Member Info for lootgaloot

I notice Cangai gets another brief mention; under next steps...

Cangai ground gravity and magnetics survey.

Cangai was the flagship project when CCZ first listed in London but dropped off the radar during Simon Paul's tenure; to the point that it was barely mentioned. It looks like Dennis Jensen is keen on Cangai? Watch this space.

My understanding is that Cangai met with considerable local opposition on environmental concerns. It will be interesting to see how Jensen addresses this. He is a politician but I've heard he has a very brash Trumpian style. Does he intend to steamroll his way through the opposition, this rarely works in my view but it will be interesting to see how that progresses.

Meanwhile we have further evidence that the historic data from BHA is high in both quantity and quality. Hopefully we can JORC both BHA and Big One by the end of the year. I'm not sure what to make of Arya, it's worrying that it's now being referred to a a graphite resource rather than copper or other higher value metals.

Another trading update today and again, very encouraging. 2021 order numbers were 90% of 2019. Impressive given we had the omicron variant in 2021. It seems the company are back to pre-pandemic volumes.

I'm not sure if anyone reads this forum but this could be a good investment for 2022.

So basically Castillo management are bull$h1tting us. The reason for not taking the option has nothing to do with BHA but it's because some of the Litchfield/Picasso shareholders never agreed in the first place. It seems Cadence and partners have already seen the results and decided they're too good to give away cheaply. What is the point in having an option if the other party can walk away when it suits them? How poorly negotiated must the option have been if Castillo feel they don't have a leg to stand on to put up a fight.

I'm really losing patience with this company. I bought in because I thought the focus was on Mt Oxide with possibly Zambia down the line. Instead, they took an age drilling the same hole over and over at Big One and then left it so late to get to Arya they had to helicopter the rig and only ended up drilling a few 200m holes. This is well short of what was promised in early 2021.

I'm not happy with this jumping from one thing to the other. I was never happy with the Lithium direction; it smacked of opportunism and had a to-good-to-be-true vibe from the very start. I should have trusted my instincts.

My concern is not about the quality of the assets, but there has to be serious questions asked about the management. Cobalt is on fire at the moment and focusing on Broken Hill could make sense especially as they seem to have sufficient data to go straight to JORC. In a different context, this announcement would be very positive. However, one has to ask what the f*** is going on?

They announced their intention to IPO Broken Hill back in August so would have been in possession of the Wyloo Metals report for almost a year by then. Having re-read that RNS, the presence and levels of cobalt was also known. And yet it was still decided that this should be spun off.

The option on the lithium prospects was announced a month later. Clearly, the Broken Hill IPO was announced as they were negotiating the Lithium options. So at that time, Lithium was preferred to Broken Hill. Something has happened between now and then to change that strategy. Today's RNS implies that they have only just realised the great potential of Broken Hill and they must sacrifice the lithium prospect for the greater good. But this is clearly rubbish as they knew about the potential of Broken Hill for some time.

The only logical explanation is that the lithium assays are not all they hoped for and so it's back to the original plan. Well that's fine, so why not just say that. Instead, they have left everyone wondering why they have just given up on lithium prospects with the assay results expected literally days from now.

As I said, under different circumstances today's announcement would have been great news. Management need to get out there over the coming days and explain this about turn to their shareholders. What is realling galling about today's RNS is that they don't even acknowledge that Broken Hill was going for IPO. It's like August's RNS didn't happen.

This is a massive u-turn, only a few months ago they announced they planned to IPO Broken Hill. Now we're told it's their main focus and abandon the lithium licences. I was never a great fan of the lithium prospects, I always seen it as a distraction but this chopping and changing doesn't look good.

I'd love to believe that these new insights into Broken Hill are so wonderful that they've had to abandon everything else. However, we're told they had possession of this report since late 2020 from Wyloo Metals and it's only now they realise the opportunity?. Something doesn't pass the smell test.

My gut feeling (but still haven't read the full report) is that they have a heads up that the Lithium prospects are not that great so to soften the blow they've dug up this report they've had for over a year to try to justify the u-turn.

If Broken Hill is so great, why not sacrifice a still unproven Arya instead of potentially promising lithium prospects. As I say, I'd bet the Lithium prospects were no great shakes from the start. Something never sat right for me with the lithium prospects. Why so cheap? Why didn't Core Lithium buy the licence.

