Sapan Ghai, CCO at Sovereign Metals, discusses their superior graphite test results. Watch the video here.
@InvestPest - Last night CRTM tweeted a small video of the roadworks starting. It doesn't show much, just a water tanker spraying water on a dirt road, but at least its something
https://x.com/CriticalMetals_/status/1787952954755920209
At least it's something to listen to whilst we wait for :
- confirmation that the Tantalum sold in March and is now business as usual monthly sales
- confirmation that the lithium pilot plant is actually now producing 250 tonnes per month as planned
- an update on the lithium petalite off take agreement with the ceramics partner that was said to be "progressing well" in November 2023
- an update on the lithium exploration drilling campaigns that were planned across all licence areas (Lithium Ridge, Spodumene Hill, Uis) throughout 2024
- an update on the 3,000 metre drill programme in Brandberg West that started last year and hasn't been mentioned since October 2023.
Did I forget anything ? Oh yes, Happy 1st Birthday to the Strategic Assessment project ;-)
@Richyf3 - totally agree about poor investor relations. Several times in the past I've contacted their investor relations and just had no response. Then, when I've contacted AV about it, he gets them to answer straight away. Basic queries shouldn't need the CEO involvement. They aren't a tiny company anymore, they should be better at this stuff.
My pet small complaint is that they won't publish a calendar of when the quarterly updates are released - we shouldn't be taken by surprise on them being released. That should be simple, and investor relations told me over a year ago that they'd be putting a calendar up on the website - it never happened.
Over the last few years these always seem to have a run up to the dividend payment date - 9th May this year. As you'd expect really with people anticipating the dividend re-investments.
Hasn't happened yet this year but I wouldn't bet against it starting at some point. Exact timing obviously impossible, but they just don't seem to spend too long under 200p whenever they do drop. Downside looks limited so it's a good place to be adding if you're so inclined. Can see it being back around 220p soon enough.
Interesting question. I thought it was all covered under the small scale mining licence they have (SMEP No. 14784).
Also interesting, that I've not heard RF address, is what is the plan for when the current mining licence expires on 29th December this year ? I believe it is extendable, but from memory in order to extend you have to be able to prove an economically viable mine.
If I'm remembering that correctly, it makes that JORC report and the sales even more important.
Perhaps it will change this time, but it does sound like the same interview again and again for the past 18 months.
You really have to question why RF keeps saying things like "we could ramp up our production from 10'000 to 15'000 (tons) a month just by adding more equipment".
16th March 2023 he said - "By end April, no by end May probably, we’ll be at 10,000 tonnes per month”.
14th June 2023 he said - "Produce minimum of 6,000 tonnes per month, ramp up to 10,000 tonnes per month over the next few months, then potentially up to 15,000 tonnes per month”.
He talks about "ramping up", but production has been what, 6,000 tonnes in total over 18 months ? If that is what is actually ready to go - all we really know is that 2 x 40 tonne trucks have gone to OM Metals before the road couldn't handle any more.
They have never got even any order of magnitude near to 10,000 tonnes per month, or 6,000 tonnes. They doesn't seem to be any mine plan, any equipment ready, or any real infrastructure at Molulu to cope with that sort of ore volume.
It's just silly even to mention volumes like that at the moment.
Very strange repeated trades for 221 shares today - anyone any idea what this might be ?
I just happened to be looking at the trades and kept seeing the "221" figure over and over.
Date/Time Price. Shares
04/29/2024 15:41:26 BST 453.00 221
04/29/2024 15:07:57 BST 450.00 221
04/29/2024 15:02:55 BST 450.50 221
04/29/2024 14:55:06 BST 451.00 221
04/29/2024 14:44:30 BST 451.00 221
04/29/2024 14:41:00 BST 451.00 221
04/29/2024 14:35:30 BST 450.84 221
04/29/2024 14:33:05 BST 454.50 221
04/29/2024 14:29:22 BST 450.00 221
04/29/2024 14:22:12 BST 450.00 221
04/29/2024 14:12:08 BST 449.50 221
04/29/2024 13:27:12 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 13:15:04 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 13:03:06 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 12:49:43 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 12:15:32 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 12:07:05 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 11:57:28 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 11:41:24 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 11:29:46 BST 447.00 221
04/29/2024 11:19:37 BST 447.00 221
04/29/2024 11:07:58 BST 447.00 221
04/29/2024 10:51:15 BST 447.50 221
04/29/2024 10:17:07 BST 448.00 221
04/29/2024 10:07:11 BST 448.00 221
04/29/2024 9:56:56 BST 446.00 221
04/29/2024 9:11:10 BST 445.00 221
@InvestPest - I for one would be very interested to hear anything you find out about the road. Unfortunately I don't believe that the official CRTM communications are reliable, so any independent information is valuable.
