Member Info for extrader

We're told (per the Results RNS) that ZIOC has identified an EPC partner for (1) Feasibility Study costings and (2) Processing optimisation studies

and that the EPC Partner

(1) possesses specific, specialised, design and construction expertise in slurry pipeline projects as well as iron ore pellet feed concentrate projects similar to the Zanaga Project; and

(2) possesses proprietary new processing technology for iron ore processing,

A google search had previously thrown up this co, KISCO, working with Ausenco, the slurry pipeline specialist behind the Minas Gerais pipeline in Brazil that resembles ZIOC's requirement.

https://ausenco.com/projects/da-hong-shan-scada-system-for-high-pressure-slurry-pipeline/

It turns out that the client, Kunming Iron and Steel Group Co KISCO was acquired by Bao Wu Steel group a couple of years ago.

https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2183760-chinas-baowu-acquires-kunming-steel-eyes-shandong.

(2) BaoWu is front and centre in the field of novel iron ore processing technologies, witness its flirtation with Aussie producers RioTinto (cf Simandou) and FMG (cf Belinga)

https://stockhead.com.au/resources/ground-breakers-baowu-plays-the-field-in-search-for-green-steel-partner/

and its recent contract with PIF/Aramco for its first overseas 'green steel' plant

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3219364/chinas-baosteel-signs-deal-saudi-aramco-pif-build-green-steel-plant-part-belt-and-road-initiative

It looks pretty much as though BaoWu Group, acting through its KISCO and Baoshan Steel subsidiaries, is the Chinese iron ore technical expert engineering firm ("Chinese EPC Partner").

IMO.

SRT gets a 2-page write-up in this month's SCSW. Subtitle: 'Record order intake.'

Gives a balanced and fairly informative review, highlights the pressures on staffing and funding for project execution, mitigated by local subcontractor use and 'multiple funding sources', incl the recent placing.

Sums up : "I suspect the big multinational defence companies will soon want to enter the market, which may make this an attractive bid candidate. I think the shares are an interesting speculation."

ATB

Great find, HappySwinner.

I wonder what's in Kyrgizstan...?

LOL

WuWeidong seems to be the local Party apparatchik, he's top Party man in Hebei

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202206/11/WS62a40b2ba310fd2b29e62193.html

https://www.crugroup.com/knowledge-and-insights/insights/2021/cru-explains-how-tangshan-influences-the-global-steel-market/

.."The city of Tangshan, two hours east of Beijing, plays an extremely important role in the global steel market. It is the largest steelmaking hub in the world and accounts for 14% of China’s crude steel production, equal to 8% of global production..."

Party blessing looks like a green light for green ore...

.."unless Shard have 36m available to the right person at the right price...@

and even then, there are administrative/reporting speed-bumps between the 2 x 12 regular and the 1x 12 'discretionary' tranches...

Hi Driving,

I was being slightly flippant when I made the suggestion!

Soz.

Depending on circumstances, from the newly-minted Shard facility at a guess?

;->

.."Vale in Oman, which recently celebrated 10 years of successful operations, is the product of a $1.25 billion investment featuring an iron ore pelletising plant with a CAPACITY of 9 million metric tonnes per year and a DISTRIBUTION CENTRE with a THROUGHPUT CAPACITY of 40 million metric tonnes p.a...."

If you think that ZIOC is the only game in town atm, then it would be prudent to secure it before building a corporate venture around it.

Not sure about Simandou first ore (years away at a guess) , but there's Belinga in Gabon that looks as though it'll come onstream in a couple of years. No issue with route to market, apparently ...and claims to be able to scale up significantly

https://www.mining.com/web/fortescue-inks-deal-for-potential-mining-start-at-gabon-project-in-h2-2023/

On the demand side, the 3 x Gulf iron ore plants are only at the 'concept' stage now, with agreements to commission studies - so those plants won't be onstream for a while.

https://im-mining.com/2022/11/02/vale-looks-at-high-grade-iron-ore-pellet-hbi-mega-hubs-in-saudi-arabia-uae-and-oman/

However, in the interim, ZIOC would be a good supplier of feedstock for VALE's existing wholly-owned 9mtpa pelletizer in Oman.

https://www.zawya.com/en/projects/mining/new-briquetting-project-to-boost-vales-operations-in-oman-nly1dobj

ATB

Hi MM,

.."Where did the journalist get this notion from?.."

AIUI , the clue is in the transition from a general source ' experts familiar...' in para 1 to 'an executive' in para 2 -inference being 'someone inside the co'..

ATB

Oh , and FWLIW, AT spoke positively of Forrest /FMG on a number of occasions...

Hey 99icecream,

.."Say Baowu / RTZ vs. Saudi / Vale as the best bidders with sufficient resources to buy ??.."

Another permutation : BaoWu/FMG....

