Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
Harris, your not invested in MTL, ARC or ARS and your heart sank, thank you letting us know
DiamondGeazer, I think you need the luck invested in ARCM, you should swop your holdings for MTL, I've looked at the financials as a matter of interest and I wouldnt invest, its a dream company, its a slim chance of monatising its assets, where as MTL are about to grow its assets, no debt, no share dilution, just rapid cash generation and the journey is just about to get exciting, you have the fortunate timing to look into our comanies strenghts and decide for yourself, we are massivly undervalued, but as the cash flys in, we will react accordingly.
You can’t blame the chairman of ARC for the fact it produces no revenue, it’s like 90% of all companies, jam tomorrow, in the mean time the company releases new shares to raise funds to survive long enough to realise the potential, MTL are past all that and Darren Bowden drives the company, it’s the reason I’m so heavily invested in MTL because ARCs financial pain is typical of that kind of business, I could mention many I have been part of in the last 25 years that never realise any real financial revenue, long shots.
We are simply in another universe, Cash generation of $70 to $80 million per annum is a dream for explorers, but it’s a reality for us.
Good to see we have acquired a new chairman of such high quality, any one had experience of the companies Mr von Schirnding has worked for?
He seems highly experienced.
The Abra tenement purchase is agreed in principle but not paid for yet, it’s being left till the June AGM to get full shareholder approval, and it’s being done like that for simplicity as the major shareholders loan to the company will have been fully paid down and so the major shareholders become just that, major shareholders and not financiers.
Other than running costs of the mine all spare cash had to pay down the loan, it actually leaves us in a very unique position, most companies have debt even when profitable, we will be debt free and extremely profitable, enough so to make numerous acquisitions without taking on new debt.
Hi CV,
We will 100% debt free as it’s an agreement with the terms of the loan, we have to use all cash profits to pay down the loan to zero, as clarified in the recent Darren Bowden interview.
Darren Bowden with agreement of the major shareholders have decided to grow the market cap through low cost acquisition's and build a war chest of cash, no share dilution, the next year alone will generate at least $70 million before tax, with possible tax credits accumulated from previous tax loss periods, we may get keep most of the profit for a decent period, initial plans to grow the business via the Abra tenement of which I have a sneaky feeling Darren knows is gold and copper rich, YMC have a drill rig on site and you can bet it’s been busy sampling already, I doubt this acquisition is a stab in the dark.
The 2 billion market cap aspiration is based on multiple incomes and longevity, and I’m positive he has it all planed out, by next month at the latest he and his team turned a loss making MTL with a huge debt of $130 million into a debt free cash generating machine, I’m sure building the business will be a breeze by comparison to the head aches he took on 4 years ago.
Our current valuation has a lot of catching up to do just on current income, I can’t imagine what effect a decent new gold find will do.
Small mistake in my maths, to be accurate, $14.3 million was paid of the debt in 2023 Q1, so if we have an additional $5.25 million free flow cash from both a higher gold price and lower interest amount, $14.3 plus $5.25 = $19.55 million that could be paid off the loan if all other parameters remained the same, with $0.9 million in the bank at the start of the quarter, we could actually pay down the remaining $19.8 million and be debt free from our Q1 production.
The possibility of clearing the debt in 2024 Q1 is based on the 2023 Q1 results:
2023 Q1 results:
Gold sold - 21,442 ounces at an average realised gold price of US$1,887 per ounce.
Gold revenue of US$40.5 million.
Positive free cash flow of US$17.8 million
Mezzanine debt repayments of US$14.3 million
Net debt as at 31 March 2023 was US$69 million.
Gold production of 21,299 ounces recovered from 546Kt at a head grade of 1.30g/t.
Gold recovery was 93.4%
Darren Bowden told us the average gold grade remaining in the 4 years LOM is 1.29g that’s about the same as 2023 Q1 grade of 130g/t
Assuming the 1.30g/t last year produced over a 21k ounce quarter, its clear we can achieve the same this Q1, but at an increased average gold price of $2075 an ounce it could create a $43.5 million income, an extra $3 million, debt interest on $19.8 million is only $0.35 million for the 3 months, where as last year it was $2.6 million on the $69 million outstanding, that’s another $2.25 million in our pockets, so $5.25 million extra free flow cash more than 2023 Q1 which was $14.5 million would give us $19.75 million free flow cash this quarter if all the other parameters were equal, enough to clear the loan.
Wouldn’t that be fantastic news? It’s certainly possible.
Gold has averaged $2060 this quarter so far, but the next 2 weeks should raise our average to around $2075 if gold stays around the $2150 dollar area, that extra income may be enough to pay off the debt in Q1, 20k ounces would generate $41.5 million income, is that enough before costs to pay down the $19.8 million outstanding? It will be bloody close, but if it’s not quiet there, it will be a matter of when in April, what a milestone.
Nimrod22....its a corker, up to date and from the horses mouth.
Gold over $2140 , Q1 numbers will be very interesting
Https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/metals-exploration-aimmtl-acquisitive-cash-generative-gold-junior-4935
Explained by Darren Bowden in February 2024
Let me remind those of Leo_IX who sold out here at 1.85p and asked how I could sleep at night holding 5m MTL shares……. Well Leo since your post I increased to a 6 million holding and sleep very well, I bet your having nightmares letting go of the most undervalued gold stock on the market, at 4p that statement still stands, you could sleep too if you were to get back on and enjoy the long overdue re-rate on our market value.
