly to oil exploration, with very low royalty fees (5%)
By James Stafford” - Nov 18, 2020,
‘Steve Drew’ is slightly more accomplished than the other two authors, Steve Drew apparently authored two articles in 2020. They have the Titles: Two Ways To Win Big On The Oil Price Rebound Sep 23, 2020 and 2 Ways To Win Big On The Oil Price Rebound By Steve Drew - Dec 16.
“Fortunes aren’t only minted through secure investments over the long term. They’re also minted by riskier opportunities that carry huge rewards”, read the lede to his December piece
While back in November his other article that appeared for the site began ‘’Millionaires aren’t only minted through secure investments over the long term. They’re also minted by riskier opportunities that carry huge rewards’’.
Then the articles carry on to make all the familiar talking points and graphics used by almost all of the ‘authors’ of ReconAfrica articles on Stafford’s site.
According to its LinkedIn page oilprice.com is the “most popular energy news site in the world”. Its articles are shared all over the web by other sites that do not seem to do any diligence to the point that they cannot bother to confirm, if the analysts even exist.
"This communication is for entertainment purposes only"; "This communication should be viewed as a commercial advertisement" "The owner of [Oilprice] owns shares of this featured company ... [and] will be buying and selling shares of this issuer for its own profit.’’
Similar disclaimers were to be found in articles by other analysts on the site.
‘’Could This Be One Of The Most Exciting Gold Discoveries Of 2021?’’ appeared on Baystreet.com appeared on the site as ‘’staff reporter’’ but was attributed on Oilprice.com to Kalani Akana, an author who has published no other articles that we could find, ever.
It contains familiar language:
See, it looks like another savvy small-cap was already on the prowl nearby when Amex made its initial announcement…
In fact, it scooped up an older mine that many of its peers had already written off…’’
Appendix 7 - Thomas Ronk research – Rob Parker
ReconAfrica is a Canadian company exploring for oil and gas in the Kavango-East region of Namibia. A National Geographic article reporting a whistleblower report to the Securities and Exchange Commission sent the oil driller into a flurry of activity. An editor from National Geographic tweeted that the company filed over twenty reports with the SEC in the 24 hours following the story being published.
The company put out a press release associating National Geographic reporting with misinformation from ‘short sellers’. The response stated ‘a storied publication like National Geographic... would facilitate activist short sellers attempting to attack ReconAfrica's stock price.’ The response went on to associate the piece and short selling; ‘’This all occurred immediately after filed short positions in ReconAfrica's stock increased significantly, more than tripling in volume. National Geographic has enabled these short sellers to potentially line their pockets’’
These claims were amplified by articles from oilprice.com. ‘’Is There A Huge Undisclosed Short In Oil Explorer Reconnaissance Energy Africa?’’ by ‘Charlie Danes’ appeared on the website oilprice.com on May 27. From there the story was shared all over the internet and became a dominant narrative for online investors.
Another article by ‘Charlie Danes’ preceded this on May 12 with a similar title ‘Is There A Huge Naked Short on Helium Explorer Avanti Energy?’ The ‘author’ of the oilprice.com ‘Charlie Danes’ does not appear to exist outside of these two articles, yet claims: ‘’We called Tom Ronk of Buyins.net after the report came out to dig deeper into the numbers. He told us this could be one of the larger short positions (as a % of total volume) he has come across in his experience recently.’’ Both articles by ‘Charlie Danes’ that claim companies are under attack by short sellers name a sole source of information, namely a buyins.net report. The website buyins.net is barely functional with few links performing. An article in Energy Voice states that ‘’ReconAfrica pays Buyins.net for data and advertising’’.
Founder Thomas Ronk’s buyins.net website which purports to have detected a ‘’massive short position’’ in ReconAfrica was described in 2007 complaint to the SEC as a ‘’scam website’’ and likened to ‘’astrology software’’.
Ronk, a former broker who says his website can identify stocks poised for big increases because of developments that are likely to trigger so-called “short squeezes’’ was charged by the SEC with disseminating false and misleading information. Multiple charges were levied in connection with unregistered offerings of securities in two microcap companies accused of being ‘’pump and dump’’ schemes, Casablanca Mining Ltd. and Gepco Ltd. According to the SEC's complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Ronk touted the issuers' illusory business prospects and made revenue projections without any basis in fact.
The SEC 2018 compliant stated that ‘’Unless Ronk is permanently restrained and enjoined, he will again engage in the acts, practices and courses of business set forth in this Complaint and in acts, practices and courses of business of similar type and object.’’
