Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Risks Associated with Verde Resources, Inc.
We are dependent on certain key personnel and loss of these key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Messrs. Balakrishnan Muthu, our current principal executive officer and financial officer, has extensive contacts and experience in the gold exploration and natural resource industry in Malaysia, and we are dependent upon his abilities and services to develop and market our business. He is responsible for overseeing all of our day-to-day business operations of our operating company, CSB, and its subsidiaries and VIEs, including the mining operations and negotiations for the sales of any gold concentrates extracted. We may not be able to retain the executive officers/managers for any given period of time. The loss of their services could have a material adverse effect upon our business operations, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we must attract, recruit and retain a sizeable workforce of technically competent employees in Malaysia to run our mining operations. Our ability to effectively implement our proposed business strategies and expand our operations will depend upon the successful recruitment and retention of additional highly skilled and experienced management and other key personnel in Malaysia. If we cannot maintain highly experienced and skilled management teams, our business could fail and you could lose any investment you make in our shares.
Since our business consists of managing gold mining projects, the drop in the price of gold would negatively impact our asset values, cash flows, potential revenues and profits.
We plan to pursue opportunities in properties with gold mineralized material or reserves with exploration potential. Our potential future revenues are expected to be derived from the production and sale of gold from these properties, or from the sale of some of these properties. The value of any gold reserves or other mineralized materials, and the value of any potential mineral production will vary in direct proportion to changes in those mineral prices. The price of gold has fluctuated widely as a result of numerous factors beyond our control. The effect of these factors on the price of gold and other minerals, and therefore the economic viability of any of our projects, cannot accurately be predicted. Any drop in the price of gold and other minerals we may produce would negatively affect our asset values, cash flows and potential revenues and profits.
We may not be able to find commercially viable reserves.
Mineral exploration and development involve a high degree of risk and few properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines. The reserve estimates, if any, are based only on prefeasibility studies that are inherited with the following drawbacks:
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Limited amount of drilling completed to date;
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The process testing is limited to small pilot plants and bench scale testing;
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Difficulty in obtaining expected metallurgical recoveries when scaling up to production scale from pilot plant scale;
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Preliminary nature of the mine plans and processing concepts;
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Preliminary nature of operating and capital cost estimates
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Metallurgical flow sheets and recoveries still in development;
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Limited history of prefeasibility studies that might be underestimating capital and operating costs.
We cannot assure that any future mineral exploration and development activities will result in any discoveries of proven or probable reserves as defined by the SEC. Further, we cannot provide any assurance that, even if we discover commercial quantities of mineralization, a mineral property will be brought into commercial production. Development of our mineral property will follow only upon obtaining sufficient funding and satisfactory exploration results.
We may not be able to successfully compete with other mineral exploration and mining companies.
We compete with other mineral exploration and mining companies or individuals, including large, well established mining companies with substantial capabilities and financial resources in Malaysia, to research and acquire rights to mineral properties containing gold and other minerals. There is a limited supply of desirable mineral lands available for claim staking, lease or other acquisition in Malaysia. We do not know if we will be able to successfully acquire any prospective mineral properties against competitors with substantially greater financial resources than we have. If we cannot successfully acquire other mining properties to manage and explore and generally expand our business operations, our results of operations, financial condition and future revenues could be reduced and you could suffer a loss of any investment made in our shares.
We have a history of losses and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, particularly if we were to lose large contracts, and there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Unless we increase our mining production or secure new sources, we may not be able to meet expenses and our business may fail
Our production of gold has steadily decreased over the past two years. This is a result of lower production of gold from our mine. Our revenues have been derived from gold production from the Merapoh Gold Mine, but currently there is no production from that mine and we are not certain there will be production in the future. We are also considering acquiring other mining properties to increase our overall production and income. However, if we are not successful in increasing production, either through new methods at our exiting mine, or by securing rights at other gold properties, we may not have sufficient revenues to maintain our business, and our business may fail.
Impact of recent COVID-19 outbreak has increased uncertainty of our business operation
The recent COVID-19 has affected our operation in Malaysia as the government announced stringent restrictions to lock down the country to stop further outbreak of the COVID-19 transmission, Many governmental departments that the company have dealing with are closed and not accepting new application. That has caused delay for the company in obtaining new mining lease. The Malaysia Government Movement Control Order has also disrupted our planning and allocation of our workforce.
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We are subject to the many risks of doing business internationally, including but not limited to the difficulty of enforcing liabilities in foreign jurisdictions.
