Member Info for faramog

we have been perfectly placed for 2 years .... all just waiting for the wider market spotlight to notice

I have held into a growing paper loss for some time now - I just no longer believe the BOD and sold out the lot and take the hit.

Some good products if they actually make it. Good luck all . I rather fear you will need it

yes ... just looked .. apparently closing a self funded information website means you have sold out !

Pillock !

gone ....

Alfa posted on twitter:
It costs me £700 a year to host the Bushveld Perspective and since 2018 the traffic has slowed to a trickle. Hence I have decided to stop it.

Anyone who wants to find out about the company can go to their website.

Anyone who wishes to help pay for a better TBP can contact me.

If there was bad blood do you think AV would have been proposed and re-elected to the BMN Board ?

Of course an announced move to main board would rather feck up the MM's .. and they know it !

As for MN .. it is odd, but I wonder if the answer is a bit simpler. Consider that they have both been banging on about Vertical Integration & VFRB's for 4/5 years and yet we are over a year away from a commissioned Electrolyte plant. So VI ain't happening soon in anything other than test dribbles.

FM has done 3 or 4 interviews and again in yesterdays AGM has I feel re-aligned focus to confirmed sustainable operational delivery as a bedrock. The key message right now is around that and then delivering to it in Q3 & Q4.

BE is next years story ....

Could be wrong of course, but they have been friends and business partners a long time and both need each other to succeed. I just feel its about re-aligning the guidance/delivery confidence right now

@rmkuro

No ....

Bye !

exactly ... I read nothing into it given the frustration in his voice... but none the less, again, an opportunity missed

I think it would need 75% to be 'friendly' and I very much doubt they would get that without a 3-digit offer price right now

@swampdub,

I thought it was positive on several counts. He re-iterated guidance saying 'we are on track', there is the development news on BE and the Vanchem refurbn (nothing new really), but I felt the biggest thing was fessing up to the under performing SP and some reasons for it - a palpable mood change.

Yes a few things I felt could be better or more detailed, but actually I thought it was pretty positive.

After much phaffing with HL, they sent a letter of authority to Bushveld and a lovely lady emailed me a shareholder ID and password for it. I have messaged her back and asked she pass on my thanks to FM for being so candid.

Proof will be late Q3 into Q4 and next year really - that is when we should expect to see the VI ducks start to properly line up, costs (hopefully) reducing, Vanadium price rising and a solid 2021 profit

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- Did re-iterate that the changes and upgrades coming in over the next 12-15 months will see a running rate (currently aim not guidance) of 5400 mtv by dec 22

Q5 - Has the lead BE had now been eroded and beaten by others ? - clearly a note to Largo and its VE offering. FM basically waxed on about currently being 3% of world production moving to 5% near term and he was happy for other market entrants in the VE space- Basically, completely sidestepped the question
Q6 - Will Bushveld be taking steps to promote itself better ?- just waffle ... a bit disappointing as could have spoke about their web site changes, interviews, more active twitter space and a recognition of getting out there more 
Q7 - There have been consistently missed targets - is this just poor management ?- again a bit frustrated making the point that if there had been no covid lockdown then 2020 would have produced 2954 (in line with guidance) and that 2019 was 2833 where guidance was 2800-2954- Did accept that guidance is about confidence and the market has not been confident, hence the change to less aspirational and more solidly based on actual stable production the figures now are- Was quite candid that the market perception on guidance (even though largely met really) has been one of missing them
Q8 - BE plant is Q3 2021 fully fitted out - when will Electrolyte actually be produced ?- I must say I was again a bit surprised by the answer. FM said plant construction started Jun 21 and fitting out would be complete by Q3 this year. This rather implies that commissioning will take a year !.... something not quite right about the answer, but in any case, did not say what I expected, ie about a phased commissioning producing electrolyte from say early Q2 next year..... all adds up to the 'why having banged on about it are Bushveld over a year behind Largo ?' ..... I suspect BE is at least initially rather tied up with Eskom !
Q9 - Board decision making vs Compensation ?  (another very pointed question)- a bit of waffle, some 'its all covid' etc etc- Then got his brain into gear and spoke about salary/compensation levels being set in the mid-high level of norms based in no small part against stretching targets. Then went on to say there had been a bit of a painful adjustment made. (did not mention it but the strike in April was in part caused by workforce bonus expectation that was not met)

The FM question bit lasted about 45 mins and although he already had the questions, I felt there was a palpable level of frustration. That said, there has been a shift in approach and I do rather feel he fully 'gets it' .... expect guidance to be met from now on and some listing/BE progress later this year I rather feel.
Lemur not mentioned. Interestingly there was no question or mention of the Eskom saga...

