Member Info for faramog

Yes BenB .. 'in fortune we trust' IMO DYOY etc etc

I heard Craig 3 times now .. really like the man .. on top of the detail, to the point and in the way he spoke with his staff very respectful... like him a lot

Cost control often mean 'staff', but getting rid of 'blacks' will be seen as a problem in SA and probably counter-productive. Expansion of staff I am sure will be only on demonstrable need and competence, so a relative shrink as expansion of operation occurs is more likely I would think.

I took the shrink to mean 'focus of the core' and stop dancing around all the twinkly balls that cost, time & resource and have delivered nothing of any value so far.... the day job is the one which needs focus

Sounds like Belco may start delivering and largely running itself .. it is the first real value add down the chain. I do wonder whether the 'shrink' may mean disposal (in due course) of the VRFB-type shareholdings

Yes DD... does highlight things

But as I said a few days ago, FM achieved a lot and really character assassination is not helpful. I for one am very relieved there is now a CEO focused on the 'day job' who so clearly is up on the detail and understands the plant operations detail.

Lets look forward and just accept that FM had strengths as well as failings - now is most definitely the time for a wavering punter to buy in

Interesting .. no shying away from questions and very clear already .......he really is up on the detail already

dividends - yes .. in due course .. what a daft question

Craig buying shares - yes .. when compliance sorted with him

communication - yes Investor meets every quarter .. expect one of these every quarter (at least)

What is the chance of BMN surviving- score 1-10 - laughed and then said 'if we get back to basics' .... will not survive but thrive' .... interesting that he clearly feels rather too many balls have been juggled and rather too little focus on operational stability .. and that clearly comes through .. how often did FM go to the plants and after so many years why did he clearly not have a decent working process knowledge .. wool being pulled over his eyes repeatedly ! Not going to be so easy with Craig who knows his business !

Mokopane - no immediate plans but will get to it

BE - critical mass claim by FM .. he wont comment ... focus is on Vanchem and Vametco as a priority

Belco commissioning - was at Belco yesterday. A Month away from sending batch product to about 10 customers (5 litres) .. 2 weeks to qualify 5-10k litres each.. will take around 8 weeks to make .. then 1-2 months to test on site and determine orders .. so basically end of year/jan expect orders .... so 10 early possible customers !

'laser focused on getting the production of Vanadium up and stable at Vanchem'

Lemur - can and must be sold. Not appropriate it sits with us .. has already given a clear task for this to be done soonest

Interesting BenB... Hopefully joinning..

Ha ha ..

Perhaps in future you might learn to respect the confidentiality of a private conversation. Nothing more to say to you.

You ranted at me you utter child..... Me me me me .. my view... No you are wrong

Idiot

.. I shall save the bother.. into the green bin

Utter child....

You cherry picked a cost figure to claim costs going down... I point out costs are up (slightly)... You then decide to pick a private DM fight about it and scream how upset and undermined you are

And the tell me to F'off and you are blocking me

Maybe you should both read the RNS and what I wrote... Not going to miss your ranting and abuse of people at all...

Certainly a question in my mind BenA

Funny... But not noticed Craig's initials were 'CC' before.... I guess care might need to be taken as to which cc is being referred too

Interesting ... so the MM's want shares !

I read the RNS .. and that makes clear that internal costs were up but masked by the rand depreciation ....

Actually Pdub, that rather misrepresents things ... internal costs went up but as costs are in rand and report in $ the drop in the rand rather masked this

Costs control is a big issue but to be fair also a large chunk of cost is fixed (or semi-fixed) so higher output drops the cost base. That is why FM was trying so hard to get to a sustained 5,000 mtv as the lowering of the cost base gave a very solid and dependable margin given where vanadium price range could reasonably be expected to be.

