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I'm still thinking late November/early December, if we go off precedent timelines and the director's RSU's which are only granted to them if we list by the end of the year.

velcro, on Poland I reckon European Investment Bank (EIB) are another likely cheap debt provider given we got the EU's CRMA Strategic Project status, and for the same reason the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Songwe in Malawi.

I refer you to a previous post I wrote on this.

Our deal with Cotec is for them to find the funding for all of the US plants. We bring the IP and know how to the table, they source the funding, that's the value each party brings to the JV. We have construction and commissioning complete on the first plant in the UK, nearly complete for the second in Germany, and will not be providing any funding for the third plant / Hypromag USA plant in Texas (or the other two plants referred to in today's RNS).

JT and Cotec's CFO Braam Jonker have both separately suggested that other than funding the detailed engineering and other pre construction devex and admin / transaction costs, Cotec are unlikely to need to provide further funding for Hypromag USA's first plant at a project level.

They have suggested that at least two thirds of the required funding requirement will come from project finance debt, either EXIM or a combo of EXIM and the two commercial banks they are talking to. The rest they have suggested will come from a combination of US grants, offtake financing and, if needed, third party equity investment at the project level (not the parent company level).

You can apply the same dynamics to future plants too. Mainly financed through project finance debt and a combination of offtake financing, grants and third party equity at the project level. JT suggested that offtakers who are being supplied by the particular plant may want an equity stake in that plant, along similar lines to the Apple and MP deal. Financing the second and third US plants should be easier than the first, as there will be more of a track record. Point is that there are many ways to skin a cat, but none of these scenarios involve Mkango having to fork out any cash in the US.

If they decide to increase name plate capacity of Tyseley or our German plant beyond current 350tpa, then we would need to find the money. But at 350tpa those plants should be churning out profit after tax / FCF of over $15m a year (by my high level calcs), so I'm sure we could easily get bank financing for anything we couldn't fund through cashflow or further government grants. Again, this would be a good problem to have, as we would be expanding due to high demand for our product, and we would have our choice of funding sources.

For any Japan, South Korea or Canada projects we don't know what the arrangements will be. But I think it's fairly safe to say that we will be looking to get an even better deal than we did in the US and that such a deal is very unlikely to require us to contribute towards project funding. We bring the know how and exclusive license / IP, others bring the money. That is the beauty of the model!

For the Songwe and Pulawy projects, the PIPE financing that goes alongside MKAR's SPAC listing on the NASDAQ, will fund the development of those projects.

They are communication trades between MM's and normally come when individual MM's move their position on the bid and / or ask on L2.

SG, is that across all of your investments i.e. including pension?

Nice post velcro. My NPV calcs for Mkango's share of UK and Germany plants on relatively conservative assumptions, using current nameplate capacity, are $174m and $146m respectively.

Jnr, I think there's only one way to interpret today's RNS, so for once, relax and let yourself see the positives.

In terms of jobs (assuming that was mainly aimed at me), I'm lucky to be consulting at the moment and therefore have flexibility and often don't work a full week. Recently, I also tend to find myself doing a lot of work in the evenings and on the weekends to make up for all my time on here. But for me, at c.65% of my portfolio, my time spent on here is of great value to me, particularly at such an inflection point in the company's history.

Bid moved up to 40p, ask at 41p. We have cleared previous resistance. Long and strong.

Moving very strongly now, 39.5p bid / 41p ask.

I think you mean November 2021 Monteacute? The SP in 2017 was between 3.25p and 8p.

You shouldn't be doing things that make you uncomfortable. Your strategy should also depend on what your goals are. My updated goal is for Mkango to pay off my mortgage early, allow me to retire in five years time and take my SIPP to a valuation that will provide my wife and I with a comfortable retirement when we're able to start drawing it. I have a good idea of what the numbers are that I need to achieve this and I am backing Mkango to deliver. If they fail to deliver, or only partially deliver, then I will just work longer. So for me, I feel comfortable with them being a big weighting in my portfolio.

I look at the S&P and don't see the same opportunity at the moment (in fact I see the opposite). Trying to pick out other gems on AIM and elsewhere has not proved that fruitful in the past. So I mainly stick to what I know, and that is Mkango and Rare Earths. Everyone will have different goals, and I'm certainly not suggesting that this strategy should be used by others. But I am comfortable with it and sleep well at night, which is always a good sign.

Price and value are two very different things. A year ago I had a plan for the exit points at which I would start to take out serious levels of profit here. When the Hypromag USA feasibility study came out, I had to adjust these exit points. When the indicative $400m valuation of our share of MKAR came out, I had to adjust them again. With the announcement today I will probably adjust them once more. The price may be higher than it was back then, but the potential value has grown even more.

Rick Rule talks about this a lot. Agnico Eagle, the most profitable / successful major gold miner globally is up by 92% in the past year, but to him it is cheaper today (in terms of price to value) than it was a year ago. It's trading at a lower multiple than it was a year ago. It's sometimes hard for people to separate price and value in their minds, but I think a lot of the greatest investors e.g. WB, have built their success on knowing the difference and acting on it.

Gallmat, as you know, I have had a holding in Cotec for a long time now. It is a small holding compared to my Mkango one, and I bought more on the pull back yesterday (as I did here). Cotec gives more exposure to other metals, and I like the business model in general, particularly the focus on processing / recycling tech, given how long it takes build mines in the Western world.

What it doesn't have is this community, a free carry (in terms of funding) to production, a near term SPAC listing (American valuation of a portion of its assets, indicatively $400m) and the same global exposure. I have investments in other metals companies, so I like that Mkango is a pure-play RE company, at a time when RE's are front and centre of the conversation. I would say that Mkango is less risky compared to Cotec if we are just looking at RE, given it doesn't need to raise the funds, its better global reach and its diversification across the full RE value chain. Cotec is better diversified across the metals / minerals space, if you are looking for wide exposure there.

Bid moved up to 38p now, looking strong.

Looks like MM’s are starting her up with a 37p bid. Could be a fun day. All that’s changed since we got to 47p a few weeks ago is that our potential Hypromag USA valuation has tripled…

Kaeren, I think most LTH here are in buy the dip mode which has worked so well on the S&P and NASDAQ for years. I sometimes look at my portfolio and think to myself that it’s crazy that I own more stock now than I did a year ago, before the 30p+ rise (I owned a lot to start with!).

But the business case is so compelling and keeps improving, so I keep adding. They would not be announcing this is plans for the Texas plant (including financing, feed supply, offtake and government grants/deals) were not progressing very well.

Fantastic! Seems like my top ups in Mkango and Cotec yesterday were luckily timed! Very bullish statement from JT, seems very confident that the US government support, offtake and feedstock is there.

He again references higher NdPr and magnet prices compared to when the $600m valuation was done.

The start of a lot of great news to come in the next few months.

I think worth getting a view from CodeJunkie and maybe Jimzi, who seem to have much better L2 platforms than this one. I think the L2 here only gives you part of the picture and probably isn't worth the money. But as I follow the share closely it's become a bit of a habit for me so I keep the direct debit going despite all this.

Yep, combination of very strong buying off the bounce from 34p support, with lack of large scale selling, which there had been for the last few days. There has been the odd large sell sprinkled in, but there have been many more large buys in comparison.

Magic, without meaning to be rude... maybe read the posts on this already before posting a question that has already been answered by Gallmat.

Gallmat, I saw the Cotec price down yesterday and this morning, for no good reason (other than the retraction which was just procedural) and on tiny volume. Sold some more gold shares and filled my boots there, having previously taken some profit in Cotec last week (luckily for me at the highs). You can really take advantage of situations like this on thinly traded shares.