Member Info for BOTS_PROJECTS

Surely this is tongue in cheek representation of the KAV opportunity in Botswana. Kalahari Copper Belt is emerging as a world class copper mining jurisdiction (being developed by Khoemacau and Sandfire projects). But they have explored and found and issued resources and then reserves - KAV has yet to issue meaningful numbers so to my mind, you cannot claim your exploration licences and projects are 'world class'. Just yet anyways but here is hoping !

Summary of power shortage in southern africa - opportunity is huge. Why is Govt of Bots soooo slow to embrace and resolve this?

https://africanenergyresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2023-09-08-Letter-to-AEL-Shareholders.pdf

In the last 15-months, the power shortages in southern Africa have worsened significantly. In

Zambia the water levels at Lake Kariba early this year were at the lowest levels seen in over 20-years,

causing restrictions in hydro power generation. In South Africa a further deterioration in Eskom’s

coal-fired fleet availability has resulted in widespread and persistent load shedding. In Botswana

ongoing problems with the Morupule power plant has resulted in regular load shedding. The

generation problems in the major power producers have caused severe power disruptions across

the southern African region with blackouts and widespread load shedding on a regular basis in many

countries. This regional power crisis, which in February was declared as a ‘State of Disaster' in South

Africa, is driving strong interest in the Sese Project.

Like I said, TG has done well to keep the lights on when not being supported by an inept and weak Govt / Ministry. What is ahead is of more interest than what has gone before (but 1 billion shares issued does hurt the look of project returns regardless of what anyone says).

As best I know, there are 2 CBM competitors currently in Botswana - Sekaname who were the other party in the 100MW RFP (I wonder where they are now) and this crowd now called Botala Energy.

https://businessweekly.co.bw/companies-markets/botala-energy-mulls-debut-on-the-bse

They certainly seem to have big plans ahead - hope they have the money (and more) to advance their grand plans.

I was trying to figure out where their leases are in relation to Tlou. Seems to me they must be reasonably close

Sustainability and ESG are all the current rage. Mining was never ever ever never viewed previously as a 'green' activity - now the clevers are in full overdrive to convince the investment world at large those big trucks and flaring gas and used tyres and blah blah are all busy getting cleaned up and soon be carbon neutral. Oh and dont forget the great big deep holes in the ground as well - very green monstrosicities.

But hey, lets agree to disagree on this one.

Brad, are you sharing facts or are you sharing your opinion? There is so much content in your post that surely has to be your assessment of why progress for Tlou has been blindingly slow. You say you have total faith in TG - fair enough, is your view and you are entitled to it.

But he is both CEO and also major shareholder. And his mate from previous business success is Chairman. That is a bad look for governance and independence. No doubt you (and many others) will argue this means their interests are aligned with shareholders BUT shareholders and Non Execs should be assessing the performance of the management team.

Has the management team done a good job? Progress has been painfully slow; 1 billion shares are now in issue; they have been going at this Gas to Power tender for 7 or 8 years now and still not generating electricity; then all the diversionary strategies you mention in your post; and and and. Against that, TG has kept the lights on and maybe this company has a shot at a bright future. I know this is an important achievement because i know quite a few Botswana projects similarly mired in endless quicksand caused by a Govt / Ministry that talks about supporting business and investment but the reality is they do not support business progression in any normal sense. This is / has been the problem for Botswana for a long time - I keep looking for signs that it will get better.

FTLOG, mining is anything but a 'green' activity ! We all might try and dress it up in fancy sounding words, but mining is drill, blast, load, haul, and put through a processing plant that uses god knows what to separate clay, rock and metals into whatever the pay load is. Chemicals are used all over the place; big mining equipment are used all over the place (they run on dirty diesel); ..... Please get real and sop this trying to hoodwink intelligent people who actually are supportive of mining, know what goes on in mining, and really we dont want to read stupid, woke, self-indulgent waffle .......

Key take-aways from the Report for me are copied below. Cement and concrete supply chains are moving slowly to accept pozzolans as substitute for fly-ash (which is still in plentiful supply sadly). That has to change in order for Sunrise projects to prosper. This constant criticism of slow progress and perceived inability of management to 'seal a deal' really underscores how little those posters understand about supply chain, product substitution, product acceptance, etc in the behemoth cement and concrete industry ! The speed at which decarbonisation of the cement industry happens is key to all this. As is an ever-increasing number of states mandating SCM use.