I got very little sense the production targets next year would be much more than this year's and so cost control becomes a much more high priority. Early initiatives live 24/7 supervisor decision making 'on track' make a big difference for very little real cost

Just need to be careful with claims that costs are dropping - they are stable but under pressure

Not posting all my notes .. cant be bothered to edit and the recording will be available ... but I took a few things from this:

1. Tania spoke very fluently (was she curtailed by FM or just upped her game)

2. Craig is very much on top of the detail - spoke about technical operational things in a way FM never did (he understands it where I don't thing FM ever did)

3- Danced about current stock levels .. just 'on the low side' .. clearly selling down and using the cash flow

4. Next year's guidance kept coming up but nothing struck me that it would be significantly more than this years (initial) guidance - focus on stability, cost control and build from there (and cost control matters as the cost increases were largely absorbed by rand increases .. saved us really)

5. already several initiatives and more flowing .. clearly making a big impact

6. Sounds like Vanchem has been a bit of a dog for quite a while - some robust management and 'help' has arrived

Overall .. Like it ... liked Craig .. and the SP has now ticked up sniffing Blue !

For one thing they largely produce V205 is 56% vanadium I think ....

the cost thing is a red herring - companies measure costs in different ways. Also, the Largo operation has some simplicities that the hard rock SA mines dont have if I recall - it is not like for like

In any case.. they are mined out in 5-7 years .. BMN has a 100+ years of reserves

Utter tosh ..... "We're never seeing double digits again"

Well BenB.. if I were a prospective client looking in and wondering 'will Belco be able to supply me if Bushveld yada yada' I might hang fire

I dont think folk get just what a firestop the Orion re-finance is ... The due diligence was done and clear in the Paribas report that so clearly underpinned the proposed re-finance. As soon as the ink is dry this will fire up again and at that point buyers will be confident of Belco being able to supply.

As I said .. character assassination is just not helpful. Look at the achievements to date. Yes a lot to be disappointed and frustrated about.

FM's day has done ... frankly I am really only now interested in what Craig has to say and the strategic plan he outlines.

As for MN - that bubble burst with me well over 2 years ago - frankly I see little of any real value from the man so far: might be unfair and all in the bushes still, but just a distraction. In the end, every VRFB house needs vanadium .. mining is the core and everything else right now is noise no-one needs. The only 2 jobs I want Craig to do in the next 12 months is get the refinance done and improve the operational stability and costs of the mining operations.... everything comes from that.

Maybe leave the FM character assassination out peepz. Whilst clearly having shortcoming, no mining operational background and being a poor communicator being just two, we should celebrate the achievement of taking a plant on that no-one thought could work stand alone, building the ownership to 74%, taking another plant, overseeing a huge refurb fund raise and execution (yes in part a result of poor operational knowledge, but so what), developing a vertical integration concept that has been nicked by Largo, building an electrolyte plant that is pretty much ready for operation, a novel funding mechanism for mini-grid etc etc.

In a real sense, rather too many balls but Covid really kicked a sidecurve putting everything back 2+ years. We are essentially where we were pretty much supposed to be 18 months+ ago.

Whilst I am glad FM has gone. No public company CEO can sit on a 97% SP decline and really survive, it was also time to bring in a well qualified Operationally experienced CEO to direct the next phase (stability, cost control and production growth). I never met FM but many here have and have long spoke of his integrity and conscience ... not traits to be sniffed at in an African state riddled with corruption.

Personally I wish him well

Todays market reaction really demonstrates all this was priced in .... If the first month and RNS are anything to go by, we should expect some robust operational management and clear answers. All looking good really. As for Orion, well, did not LS say his forensic accountant mate looked at the detailed pre-Orion deal report and conclude it was a 'done deal' so long as the 'conditions' were met... so I think we should take from the last month and todays RNS that that is very much this the case. Personally, I see a good re-rate once the overhang is cleared

If the doom-monger sub 1p folk would actually read the RNS the picture is actually pretty positive... and if CoffeeCups is banging the drum louder than Pdub then all must be good :-)

Looking at the initial market reaction... looks already priced in

A lot depends on the dialin and Friday investor meet and what the market thinks of what and how Craig speaks

And the whining begins

A way better RNS ... Much clearer and already some clear strategic action. Production impacted by energy supply, rain and ore quality... All of which have been or now have a plan to address

Be red today but this is all pretty much priced in

It is the Orion restructure that is critical... Seems a few weeks away yet and given the details supplied on announcement does seem to be taking a long time !

Basically more Hurry up and Wait !

Well ... if only he tore up 'the deal' and had a mate doing a straight commercial loan for 5 years ... now that would light the place up