Ann: Share Sale Facility of less than marketable parcels, page-4

Yes I believe it is compulsory. Holdings are less than $500. It is very costly for the company to keep these stale holders on the registry. 70% is a huge number. This gives holders opportunity to offload without any associated costs such as broker fees (the reason many usually don't bother selling). One way to prevent the selling of your shares is to buy a few more to get your holdings over $500. This may, as someone suggested, be a precursor to a consolidation of shares.