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Andrew, I took a look on the ARCM website but could not work out where the licenses are relative to XTR, AFR & GAL prospects. Do you by any chance have a map that includes them all or a reference? Ta...
All this positivity .. spring must be in the air..
...bringing out some irrational exuberance.
The share price is the benchmark this game is played against.. and this one is utterly, unequivocally and extraordinarily abject .. AND.. still falling.
With a lovely winter/spring sunny afternoon smiling at me through a large sash window, I offer:
My stupidity for having a decent size bet in play - and way under water, of course - in xtr.l never ceases to amaze me :-)
But anything can happen in this game ...so here's hoping !!!
Agreed about the price of copper. But unlike BR the price of copper isn't particularly relevant. Ivanhoe is making massive profits at current prices.
I am the same with the 3 Birdie Companies and ARCM plus JLP. If I had sense, Ivanhoe would probably make more sense but never mind. Obviously now we have Kobold and others in the mix so at least plenty of news to come.
Price of Copper isn't playing ball though !
The case for considering having a holding across several AIM juniors with interests in Zambia seems to be increasing. The Ask Charles guy will provide a write up on Zambia in March, and I expect majors and minors to be covered given majors appear to be moving back, or looking to expand current interests in the region.
It was important to drill the bit in middle, the main reason being to establish if there was enough continuity of viable resource to join RC and Ascot up. It was these subsequent grades that was the main disappointment as it meant that Ascot was required to now be standalone as a separate entity for its resource to be exploited. As we have now seen will need a further extensive explotation programme to increase and establish a viable resource there now as it would not be viable to be reached through a series of push backs from RC. This down to the grades being just too low and outside of the stripping ratio tolerances that would allow it to be mined once the CapEx payback phase was completed.
"Due to CB's suite of companies in the Zambian NW corner I have spread my investment in XTR, AFR & Galileo"
I've done the same, and for the same rationale I've also added ARCM so my portfolio.
I take the view the more lottery tickets you buy then the more chance you have of winning :)
It look like CB takes the same view !
Due to CB's suite of companies in the Zambian NW corner I have spread my investment in XTR, AFR & Galileo. I figure that if the geological trend crosses the border, and the evidence sugests it does, then any one of these making a good find will inflate the value of the others. Could be that they are all sitting on a goldmine (coppermine) and the NW corner becomes the next big thing in terms of copper production.
As to Howezap's comment about the gold at Ascot, it never did sit well that the drilling seemed to focus on the bridge between Racecourse and Ascot (which did not produce good results) rather than on Ascot itself. If the effort had been focussed on finding the Ascot crown then we might be in a very diferent situation now.
Hz. Agreed. In normal situations discussing other companies on a bulletin board is unwanted. But in the case of the Birdie stable of companies they are using the same geologists etc so all have relevance to each other. And in the case of NW Zambia it is all the same geological region . As Colin likes to state, geology does not respect boundaries.
A point of interest.
A comment Martyn C made whilst speaking about another of the groups projects, may explain why those high gold grades from Ascot drilling of 14m at 1.96g/t Au and 2m @ 15.5g/t Au were not followed up.
MC….“Can’t lose focus on their goal by chasing narrow high grade veins as it would be far more difficult to put a resource together, with the main focus concentrating on the bulk tonnage.”
This would so easily be the case for the work that was required to build the BR resource. Makes good sense now and could explain why, as at the time it was so frustrating that it wasn’t investigated further with a hole or two at the end of phase 2, choosing instead to test mineralisation at depth below hole 35 If I recall.
Sorry bit random but I’m sure others may have had similar thoughts at that time. 🤷
No need for apologies Analytical, input which is both relative to NW Zambia and informative is very welcome if is helpfull to build the overall picture for shareholders and ‘generally’ should not under these fairly unique circumstances be seen as any kind of cross ramping
Thank you for sharing, is all helpfull information if encourages much overdue quality dialogue. 👍
(I’m not invested in GLR)
As a junior explorer with income I expected a little more progress on the exploration front since the JV announcement in August. The August JV RNS stated:
"Exploration is expected to commence in September 2023, and will comprise both physical activity within the Licence boundaries (including but not limited to mapping, soil geochemistry, geophysics and drilling), and desktop studies, laboratory analysis and interpretation of data and results."
It would appear that based on the latest update all that's happened is they've acquired a database from Anglo. Is that it? Have they done ANY of the physical activity they said they would?
Also, what on earth have they done at Kakuyu? Has literally any exploration work been done in the last 6-9 months?
For me, once XTR has approved the deal, it will be all systems go in NW Zambia for XTR - makes perfect sense. I expect GLR to be last off the taxi rank in NW Zambia - and it will wait to see the results of competitor drilling (used in the loosest sense of the word for a bunch of affiliates!) before it decides where to put the drill. Any discovery by an affiliate will result in all boats rising IMO. Not so sure about the Kalahari - I think the remaining licenses are already earmarked for a package sale - to Sandfire or BHP/a.n.other so I would expect more money put into Kamativi (already boots on the ground and some interesitng commentary surrounding that license) and Shinganda in central Zambia as it has the hallmarks of an IOCG and if it really is then that is big news. I expect Luansobe to be sold off - JV or Scheme of Arrangement as stated in the podcast. Apologies for the diversion - this is the issue when there are several companies all in the same region, all with CB as head - there is a lot of overlap in strategy etc.
