Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Yep, definitely high risk and the valuations people are giving it are pie in the sky. It will be interesting to see how they fair over the next 12 months. That said, if it is a success and BOD are involved then it could be a nice revenue stream for us.
I also forgot that BOD may end up with a 50% share in any Zimbabwe projects outside of Marange...
Botswana Diamonds, ('BOD') the AIM and BSE listed explorer, is pleased to announce that it has concluded an agreement with Vast Resources plc ('Vast') the AIM listed mining and resource development company, for the development of their concessions in the prolific Marange Diamond Fields ('MDF') of eastern Zimbabwe. A separate agreement will cover the joint development of diamond properties outside of the MDF, which will be a straightforward 50/50 joint venture, though the initial focus of our joint work is on the MDF.
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BOD/botswana-diamonds-diamond-concession-development-agreement-reached-7g1zwqvc3hru1yu.html
In the May 2019 BOD presentation the company states:
"MoU signed with Vast for development of diamond projects in Zimbabwe. Joint venture signed for development of the Heritage concession in the prolific Marange Diamond Fields".
"BOD HAS 13.3% SPV with Vast to develop the Heritage Concession in the Marange Diamond Fields.. Positive desktop study and field trip."
Under the 2019 news flow it states "Exploration results from the Heritage Concession in the Marange Diamond Fields. Kimberlite development outside of Marange".
http://botswanadiamonds.co.uk/media/res/bod-presentation-may-2019.pdf
I am hoping we will all be pleasantly surprised. The share price is up today too :)
In the May 2019 BOD presentation the company states:
"MoU signed with Vast for development of diamond projects in Zimbabwe. Joint venture signed for development of the Heritage concession in the prolific Marange Diamond Fields".
"BOD HAS 13.3% SPV with Vast to develop the Heritage Concession in the Marange Diamond Fields.. Positive desktop study and field trip."
Under the 2019 news flow it states "Exploration results from the Heritage Concession in the Marange Diamond Fields. Kimberlite development outside of Marange".
http://botswanadiamonds.co.uk/media/res/bod-presentation-may-2019.pdf
RNS 12th September
John Teeling, Chairman, said "We believe that the mine gravels and unprocessed stockpiles around the Marsfontein mine contain commercial grades of diamonds. To secure the Mining Permit we need certain approvals. Granting of the Environmental Authorisation is a critical step. This facilitates the issuing of the Mining Permit necessary for BOD to recover and sell the diamonds. We plan to shortly commence royalty mining operations at no cost to the company."
The very high grade of the Marsfontein mine (172 carats per hundred tonne or 'cpht') distracted the original miners from the gravels - though these were confirmed to be diamond-bearing through subsequent sampling.
BOD has identified potential partners to process the gravels and stockpiles. We expect mobilisation to commence within six weeks.
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BOD/botswana-diamonds-environmental-authorisation-marsfontein-gravels-cx2kblx94fkrjv4.html
October / November is going to be fun, hopefully with a Vast RNS as an added bonus :)
Made you look :)
Made you look :)
ok I am pretty sure that I am right on this and it is great news for Vast and BOD. This tweet was liked by James Campbell today (you can see his picture at the bottom):
"#Vast the prospect of Mark Mabhudhu and the very competent, and dynamic, James Campbell working on the same team to further realise the potential of Zimbabwe's diamond industry is very exciting. I find AP's loose statements frustrating but credit is due for picking the right team
3:26 AM - 8 Oct 2019"
https://twitter.com/zimbabwehistory/status/1181516327502131202
ok I am pretty sure that I am right on this and it is great news for Vast and BOD. This tweet was liked by James Campbell today (you can see his picture at the bottom):
"#Vast the prospect of Mark Mabhudhu and the very competent, and dynamic, James Campbell working on the same team to further realise the potential of Zimbabwe's diamond industry is very exciting. I find AP's loose statements frustrating but credit is due for picking the right team
3:26 AM - 8 Oct 2019"
https://twitter.com/zimbabwehistory/status/1181516327502131202
Time to get excited :)
Ouch Sandy. I take your point but you don't have to be so rude!