We are a Nevada corporation and, as such, are subject to the jurisdiction of the State of Nevada and the United States courts for purposes of any lawsuit, action or proceeding by investors. An investor would have the ability to effect service of process in any action against the Company within the United States. In addition, we are registered as a foreign corporation doing business in Malaysia, and as such, are subject to the local laws of Malaysia governing an investors’ ability to bring actions in foreign courts and enforce liabilities against a foreign private issuer, or any person, based on U.S. federal securities laws.
Investors may experience difficulties in effecting service of legal process, enforcing foreign judgments or bringing original actions in Malaysia based upon U.S. laws, including the federal securities laws or other foreign laws against us or our management.
All of our current operations are conducted in Malaysia, and all of our directors and officers are nationals and residents of Malaysia and other foreign countries. All or substantially all of the assets of these persons are located outside the United States and in other foreign countries. As a result, it may not be possible to effect service of process within the United States or elsewhere outside Malaysia upon these persons. In addition, uncertainty exists as to whether the courts of Malaysia would recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or such officers and/or directors predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state thereof, or be competent to hear original actions brought in Malaysia against us or such persons predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state thereof.
Failure to comply with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.
We are subject to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which generally prohibits U.S. companies from engaging in bribery or other prohibited payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. In addition, we are required to maintain records that accurately and fairly represent our transactions and have an adequate system of internal accounting controls. Foreign companies, including some that may compete with us, are not subject to these prohibitions, and therefore may have a competitive advantage over us. Our executive officers and employees have not been subject to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prior to 2010. If our employees or other agents are found to have engaged in such practices, we could suffer severe penalties and other consequences that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Mining risks and insurance could negatively effect on our profitability.
The business of mining for gold is generally subject to a number of risks and hazards including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, labor disputes, unusual or unexpected geological conditions, pressures, cave-ins, changes in the regulatory environment, and natural phenomena such as inclement weather conditions, floods, blizzards and earthquakes. At the present time, we have in effect statutory required social insurance for all employees and mine workers. There is currently no other insurance in place for the mining site and management, and, even if we were to purchase additional insurance, we cannot be sure that such insurance would be available to us, or that we could afford the premiums. Insurance coverage may not continue to be available or may not be adequate to cover any resulting liability. In addition, insurance against risks such as environmental pollution or other hazards as a result of exploration and production is not generally available to companies in the mining industry on acceptable terms. We might also become subject to liability for pollution or other hazards which we may not be insured against, or which we may elect not to insure against, because of premium costs or other reasons. Any losses from any of these events may cause us to incur significant costs that could have a material adverse effect upon our financial performance and results of operations, which could negatively impact any investment you make in our shares.
If we fail to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, the price of our common stock may be adversely affected.
Malaysian companies may not always adopt a Western style of management and financial reporting concepts and practices, which includes strong corporate governance, internal controls and computer, financial and other control systems. In addition, we may have difficulty in hiring and retaining a sufficient number of qualified employees to work in Malaysia. As a result of these factors, we may experience difficulty in establishing management, legal and financial controls, collecting financial data and preparing financial statements, books of account and corporate records and instituting business practices that meet Western standards for foreign subsidiaries. As a result, we may experience difficulties in implementing and maintaining adequate internal controls as required under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This could result in significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in our internal controls, which could impact the reliability of our financial statements and prevent us from complying with SEC rules and regulations and the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Any actual or perceived weaknesses and conditions that need to be addressed in our internal control over financial reporting, disclosure of management’s assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting or disclosure of our public accounting firm’s attestation to or report on management’s assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting may have an adverse impact on the price of our common stock.
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Our independent registered auditors have expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
Our audited financial statements included in this report include an explanatory paragraph that indicates that they were prepared assuming that we would continue as a going concern. We have suffered recurring net losses, and records an accumulated deficits as of June 30, 2021. These conditions raise substantial doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern. Our plan for continuing as a going concern included improving our profitability, and obtaining additional debt financing, loans from existing directors and shareholders and private placements of capital stock for additional funding to meet our operating needs. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in our plans described above or in attracting equity or alternative financing on acceptable terms, or if at all. These consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to the recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.
Changes in interest rates could negatively impact our results of operations, stockholders’ equity (deficit) and fair value of net assets.
Our investment activities and credit guarantee activities expose us to interest rate and other market risks. Changes in interest rates, up or down, could adversely affect our net interest yield. Although the yield we earn on our assets and our funding costs tend to move in the same direction in response to changes in interest rates, either can rise or fall faster than the other, causing our net interest yield to expand or compress. For example, due to the timing of maturities or rate reset dates on variable-rate instruments, when interest rates rise, our funding costs may rise faster than the yield we earn on our assets. This rate change could cause our net interest yield to compress until the effect of the increase is fully reflected in asset yields. Changes in the slope of the yield curve could also reduce our net interest yield.
