Thursday, August-11-11
To the shareholders of CMKM:
After much diligent effort we are now able to release the following new corporate happenings:
We are happy to announce that Steve Walker has signed an agreement with the Company to provide Investor Relations services. With a background in sales and marketing, Steve Walker has been a Golf Professional for over 30 years. While moonlighting as a day trader, he became involved in CMKM in January 2003. This life altering event, led him to stock market reform, to which he remains passionate and devoted to today. In taking on this exciting new challenge for CMKM, Steve says " my objective is to help reunite CMKM shareholders, so together we can all move forward, as the company emerges from past problems and readies itself for a bright and prosperous future. It is now our time CMKM shareholders, so let's get together and show the world how strong we really are. I want to thank Jim, Kevin, Bill and the Board of Directors for all their tireless efforts and for giving me an opportunity to be a part of the future of CMKM Diamonds. We cannot change the past, but we can change the future. I stand ready for the task, please join me." The investor relations hotline is 903-253-0510 and will be open to receive calls from 10am to 6pm Central time on Fridays starting September 2nd. New dates and times for the hotline will be updated as needed. Please note that this line will not have voice mail at this time and only live calls between the above mentioned times will be taken.
As you may already be aware, the Company representitives will be in Las Vegas for trial currently scheduled to begin on or about August 17th. The case going to trial involves our claims against Urban Casavant, Ginger Gutierrez, James Kinney, Attorney Roger Glenn and his former law firm Edwards, Angell, Palmer and Dodge. The case will be presided over by Judge Elizabeth Gonzales. The present calendar call for this case is August 15, 2011. The Company expects jury selection to begin on August 17th and opening arguments and testimony will begin following jury selection. Casavant, Gutierrez and Kinney have defaulted. Glenn and his law firm are disputing all claims being made by the Company. The judge has summoned 100 jurors. Each of the jurors have filled out 20 page questionnaires containing questions specific to this case. The courtroom is small with less than 50 seats to accommodate the public.
The Board of Directors is in the process of bringing the Corporation’s bylaws current and is working to amend them to make sure that we are in full compliance with our commitment to the shareholders and ensuring their rights are upheld in the State of Texas where we are domiciled. Once amended, the bylaws will be updated to the website. The Board of Directors and Company Executives remain committed to protecting the interests of the company and the shareholders as a whole.
While reviewing the current corporate bylaws, the Board of Directors made the determination that the postion of CEO as advertised is not required. The Board mandated the postion of CEO be changed to President. After reviewing the resumes submitted for the leadership position of the Company, the Directors came to the conclusion that the best possible candidate for the job is already on board. That said, the Directors are very pleased to announce that Mr. James Lowden has agreed to accept a permanent role as President of the Company. "The Board of Directors are extremely pleased that Mr.Lowden has agreed to accept our offer to join the team for the long term and would like to sincerely thank him for all of his efforts. Mr.Lowden possesses the necessary business accumen, professional experience and keen eye for detail that our company requires to be successful. As the company moves forward, we are extremely confident that Mr.Lowden will provide the continued leadership,knowledge, and consistent determined work ethic he has demonstrated during his tenure with the company. Please join us in welcoming Mr. Lowden to our team.”
The Company would like to extend its gratitude to the other candidates that applied for the CEO / President position. The response from our request for candidates was very reassuring that there are people committed to assisting us in making our company successful.
The Board of Directors has asked former officer and Director Kevin West back to take on the role Vice President of the Company to assist Mr. Lowden in their continued efforts moving the company forward. Both Gentlemen work well together and through these combined efforts have been able to stand the company back on its feet. This team is desirious to see the growth of CKMK. Mr. West stated, “I am humbled and honored to be asked back by the Board of Directors. I feel rested and excited to once again be doing my part to help the Company move forward.”
The shareholder meeting that was fully intended to be accomplished by June of this year has had to once again be put on hold. The Directors of the Company wish to make known to the shareholders that the lack of proper funding is the “only” reason that there has not been a shareholder’s meeting since new management took over in 2007. With over 50,000 shareholders of record, including over 10% with international mailing addresses, the hard costs of a meeting at this time is not possible. Even with discounted rates being offered to the Company, the “minimum” costs of printed, third party mailed and received proxy statements plus envelopes and other hard costs stand at $175,000. On top of these costs, there will have to be a meeting venue, security and refreshments to accommodate hundreds and perhaps even thousands of shareholders wanting to attend in person. This puts the minimum cost to hold an annual shareholder meeting somewhere between $190,000 and $250,000 for one meeting with the same or even higher costs annually thereafter. That said, the Company would need to have enough cash in the bank to not only hold the meeting, but to continue to sustain running the Company for at least the next several months at which time another shareholder meeting would need to be planned, funded and held. As you can see, the costs of these meetings are very prohibitive at this time because of the extreme size of our shareholder base.
On February 26th of this year, the Company announced its desire to create a round table team of approximately 7 individuals. Since that time the Company has received fewer resumes than positions needed from shareholders interested in a possible place on this team. We would like to extend the resume intake period for another 90 days. After this period, depending on the number of resumes, the Company will give a final review and recommendation to the Board of Directors for the seven members to be placed.
CMKM and 101047025 Saskatchewan LTD still have a valid agreement in place with the remaining claims from the Fort a la Corne area. This agreement calls for the development of a New Corp for the exploration and possible development of these claims. The Board of Directors of CMKM have already endorsed the agreement to move forward with the plans for this venture and are patiently waiting for all of the pieces on the Company side of things to fall into place.
Once again, the Company would like inform the shareholders that we believe in the success of CMKM Diamonds Inc. and will continue to work for the best interest of the all shareholders.