Broker Buy note fyi15 May 2019 15:14
MORNING COMMENT -First Equity
ALBA MINERAL RESOURCES PLC 15 May 2019
Price: 0.28p
MCp: £9m
Tk: ALBA.L
Sector: Resources
Recommendation: BUY
'Maiden Resource at Thule Black Sands’
Alba Mineral Resources (ALBA.L) announced yesterday afternoon the significant news of a maiden Inferred mineral resource estimate on its Thule Black Sands (TBS) Project in Greenland, with 19.0m tonnes at an in-situ Ilmenite grade of 8.9%, giving an initial contained Ilmenite of 1.7m tonnes from three target areas. A resource of this size is already large enough to support a mine life of six years, at 3m tonnes p.a. The management believe there is scope to materially increase the initial resource tonnage by drilling deeper holes in the permafrost, along with confirmatory drilling in less explored areas. The existing resource was only drilled to a maximum depth of 1.8 metres. Potential also exists to explore the offshore mineralisation area, next to the active beaches to increase the deposits size.
Comment & Opinion
The maiden resource achieved by Alba on its Ilmenite project is consistent in size and grade to what exploration neighbour Bluejay Mining (JAY.L) obtained when it announced a maiden Inferred resource statement in April 2017, with 23.6m tonnes at a 8.8% grade. Alba is making swift progress in advancing TBS, given that it obtained the licence only two years ago and was able to complete the exploration drilling in one field season.
The value comparison equation between Alba and Bluejay is very clear, considering that when Bluejay announced its maiden resource, the market cap of the company was around £90m, compared to the current market cap of Alba, that represents around 10% of this at £9m, assuming for simplicity purposes that other Alba projects are ignored.
The RNS also highlighted other Alba news flow anticipated in the coming months, such as drilling in the Limerick base metals project (“imminently”), drilling at Amitsoq - graphite project in Greenland (“June and July”) and ongoing work to re-open the Clogau Gold Mine in Wales. In addition, although not covered in the RNS, further updates are expected via Alba’s onshore oil and gas assets in the UK Weald Basin at Horse Hill and Brockham.
With the progress now being made by Alba in Greenland, and considering the valuation gap between Alba and Bluejay, we continue to rate the shares as a ‘Buy’ and believe significant share price uplift lies ahead in the near term, as the valuation gulf is closed with Bluejay and Alba’s TBS project moves ahead.