1 of 2
Resolution - For - against % (for)
-----------------------------------------------
1 - 215m 0.05m 100% (essentially)
2 - 112m 83m 57%
3 - 210m 5m 96%
4 - 184m 31m 85%
5 - 184m 31m 85%
6 - 182m 33m 84%
7 - 141m 74m 65%
8 - 135m 79m 63%
9 - 135m 80m 62.7% (need 75% to pass)
FM re-iterated that guidance this year remains 3400 - 3600 MTV and is on track
Q1 - When will BE make enough progress that markets will attribute some value to it ? - spoke about construction start (June 21), The rental & leasing progress (set up at least). - basically nothing new- Recognised that the value of BE is currently seen as miniscule and part of the problem is that Bushveld is positioned as a (junior) miner. The more interesting snippet was about future 'positioning' to become attractive to 'Energy' investors [my take is that means some form of future re-brand]
Q2 - When will Bushveld move off AIM and onto Main FTSE ? Also, what about JSE listing ?- nothing new .. remain interested, in discussion and monitoring. Did say that for JSE some of the issue had been around the Vanchem acquisition and I felt he said that was now passed (ie 1st full year results)
Q3 - When will the company more actively support the SP and is it trying to encourage a Take-over ?- FM was clearly frustrated and emphasised that the past aspirational guidance had at least in part made the company look unattractive... hence the change to realistic baked in progress- Also said costs were too high and needed to be much reduced along side with delivering to guidance- Very frustrated that Vertical Integration and BE were just not getting any value attributed. He did not say it but I guess also that there are 2 plants de-risking production stoppage also- Spoke about the company structure needing to change to make it attractive to Institutional Investors (but frankly IMO getting off AIM will gain some)
Q4 - [Wow .. what a question....] 'Hand on heart, does FM feel he has done enough (vis-a-vis) bringing in dilution (implying the SP progress was not as expected) and is a Takeover on the cards ?- Said the last capital rais was Mar 18 and the SP appreciated substantially as a result ....[Kind of ignores that was the Vanadium price bubble though]- Ignored the TO part and was a bit frustrated on the question being personal (was my take)- Did accept that the depressed SP performance was in part down to over-promising and under-delivery of targets. Did make the point that post 35-day work Vametco produced 278 and 261 MTV in May & June, but they were only planning guidance based on a monthly figure of 240 mtv, this being what they are confident is baked in as a stable and confidently achievable target. Fundamentally the watchword now is 'Operational Stability'

I think @getbusy the joke is a reference to being impatient and wishing mm's to remove cash from his personage by not seeing the bigger picture that has evolved.

I feel it is more to do with the over-promising & under-delivery of targets ... but as FM has several times now repeated, that era is over, and a more pragmatic focus on delivery to promise is in place ... all part of the evolution of the company from a minnow to a big boy

That would imply the 'I' actually stood for 'Intelligence' !!

personally I suspect the dowsing and water spray has more to do with a crude attempt at washing down the toxic fumes - it has been known for years you cannot put out a lithium fire

Whilst it is true that there are natural cycles that heat and cool the planet, it is indisputable that humans are not massively having an impact on eco-systems many of which have a significant effect on climate dynamics

I despair that honest scientific debate is absolutely stifled, where crackpot political agenda's making no economic, energy or practical sense are growing, but we cannot and should not ignore that the way we operate on the planet need to radically change.

The 'Electrification' agenda is just one of many aspects and we (at least many here) have been smart enough to recognise that industrial level electrical storage has but two realistic options right now. One catches fire and has some dubious lifecycle claims and the other is Vanadium based. Our investment is in a place that impacts very significantly the 'carbon agenda', be it in needing less steel and the energy that takes or be it in VFRB's that have 25+ year multi daily cycle capability and don't catch fire.

So yes, I am looking for a very healthy return, yes I am looking to catch the big wave, but also I can see that we humans need to do a lot better.

The oil exec was a dick to say what he did...

its chucking it down, a friends funeral.... I and I just stated the obvious.

Maybe the other good news was that big Lithium fire in Oz !

I do rather feel sentiment is starting to turn and am very encouraged by Fortunes very candid recent interviews

not sure that counts as good news - more the Yanks finally getting they need to import Vanadium so should not tarrif/ban it .... not sure this changes anything

@gobleS ... in the recent results webinar the new operations manager rather said 'phased shutdown' . What they were speaking about is that most parts can run at higher capacities so a certain material flow stockpile would be created to allow these areas to be shut for a few days to do maintenance without overall output falling. The only real 'shutdown' is towards to end phases that don't stockpile, but if there is another 35-day stop I would be pretty amazed (and very disappointed).

The impression from all the recent talks has been a material shift in focus from aspiration, to pragmatic delivery and to manage expectations. I think clearly FM (et al) have taken a lot of flak from guiding over-extended numbers with what is still an old and in need of significant maintenance plant at Vametco. The latest vid rather says that Vanchem is running very much more problem free and smoothly (but it is a lot newer).

@Sanchez seemed o hint at info on 2 bits of solid news this week .. so tomorrow I wonder

no they are not

good interview ....