Who knows what has gone on behind closed doors.
One thing that I think is likely though - Matthew Boyall (Cue CEO) must have been pretty pissed off when he read that NZX announcement on 13/09. It completely contradicted the spiel he and his team gave to investors at the Good Oil Conference.
These investors are buying up Cue shares right now in part due to the strong case he has (quite rightly) put for Ironbark. It absolutely could be a game changer, and the odds of success are better than average.
So, to wake up two days later and see a NZX announcement savagely contradicting this position and highlighting a study that has low balled the success rate to only 5% must have been quite something. If it were me, I would be furious.
If there is any truth to my comments (and I appreciate that I am speculating here) then either John went rogue or he has been stitched up.
We will probably never know the full story. However he was only promoted to his current role on 28/02/19 - barely 6 months in.