Peter Hambro describes it as being like having a lead weight being lifted from around his neck.
He is referring to the completion of a protracted refinancing of Petropavlovsk (LON:POG), the Siberian gold miner the septuagenarian founded in 1994 with former Russian senator Pavel Maslovskiy.
There was a dissident investor, Sapinda, that wanted to block the bail-out and a shareholder vote that eventually approved a US$235mln rights issue.
As moves were being made to refinance to debt-laden company and re-shape and re-focus the strategy, the business became the target of short sellers.
So, in the space of a year, the firm, once a candidate for the FTSE 100, has seen 95% wiped from its value.
A market veteran, Hambro is no stranger to the practice of short selling - betting on a fall in a share price - and in fact it was a tactic he quite 'enjoyed' deploying during his time as a City trader.
But being the target, it all felt a bit personal, he said.
"On the other end of it the whole process is very, very unpleasant," Hambro told Proactive Investors.
"There is very little you can do other than hope you can catch them out."
When we meet, the Petropavlovsk chairman, scion of the great Hambro merchant banking dynasty, is keen to look to the future, not what has gone before.
With the funds in place and a new US$100mln debt facility he and the team focus on getting the absolute best out of what is still a globally significant gold deposit.
The plan is to mine the near-surface oxide ore from its deposits at a rate of 680-700,000 ounces a year.
That is a significant alteration to the previous strategy in which Petropavlovsk targeted refractory ore.
In mining parlance, refractory is often short-hand for tough-to-process sulphide material.
But using pressure oxidisaton or POX for short, it was able to do in 45 minutes what it took Mother Nature 4.5mln years to complete.
A 2012 presentation outlining the firm's plans claimed boldly that POX had the potential to 'unlock the future of gold mining'. Instead it almost became a POX on both the house of Peter Hambro and the company itself.
For the huge investment required to tap the potential of the refractory Pioneer and Pokrovskiy deposits using pressure oxidisation left Petropavlovsk with big debts just as the gold price was going into reverse.
"We had to turn the super-tanker around big time," Hambro said.
The fall in the share price down to 4p and the dilution of the rights issue may have been unpalatable for existing shareholders.
But this has provided an opportunity for investors new to Petropavlovsk.
The hedge fund CapeView, run by former Deutsche Bank trader Theo Panos, took its position above 5% on Thursday and more new shareholders are expected to emerge following the rights issue and placing that followed.
With an all-sustaining cash cost of below US$700, Petropavlovsk is one of the lower cost major gold producers. The tailwinds provided by a lower rouble will only help bolster its profit margins.
Some insightful analysis provided by John Meyer, the veteran mining analyst at resources boutique SP Angel, underlines the company's significant potential.
He is predicting the group will post underlying earnings (EBITDA) of US$319mln this year, rising to US$336mln next based on a gold price of between US$1,234 and US$1,300 an ounce.
Importantly, Meyer's modelling reveals Petropavlovsk is capable of producing leveraged cash flow of more than US$200mln this year; which is important as the group looks to repay the remainder of its debt.
Meyer concludes: "Petropavlovsk continues to offer value for investors despite the hefty dilution from the rights and convertible issues.
"Our calculations indicate the company generates sufficient cash flow to cover debt repayments on our gold price assumptions and lower costs, a weaker rouble, higher gold production and better capital control."
The analyst reckons the stock is worth around 11p a share.
That valuation might increase when Petropavlovsk completes a reserve and resource report due late next month or early May.
And there is also the blue sky opportunity at some later date of chasing the bonanza grade shoots that have been identified across the company's licence areas.
None of this has been factored into the current assessment of the prospects of the company, which Hambro says has been 'weighed down by negativity'.
Neither has the prospect of a dividend payment. Yet the chairman can see a day when Petropavlovsk rewards investors for the patience (and courage) with a payout.
"You value gold companies on a discounted cash flow basis. If you don't have access to the cash flow you shouldn't be involved," he explains.
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