Member Info for esduk

Could certainly be Peel offloading placing shares, though not sure why they let it run above this level previously in that case? It has gone above 45p three times since the placing, including all the way up to 54p.

Well someone has just taken 55k above the ask, so that 80k should now be 25k. Pure MM games, they don't want this budging from this zone.

Yeh I just saw REO Analyst's post on this on X. No immediate direct relevance for us I don't think. It's a US company taking ownership of a German company (with a long history and lots of patents in magnet production), but one with the biggest existing magnet production plants in the US. It means they will have the full non-China mine to magnet supply chain. Additional competition if this brings forward expansion plans at Sumter, but they don't look like they do recycling.

Yeh that was my thinking, that it was on pause for a while after getting the cost estimate (which was needed for the updated valuation in December), potentially to avoid spending until further progress was made in other areas e.g. offtake and feedstock. The explicit Q3 estimate mentioned in the RNS is for the other plants, but if they are going into construction in Q4, as JT says is the plan, then they will need to have completed detailed engineering in Q3, ahead of FID presumably.

SG, the quote from the 15th December RNS contains the following:

"has updated the valuation of the Project with the completion of the Class 2 AACE[i] capital cost estimate as part of the Detailed Engineering Design and Value Engineering Phase (the "Detailed Design")."

"The Detailed Design, undertaken by a multidisciplinary team appointed by CoTec and Mkango and led by independent engineers, PegasusTSI and BBA, is now circa 30% complete and part of the study to date included an optimisation of the operation as well as an updated capex profile."

Yesterday's RNS includes the following:

"The Texas Hub Class 2 AACE Capital Cost Estimate and Study (the "Detailed Design") is being carried out by a multidisciplinary team appointed by CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV: CTH; OTCQX: CTHCF) ("CoTec") and Mkango and led by independent engineering firms PegasusTSI and BBA. The study, which is approximately 35% complete, includes optimization of the operation as well as an updated capital cost profile."

So it seems the class 2 cost estimate had been completed by 15 December as part of the detailed design phase, but is just one element of the wider study / detailed design. So the 30% (December) vs 35% (June) level of completion of detailed design does seem to be a like for like comparison. They expect it do be done by Q3, so hopefully nothing to worry about, but imo Sigas was right to highlight the slow progress of the study as being the one not so positive aspect of the RNS.

I had been searching to find another reference in an RNS to that study earlier as was thinking the same thing Sigas, but got distracted with something else. The timeline for this has always somewhat confused me given that the process / plant is supposed to be based on a modular design. You’ve got to think that they paused it for some reason and that they can pick up the pace in order to get to FID by end of summer / early Autumn.

180k of straight buying, but no dice. Yes it seems they want to keep it at this level.

Lots of buying pressure, will the MM's raise the SP back up?

Yeh the sellers are still there, would be really interested to know their reasoning / motivation. Selling does seem to be drip fed at this level, almost like it's being managed in this zone (if you believe in AIM conspiracy theories).

If we had have heard today that we had secured major UK grant funding or that we had taken FID on Hypromag USA (having secured financing and offtake) then we could have expected a big rise here. But while the news of potential UK grant funding (which we will find out about in the Autumn) and progress on Hypromag USA (but not yet FID) was welcome and is encouraging, it's not going to majorly move the dial here.

Major SP catalysts in my eyes (ones that would take the SP up a substantial amount i.e. greater than 10-15%):

- SEC approval of MKAR listing

- Hypromag USA FID - which would be super charged if it includes a marquee offtaker and / or US grant funding

- MKAR listing / PIPE financing

- MKAR re-rate

- Pulawy and / or Songwe Polish / EU / US grant funding and / or financing

- Hypromag USA BCA

- Contractualisation of Siemens partnership, including material order size

- Major UK grant funding for expansion of Tyseley to 1ktpa and possibly long loop commercial plant

- Major German grant funding for expansion of Pforzheim to 750tpa

- Japan / South Korea / JV announcement

- Songwe FID

- Pulawy FID

- Quarterly results demonstrating scale and profitability at Tyseley and / or Pforzheim

It's a pretty big list of major catalysts which shows you just how many irons we have on the fire.

