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Given W's use in armaments manufacturing this could be interpreted as a conflict signal. Irrespective it comes at an opportune time as TWL rework the final FS (Rev3). Nice little share price bump today too. ATB
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ngawthorpe_great-to-see-the-tungsten-price-moving-imports-activity-7199022702177697793-5xAH?trk=public_profile
I see the post on Linkedin from the CEO Neil G, posting a graph of pricees - can't send a screenshot
Tungsten concentrate prices are moving up sharply.
Lovelyboy and Croissant
Thanks for attending the meeting LB and reporting your findings. My understanding is that a junior member of the EA team forgot to post some documentation and as a result the EA had to extend the consultation period. I would be surprised if there is any further extension which I think would only happen if something new is brought up; -unlikely.
On the finance side, I think the CLN buyers are very unlikely to stop at this stage and the next tranche if needed will be provided. My conclusion is that we are almost out of danger and soon be thinking of the timeline to a re-start.
@LB - Thanks for the update. Nice to hear you're on holiday - that's given us all a boost here back in Blighty.
From your description of the PC meeting, it's as suspected. Apathy, the hallmark of the British public, wins hands down again. The general public will not, are not opposing this application. As for the PC itself, they can (and unfortunately it looks likely they will) try to delay proceedings, but that's it. That's all they have.
The large last minute document dump to the PC from the EA is an insight into the fumbling inefficiency which seems to occasionally plague the EA particularly during public consultations, which inadvertently result in further delays. And if you have a jaundiced eye, as I do, you could be forgiven for seeing this last minute doc-dump as an invitation by the EA to the PC to extend.
Conspiracy theories aside, my take-away from all this is that neither the PC nor the EA want to approve the project, as they'll both be in the hot seat if the deafening clanking starts up again, but neither body can oppose this application on technical grounds as the case made by the TW Team is so very strong. That's why we're seeing these delays - they're firing blanks.
My best guess would be, in the worst case we'll see a further 8 week extension requested by the PC reluctantly agreed to by the EA and after fierce negotiations reducing to 4 weeks (- e/o June); then a 4 week review by the EA (- e/o July); and then finally, over two and half years later than it could have been, the EA will through gritted teeth, issue that MPF permit.
Two other points to note:
TW: They must review that permit before accepting. In a comment by NG at one of those PC meetings he stated that "a permit that’s not workable is not a permit". So the permit must be reviewed as the EA could try and pull a fast one even at the very end.
CLN Holders: I think these guys are solidly behind the project. If TW need more money, and they likely will before Jan 31 2025, Tranche E will be forth coming. I'm guessing another £1M will be needed and requested (circa 08/2024), but be aware that this would be asked for in any event. Tranche E is no drama, the drama will come only from further delays. They (the EA and the PC) have one extension left, if they choose to use it, then it's done.
ATB
PS. If I hadn't of gone I suspect the parish council would hardly of discussed it.
Hiya croissant and all . Sorry for the delay in replying. Currently away in Greece on holiday. Wife's had one too many ouzos tonight so got a pocket of time for a reply. 🤣.
I've had a few too so hope this makes sense...
I did make it to the meeting but nothing major to report. 8 councillors.... I was the ONLY public person present. Certainly no hoards of protestors waving placards outside. All very low key. TW was certainly NOT the focus on the meeting. Much more emphasis on parish issues like planning for example . The council is made up of very reasonable people imo. They kept stating in relation to TW that they are only seeking reassurance they there's not going to be a repeat of wolfe... My take is that the incumbent left quite a scar on the local community. This is where there is the most local concern.
They (the PC) were slightly p!££ed off that tw weren't there on the day . They were invited to present a progress update but no one from the company bothered to attended.🤷. Thus 2 agenda items were written off.
There was some concern that the EA had dumped a whole load of additional info at the 11th hour (known about here - hence the extension ). They seemed generally overwhelmed by the EA report. The size of it the biggest concern. The additional info exacerbating the task of review. They minuted a request for a further extension. I'm not sure they will be successful. They previously requested a 8 week extension (again we know about this) this was turned down and they got 4. They didn't seem hopeful that a further extension would be granted. That's to say an additional extension to the current one.
Interesting that they mentioned (volunteered) cash flow. They seemed to think TW were running on fumes. One guy said there were only a dozen staff on site. They indicated that if the process could be stalled they may just run out of money and the problem might just go away. I took this as they viewed this route just as a potential easy way out.
Take aways... They are reasonable and fair. They are neither pro or anti TW. There was however a sense of general distrust toward TW... This seemed mainly aimed at the previous board JMcF et Al. (not the recent refresh). They kind of admitted that a restart at some point was a fait a complet. They seemed aware of the size of the resource and it's global attraction.
Just my view > although the parish council wield considerable power in principle.... they seemed resigned to the fact in this case bigger wheels were turning. Wheels that they probably couldn't stop. Please note this is just my opinion.
All in all it was pretty uneventful. Other than the outside chance of a further extension into June.. I didn't really learn anything new. Certainly nothing that isn't known to LTH here.
I'll check back in in a few days to see if there are any questions. I'll try to answer if I can.
ATB LB
Keeping everything crossed
Hi All,
As we didn't get any feedback from the PC meeting last week there's been little to discuss. However, there's an RNS today which is of interest. Here's a link to the supporting doc: https://www.tungstenwest.com/aim-admission-document.
As an aside (and if you were unaware): There are just under 20Mn additional Founder Shares split equally and allotted to the four Founders. The amount in the latest RNS represents a third of the allotment to one of the Founders; which one I currently don't know.
It's these Founder options that make up the difference between the number of shares reported at Companies House (soon to be 188Mn) and the 200Mn figure seen elsewhere such as on the LSE site, here.
