Weekly Brief 24th July
Another eventful week of 2020 has flown by with a surprise royal wedding over the weekend, a less surprising new controversial US presidential candidate, and stricter face mask regulations coming into force today in England.
But perhaps the most distressing news has been Joe Wicks’ widely popular online PE lessons coming to an end after a total of 78 workouts – with schools out for the summer, unfortunately that includes PE class as well. Anyone big or small that has managed to keep up with the intense workouts knows that they are not just a great tool to tire the kids out before the morning office Zoom call, but have been an invaluable replacement for the gym to keep fit at home. No need to despair though as he does intend to come back after summer break. So for now, it’s back to attempting to use a wine bottle as a dumbbell – or better yet, take a break over summer as well and put those wine bottles to good use!
Client News:
Europa Oil & Gas Plc (AIM: EOG) announced that Finance Director Mr Phil Greenhalgh is to retire after 12 years at the Company. Mr Greenhalgh will remain on the Board until October 2020 to ensure an orderly handover of his duties and to complete the group annual report and accounts. Europa also took the opportunity to provide an update on activity across its portfolio where, despite COVID-19, progress continues to be made: the Wressle oil field remains on course to commence production in H2 2020 at 500bopd; 30 prospects and leads that could potentially hold close to 10 billion barrels of oil have been identified on the Inzegane permit offshore Morocco; and discussions are continuing with potential partners for its licences in the proven gas play in the Slyne basin, offshore Ireland.
Kodal Minerals Plc (AIM: KOD) released its audited final results for the year ended 31 March 2020. Major developments have been achieved over the period, particularly focusing on the flagship Bougouni Lithium Project. The project successfully received an environmental permit, ESIA approval, and completed a feasibility study which underpinned the mining licence application with the Mali Government in January 2020. The study demonstrated the project to be a robust open pit mining and processing operation with an initial 8.5 year mine life and a production profile of 220,000 tonnes of 6% spodumene concentrate per annum. A share subscription for £0.5 million was secured in April 2020 through a Financing Facility to provide funding over the next 12 months, despite the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, a Convertible Loan Note Agreement was entered in 14 July 2020 for a total commitment of $1.5 million, providing additional funds to further develop Bougouni, payment for the mining licence, fund additional exploration activity of gold assets and new investment opportunities in the gold space.
Dekel Agri-Vision Plc (AIM: DKL) confirmed that a first shipment of milling equipment for the large scale cashew processing project it is developing at Tiebissou in Cote d’Ivoire has arrived from Italy on schedule. The shipment is expected to take approximately four weeks to clear customs and be delivered to the project where work to install infrastructure equipment continues to progress. Tiebissou remains on track to commence production in Q2 2020 at which point it will become Dekel’s second producing project alongside its palm oil operation in Ayenouan.
Jangada Mines Plc (AIM: JAN) had two positive updates this week. Firstly, the company announced the final assay results from its diamond drilling programme at the Pitombeiras Vanadium Project in Brazil, which evaluated the structural corridor associated with known VTM mineralisation. With one of the holes returning 27.75 metres at 0.65% vanadium pentoxide the results continued to confirm consistent grades, widths and continuity, underpinning the overriding success of the 2020 programme and significant prospectively of Pitombeiras. These results, together with the 2019 drill results, are now being used to prepare an initial JORCE resource estimate. Later in the week Jangada announced further positive news relating to a USD100,000 investment it made in Fodere Titanium Limited in 2019, a UK registered clean technology company that is developing environmentally sustainable and highly innovative technology to extract high value metals from the titanium, vanadium, iron and steel industries. Fodere has made significant advances towards establishing its initial small-scale industrial plant in South Africa, which processes vanadium and titanium dioxide tailings, and with clear operational synergies, Jangada looks forward to continuing to support Fodere as they build their market position and reach.
Bluejay Mining Plc (AIM: JAY) provided an update on off-take negotiations with a multinational commodity trading firm for the Dundas Ilmenite Project in Greenland. Following the signing of a memorandum of understanding in April 2020 the parties have agreed to extend the size of the proposed off-take by up to 50% from 200ktpa to 250-300ktpa, representing up to approximately 70% of the total proposed annual output of the project. A three-month MoU extension to 31 October has also been agreed in order to allow time for a definitive purchase agreement to be completed and the trading firm has indicated willingness to take part in project financing if feasible. Bluejay will now move to finalise the last remaining 140-190ktpa output to interested third parties with a view to obtaining off-take agreements for all of the total annual scheduled production potential from Dundas.
Kibo Energy Plc (AIM: KIBO) announced that it is seeking admission to the London Stock Exchange for its 100% owned UK subsidiary Sloane Developments Ltd, which will be renamed Mast Energy Developments Plc. The admission will be accompanied by an IPO which will seek to raise sufficient funds to develop a portfolio of flexible power plants in the UK in order to become a multi-asset operator in the Reserve Power market, the fastest growing energy sector in the UK. As a separate company with a highly focused corporate strategy, MED will have greater operational capacity and be able to access and appeal to a new spectrum of investors allowing it to develop the portfolio at scale and pace. Crucially, Kibo will retain a controlling interest in MED meaning shareholders will continue to benefit from future MED development upside, whilst Kibo’s assets and resources will be focussed on realising value from its portfolio of assets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
FastForward Innovations (AIM: FFWD) provided an update on its investee company, EMMAC Life Sciences, Europe’s largest independent cannabis company. The company has signed a non-binding letter of intent relating to a business combination with Andina Acquisition Corp. III, pursuant to which EMMAC would become a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ Stock Market with EMMAC’s shareholders rolling over all of their equity in EMMAC into the combined public company. On successful completion, this would crystallize the value and enhance the liquidity of FastForward’s holding in EMMAC and provide a robust platform for the growth of the business.
In the news this week…
Proactive UK writes on Kodal Minerals (AIM: KOD) and their exciting period ahead after a successful year.
Ferro Alloy Resources CEO Nick Bridgen presents the Kazakhstan based vanadium project to Directors’ Talk https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/ferro-alloy-resources-corporate-presentation-july-2020/412845003
You may have missed…
Joe Wicks hosted his final PE With Joe class after receiving a total of 80 million views with a watch time of over 2,271 years, and raising £580,000 for the NHS.
The first active leak of sea-bed methane has been discovered in Antarctica.
Princess Beatrice wore a reworked gown of Queen Elizabeth II’s to her surprise intimate wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
Bloomberg commends the UK’s response to Covid-19.
Kanye West has officially launched his campaign for the US presidential election to mixed responses.
Despite unemployment rising and an economic downturn, billionaires are getting richer during the pandemic.
New rules on junk food advertising to be put in place to tackle high levels of obesity in the UK.
Pakistan has met the UN climate goals a decade before the deadline.
US civil rights leader and Democratic congressman John Lewis died on Saturday at 80 years old, and continued diligently campaigning for civil rights until the end of his life after becoming a prominent leader of the movement in the 1960s.