Simply because it isn't definite. Officially BOD / VAST have a formal agreement but they obviously haven't finalised the JV terms yet. Here is an email exchange with BOD CEO John Teeling from last week which IMO re-affirms the original JV. I was originally worried that it wouldn't be going ahead but the interview from James Campbell, which was recorded in the last month, reassured me that the JV agreement was still in place. Also JC has been retweeting every single bit of Zimbabwe and VAST news. For example, why would he retweet Vast's non-update on finance news earlier today if BOD and Vast had decided to go separate ways? Why would JC talk so positively about the JV just a few weeks ago in an interview? Why would Vast not want a world class diamond exploration team (who discovered the AK6 Karowe mine owned by Lucara) involved in what is basically an large scale exploration project?
JM
I am a shareholder and suggest it would be helpful if clarification can be given regarding the current status of the Agreement with Vast.,given that Vast appear to be on the cusp of finalising their Agreements which will allow them to mine the amended concession area for diamonds.
Their is speculation that the Agreement between Vast and Botswana Diamonds has lapsed and no doubt the lack of share price reaction to the significant news announced by Vast is a contributory factor as far as such speculation is concerned
If you can clarify the situation this would be much appreciated by myself and other shareholders
JT
Nothing finalised
JM
Thank you for your response from which I assume that there is no ongoing Agreement with Vast at present.
Can you please advise whether another Agreement is anticipated of whether the relationship between the two Companies is at an end.
JT
Just read our RNS on Vast
JM
I have read all of them and am I right to assume that you are referring to the RNS of the 14th February in which case I assume that the current position is in effect "watch this space" as far as shareholders are concerned
JT
Yes
I am expecting BOD to sign a JV after ZCDC contract is signed and receive a share of Katanga once the JV contract is finalised (assuming BOD happy with the JV terms). I could be wrong but the Botswana Diamonds MD James Campbell is majorly trolling shareholders if we aren't going to be involved.
Interesting podcast with James Campbell, recorded in mid September a week before African Mining summit, published October 3rd listen in at 22:20 min...
https://omny.fm/shows/dig-deep-the-mining-podcast/diamonds-are-forever-with-james-campbell-of-botswa?in_playlist=podcast
"We have a joint venture with Vast Resources PLC. This joint venture has two legs. One leg is to develop a concession within the Marange diamond fields and the second one is for general exploration in the whole of Zimbabwe. Vast and Botswana Diamonds a yet to conclude final terms with the government of Zimbabwe. We hope it is imminant, we have done the conceptual studies, we have done the field visits, we have planned exactly what we want to do and we are just standing at the starting line waiting for that gun to go so that we can get going".
Vast / BOD JV details:
The initial MoU has since matured into a formal agreement over the MDF, which includes the following terms:
An SPV between BOD and Vast to develop diamond resources in the MDF.
Initial shareholdings will be BOD – 13.33% and Vast – 86.67%.
Vast will contribute up to US$1 million as initial funding.
If any additional funds are required, this will be via an equity raise.
BOD and Vast may contribute to any future equity raise on a pro rata basis. If either party does not take up its allocation, the other may contribute further and increase their relative shareholding.
http://botswanadiamonds.co.uk/operations/vast-zimbabwe/
The MD has been tweeting a lot about Vast / Zimbabwe, including retweeting todays finance RNS...
https://twitter.com/vast_resources/status/1181477123787280384
Interesting podcast with Botswana Diamonds MD James Campbell, recorded in mid September a week before African Mining summit, published October 3rd listen in at 22:20 min...
https://omny.fm/shows/dig-deep-the-mining-podcast/diamonds-are-forever-with-james-campbell-of-botswa?in_playlist=podcast
"We have a joint venture with Vast Resources PLC. This joint venture has two legs. One leg is to develop a concession within the Marange diamond fields and the second one is for general exploration in the whole of Zimbabwe. Vast and Botswana Diamonds a yet to conclude final terms with the government of Zimbabwe. We hope it is imminant, we have done the conceptual studies, we have done the field visits, we have planned exactly what we want to do and we are just standing at the starting line waiting for that gun to go so that we can get going".