Jun 14 2023 https://www.fmgl.com.au/in-the-news/media-releases/2023/06/14/fortescue-partners-with-world's-largest-steel-maker-to-reduce-emissions-across-iron-and-steel-making

BaoWu's already working with RTZ in Simandou; RTZ scores low on ESG (blowing up Aboriginal caves, for Heaven's sake !!!), whereas 'Twiggy' Forrest (worth AUD 32 Bn) is seriously committed to 'green' and is in a hurry to leave his mark...

https://www.mining.com/web/billionaire-forrest-cant-wait-forever-for-80-billion-congo-hydro-deal/

it's the 'other' Congo, but you get the picture .

Choices, choices....

And here's a bit about Cotec, showing intended applications for the BSL technology...

https://www.cotec.ca/our-business/assets-technologies/overview/

including a link to the BSL website.

.."Given a) and b) above you might want your new study to consider futher expansions also (say to 60 million and to 90 million)??"

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/624411/youre-gonna-need-bigger-boat-jaws-line-origin

Hi Jiving,

You make a fair point!

What would I do ? Most of my holding is LTH via SIPP or ISA, my small top-up yesterday was via s/bet - I'd probably let that go (not at 30p!) as de-risking/other opps, so can see how it might work @ 5-10%.

I've no idea how the mechanics would work .Say, for example "FMG "wanted to gatecrash the party /get a seat at the table:

Would it just do an Open Offer? It wouldn't have access to the retail investor database....

Would it use Primary Bid? How effective would that (necessarily) shotgun approach be?...

Wouldn't that move in itself alert people to 'hidden value' ? Have a look at the Tom Cross (failed) defence re DNX.

In doing this, "FMG" would surely burn bridges with a lot of people in the industry...?

Thinking aloud, maybe an 'activist' investor/hedge fund could ignore the relationship side of things...... but would still have the admin/execution problems ?

Interesting!

The essence is

BSL P & L : 2018 (£594 K); 2019 (£661K); 2020 (£628K); 2021 (not disclosed)

BSL implied value (from funding rounds/equity) :

April 2022 : USD 70 million; Cotec

AFAICS/HTH

Feb 2023: USD 104 million; Cotec

April 2022 : USD 130 million; Mitsui

Continued.....more detail (5 Jun)

"Folk think BSL maybe onto something.."

I'm sure they do.

Looking again BSL's filing history, there's summat going on :

- there are regulatory announcements re Memo + Arts changes (NB : 10 Jan 2019, a week after Trahar became Dir- he stepped down 6 months later); 28 Aug 2020, asserting J Lee's 'significant control'[NB : relinquished Sept 2022]; and 28 Feb 2022 what seems a preSale set-up: talk of Concert Party/Valuation/'Drag-Along'/ 50% and 75% thresholds etc...the Investor Directors cover PSEI (HK) ? no obv shareholding; Concord (31.95%); Mitsui (5.3%) and 'New Investor Director ; in each case ' if any is in office'.

- Three curious things :

(1) despite Cotec only having a 3.1% holding, Treger ('activist investor') a week later ( 2/3/2022 ) has 'significant influence or control', so maybe he's fronting for Concord above ?

(2) PSEI gets a Director, but doesn't seem to have a shareholding. A googlesearch doesn't show anything useful AFAICS; maybe it's pooled with Concord ?

(3) The ex-officio named Directors (and min. qualifying holding ) : JL(5%); DTSL(5%); Founder(5%); New Investor (10%); PSEI (10%); Concord (5%) and Mitsui (10%). Champion (?GLEN) has Andre Bellau, appointed Dec 2021...

In money terms, BSL appear to have turned a corner; and its valuation (as implied by what newcomers have paid for equity) has risen substantially, see https://www.cotec.ca/_resources/financials/CoTec-Q4-2022-MDA.pdf?v=0.256

...The Company completed a USD2 million equity investment in BSL at an implied BSL total equity value of USD70 million during April 2022. The Company was also granted the right to invest a further USD2 million ...on February 28, 2023 the Company made a Subsequent Subscription of USD500,000 at an implied total equity valuation of USD104 million .....with the right to complete a further USD1.5 million Subsequent Subscription until June 30, 2023 .....

BSL continues to test its solutions with many of the world’s leading steel and iron ore producers. This resulted in 2022 revenues increasing by more than 100% year-over-year. Subsequent to the Initial BSL Investment, BSL received another equity investment of USD2 million at a pre-money implied BSL total valuation of USD130 million on a fully diluted basis from a large third-party Japanese steel company [= Mitsui. Why the pretence of anonymity?]. This subsequent equity raise, combined with a significant uplift in BSL’s 2022 revenue, supports the uplift in the value of the Initial BSL Investment as reflected in the Financial Statements....

Stepping back for a minute - if the BSL technology is as good as Vale's (both seem to be still 'under test'), then GLEN (via Champion ?), Mitsui and whoever is behind Concord would get a second bite of the cherry from technology royalties ex BSL.