Interest rates can fluctuate for a number of reasons, including changes in the fiscal and monetary policies of the federal government and its agencies, such as the Federal Reserve. Federal Reserve policies directly and indirectly influence the yield on our interest-earning assets and the cost of our interest-bearing liabilities. The availability of derivative financial instruments (such as options and interest rate and foreign currency swaps) from acceptable counterparties of the types and in the quantities needed could also affect our ability to effectively manage the risks related to our investment funding. Our strategies and efforts to manage our exposures to these risks may not be effective in the future, which could negatively impact our results of operations and the price of our common stock.
We may be exposed to risks relating to management’s conclusion that our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting are ineffective.
We do not have an independent audit committee and our Board of Directors may be unable to fulfill the functions of such a committee, which may compromise the management of our business. Our Board of Directors functions as our audit committee and is comprised of two directors, none of whom are considered to be “independent” in accordance with the requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. An independent audit committee plays a crucial role in the corporate governance process, assessment of the Company’s processes relating to its risks and control environment, oversight of financial reporting, and evaluation of internal and independent audit processes. The lack of an independent audit committee may prevent the Board of Directors from being independent in its judgments and decisions and its ability to pursue the committee’s responsibilities, which could compromise the management of our business.
If we fail to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, the price of our common stock may be adversely affected.
Malaysian companies may not always adopt a Western style of management and financial reporting concepts and practices, which includes strong corporate governance, internal controls and computer, financial and other control systems. In addition, we may have difficulty in hiring and retaining a sufficient number of qualified employees to work in Malaysia. As a result of these factors, we may experience difficulty in establishing management, legal and financial controls, collecting financial data and preparing financial statements, books of account and corporate records and instituting business practices that meet Western standards for foreign subsidiaries. As a result, we may experience difficulties in implementing and maintaining adequate internal controls as required under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This could result in significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in our internal controls, which could impact the reliability of our financial statements and prevent us from complying with SEC rules and regulations and the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Any actual or perceived weaknesses and conditions that need to be addressed in our internal control over financial reporting, disclosure of management’s assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting or disclosure of our public accounting firm’s attestation to or report on management’s assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting may have an adverse impact on the price of our common stock.
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The audit report included in our Annual Report is prepared by an auditor who is not inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and as such, our investors are deprived of the benefits of such inspection. The Company could be delisted if it is unable to timely meet the PCAOB inspection requirements established by the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.
As a public company with securities quoted on the OTQB, we will be required to have our financial statements audited by an independent registered public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB. A requirement of being registered with the PCAOB is that if requested by the SEC or PCAOB, such accounting firm is required to make its audits and related audit work papers be subject to regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Since our auditor is located in Hong Kong and China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has been unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities due to various state secrecy laws and the revised Securities Law, the PCAOB currently does not have free access to inspect the work of our auditor. This lack of the PCAOB inspections in China prevents the PCAOB from fully evaluating audits and quality control procedures of our auditor. As a result, we and investors in our ordinary shares are deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections, which could cause investors in our stock to lose confidence in our audit procedures and the quality of our financial statements.
On December 18, 2020, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or HFCAA, was enacted. In essence, the act requires the SEC to prohibit securities of any foreign companies from being listed on U.S. securities exchanges or traded “over-the-counter” if a company retains a foreign accounting firm that cannot be inspected by the PCAOB for three consecutive years, beginning in 2021. Our independent registered public accounting firm is located in and organized under the laws of Hong Kong and China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, and therefore our auditors are not currently inspected by the PCAOB.
On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final amendments, which will become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCAA. The interim final amendments will apply to registrants that the SEC identifies as having filed an annual report with an audit report issued by a registered public accounting firm that is located in a foreign jurisdiction and that the PCAOB has determined it is unable to inspect or investigate completely because of a position taken by an authority in that jurisdiction. Before any registrant will be required to comply with the interim final amendments, the SEC must implement a process for identifying such registrants. As of the date of this Amendment, the SEC is seeking public comment on this identification process. Consistent with the HFCAA, the amendments will require any identified registrant to submit documentation to the SEC establishing that the registrant is not owned or controlled by a government entity in that jurisdiction, and will also require, among other things, disclosure in the registrant’s annual report regarding the audit arrangements of, and government influence on, such registrant.
On June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed a bill which, if passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed into law, would reduce the number of consecutive non-inspection years required for triggering the prohibitions under the HFCAA from three years to two.
