Member Info for Jiving

It's a valid point, but why not make it 6 weeks ago in response to the original poster when it would have been most pertinent, rather than 5 weeks later?

Alternatively if its clearly false information it can be easily reported & removed from the board. Go to the post; on the bottom right click "Report Post"; in the section"Reason for Reporting" select "False And/Or Misleading Information"; type a brief explanation in the text box below; click 'Report Post".

I missed the confirmation it was a fake, when was that called out (quite possible btw)?

Whatever the status of that supposed email, Dan made this comment on 22 May : "We will now submit an application for US FDA orphan drug designation.." and in the section on the use of those funds stated "...as well as to provide funding to enable the submission of an application for Orphan Drug Designation in the USA for NXP002 in the treatment of IPF..". We know the May funds are only going to last 4-5 months particularly if FDA expenses are included, & the FDA takes up to 90 day to respond - now in the first week of July the calendar looks tight.

It is a fair point from FFX to ask where is the FDA submission, the company gave the impression it was coming soon after we got the EMA ODD confirmation. In fact going back 5 weeks today, Samsmith posted this email from Tim "I can confirm we will be submitting an application to the FDA this week and will update the market via RNS once this has been done." (Sam, any follow up from Tim on that?). Given we raised 4-5 months money at the end of May & the FDA process is up to 3 months, cash/time is tight.

Vet, thanks for taking questions. My chief focus is the bidding process, which I view as the crucial event for finally realising value. Is it still on for end Q3 presumably end September, will its start date be announced? Is it going to be a 'process' or an actual 'contest' whereby bidders have to put in final bids according to a schedule, like Simandou?

Cheeky one - do any NDA's currently in place or envisaged for any bidding contest, prohibit NDA signatories from taking positions in ZIOC via the stockmarket? (Rationale - given our mkt cap is around 1% of likely NPV, there is considerable economic incentive to 'buy' via the stockmarket rather than via an NPV related bid for the mine)

Answered:

27-Jun-25 15:42:22 0.099 4,897,852

27-Jun-25 15:40:45 0.0926 1,000,000

27-Jun-25 15:33:45 0.0989 2,006,198

27-Jun-25 15:33:20 0.095 769,422

27-Jun-25 15:24:06 0.092 2,250,000

27-Jun-25 15:23:42 0.0965 3,000,000

When does the dump start, this afternoon or Monday morning?

Good to see them delivering within their timescale on the big one, namely confirming DRI quality. A proactive interview by either AT or Marty would be welcome to push these results out to a wider audience.

Thought provoking article from VC financier Andreessen Horowitz on "Anatomy of a Biotech Business Development Deal":

https://a16z.com/anatomy-of-a-biotech-business-development-deal/

While we wait for the FDA application, I came across this article examining differences between the EU & US processes: https://www.propharmagroup.com/thought-leadership/orphan-drug-designations-in-the-u-s-and-eu

"Baronial family house"

And not only did ArcelorMittal take on the development & operational aspects of the mine, they also built the accompanying infrastructure namely the rail link & the port.

"The mine was the primary objective, followed by the rail and finally, the last link in the export chain, the port."

https://liberia.arcelormittal.com/RailsandPorts

My thinking is if ArcelorMittal can go it alone & develop/operate a greenfield iron ore mine in West Africa why can't, say, the Japanese? Their iron/steel industry has been actively acquiring equity/offtake stakes in iron ore mines for decades, sometimes acting individually but often collectively in consortia. Whilst they have a strong preference for Australia/Canada, at the end of the day if they require DRI quality ore (which they do!) they have to go wherever that is located.

You seem way way more worried about this issue than I am Marcus, surprised you are not focussing on the ArcelorMittal news which IMO has more important implications for the Zanaga project & our quest for strategic investors.

We simply dont know what might be needed in the final stages of a financing particularly one that involves related infrastructure where there may well be a need for non-diplomats to visit US based institutions - which is where decision makers & specialist groups are typically concentrated ie at HQ. I have maintained from the moment Extrader correctly raised the visa issue for discussion, that it is not a deal breaker for ZIOC but neither is it a 'positive', so on that we are agreed.