Not disputing that we should be valued more highly than PRE, just giving the context that their SP was down from 91.8p to 78p last week (Monday to Friday) so any rise there may also relate to them rebounding a little. We were pretty flat last week, trading between 43.5p to 42.5p. So not apples for apples imo.

SG, their SP had been decimated over the last few days though.

It doesn't look like it rumpel. We could potentially put in multiple bids for it i.e. one for short loop scale up and one for long loop commercial plant.

So to me it looks like we are nailed on for a decent portion of funding through either one of the two routes i.e. if we aren't successful with the hub application then we will likely be successful with the critical minerals accelerator application. Our short loop expansion to 1ktpa and our long loop commercial plant are the two mains candidates that we would use the funding for.

Digging into the £20m fund with Gemini it looks like it's a competitive process launching next week and closing in the Autumn, so we won't be finding out if we are successful for 4-5 months it seems. Here is Gemini's summary:

The UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is rolling out the competitive process for the £20 million Magnet Hub and the £25 million Critical Minerals Accelerator using tight, rapid application windows.

Because the £20 million Magnet Hub fund is designed to establish a single, national center of excellence rather than splitting the money among dozens of small players, the application structure is highly specific:

Phase 1: Expression of Interest (EoI)

The Timeline: A brief two-week window officially opens during the week commencing 29 June 2026.

The Scope: Applicants must pitch a high-level conceptual business case. Consortiums must outline their preliminary structure, ensuring that no single partner accounts for more than 70% of the total eligible project costs.Phase

2: Full Application & Pitching

The Timeline: Shortlisted leads from the EoI phase will advance to the full application stage over the summer of 2026.

The Requirement: Applicants must provide granular engineering blueprints, formal raw-feedstock supply agreements, and specific downstream commercial commitments (such as automotive testing protocols).

The Final Decision: The government will select a single lead applicant, with the formal funding award scheduled for autumn 2026. The project delivery window will then run through to March 2030.

What this means for HyProMag and Ionic Technologies

The application criteria create a massive incentive for the two supply chains to either aggressively compete or selectively collaborate:

The "Single Lead" Rule: Because the £20 million will go to a single lead entity, it is highly likely that either the University of Birmingham (HyProMag) or Queen's University Belfast (Ionic) will anchor rival bids.

The "Sandpit" Facility Mandate: The government requires this Hub to act as an open "sandpit" where multiple commercial companies can test open-access recycling equipment. This favors existing hubs like Tyseley Energy Park (Birmingham) or Belfast Harbour, which already host pilot infrastructure.

The Critical Minerals Accelerator Alternative: If either company misses out on the single Magnet Hub prize, they can pivot to the parallel £25 million Accelerator fund. This stream operates on a separate two-stage process opening in July 2026, which explicitly funds multiple midstream recycling projects that are already close to commercialisation.

Can sell 50k for 44.125p vs advertised bid of 43p. Naughty MM's...

Good to see them getting their act together on the recruitment front as well, that is long overdue. These projects need dedicated senior leadership time that Will and Julian can't provide given their other responsibilities. Also good to see us engaging prospective advisors and investment banks on the Hypromag USA listing.

Yeh so basically this is a notice to proceed without actually taking FID. With long lead item procurement and early works packages they can stick to their timetable while they finalise engineering, feedstock, offtake and financing. They are targeting full construction start in Q4. Would have preferred a FID, but this is the next best thing and suggests that we are definitely going to do this project. Assume that the three banks are EXIM and two commercial banks.

Texas hub being advanced!

Also trying to think about what a hub would include? One part of the DRIVE grant funding is being used to pay for a Feasibility Study for the scale up of Tyseley to 1ktpa, but the outcome of that study will presumably not be known for some time, so it's hard to know what any £20m announcement could be for in terms of Mkango / Hypromag? We do need to fund a long loop commercial plant once we have proven our long loop pilot plant, but I assume that we are not yet at the point of committing to commercial scale on this?

I also assume that a hub would include multiple processes / businesses. Is it possible that the hub could bring together the likes of Hypromag, LCM and Ionic in the same location. Given plans for each of them to scale up in their current locations this may seem unlikely. The two main UK supply chains at present are ECM, Hypromag, Mkango Rare Earths UK, UoB, LCM and JLR; and ECM, Ionic, LCM, GKN and Ford. You would imagine that the hub will be based around one of these clusters.