Oil drillers .
ROB PARKER
An online investigation into the digital media footprint of Vancouver company ReconAfrica has revealed a pattern of sponsored content and analysis being presented as ‘’news’’. A key player in ReconAfrica’s marketing is the website oilprice.com, edited by James Stafford. OilPrice.com has authored at least 16 articles on ReconAfrica.
A recent National Geographic article reported on a complaint to the SEC from an anonymous whistle-blower which alleges over violations including misrepresenting the stock and false advertising.
It is apparent that OILprice.com wants investors to be exposed to and the articles signal to investors about the ‘huge upside’. The upside is, according to oilprice, huge because the regime is ‘investor friendly’ and the company will pay very low royalty rates. The articles stress how it is unusual for a junior company to secure the rights to an area so large. A basin that, in North America would have dozens if not hundreds of companies sharing the action. This differs from the narrative the company presents in Namibia. The articles appear to be news until you get to the bottom, and there is a disclaimer which clearly states that oilprice.com owners hold shares in the company.
A recent article in OilPrice.com is by ‘Ann Gregory’: ‘
’It’s also shocking to find out that ReconAfrica, which has a market cap of only $350 million, owns the rights to the entire 8.5-million-acre basin’’. Texas’s Permian Basin has produced 28.9 billion barrels of oil and 75 trillion cubic feet of gas, with no sign of letting up. As of the time of writing, the Permian basin is producing over 4 million barrels per day’’.
By Ann Gregory - Jan 29, 2021
This is the only article that Ann Gregory has ever written for oilprice.com. Ann Gregory does not show up anywhere else on the internet that we could find, writing about the subject of oil exploration, energy or even stocks. Nor was such a profile found on LinkedIn or other places freelancers congregate.
The next most recent article was authored by ‘Polly Steele’ and hits the same themes. An extraordinary opportunity exists because Namibia gave ReconAfrica the whole basin on incredibly favourable terms. “Offshore, Exxon has scooped up 7 million net acres …Onshore, ReconAfrica is the superstar -and the only player with significant acreage in the field. That's because it bought up oil and gas rights to the entire Kavango sedimentary basin from Namibia all the way to Botswana before anyone had time to blink.”
By Polly Steele - Jan 21, 2021
Polly Steele, Like Ann Gregory, seems to have no past of being an oil analyst before writing this highly specific article. Indeed, Polly Steele does not seem to exist anywhere else outside of this single article for oilprice.com.
The article previous to ‘Polly Steele’ was released by ‘Cliff Shrew’, ‘Cliff’ wrote the article on 14 January 2021. Cliff hits the same notes as the others who came before and after him.
“In Namibia, an African venue that is being set up as the scene of the world’s next—and possibly last—major onshore oil discovery, the oil and gas rights to an entire 8.5-million-acre sedimentary basin are owned by a single, small company.”
“But onshore, it’s all about ReconAfrica, which strategically swooped in to acquire the rights to the entire Kavango sedimentary basin from Namibia all the way to Botswana.’’ The article appeared in oilprice.com as “Is this the hottest oil play of the decade” By Cliff Shrew - Jan 14, 2021 but showed up in other places as “Big Oil Missed This, Now It Could Be Worth Billions”.
This is the only article Cliff Shrew ever wrote for oilprice.com and other than this very detailed, yet very similar article to others on this site, it appears he has authored no other articles on oil or any other subject in his entire life. He does not appear to be a freelancer or employee; he is not on LinkedIn or Facebook. Indeed, it appears as if Cliff Shrew does not exist at all despite his article being shared across numerous websites such Bloomberg, financialnnewsmedia.com streetinsider.com and others.
The next article is by Timothy Mole. Timothy Mole authored this single article for oilprice.com and seems not to have ever written professionally about the subject before or after. Timothy makes the same points, in remarkably similar language as the other analysts.
“Reconnaissance Energy Africa is a small $300+ million company that has secured petroleum licenses for an entire sedimentary basin in Namibia and Botswana...two extremely resource-friendly countries with very low royalties fees.”
‘’Namibia is one of the most exciting up-and-coming African oil venues and that’s precisely why companies like Shell and Exxon have been scooping up assets in the region’’. Timothy Mole wrote on Jan 13, 2021.
The article before that is by Jeff Black only a few days before. Jeff Black has written no other articles on oilprice.com and seems not to have written about the subject ever before offering this analysis of ReconAfrica.