The practical issue Marcus is if at any stage RoC citizens (either private or Govt officials) need to potentially travel to the US for ZIOC related meetings/presentations with US based strategic investors or financiers, or any of the international bodies that are US based like the IMF, World Bank or IFC. It is also a reputational slight to be dumped in the same category as the world's obvious basket cases like Sudan, Somalia & Afghanistan - it certainly can't be viewed as a 'positive'. However to stress again: I certainly don't see it as a deal breaker for the project.

The ArcelorMittal expansion on the other hand is IMO very positive news for the Zanaga project, as we know that Chinese & Japanese steel companies have been presented to by Marty. So I see the following plus points from a major intl steel company investing & operating an iron ore mine in West Africa:

- the reported investment size at $ 1.8b is close to our Stage 1 requirements;

- West African iron ore mine being developed by a major intl steel producer (ie a direct competitor of Nippon Steel & Baowu);

- the mine will incorporate a beneficiation plant to produce DRI level concentrate;

- finally & IMO extremely relevant - ArcelorMittal have developed & operated the mine themselves from a greenfield start-up.

From website: "The Liberia mining project is also unique to ArcelorMittal's mining portfolio in that this was the first greenfield mine the company operated."

The good news I take from this is that a major intl company is pumping $1.8b into a West African iron ore mine. Thats just the kind of financial headline you want hitting the presses when - like Zanaga - you are a seeking a similar amount of funds for a West African iron ore mine. It partly mitigates any negative impact of the recent US visa ban on RoC.

Given RoC rarely appears in the international news its sad that its included with a bunch of basket cases & of course should be examined for its possible effect on ZIOC. As I stated below I don't see it is likely to have any impact on the likely partners, but equally its not a positive from the country/political risk perspective - see BBC below.

The BBC explains the ban thus; "..Trump says the rationale for the countries chosen is based on visa overstay rates or political instability."

It is also a total ban on RoC visitors to the US unless they are athletes or secure an individual exemption from the Secretary of State. So this clearly affects normal business travel to the US and also presumably the international financial institutions headquartered there - IMF, World Bank & the IFC (who were involved in financing Simandou at one stage.)

"From 9 June, citizens from 12 countries - Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - will be banned from travelling to the US."

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cvgqwyxxpzgt

You may well be right Ex, on a realpolitik basis Trump might want to do bigger, dirtier mining deals in the DRC vs the RoC. It just seems bizarre that our sleepy little backwater gets grouped with really horrific places like Afghanistan, Somalia & Yemen. Hopefully it doesn't impact our plans, as all the main contenders don't involve US companies or banks as far as we know. Some are US allies (Jap, Aus, Saudi), others not (China).

It says Republic of Congo but have they got the 'right' Congo - surely its the DRC where all the horror takes place - our Congo has been pretty quiet for the last 20 odd years.

This is getting insulting, is reads like AI generated waffle? Are we getting this drivel in lieu of real new?

The Kissei deal news came to us via an article in the Times on 25 October 2019. There no longer seems to be a publicly available link to the article but this was the text (taken from an LSE post at the time):

"Eastern promise for Nuformix? Shares in Nuformix, the Cambridge-based drug company, gave up recent gains yesterday to trade 5 per cent lower and close at 8¼p. Chatter that Nuformix is close to securing a licensing deal with Kissei Pharmaceutical, one of Japan’s largest drug companies, has sent shares in the minnow higher in recent days.

Nuformix uses co-crystal technology to re-engineer drugs. Market gossip suggests that Kissei is in talks to license Nuformix’s lead fibrosis treatment alongside its unique oral delivery system. The proprietary delivery mechanism resolves a number of efficacy problems that have plagued Kissei for years, they claim. The partnership could enable Kissei to treat other conditions. The reports suggest that the deal being discussed involves an upfront milestone payment of £15 million and annual royalty payments worth more than £200 million.

If a deal is struck and structured on those terms, Nuformix would generate revenues well in excess of its current £40 million market value. Established in 2008, Nuformix set out to identify known drug molecules with the potential to function as innovative therapies for unmet medical needs."

I have not come across any 'links' between AZ & NXP002. But AZ is specifically focussed on IPF & in April 2024 was reported to have dropped further research into RXC006 which it had earlier licensed from RedX. AZ & NFX are further linked via Qureight which collaborates with AZ on AI analysis of lung disease, Dan is a consultant with Qureight. In this instance NXP002 is a repurposed drug originally patented by Kissei (who at one stage had a draft development deal with NFX for NXP002), so it is not as if we would be trying to cut a deal with AZ for one of their original patents.