Angel says .96p for starters 30 Aug 2013 18:27
West African Minerals's Djadom projects offer huge potential, says SP Angel
By Ian Lyall June 10 2013, 1:00pm
first stabs at assessing the early-stage project economics. He puts total
capital expenditure at £1.135bn.
In fact Meyer makes one of the
Boutique resources house SP Angel has taken an in-depth look at
West African Minerals (LON:WAFM), the star performer in the sector, and has concluded there is room for significant further growth in its stock market valuation.
Setting a 96 pence-a-share price target, analyst John Meyer, a veteran of the sector, rates the stock a ‘buy’.
His assessment focuses on the potential of the southern licenses at Djadom, in east Cameroon.
It is next door to the 436mln-tonne Mbalam-Nabeba DSO discovery, and the analyst is assuming WAFM is able to compile a resource around half the size of its larger neighbour.
In fact Meyer makes one of the first stabs at assessing the early-stage project economics. He puts total capital expenditure at £1.135bn, including a £745mln contribution to the railroad from Cameroon’s interior to the coast.
His operating costs estimates, meanwhile, are based on the pathfinder work done by Afferro (LON:AFF), which has developed the 2.5bn Nkout deposit in the country.
On this basis the SP Angel analyst puts the mining costs at US$11.42 per tonne, or a US$4.58 a tonne for any DSO (direct shipping ore) uncovered.
The most compelling figure is possibly the net present value of the Djadom property, which is put at a shade under US$1bn (US$997mln) based on a 12.5% discount rate. The internal rate of return is estimated to be 29%.
“It is difficult to absolutely value a company with no confirmed resource and no set route for transporting its product to market,” said Meyer.
“However, drilling and trenching confirms the presence of iron ore in substantial structures on a number of licenses and within reasonable distance of proposed rail routes.”
Vice chairman Brad Mills told Proactive Investors in April the group could have a maiden resource compiled for its flagship Cameroon asset by the summer if its US$5mln infill drilling programme goes to plan.
The drilling of Djadom has yielded some interesting and exciting results.