Weekly Brief October 30th
This Halloween was inevitably to be once in a blue moon – no really, as a blue moon will fill the sky tomorrow night and be the first time a full moon falls on Halloween since 1944. Although not actually blue in colour, it is still rare to have two full moons occur within the same month and especially for it to coincide with Hallow’s Eve, so watch out for any werewolves. Throughout the pagan holiday’s rich history it has always been a time for the things that go bump in the night, as the veil between the living and the dead is believed to be at its thinnest and many of its traditions can still be seen in the ways we celebrate today. Wearing animal hides or masks to trick wandering spirits has turned into dressing up as your favourite character (or whatever you can find last minute at the local party shop), and the English tradition of gifting the poor with ‘soul cakes’, coined ‘going-a-souling’, has become trick-or-treating – even apple bobbing can find its roots in an old British courting ritual (perhaps one to avoid this time though!). With a year that has delivered more tricks than treats, and masks becoming part of our daily wardrobe instead of part of a costume, Halloween has lost a bit of its usual frightening edge. However, the pre-covid concept of more than six people turning up at your door within touching distance is scary enough in itself these days. Getting treats needn’t be so tricky as there are still plenty of ways to have some pandemic-suitable fun without picking up anything more ominous than a sugar rush from over indulging on sweets with some adjustments (and armed with lots of antibac). And of course you can still don your best costume to get into the holiday spirit – extra points if it includes a mask!
Client News
Kodal Minerals Plc (AIM: KOD) has provided an update on the progress of the Bougouni Project mining licence application, MoU with Sinohydro Corporation Limited, and gold exploration activities. Additionally, Kodal announced a drawdown of $750,000 as the second and final advance of the $1.5m unsecured convertible loan agreement with Riverfort Global Opportunities and YA II PN Ltd. The Bougouni development plan and gold exploration strategy is well funded to continue now that the final advance of the Loan Agreement is completed. The mining project development work will be completed alongside the review and assessment of the project by Sinohydro under the MoU, with the initial technical review and discussion scheduled ahead of commencing fieldwork at Bougouni in November. The Mining Licence application is in progress and has been updated to reflect the changes to the Mali Transition Government Ministry and are pending signing by the new Minister. The gold exploration programme in Cote d’Ivoire is set to begin in November, focusing on the Dabakala geochemical anomaly and defining the area for first pass drilling to determine its gold mineralisation potential.
Challenger Acquisitions announced that it has agreed an extension with Cindrigo Limited to the 31 December 2020 of the Longstop Date for various conditions pertaining to the purchase and issue of ordinary shares to shareholders in Cindrigo Energy Limited. The Board of Challenger are working to satisfy these conditions and complete the acquisition of Cindrigo by Challenger.
Empire Metals (AIM: EEE) announced the sale of the Bolnisi Copper and Gold Project in Georgia for CAD 7 million to Candelaria Mining Corporation, a TSXV listed company with an excellent track record of developing projects in complex jurisdictions. Mr Mike Struthers will join CAND as CEO but remain as a Non-Executive Director of Empire and act as a consultant to the company, and Dr Neil O’Brien will also join the Board of CAND as a Non-Executive Director but remain as Non-Executive Chairman of Empire. Candelaria has some excellent gold assets in Mexico including the Pinos Gold Project, which is scheduled to commence production in 12-14 months. Empire shareholders will benefit from the future production and growth of Candelaria, whilst retaining exposure to the assets in Georgia. Meanwhile, Empire will focus on continuing to develop the Eclipse Gold Project in Australia and will add additional assets as new opportunities arise. The company also received encouraging results from the first reverse circulation drilling programme at the Eclipse Gold Project in Australia. The 2,300m drill programme has been focused on the Eclipse target, where a total of 1,710m have been drilled to date, and site preparation is now underway for the second of the three key targets, Houdini, where drilling is expected to begin shortly.