If Tony Trahar has held on to his original 612 shares (out of the last reported 87,568 total, now 'worth' about $1,500 each), he's doing quite wel

Short version :

The BSL technology appears to work (judging by corporate activity-see below); and Tony T is still a shareholder, after having been (my speculation) on the Board for a short while as a 'safe pair of hands' during restructuring.

In more det(my 2 Jun post) :

The 28 Mar 2019 RNS, saying EPP would proceed if at all on a conventional basis, appeared to kick the BSL option into the long grass. Tony Trahar (AT's Dad) stepping down as BSL Director shortly thereafter seemed to confirm that.

However, taking a fresh look at BSL at Companies House https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10394084, it looks as though BSL HAS come up with some technology that meets the ESG/ 'green ore' criteria.

The spiffy new website https://www.bindingsolutions.uk/our-technology/#how-it-works, appears to suggest that they've come up with something analagous to Vale - "no additional heating requirement"- and may be at an equivalent stage of field testing. NB : I am not an engineer.

Folk think BSL maybe onto something : After a lot of corporate manoevrings (some not completed, we'll know more when the 2022 results are posted), BSL's current shareholders appear to be :

(1) 31.95% Concord Atlantic Limited, a BVI entity, AFAICS (no obvious Board representation, see below*);

(2) 23.1% Julian Lee, CEO, serial entrepreneur;

(3) 10.5% Direct Tech Solutions, Dir. Tony Harris, Australian (Q: representing rump founder shareholders ?);

(4) 10.35% Champion Innovations Ltd, Dir. Andre Belleau, COO /Proj + Innovations, Champion Iron ore, Canada;

Champion has given US$ 3.25m in convertible loans and has a charge reg 14/10/2020 over all BSL assets, incl IP. Champion, of course, has a close relationship with GLEN.

Note 9 : The conditions for these loans are expected to be met in the next financial year and the balance to be converted into EQUITY thereafter.

(5) 5.3% Mitsui Iron Development Pty, (Aus), bought in Mar 2022, at implied valuation of USD 130million for BSL;

(6) 3.1% Cotec Holdings Corp. , Dir. Julian Treger *, bought shares at an implied valuation of USD 70 million; Treger is exCEO Anglo Pacific; Cotec's Chair Lucio Genovese is ex-GLEN and Tom Albanese, ex CEO Rio Tinto, ex CEO Vedanta , ex BoD Ivanhoe Mines is a NED;

* despite only having a 3.1% holding, Treger ('activist investor') had @ 2/3/2022 'significant influence or control', so maybe he's fronting for (1) above ?

Upsum : ZIOC has always had an 'ace' in the quality of its iron ore, nothing new there; what is (or rather, MAY be) new is that it might have another in-house card to play in the dynamics of any sale negotiations :

- Vale may not have a monopoly on the technology;

- the roster of BSL 'connected' shareholders (and their BoDs), including GLEN, Mitsui and whoever is behind Concord Atlantic would benefit from any IP royalties that use of BSL technology might generate.

Continued.......

Cheers, atg,

Not sure if it's the same as this, reported in depeches on 22June

Arise IIP looks to be an ancilliary beneficiary of the AD Ports contract :

.."Arise entrusts the development of the Pointe-Noire ZES to the Codimex Group A major player in the construction and public works sector in the Republic of Congo and in Africa, MPWH, which belongs to the Codimex Group, has been entrusted with the development works for the construction of the Pointe-Noire Special Economic Zone (ZES)...

This program aims to attract foreign direct investment of an estimated one billion dollars, of which 150 million will be dedicated to development of the industrial ecosystem. The first phase should be completed within the next two years, and efforts to attract investors have already begun..."

Codimpex itself looks a bit iffy, but there you go.

VALE doesn't have a monopoly on cold briquette 'green' technology.

ZIOC's studies were with another party (BSL) whose technology has seen investment from GLEN and Mitsui, as detailed earlier.

And BaoWu has also been promoting its 'green ' credentials , but in 2 x approaches : in Oz (emphasis hydrogen) to mitigate the acknowledged poor quality ore; and in M East (hydrogen + high quality ore), with the 3 x Gulfies.

Re Oz, it looks like a bargaining chip, see this :

https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/world-s-biggest-steelmaker-looks-to-wa-for-massive-green-investment-20230512-p5d7xa

"BaoWu Group Chairman Chen Dorong, told Trade Minister Don Farrell in Beijing that the company wanted to decarbonise its operations and was eyeing Australia’s abundant clean energy to support the transformation.

Mr Chen indicated Baowu was keen to work with Australia’s big iron ore miners through a clean steel joint venture.

But, injecting an element of competition into the proposal, he said other locations such as West Africa and South America were also “very well positioned for such an idea”, and the company was also talking to Saudi Arabia..."

That's at least 3 x routes to green, AFAICS.

Whichever technology gets used for the Gulfies could end up becoming defacto leader. Maybe even a rerun of the Betamax vs VHS or Douglas DC-10 vs Lockheed Tristar 'mano a mano's' of the '80's...

ATB