None of the authors of the ReconAfrica articles appear on the linkedin profile of Oilprice.com where they list their employees.
‘Jeff Black’ also drives home the point about how ReconAfrica have acquired an area usually worked on by numerous producers, not sold to a single junior.
‘’And at 8.75 million acres, that’s nearly the size of the massive Midland Basin in the Permian, which is owned by countless different producers today”.
‘’They scooped up the entire Kavango Basin, giving them exclusive petroleum licenses to a property that’s millions of acres in size”. Jeff Black - Jan 10, 2021.
Article frequency could be interpreted as having an intent to pump the stock rather than inform. Articles came rapidly in January on the 5th,8th, 11th, 13th, 14th and 21st, all using similar talking points and graphics.
Five days prior to Jeff Black’s article we get the most recent article from the editor of the site, James Stafford.
At this point similarities in language are becoming apparent. Readers of the articles see the same language and talking points repeated. The phrase ‘scooped up’ appears throughout the articles. Articles in this vein appeared throughout 2020 on oilprice.com by authors who have no other appearance on the site and use similar language.
‘’Onshore, Reconnaissance Energy Africa has scooped up the entire 6.3-million-acre Kavango Basin’’, Sam Kennedy 24 Aug 2020
A letter from James Stafford to investors also uses that exact phrase.
“I have already scooped up a large position in ReconAfrica” - James Stafford. investor letter
A number of the ‘authors’ use the exact same comparison regarding the size of the area ReconAfrica have rights to:
‘’Their land position is now almost the size of Switzerland’’. -Peter Catley December 21
“That’s a basin over 8.5 million acres, almost the size of Switzerland.”- Cliff Shrew 14 January
‘’Earlier this month, Jarvie came out with his own estimates showing the potential for this basin not only almost the size of Switzerland but to be aligned with the Permian in Texas.” Freddie Lambert - Jan 11, 2021
“The newly discovered Kavango Basin, almost the size of Switzerland” - Steve Drew - Dec 16, 2020
An article by James Stafford on January 05 makes the same points as the others, references to the same analogues and references to the one-sided and unusual deal.
(“ReconAfrica”) is a small company that has secured the oil and gas rights to an entire sedimentary basin in Namibia and Botswana - both very friendly to oil exploration, with very low royalty fees (5%) and prospects for discovering an estimated 120 billion barrels of oil (yes, 120 billion).
By James Stafford - Jan 05, 2021,
A November article by Stafford echoes very closely and in similar language all the other alleged analysts on his site, using the same graphics and references, drives home the point again about Namibia’s small royalty fee on such a huge property.
“Reconnaissance Energy Africa is a small company that has secured the oil and gas rights to an entire sedimentary basin in Namibia and Botswana - both very friendly to oil exploration, with very low royalty fees (5%)
By James Stafford” - Nov 18, 2020,
‘Steve Drew’ is slightly more accomplished than the other two authors, Steve Drew apparently authored two articles in 2020. They have the Titles: Two Ways To Win Big On The Oil Price Rebound Sep 23, 2020 and
2 Ways To Win Big On The Oil Price Rebound By Steve Drew - Dec 16.
“Fortunes aren’t only minted through secure investments over the long term. They’re also minted by riskier opportunities that carry huge rewards”, read the lede to his December piece
While back in November his other article that appeared for the site began ‘’Millionaires aren’t only minted through secure investments over the long term. They’re also minted by riskier opportunities that carry huge rewards’’.
Then the articles carry on to make all the familiar talking points and graphics used by almost all of the ‘authors’ of ReconAfrica articles on Stafford’s site.
According to its LinkedIn page oilprice.com is the “most popular energy news site in the world”. Its articles are shared all over the web by other sites that do not seem to do any diligence to the point that they cannot bother to confirm, if the analysts even exist.
"This communication is for entertainment purposes only"; "This communication should be viewed as a commercial advertisement" "The owner of [Oilprice] owns shares of this featured company ... [and] will be buying and selling shares of this issuer for its own profit.’’
Similar disclaimers were to be found in articles by other analysts on the site.
‘’Could This Be One Of The Most Exciting Gold Discoveries Of 2021?’’ appeared on Baystreet.com appeared on the site as ‘’staff reporter’’ but was attributed on Oilprice.com to Kalani Akana, an author who has published no other articles that we could find, ever.
It contains familiar language:
See, it looks like another savvy small-cap was already on the prowl nearby when Amex made its initial announcement…
In fact, it scooped up an older mine that many of its peers had already written off…’’