Vast Resources plc (AIM: VAST) released a JORC compliant Resource & Reserve Report for its producing Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine in Romania, replacing the historical, non-JORC mineral resource estimates. The report increased the quantum and quality of the Baita Plai resource, with a Measured, Indicated & Inferred mineral resource category of 608,000 (gross)/486,400 (net attributable to Vast) tonnes @ 2.58% copper (‘Cu’) equivalent and an Exploration Target (gross) of between 1.8M–3M tonnes with Cu range of 0.50–2.00%, gold range of 0.20–0.80 g/t and silver range of 40-80g/t. This Exploration Target includes the historical mineral resource, meaning the new JORC resource represents a new and additional 600,000 tonnes (gross). The mineral resource estimate underpins the initial mine production life of approximately 3-4 years of in-situ 15,695 tonnes copper equivalent available for mining, which based on an assumed copper metal price of US$6,655/tonne generates an in-situ metal value of US$104,450,225. Crucially, significant further upside remains to expand the resource, with a significant portion of the Exploration Target expected to be converted to a JORC compliant mineral resource in the coming months and additional resources also identified. Vast also released its Final Results this week for the year ended 30 April 2020, which includes a clean audit report. As a producing mining company that will be generating positive cashflow going forward, and with a bullish outlook on polymetallics, the board look forward to significant medium-term growth in the share price.
Jangada Mines plc (AIM: JAN) released its second interim results outlining the continued progress at its Pitombeiras Vanadium Project in Brazil. The company has ramped up activity at the project, taking advantage of market dynamics increasing demand for clean energy materials, and is now focussed on expanding the recently defined maiden JORC resource of 5.70Mt million tonnes at an average grade of 0.51% V2O5, 10.09% TiO2 and 50.42% of Fe2O3 for a contained resource of 28,990 tonnes V2O5. The company is aiming to delineate a further approximate 10Mt of resource with drill results due to be shared as they become available. The company has also commissioned GE21 Consultoria Mineral to produce a Preliminary Economic Assessment report on the Pitombeiras Project. Aside from Pitombeiras, Jangada holds a 17.68% interest in TSX-V listed ValOre Metals Corp, who are currently making positive drill progress at the Pedra Branca Platinum Group Element Project in northeastern Brazil.
Harvest Minerals Limited (AIM: HMI) released its interim results, highlighting developments at its Arapua Fertiliser Project in Brazil, including the granting of a full mining permit, the expansion of mining and product storage areas, and long-term agronomic test work confirming the company’s KPfértil remineraliser product as being a more efficient alternative to conventional fertilisers. Unavoidably, Harvest’s operations during the period were impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but despite this, the company made significant inroads towards developing and expanding its customer base and finished the period under review with a credible sales achievement. Although lower sales were achieved during the period to 30 June 2020 compared to the prior 6-month period, the company has since recorded increased sales post balance date up to 30 September 2020.
Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited (LSE: FAR) has made its first commercial production and sale of calcium molybdate at its operations based in Southern Kazakhstan. Calcium molybdate is extracted as a by-product from the same raw materials that are purchased for the extraction of vanadium and therefore incurs no additional raw-material costs, and up to 14 tonnes per month are expected to be produced. This is used in the production of alloys, ceramics and direct alloying of steels and alloys in electric arc furnaces. Although the immediate target is to produce this as a by-product from existing raw materials, the company has the option to source raw materials with molybdenum as the primary metal where it is more profitable to do so, and is in discussions with potential off-takers and expects to sign a long-term contract shortly. This first commercial production and sale marks another step in the development plan of the small-scale operation whilst plans for the development of Balasausqandiq continue and will bring a significant increase in revenue, complementing recent record levels of production.
Zinnwald Lithium plc (ZNWD.L) were delighted to have announced its admission to trading on AIM following the completion of the acquisition of a 50% interest in the Zinnwald Lithium Project in Germany. This marks the start of a new phase in the Company’s history as it refocuses its strategy to concentrate on becoming an importer and supplier of battery-grade lithium products in Europe.
Dekel announced that it has been advised by Italian manufacturer, Oltremare Srl, that the third shipment of milling equipment for its large scale cashew processing project at Tiebissou in Côte d’Ivoire, has departed Italy. The shipment is expected to arrive at the port of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire in approximately four to six weeks. The shipment is the third of four due to be despatched from Italy and comprises four 40ft containers. The remaining shipment of milling equipment is expected to be shipped and delivered to Côte d’Ivoire in the coming months. Further updates will be provided to the market in due course.
You may have missed…
CEO of Ferro-Alloy Resources (AIM: FAR) Nick Bridgen joined DirectorsTalk to discuss the production and sale of molybdenum, as well as joining Proactive Investors to talk about its first commercial production.
Vast Resources (AIM: VAST) CEO recorded two interviews with Proactive Investors and VOX this week, covering the latest JORC resource and final results news as well as answering investor questions.
In the news this week…
A coral reef taller than the Empire State Building has been discovered in Australia, the first in 120 years.
Find out more about the history of Halloween.
See the guidelines on trick-or-treating in your area and some pandemic-safe ideas to celebrate.