Vast / BOD JV details:
The initial MoU has since matured into a formal agreement over the MDF, which includes the following terms:
An SPV between BOD and Vast to develop diamond resources in the MDF.
Initial shareholdings will be BOD – 13.33% and Vast – 86.67%.
Vast will contribute up to US$1 million as initial funding.
If any additional funds are required, this will be via an equity raise.
BOD and Vast may contribute to any future equity raise on a pro rata basis. If either party does not take up its allocation, the other may contribute further and increase their relative shareholding.
http://botswanadiamonds.co.uk/operations/vast-zimbabwe/
BOD has a marketcap of 5m, share price of 0.76p and only 300k liabilities. Also due a mining permit on Marsfontein Mine for the dumps and gravels (which originally had a payback of 3.5 days). The MD has been tweeting a lot about Vast / Zimbabwe, including retweeting todays finance RNS. Go figure!
https://twitter.com/vast_resources/status/1181477123787280384
Some good news on Maibwe front. Now that the old liquidator Dixon Warren has been given the boot, the re-opening of BCL has become an election issue, with three parties in the upcoming election promising to explore reopening the mine. Could we perhaps see BCL’s share of Miabwe sold or even government investment into the Maibwe project next year as a result? It is just too big a prospect to ignore IMO so hopefully it will come unstuck as BCL comes back to life or gets carved up.
https://allafrica.com/stories/201909270097.html
http://www.sundaystandard.info/khama%E2%80%99s-nephew-bcl-shady-diamond-deal
Interesting....Just 22k bought today (2,849,308 shares out of 627,000,000 in issue) and we shoot up 14%!
Could be this week. Once Vast has signed their JV with ZCDC they should be able to talk about it all a bit more, starting with the exploration plan they agreed with BOD earlier this year. We probably won’t hear anything formally until the Vast / BOD JV is finalised, which should follow soon after. Exciting times ahead and relatively large buying pressure today, hopefully should cause a tick up but who knows?!? I suspect some will try and take profits in Vast on news and invest in BOD in the first 24 hours, but they might get caught out by the lack of liquidity in BOD as this thing rises fast when it goes!
If BOD complete their JV with Vast we will rocket here. We’ve did nearly 20% on less than 15 trades! Under the JV BOD has very littke risk, doesn’t have to raise millions in debt funding and will reap up to 13% of Marange concession! Add to this that we could get news on Sunland minerals JV, revenue/news from Marsfontein or Thorny river at any time and BOD is looking like a good buy for the risk/reward level. Plus it will only take a little revenue to turn a profit. DYOR but i’m quite happy having money in here, although the limited liquidity is a double edged sword so hopping in and out at will isn’t easy! Revenue this quarter expected anyway, DYOR GLA etc!
Nice rise today :)
Well not wanting to de-ramp but as someone who lost a huge amount investing in this company previously it is worth re-iterating that nothing is signed until it is signed. If the deal goes ahead then expect a decent rise, but after a 180% increase in a week this will fall hard if it doesn't go ahead. I'm happy to hold some money in here as I think AP might deliver a deal but it is high risk!
I am thinking that too. JC is majorly trolling us if it has already been decided for BOD not to take part. Katanga is 100% owned by Vast in the company accounts, so my guess is that Katanga will sign an agreement with ZCDC and then the directors will be free to divvy up Katanga how they like between BOD and the community once the final details are known. I am sure Mark M is solid on the operational side of things but they still need BOD's exploration expertise to make it economic, particularly with the low diamond prices and the huge size of the concession. I think people forget that the first phase is exploration!
We will rocket here soon if true, plus news could land on our mining permits for Thorny / Marsfontein at any point. Revenue due this quarter, hardly any debt on the books and lots of upside potential. Looking forward to seeing what happens!