Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
I’ve often thought the brains of entrepreneurs were hard wired differently to normal people, they exist on a boundary of exponential enthusiasm and rational decision making. It pains me say this (because underlying he’s a decent guy) but at the moment Darren is on another planet. There is no appreciable strategy, mediocre drill results, no focus and of course two jobs. Yes the market cap is covered by the equity stakes but it’s hardly a badge of honour to say the Canadian licences and two drill campaigns have zero value.
A strategic review is required.
At the moment Ben has not presented any evidence to suggest they have strong targets at i10, that’s the frustrating thing. The assays & cores are potential pathfinders, the Mumin theory is credible so I’d like to know more about the targets and the probability of making a commercial discovery.
If KAV are not careful they'll make the same mistake as PL082 where if they'd completed and digested the CSAMT before drilling then it would have saved a lot of money. Ditau seems rushed which would be ok if they found commercial grades with XRF to be confirmed by assays but BT has said the assays are pathfinders rather than commercial discoveries. Ditau feels like its still in a proof of concept stage and these are 400-600m holes so c$100k and they'll need 4-6 holes. Unless there's some killer evidence not in the public domain then KSZ should be drilled first.
Overview:
KSZ north has "B" conductors, conductance reading (Siemens) B1 28,700, B3 4,100 and B4 2,760, B3&4 are likely to be upgraded. B1 is looking like super massive sulphide, want Pentlandite (Nickel) but could contain pyrrhotite. B1 drill Feb22 missed target “by meters”, B1 key to unlocking B3/4 and GRS (Great Red Spot) which is thought to be an IOCG system like Olympic Dam sitting under the B conductors, at 1000-2000m.
KSZ contains a Karoo system and a deeper older Proterozoic system, latter appears more prospective. External expert Hornsey said target southern area where Proterozoic thought to be much closer to surface. Current operations are in Northern part because of the focus on the B1 conductor.
Ditau: looking for rare earth elements (carbonatites), drilled last year& failed to find carbonatites, KAV announced an IOCG system albeit trace amounts of gold which is the focus of recent RNS’s. KAV needs to elaborate a theory and geophysics to pin point gold & copper. External expert Mumin says all the ingredients for a Lode Gold system. KAV appears to be rushing to re-drill before B1.
KCB – well known copper belt, KAV has c5000km2 of licences. Just drilled PL082, total disaster and FU, BT lucky to keep his job. KCB expert Dave Caterall has focussed KAV on Karakubis likely to drill Q423-Q224, decent chance of a discovery as continuance of a known trend and neighbour are drilling.
KAV looking to make acquisitions, “earn ins” possibly Nickel or Lithium.
KAV says it has potential partners for existing KSZ/KCB/Ditau as KAV has completed proof of concept, hopefully they wait until a discovery is made. Part of me thinks KAV is delaying B1 because they want a partner deal pre drill, most PIs just want B1 drilled asap.
Board strengthened last Dec, Peter Wynter Bee chair of Moxico, PWB is the adult in the room.
Strategy (?) a bit of a joke driven by Ben Turney’s bromance with Paul Johnson, rarely hear anything about shareholder value, lots of dilution last year. Feels like PWB having a guiding influence on BT.
KAV’s been a painful investment, steep learning curve for the company but its in a much better place than 2 years ago so current share price is a bargain for those prepared to risk it pre “discovery”. It can be a 10-20 bagger if they find 5g/t Au @ Ditau, or 2% Ni & 1% Cu @ KSZ, but it could be tank Q4 23 if they fail to find anything commercial.
KSZ is 3 conductors, B1,3,4. The interesting thing is the conductance readings for B3 & B4 are constrained due to the resolution of the the EM so KAV was doing additional work, the upside could be materially higher readings and larger targets.
The Botswana Geological Institute appears to own drilled core and they have allowed KAV to analyse the core. It seems a bit odd KAV didn't know about the drills or hasn't struck an agreement with the other mining company to share cores if the i structures are prospective for kimberlites, carbonatites and now BIFs could be a win win situation.
Slightly frustrating, BT hasn't elaborated the new geological model and where the gold could be concentrated.
A useful RNS to validate CSAMT….but the elephant in the room is relatively low grades from KAVs drill so I’m more interested in next steps, what’s happening with the IP surveys and how does KAV use IP/CSAMT to identify targets, what depths/size are we looking at? The BIFs in a recent slide looked like a map of the world’s largest golf course (live the dream £5 SP).I also noticed KAV degraded the most recent CSAMT image so not wanting to give too much away.
The additional assays/analysis will take several months and the results will be too technical for the average investor. What they’re looking for are the ingredients and the mineralisation processes, ****nic, iron pyrites etc. They already ran XRF over the core a second time and the results were in-line with the original results, so there won’t be an RNS saying 5g/t Au. I’d like to see the induced polarisation results and a better idea wether the targets are deeper or in more pronounced feeder zones.
Not sure what information you're expecting but this is a guestimate:
Zambia/Zimbabwe/Namibia deal April/May
KCB geophysics update in April, expect new imaging and an update on C&D conductance readings, could surprise the market.
KCB drill campaign May. In Feb BT said it would start in a couple of months and take six months.
Ditau update June/July. Expected new imaging including IP.
Ditau drilling late Q4. I think they'll want KSZ to have completed first, pushes the date to Oct/Nov with drill operations finished mid Dec.
KCB Q1 24 drilling
Botswana is twice the size of the UK with a population 2.4m so business & government is going to be concentrated in one or two cities. Availability of labour & suppliers plus mining taxes might be behind their decision to look at other countries.
When there's a story and a plan to buy into.
https://twitter.com/KavangoRes/status/1638850445157228544
"Brett and the team are continuing to make steady progress on the ground in #Botswana.
Right now, team meetings are being held in Gaborone to plan upcoming work, and discussions are ongoing with potential drill contractors."
Not sure how to interpret this, I got a feeling the Kavango/Mindea relationship was strained especially after the last campaign but KAV have long said they wanted the original KSZ/MF crew.
Do you want every expert, every advisor, every contractor to the company listed out in an RNS?
I'm more concerned getting multiple sets of eyes on proposals or new data and that the company goes through diligence before decisions are made. And, in relation to the current acquisition, that it doesn't cause further dilution.