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All the trades in the 17.80's marked as sells, were in fact buys. But yes, in general we have been having mornings with strong buying pressure, which eases off in the afternoon. But the bid is still up 0.5p on the day and 1p over the past two days.

£7 price target post 20:1 consolidation = 35p.

Possibly, but I assume that that route would have required a cross-listing for the new entity ala Greatland Gold. I don't think that route would be simple for a number of reasons, including the fact that the new entity will be listed on a foreign exchange.

With the current environment on AIM, which seems a lot more positive than it has been in a while, I can see a pretty immediate and massive rerate in the SP if we get a positive BCA announcement.

Silver, I think we are still trading at 18p because we recently had a very large block seller for over 10m shares, and we don't know what valuation of the new company will be when the BCA is released. But I think pretty much everyone on here thinks we should and will be higher, both in the run up to the BCA announcement and following it.

Yes, but there will be a clear market value i.e. Mkango % ownership of new SPAC multiplied by market cap of new entity on the NASDAQ. We will also be recognising that value as an asset on our balance sheet. If the SPAC was valued at $200m and we had an ownership stake of 70% then we would have an asset of $140m on our balance sheet and I don't think investors on AIM would ignore this. If they did, as others have said, we are quite likely to be taken over.

Silver, from what we have been told Mkango will retain a majority ownership of the newly listed company, so Mkango shareholders will continue to effectively (indirectly) own a major stake in those assets. We, as shareholders, will not be issued / directly own shares in the new company. It's not too dissimilar to our 80% ownership of Hypromag, the only difference being that the new SPAC listed entity will be a public one with shares traded on the NASDAQ, while Hypromag is privately owned (c. 80% Mkango / c. 20% Cotec).

Absolutely! We were also told that a decision to go proceed with Hypromag USA's project was due mid year, so that could feasibly drop this month too.

The good thing is that we've got a few more of these types of big months coming up, with both the German plant and SPAC listing likely to come in November/December. Not to mention all the SP catalysts that could drop any time, I'm looking at you Japan, South Korea and Canada!

Hi biffa, I've been wondering about what role Will and especially Alex will continue to play in the spun out Lancaster/Mkango Polska business (Songwe and Pulawy projects). At present Will and Alex sit on the boards of and lead the various Mkango subsidiary companies and I assume that this will continue in some form once Songwe and Pulawy assets are SPAC listed on the NASDAQ (Mkango will be the major shareholder, the main difference is that the subsidiary will be a listed entity on the NASDAQ).

In particular I assume that Alex will remain a key figure in the Songwe asset given his relationships in Malawi and experience developing the project. Whether this means sitting on the Board, or playing a more hands on role I don't know. I think there is little chance that Alex and Will detach themselves completely given the potential synergies between the recycling business and the mining/refining business and the fact that they have key relationships with the EU, US embassy, US DoD and Malawi government which are crucial to move the projects forward. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

The main reason for the spin-out was to recognise some value for assets that were not being recognised/valued by the market, and to allow financing of these projects without diluting the parent company. I think the rise in SP since the announcement of the intention to SPAC list on the NASDAQ (though there are also plenty of macro/Hypromag reasons too) is proof that their strategy is working, but I think we still have plenty of catching up to do!

Strong buying pressure continues, could be a good week for the SP

A special mention for rare earths and Malawi. Feels like the EU are going to be putting a lot of pressure on industry/offtakers and financial institutions to support these projects. They’re probably pushing on a pretty open door at the moment given the current magnet supply squeeze. Our German and Polish plants are right in the heart of the European auto industry and if we ever had any problems getting meetings with the big German auto manufacturers, you can bet that we won’t have the same issues going forward. German rearmament is also going to need plenty of RE magnets and we will be well positioned for that too.

Will just reposted this on LinkedIn from the European Parliament’s shadow rapporteur on the CRMA (her original post was on the day of the CRMA priority status announcement).

“With strategic raw material partnerships on equal footing, we secure Europe’s supply – and our responsibility.”