It is a bit of a nit picking of an argument to me. GLR will receive a significant cash sum in April and has shares in Afrimat and Sandfire which can be sold. But MC of GLR, in a recent podcast said GLR hasn't yet decided which 1 or 2 projects to prioritise. For GLR it would probably make sense to concentrate on the Kalahari and Lithium for quick (er) sales and let others prioritise NW Zambia.
My take is (if there is a big copper find): AFP would be sold job lot and all money returned to shareholders. GLR will focus more on exploration and early stage development so will joint venture/sell. XTR will go all the way or at least as long as possible and become a mid tier miner. The usual IMHO applies.
Thanks ID. I think CB purchased as many licenses as he could in NW Zambia via his ‘suite’ of affiliates based on his more local knowledge of what’s happening and developing in that location, and which majors are looking to expand their land holdings. I think potential restrictions on number of licenses that could be held helped with that decision. As they are affiliates and in no way have cross shareholding’s with each other he probably managed to pull that off! Either way, his stable of affiliates now have access to licenses in the most in-demand area in Zambia. It’s going to be good!
Well, I cannot argue against your logic and evidence !!
I can only assume that CB's quote in the recent RNS refers to the fact that all other juniors in the NW zone ( except GLR it would appear) have deals with a major - Rio, Anglo, Ivanhoe or FQ in the main - whereas XTR will be financially independent albeit there is a form of partnership with CooperLemon ( they being a sleeping partner).
Deal with the majors in the NW zone - Anglo, Rio, FQM and Ivanhoe - mean the junior partner gets funding, sure, but at a cost in terms of the level of control over progress and newsflow. This is often a big frustration for the smaller partner.
Interesting that the biggest land holder in this highly sought after NW copper belt is AFP - another CB company of curse
ID, that is exactly what I am saying.
The Xtract licenses in Zambia - 29123-HQ-LEL and 30459-HQ-LEL - See: https://portals.landfolio.com/zambia/
The XTR RNS in support of this states 'Joint Venture' in its title.
29123-HQ-LEL - License shown as held by Oval Mining
30459-HQ-LEL - License shown as held by Far-Noth Enterprise Ltd
However the JV is with Cooper Lemon 'Xtract, as discussed on a recent podcast. Also, XTRACT entered into a joint venture agreement with Cooperlemon Consultancy Limited (“Cooperlemon”) in relation to the exploration for copper at large scale exploration licenses 29123-HQ-LEL and 30459-HQ-LEL in Northwest Zambia (the “Licences”).' Please refer to the terms of the JV arrangement.
As for the £5m liquid cash and investments held by GLR
"Current Cash Position 27 Jan 2024 15:00" -please refer to my post on GLR on date/time shown which also references the monies due from Xtract. The monies were previously referenced in prior audited GLR accounts and look to remain to be paid. Likely when XTRACT approves the recent deal, and has the funds to pay GLR. The XTRACT deal will be approved imo as it makes sense in Zambia given the focus moving into that region by Majors et al.
In a similar vein the GLR license in NW Zambia is a JV also with Cooper Lemon and it's Luansobe License has Cooper Lemon fingers over it from a legal perspective. The Shinganda LIcense is part owned, with an increasing ownership level dependent on various caveats to be fulfilled as part of the JV.
Hope this helps.
Given that CB is Chairman of GLR you are not seriously suggesting he would make that mistake in an RNS ? It is probably because the GLR property in NW Zambia is JV'd or shared in some way. The £5M is a real stretch by the way and not audited.
GLR is a junior and has > £5m in liquid assets to explore with.
I should have added that the source of the CB quote is RNS Number : 3942C Xtract Resources plc 08 February 2024
It is not incorrect or CB is lying or mistaken. See below. What is your counter position ?
Colin Bird, Executive Chairman said : "We have recently embarked on an intensive exploration campaign targeting a discovery of commercial grade and tonnage of copper in a region of NW Zambia that is not only the subject of more intense competition than I have ever known for exploration ground but also the focus of attention for most of the world's major mining companies. NW Zambia is a proven host for large scale copper deposits and the geology of our Joint Venture ground is highly prospective. Zambia as a nation has set ambitious targets for copper production to underpin its economic progress and Xtract intends to become a part of that story initially by being the only junior company operating its own Joint Venture licences on a self-financing and independent basis"
Does feel is the right direction to go now, to focus efforts. There is an obvious and very clear advantage to having a group of companies in the CB stable, with multiple licences and ability to share expertise, and data within the group to help understand the geological trends.
Also to consider with our access to self fund, the expertise and experience of Xtract people and ability to create revenue from the opportunities that are definitely out there. Been saying for some time now that there will be countless project or small mine owners out there in this economic climate that are now unable to get their mines to final production through inability to self fund. With the added bonus that production facilities are also needing ore to process. Xtract are in a strong position to pick and choose.
ID "the only junior with control of exploration and internal funding " - that is incorrect.
I am speculating of course but the odds are rather better than 'red or black'.
The proximity of licences owned or JV'd by/with the world's major companies , the contiguous geology and the fact that we will be the only junior with control of exploration and internal funding is a rare combination. I am still not convinced by the vast shortfall in available copper that everyone predicts and I have resigned myself to Bushranger not delivering value in my lifetime , if ever, but, frankly, if the Zambian assets deliver we will soon be in very good recovery mode.
As I said - this time next year Rodney !!