"Nevertheless, there are a significant number of large independent ready-mix companies owned by non-cement producing materials (aggregate) companies, some of which are showing interest in adding natural pozzolan to their mix of products".

"Independent production of natural pozzolan is currently taking place at dedicated grinding plants in Utah (Geofortis) and Arizona (Kirkland Mining & Drake Cement) where the market is either internal or with the ready-mix companies and with fly ash suppliers producing blended fly ash/natural pozzolan products".

"fly ash production will reduce from over 24.3 mtpa in 2021 to 15.7 mtpa in 2023 but consumption will increase and be met from overseas imports and/or reclamation of historically ponded fly ash".

"Whilst looking at the US is instructive, when those same statistics are considered on state-by-state basis there are substantial regional differences. These differences arise due to the availability of different SCMs in different states, transport costs and state-to-state infrastructure etc., as well as varying state legislation on mandating SCM use and decarbonisation of the cement industry".

"The Company’s natural pozzolan projects are well placed to benefit from these structural changes in the cement and concrete industries and the forecast increase in the market for natural pozzolan".

Brad, not wishing to come across as confrontational but i do remember quite some time ago when you were front and centre criticising anyone who posted here who posted criticism of Tlou / Gilby / reasons for slow progress. Now you say you dont post regularly because you are miffed with the interactive nature of LSE and irrelevant ads etc.

Are you sure you are being honest with yourself ?

Thanks Castiron. Decent amount of real estate under licence then.

I see KAV issued interims today. What is confusing me is they seem to be bouncing around from exploration target to exploration target in Botswana, having said previously the results were encouraging. And i interpreted today's words re Botswana as saying more exploration $$$ would need to be spent. And on top of that, there is this apparent pivot to gold in Zimbabwe, where I doubt they can progress any project quickly (ie will need cash flow).

This company is still sending me very confusing messages. But the Kalahari Copper Belt is getting a lot of attention.

Kalahari Copper Belt projects in Botswana I am aware of are: Khoemacau (in production), Sandfire (under construction), Premium Nickel Resources (private comapny bring BCL mines back into production), and then exploration companies such as Kavango, Cobre and ENRG Elements.

Does anyone reading here know of any other companies, listed or private, with exposure to copper in Botswana ? It is good to know who has boots on the ground and spending $$$ to progress projects.

Well they have had a long lead time to manage all these issues. I cannot but think that previous communications by management, whilst not saying they were misleading were not helping shareholders with a clear understanding of the road ahead. Obvious detail continues to be lacking and while i know they are grinding through a construction phase currently, the market knows what detail is required. And so does Tlou management. They cannot avoid detail on first power delivered, gas flows, gas content, tariff .... for ever. And I doubt the market is going to take Tlou seriously until they provide.

I think there is nowhere as much dewatering activity taking place on site as many here seem to think. If there was, then Tlou would have a significant volume of water to deal with. And therefore also a quantity of gas that could be captured and compressed for future use. We never hear about any of this - and management here are never shy to promote a good story.

Additionally, water is a scarce resource in Botswana and, if collected in large quantity, Tlou would need to put it to good use somehow. Otherwise they would be criticised or in breach of their environmental obligations. I think it is about time Tlou management came clean and informed the market clearly and unambiguously about on site developments.

Reality i think is they finally are on track to produce gas and generate electricity - but much of what they promoted before was simply hot air. How much and how quickly is what is likely to drive share price ahead - those substations need to progress nearer completion before the PR starts again in earnest i reckon.

Those following here will presumably know Khoemacau is up for sale and 6 potential suitors named in local press - Citic Pacific, MMG, Exxaro, Endeavour Mining, Impala Platinum and Zijin Mining. Ok so this is an operational mine that the Owners have commissioned and brought into production - but they want to offload now rather than keep operating for themselves. There is a strong possibility that means there is a heavy financial commitment ahead to keep developing the mine/project, and is something they dont fancy.

What I am wondering though is - could this large corporate action being weighing heavily on Kavango and other copper explorers in Botswana (Cobra for one; Sandfire are actually building out their Motheo project now; some other smaller exploration plays).

Anyone close enough to what goes on in Botswana and has a view on this ??

Great that the TL completes later this year. It is however not much use until the substations are built, tested and operational. On that, they say they are onsite carrying out initial work. Hardly inspiring news just yet.

But keep picking up cheap stock Sono - there is lots and lots of it available.