It’s quite simple, 1p increase in MTLs shareprice is worth £13 million to the billionaires 1.3 billion share holding, they just need to enjoy the ride that’s coming and Darren Bowden who’s employment was of their making is the driving force.
I too have learnt similar things, I would never invest in a explorer on the basis they found gold, to name one SOLG.L the share price spiked and comes all the way down and nearly a decade later still no production, Early MTL investors suffered the same and I think the time to invest is when they finally begin to process the gold, as you say a decade or so later, unfortunately for MTL, we got off to a poor start because of a lesser experienced management team, Darren Bowden took over 2 years later and proved it just takes expertise, we knew the machinery worked, we knew the gold was in the ground and we knew the grades were good enough, but it took experience and skill to make it work.
My other tip is follow the money, the Candy and Edwards had the most to lose, billionaires don’t get there by losing money, and I had faith they would prop up the finances until we got it right, they organised new management and they financed us over the loss period, and my faith in them kept me onboard through the tough times, and now we are transformed, the Candy and Edwards deep pockets saved the day, and now I know they want to see the company grow along with the shareprice and collect dividends from the 1.3 billion shares they have, let us small timers hang on the their shirt tails, enjoy the ride
There are a few large holders who will know the early period of MTL better than me, but I imagine the 2005 to 2007 period there was a lot of excitement that took the shareprice to the 40p range, but as we know it takes a lot of years for a newcomer to get licences and to raise the funds to become a miner from an explorer, I know MTL like the back of my hand from late 2016, where they were about to test the function of the processing plant, MTL had secured finance of $81 million from HSBC at around 8%, but the gold output for the first 2 years was poor as the plant ran at 50% efficiency, so the Candys who were already the largest shareholder bought out the bank loan and found Darren Bowden, thank god, at that time in 2019 total debt had grown to $130 million at 2 separate loan rates of 15% and 7%, I could take a guess the interest will have been a heady $30 million over the last 4 years, but it’s all in the past by April, debts cleared and making $900 to $1000 dollar an ounce, 75 to 80k ounces of gold expected this year and the following 3 years just from Runruno, but as we know we have the Abra tenement in the pipe line, 20km long plot with historical gold finds leaves me very positive Darren has inside knowledge that we have a long future in that acquisition alone, but the intermediate small scale high grade mining plants may be up and running in the next year or two, spinning up another income along side Runrunos $80 million per annum.
Darren Bowden and the Candys have a great relationship and have made it clear we need to promote the business, expand the business to be the biggest and most successful mining company in the Philippines, forget a £200 million market cap for one mine, let’s use the knowledge gained from Runruno and the immaculate relationship with the Philippines government to become a multi asset mining behemoth with a $2000 million market cap (100p) Darren Bowden’s words not mine.
Gold closed Friday at an all time record high of $2082, Jan and Feb were strong months at an average $2030 but March is off to the races, happy days
Gold price for the first 2 months of Q1 is averaging over $2030 which is $50 dollars higher than the last quarter, $45 dollars higher than our record best quarter, $50 equates to $1 million additional income this quarter if all other parameters were to remain the same, $4 million in a year, just $50 dollars, interesting.
I have a feeling institutional buying in the back ground is currently in play, so much to come for March and April, MTL is THE place to be for the gold mining stock investor, and gold stocks are THE place to be in gold investment, all whilst gold is at the early stages of a bull run cycle, happy times.
Hi Mattjos, I remember you from the days I was invested in AAZ, more or less the same point MTL are in today, about to be debt free, I know you did very well with AAZ, are you still invested there today? I foolishly let go before the massive rise to 173p and learned a huge lesson to be patient when the going is good, I grabbed a profit (120%) then watched it sail away missing out on (600%) and dividends on top.
Good to your incite, I’m positive we about to repeat the early AAZ days with MTL, but I’m even more positive as we are in a better world location with a very ambitious CEO.
About Metals Exploration Plc
Metals Exploration is the 100% owner of the Runruno Gold-Molybdenum Project, which it developed from greenfield to production. The project is located approximately 200 kilometres north of Manila in the province of Nueva Vizcaya in the Philippines, an area which has been known to be prospective in gold and other precious metals since the early 1960s.For the FY2023 the Company announced Record production of 85,194 ounces, exceeding Company’s updated FY2023 gold production forecast of 81,000 ounces. AISC were $1,126 per ounce which was only slightly above the FY2023 lower guidance forecast of $1,120 per ounce. The Company also achieved excellent gold recovery in the processing operations – with FY2023 gold recovery of 88.7%.The Company’s strategy is to continue to focus on further operational improvements at Runruno to lower costs and increase margins – aiming at increasing recovery in the processing plant and further optimising operating costs. The Company is also continuing to significantly deleverage its debt and strengthen its financial position, with net debt at FY2023 now reduced to US$19.9 million and expected to be fully repaid in Q2 2024. The Company is also looking to create a larger and more structured business with multiple mines, which will deliver significant shareholder value through acquisitions within the Philippines and ultimately the broader region, leveraging the Company’s established in-country knowledge, experience, and strong technical team. The first such acquisition was announced in January 2024.
Next results for Q1 released in April, Darren Bowden also released info a debt free position expected for April.
A little bit of info for any new investor, good to have you onboard.