Let's hope the EA coming through with a speedy decision, this has dragged on long enough IMO.
@LB - if you're reading this, any feedback from the PC meeting would be much appreciated, even if that feedback is that you didn't attend. Thanks.
ATB
We need news from the environment agency report to get the share price moving.
Don't think I've ever seen so many inconsequencial trade amounts, or is it the GameStop 'meme' crew kicking in?
@lovelyboy I'm guessing you didn't get along to the parish council meeting, but I see you have posted an interesting link on the CUSN board to the UK mining conference. In particular I see that there are site visits available to sites including Hemerdon (TUN) (11th June) which might be of interest to people here,
https://ukminingconference.co.uk/express-your-interest/
New5, at the moment this is looking more appealing than Cornish metal.
Evening Gingy. I have heard of no alien visitations in the last 24hrs. As far as i can see all is quiet. I guess there is no new info at the moment. We are all waiting for the end of the consultation period and the EA's decision. It looks like fingers crossed for now. ATB
Why has everyone gone to ground? What happened with the parish meeting and all that stuff? Have you all been abducted by aliens?!
Evening, what needs to be considered, are the noise issues highlighted in the LFN report, although there are a number of commercial/farms within the (close) area listed, there are also key facilities near by which have also submitted noise complaints ( looking at the report ) such as boringdon hall and both golf courses which are within a mile, so I’m not under the impression the only issue is the parish council.
This aside the report seems to be one sided and has gaps in engineering judgement as the standards which were used to close production ( previously )seem to have been dismissed ( not sure if the EA has agreed to this ) I can understand why looking at the report in general but I can only see the EA having questions over this document if this is the case.
@LB - Nice one LB. The Archers!! Lol. Try not to nod off. ATB
@RDB - I think you're right. There will be one or two making a lot of noise because they're right next door to it, and given the problems last time do you blame them?? Whereas for the rest, they'll be sympathetic obviously but they might have different priorities. The issues raised in those minutes include: road traffic volumes, speeding, rewilding the verges, allotments being made available on the site, climate change due to the aggs movements, a hydrogen pipeline (that someone appears to be trying to route nearby), renovation of a car park, the company share price and how soon the feasibility study will take to get issued - those last couple indicating to me that at least a few in the room might be shareholders.
ATB
@Croissant and all.
I've freed up time to go to the meeting tomorrow. 99%sure I'll make it. TW is item 9 on the agenda. Item 8 just before it is a Public Forum session – to consider questions from public.
This blog post from Sparkwell Parish Council is interesting...
www.sparkwellparishcouncil.com/blog
It's not entirely clear from the blog post if the PC are behind the permit or not. I'll try and gauge it tomorrow and report back.
I'm sure it's going to be a blast.... It's probably going to be like something out of the Archers.🤣
Until tomorrow.
ATB LB
I spent the weekend enjoying the sun. Now rain and cold back in Northern Ireland! I did the same, looked around FB. I can't post a screen shot but there was a couple of posts - but more the poster was shocked at the lack of turnout - which leads me to think it is the one and two in the parish areas who are most vocal - I did try and see if any parish members may in some way be connected to the EA and managed to get it pushed out to end May but nothing in any posts.
@New5 - it looks like the locals are going to be OK with the application. Outside of inducing a further delay there's nothing really to say against the application because its been so thorough. Nice one for tracking that down though. ATB
Let's hope it all goes well at the meeting. We should hopefully know sometime next week. Good luck all.
Evening Croissant. Having looked through social media posts after community coffee mornings, there does not appear to be any negative posting. If the locals where in serious objection to the project this avenue would seem ideal for them but I can find no negativity ,nor much else to be honest.
@lb - thanks for your efforts, mate. i hope it's lovely weather for you so you can have a pint afterwards.
the key issues of concern which i've distilled from all of this information are the following:
1) audible noise including beating;
2) lfn including vibration;
3) dust; and finally
4) ****nic
the ea are minded to grant the mpf permit being satisfied that all four of these types of pollution are being managed correctly by the twl proposed modifications to plant and management functions.
for the pc to have an impact with the ea and derail the mpf application they must:
a) convince the ea that the proposals made by twl are insufficient to manage these pollutants; and/or
b) identify something else currently missed by twl and the ea in this iterative review process such that the ea feels warrants further study.
so this is really what you need to be on the lookout for. the only other refuge to prevent this getting green-lit imo is for the pc to ask for an extension. however, i've had a good read through the pc minutes (all of these are available up to the last couple of meetings). hemerdon mine has been a permanent fixture on the agenda. if you read through those minutes, although there are concerns about it's operation, they do not evidence any hostility to the project. there are a number of concerns outside of the scope of the mpf permit application such as road widening, rewilding on road verges and other eco-related matters, but the core concerns of the ea aren't really mentioned. in fact the councillors present are interested in the re-employment of staff once funding is secured. so like i said elsewhere there are big positives to the local community from a working mine at hemerdon.
another interesting tidbit is that the ea wrote to twl and apologized to them for taking so long to get back to them flowing the mpf permit review at the end of 2023. twl indicated that the ea would issue the draft permit by e/o jan 2024 - it took till e/o march. now we have this latest 4 week extension which appears to be yet another slip up by the ea. if you want to grind your teeth on something its the ea not the pc which is the threat. oh an one final point following the closure of the public consultation period (30/05/24) twl have indicated a 4 week review period before its issued. so earliest sight of the mpf permit will be beginning of july!! tranche e for a further £1million coming soon i suspect. atb
@Croissant - I'll try and get down to it. Tuesday is going to be tight so no promises.
ATB LB