Caddy - who is claiming that Sunrise is a major player? They are an exploration compant essentially and until a major player in pozzolan or perlite supply chain sign an Offtake agreement, then it is hard to see Sunrise making a major leap forward. There was a reference recently about Sunrise watching the 2 'go it alone' pozzolan players - i think their progress continues to be frustrated because there is still plentiful supply of fly-ash available.

If the pr from the company is all about 2023 being a good year ahead, why on earth would there be a major seller at these levels. That makes no sense whatsoever to me. Happy if you can help me understand your logic Terrafin.

Brad, there is no shortage of great sounding sound-bytes about Tlou market potential and benefits to wider Bots economy. Those have been offered for as near long as i can remember. Potential needs to translate to reality eventually - and that has taken too long here (and many other projects - as I have suggested in recent posts).

GG seems to have disappeared from Tlou airwaves past couple years. I was told he owned a pub in Gaborone so maybe that is where he is earning an income. I certainly doubt he is out in the filed getting his boots dirty. In any event, GG is a follower (not a leader). I was recently told Minister Moagi is enjoying his status as Cabinet Minister a bit too much and likely to be replaced as Energy minister in next cabinet. He has talked the talk but his scorecard frankly is rather thin in terms of meaningful achievements. Maybe that is linked to Bots Govt having to manage infrastructural projects there judiciously and therefore Moagi legacy will be seen as a safe pair of hands. He cannot imo be seen as a particular friend of Tlou - for simple reason Tlou progress (as well as CBM) has been snail pace.

Yes, I posted on LSE a long time ago. No time or interest until recently; what has changed is my macro view of Botswana market opportunity and how can I make money.

The Business Weekly, Botswana is a reasonably good (for Botswana) newspaper to read at link:https://businessweekly.co.bw/

2 recent articles there of interest - record volume on BSE (good sign the locals are piling into the market to hold stock before the thundering heard arrive and they sell stock to international funds and late-comer punters. Seen this so many times before in other markets, especially Asia many moons ago. Second one is that Pres Masisi is attendingA frica Down Under Conference to be held in Perth, Australia from the 6th – 8th September 2023. Read article: Botswana To Engage Australian Business Community.

The cynic in me says this is part of the Govt drive ahead of next year elections to drum up more FDI /mining exploration investments to push up jobs creation numbers. Saying Botswana is a great investment destination, low corruption, market friendly jurisdiction is fine - would Gilby confirm he has had strong support from Govt and Ministry to get CBM moving in Botswana. I doubt so.

There is also the re-opening of the Selebi-Phikwe mine which used to be a thriving commercial community but was botched (through greed) of the previous presidential regime. And Pula Steel should be a thriving business but was again mis-managed but is now resurrecting. A good bell weather for progess is what investment is being made in the Transportation sector, so look for progress with railway developments - Trans Kalahari Express linking Walvis Bay, Namibia to east coast S Africa through Botswana. And also this railway project: 'Trans-Zambezi Railway extension from Grootfontein to Katima Mulilo via Rundu in Namibia and is part of a multinational railway line between Namibia and Zambia via the Zambezi region'. Again strong signals that FDI is coming into Botswana markets, which then should spin over into the smaller listed plays. But this all takes time.

Does it say when you register on LSE you must be invested in a company before you can post? No of course it doesnt.

I have invested in Botswana companies for maybe 20 years now, and was for the past 5 or so years very negative on the country environment. My view on that is changing back to being more positive but I am not a full blown bull as yet. Far from it.

The Khoemacau copper project is what is drawing me back there although it is a private company. There is Sandfire Resources (more copper) which then makes me look at Kavango Resources (I think they will strike big at some point). There is a lot of noise around Recon Africa which is oil & gas exploration in Namibia and Botswana but the green meanines are out to block this one (rightly so i think). Tsodilo Resources (Listed TSX) is an iron ore and diamonds play but currently locked in a licence dispute with Minsitry of Mines (never a good sign). Botswana Diamonds is an exploration play, and Lucara Diamonds is the large listed play (cheap at moment). And Tlou and Pure Energy are the listed CBM players fighting all the way to get their projects commercialised.

The common theme in all these Botswana projects (except Khoemacau and Sandfire) is they have been at it for years in Botswana and all struggle with the system there. Understanding the macro issues there is imo pretty crucial to understanding if and when it is time to put money in or take it out.