Today’s publication of Strategic Projects in third countries marks an important next step in the implementation of the Critical Raw Materials Act. As the European Parliament’s shadow rapporteur on the CRMA and member of the Critical Raw Materials Board, I strongly welcome that the EU is now extending its focus beyond its borders – deepening partnerships and identifying strategically relevant projects.

From Ukraine to Canada to the United Kingdom: these projects reflect a new, geopolitically aware raw materials policy – open, partnership-based and strategic. They help diversify dependencies and strengthen the resilience of our supply chains.

I want to highlight in particular the projects in Malawi and South Africa, which focus on rare earth elements – a current bottleneck in many green and digital technologies due to our extreme dependency on China.

This shows that the CRMA is already delivering concrete results where they are most urgently needed – less than a year after its adoption. But we also need to catch up where others are moving fast. I have asked the Commission to present by the end of the year a clear progress update on how we are tracking towards our 2030 targets. I am convinced, however, that the strategic projects identified – both within and beyond the EU – are only the beginning. Many more must follow, and the EU must step up its raw materials diplomacy in a serious and sustained way.

The EU has delivered. Now it is time for Member States, financial institutions, investors, and especially the industrial offtakers to support and make use of these projects. Security of supply comes at a price – politics has acted, and it is now time for European industry to follow suit.

We must continue the close dialogue between industry, policymakers and the Commission to identify further action – in downstream processing, recycling, and innovative financing – in what remains a monopolistic and dysfunctional global market.

We’re staying the course: the CRMA is not an end in itself, but a tool of European strategic capability – for secure, sustainable, and smart supply chains.

Great spot Floyd! Another potential string to our bow. We are a good bit more advanced than Ionic too, so while their tech is different and potentially could be complementary, we should have first mover advantage here.

Yeh a few traders taking 10-15% profit on buys in the 15's / 16p, which shouldn't take too long to clear. Much more like normal business is resumed though with the SP acting responsively to trades and high volume delayed trades on either side of the book. I would happily take a string of 5% up days in the build up to the news we are expecting this month.

I think the SPAC will start with a minimum of $5m in cash from CrownProptech if my memory serves me right. If there is money looking to come in at high valuations i.e. $200m as you say, then definitely makes sense for us to take another $10-20m to give ourselves a good runway to FID. Cohen and Co really seem to know what they are doing, so I am expecting good things.

I agree, think it makes sense for the new SPAC to take advantage of the current market and raise a significant amount of capital at listing in order to get the Pulawy feasibility study and Songwe FEED studies complete and get those projects closer to FID.

A few snippets from the Reuters article that Parker posted the headline to earlier. I particularly like this bit "they are willing to pay any price".

BERLIN/LONDON/DETROIT (Reuters) -Frank Eckard, CEO of a German magnet maker, has been fielding a flood of calls in recent weeks. Exasperated automakers and parts suppliers have been desperate to find alternative sources of magnets, which are in short supply due to Chinese export curbs.

Some told Eckard their factories could be idled by mid-July without backup magnet supplies. "The whole car industry is in full panic," said Eckard, CEO of Magnosphere, based in Troisdorf, Germany. "They are willing to pay any price."

This time, as the rare-earths bottleneck tightens, the industry has few good options, given the extent to which China dominates the market. The fate of automakers' assembly lines has been left to a small team of Chinese bureaucrats as it reviews hundreds of applications for export permits.

Several European auto-supplier plants have already shut down, with more outages coming, said the region's auto supplier association, CLEPA.

"Sooner or later, this will confront everyone," said CLEPA Secretary-General Benjamin Krieger.

"It's really about identifying ... and finding alternative solutions" outside China, Joseph Palmieri, head of supply chain management at supplier Aptiv, said at a conference in Detroit last week.

To have digested 10m+ in big block sells and be 2p+ up on when they started is a massive bullish signal. Lots of new money coming in, and some of it looks like it isn't PI buying. Lots more £10k chunks on buying this morning, after lots of £20k chunks on Friday.

Agreed, the buying pressure certainly seems to be there and there aren't many sellers around (2 sells totalling 22k shares vs 736k in buys). If those dynamics continue, it won't be long until 20p.

Yep normal service seems to have resumed, moving fast!