The SEC may propose additional rules or guidance that could impact us if our auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspection. For example, on August 6, 2020, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, issued the Report on Protecting United States Investors from Significant Risks from Chinese Companies to the then President of the United States. This report recommended that the SEC implement five recommendations to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfil its statutory mandate. Some of the concepts of these recommendations were implemented with the enactment of the HFCAA. However, some of the recommendations were more stringent than the HFCAA. For example, if a company was not subject to PCAOB inspection, the report recommended that the transition period before a company would be delisted would end on January 1, 2022.
It is unclear when the SEC will complete its rulemaking, when such rules will become effective and what, if any, of the PWG recommendations will be adopted. The enactment of the HFCAA and the implications of any additional rulemaking efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information in China could cause investor uncertainty for affected SEC registrants, including us, and the market price of our stock could be materially adversely affected. Additionally, whether the PCAOB will be able to conduct inspections of our auditors in the next three years, or at all, is subject to substantial uncertainty and depends on a number of factors out of our control. If we are unable to meet the PCAOB inspection requirement in time, our stock will not be permitted for trading “over-the counter” either. Such a delisting would substantially impair your ability to sell or purchase our stock when you wish to do so, and the risk and uncertainty associated with delisting would have a negative impact on the price of our stock. Also, such a delisting would significantly affect our ability to raise capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all, which would have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.
We may be exposed to risks relating to management’s conclusion that our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting are ineffective.
We do not have an independent audit committee and our Board of Directors may be unable to fulfill the functions of such a committee, which may compromise the management of our business. Our Board of Directors functions as our audit committee and is comprised of two directors, none of whom are considered to be “independent” in accordance with the requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. An independent audit committee plays a crucial role in the corporate governance process, assessment of the Company’s processes relating to its risks and control environment, oversight of financial reporting, and evaluation of internal and independent audit processes. The lack of an independent audit committee may prevent the Board of Directors from being independent in its judgments and decisions and its ability to pursue the committee’s responsibilities, which could compromise the management of our business.
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Risks Associated with Our Common Stock
Our shares are defined as “penny stock.” The rules imposed on the sale of the shares may affect your ability to resell any shares you may purchase, if at all.
Our shares are defined as a “penny stock” under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, and rules of the Commission. The Exchange Act and such penny stock rules generally impose additional sales practice and disclosure requirements on broker-dealers who sell our securities to persons other than certain accredited investors who are, generally, institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000 or individuals with net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or annual income exceeding $200,000, or $300,000 jointly with spouse, or in transactions not recommended by the broker-dealer. For transactions covered by the penny stock rules, a broker-dealer must make a suitability determination for each purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement prior to the sale. In addition, the broker-dealer must make certain mandated disclosures in penny stock transactions, including the actual sale or purchase price and actual bid and offer quotations, the compensation to be received by the broker-dealer and certain associated persons, and deliver certain disclosures required by the Commission. Consequently, the penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to make a market in or trade our common stock, and may also affect your ability to resell any shares you may purchase.
Market for penny stock has suffered in recent years from patterns of fraud and abuse
Stockholders should be aware that, according to SEC Release No. 34-29093, the market for penny stocks has suffered in recent years from patterns of fraud and abuse. Such patterns include:
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Control of the market for the security by one or a few broker-dealers that are often related to the promoter or issuer;
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Manipulation of prices through prearranged matching of purchases and sales and false and misleading press releases;
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Boiler room practices involving high-pressure sales tactics and unrealistic price projections by inexperienced salespersons;
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Excessive and undisclosed bid-ask differential and markups by selling broker-dealers; and,
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The wholesale dumping of the same securities by promoters and broker-dealers after prices have been manipulated to a desired level, along with the resulting inevitable collapse of those prices and with consequential investor losses.
Our management is aware of the abuses that have occurred historically in the penny stock market. Although we do not expect to be in a position to dictate the behavior of the market or of broker-dealers who participate in the market, management will strive within the confines of practical limitations to prevent the described patterns from being established with respect to our securities. The occurrence of these patterns or practices could increase the volatility of our share price.
Inability and unlikelihood to pay dividends
To date, we have not paid, nor do we intend to pay in the foreseeable future, dividends on our common stock, even if we become profitable. Earnings, if any, are expected to be used to advance our activities and for general corporate purposes, rather than to make distributions to stockholders. Prospective investors will likely need to rely on an increase in the price of Company stock to profit from his or her investment. There are no guarantees that any market for our common stock will ever develop or that the price of our stock will ever increase.
Since we are not in a financial position to pay dividends on our common stock and future dividends are not presently being contemplated, investors are advised that return on investment in our common stock is restricted to an appreciation in the share price. The potential or likelihood of an increase in share price is questionable at best.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.
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