The issue of the suitability of the road was known about since CRTM started, so it is surprising that it's recently become the blocker to any progress. The initial prospectus said -
"Access to the project area is from Lubumbashi City to Malambwe village travelling northwest on the N5 (Kasenga road) on good tarred road, from Malambwe one travels in a NE direction to the Molulu project area which is accessible through “Mama Sifa’s” farm on poor dirt road."
"Although the route to Lubumbashi City is mainly on the N1 tarred road, the last 20km are on a dirt road. Although the Company plans to fund the upgrading of about 12km of this road, until this takes place, there is a risk of difficulties getting to the Project and/or trucking minerals produced from the Project for processing as in the rainy season the dirt roads can become treacherous." .
"Road rehabilitation to commence immediately to provide trucks transporting copper and cobalt ore with a stable access road during the rainy season, which typically runs from October to April;"
"One of the first activities that the Enlarged Group intends to undertake after Re-Admission is rehabilitation of the dirt road leading to the Project. Historically, the road has not been well maintained, which coupled with several rainy seasons, has made the road treacherous. Using a road grader and creating a simple drainage gradient would allow the road to be used in all seasons. The upgraded and improved road would in turn allow for the ore hauling trucks to deliver ore to third-party processing plants in the Lubumbashi or Likasi areas, following expectedly successful oxide mining."
This was all written in 2022.
Funding has also been raised on several occasions - the initial raising in 2022 said $320,000 was to be spent on "capital expenditure including road rehabilitation". There was a raise on 9th Jan 2024 of £215,000, which was to be used for "used for advancing the diamond drilling campaign at Molulu and for the upgrade of the public road to Molulu". Then the latest issue of CLNs on 10th April 2024 to be used for "Improve the public road to Molulu".
It's all very perplexing.
Observer101 - agree with everything you say. I still think there are deals on the table. AV has been consistently upbeat about the process, even very recently. I trust in AV and the team to get the best deal for ATM.
I do have a problem with the open-ended nature of the updates though - “we’ll update you when we next update you” type of thing.
I see no reason why there couldn’t be a high level timeline laid out. I.e. we’ll narrow the offers to the best 3 by this date, we’ll go to next level of detail and non-binding offers on these 3 by this date, and we’re expecting to make a decision by this date.
They can always update the timelines if they need to.
This total vacuum is the very worst in terms of communications.
Barclays were appointed on 11th May 2023 to find the strategic partner.
Oh, what happy days summer 2023 were.
AV was saying “…. it is imperative that (Andrada) collaborates with an appropriate strategic partner to realise value from this opportunity within the shortest timeframe”
The share price went from 5.8p to 8.6p over the following 6 weeks.
The process was going to be finished by end September.
Then……well…..nothing on the strategic partner at all.
Operationally the company is doing very well, but they really need to close this strategic direction stuff out one way or the other, or provide a much more detailed update of what is happening.
The talk of US funding, grant aid or loans, just seems bizarre to me.
Russell is being taken through the courts in the US for one of the companies he owns (Baobab Physical Commodities) failing to repay a previous bank loan( to M&T Bank). It's not just the company - Russell himself is named as a defendant in the proceedings.
Baobab Physical Commodities is a subsidiary company of Baobab Asset Management (also owned by Russell). CRTM owes around $1m to Baobab Asset Management, following the buyout of Madini Occidental (part owned by Russell) by CRTM late last year.
So there is a close and unfortunate link between CRTM and the company being taken to court for non-payment of a bank loan.
I've no idea on the details of the case - it might be totally invalid, might be thrown out of court, or Russell might win. Of course, anything is possible.
However, if someone in the US government spends even 15 minutes doing basic background checks - it seems very unlikely that they would have the risk appetite to approve any financing given these connections, especially while the case is still running.