Tomorrow could be a disaster.

Axalta are one of the largest coatings/paints companies in the world. Very strong in automotive, It is effectively the DuPont coatings business spun off and later merged with PPG coating business to form a very significant player in the coatings market. And guess who owns Axalta... Berkshire Hathaway!

I'd be interested to know what is the link you found between Axalta and Itaconix.

Correct me if I'm wrong but as I understand it (and if I can believe it), the suspension is due to a delay in accessing the accounts to submit to auditors. This is due to Covid restrictions rather than the recent fire?

If we take that excuse at face value then it's interesting that Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah is listed as a member of the 'Audit Committee'. If I were an optimist, I'd suggest that perhaps the accounts cannot be audited since he's done a runner. Nothing fundamentally wrong with the company; it's just that we need his signature. Perhaps somebody with experience in auditing accounts can correct me?

Again, with my rose tinted spectacles firmly in place, I suggest Bion are too small to be a useful conduit for dirty cash emanating from Serba Dinamik Holdings. Surely, even a relatively small transfer of cash from Serba would stick out like a sore thumb?

However, past experience has taught me to be less optimistic. Clearly foul play has occured or at least needs to be investigated within Bion and obvious crooks in one company don't suddenly become boy scouts as directors in another company.

I think we'll just have to wait for this to play out. The communications officer may have his/her hands tied on what they can report. They may have been waiting for a final judgment before they can release a more meaningful update.

@Elsol, I'm thinking along the same lines as you. Why would Itaconix buy 30 tonnes of Carbosperse K797? It only makes sense if they are toll manufacturing a Lubrizol product by blending polyitaconic acid with Carbosperse K797. Maybe Lubrizol do not have spare capacity in N. America and Itaconix said no problem, we'll do it. Itaconix appear as the importer but actually the customer/supplier relationship is the other way around.

A quick visit to the Lubrizol website and Carboset 3076 fits the profile, a water based polyacrylate used in the production of fibreglass for construction sector. It contains 85% renewable polymer. Impossible to say if that renewable is polyitaconic acid without the MSDS but I suspect that it is.

https://www.lubrizol.com/-/media/Lubrizol/Coatings/Documents/Coatings-PDS/PDS_CST3076_CO_en.pdf

Lubrizol are massive; part of the Berkshire Hathaway group with a turnover greater than Nouryon and Croda combined. Carbosperse resins are Lubrizol's range of water based acrylates. Aqueous dispersion is achieved by the incorporation of methacrylic acid. Methacrylic acid is a billion dollar global commodity market and itaconic acid can be, in theory, a biosustainable substitute.

I cannot overstate how excited I am to anticipate Itaconix take it's first steps in this market. To secure even a small fraction of the global methacrylic acid market would be transformative. This wouldn't happen overnight, itaconic acid is currently uneconomical versus methacrylic acid in most applications; but the chemical industry is all about scale so the economics can and will change with future adoption of biosustainable materials.

It was inevitable that Itaconix would address this market and Lubrizol are ideal partners but, as Thordon said in the thread title, the order volume is a bit of a mystery. Cargo 3 is 30 x 1 tonne IBCs, this is more than a pilot trial and it suggests production quantity. Perhaps the strategy is to initially blend polyitaconic acid with Carbosperse K 797. A new product on the Carbosperse range may contain, for example, 25% polyitaconic acid; with a view to a 100% polyitaconic acid product some time in the future. Purely speculation on my part but worth keeping an eye on future Carbosperse grades which contain polyitaconic acid.

Other than her name you are 100% correct. Her contribution will be recognised internally and we investors should see the fruits of her labour in a few years from now. She has an opportunity to progress within the company as it grows and I wish her well. I'm a little disappointed to see that she doesn't have a linkedin profile (not one I can find). I would expect this from a Sales professional.

Your point regarding trust between client and supplier is spot on. That relationship is crucial in this industry.

HC will be earning twice the salary of MM, I know this industry well. And I repeat MM "is likely to be" more junior and on a more modest salary than you seem to believe.

Verney, you have an impressive CV and it is clear you have a lot of experience of U.S. corporate culture. Yet you made several statements yesterday which I found surprising. You describe "VP Marketing and Sales" as a "senior director role", this is just incorrect. U.S. corporations are full of Vice Presidents, the Americans love important sounding job titles but in truth a VP job title is what us Brits would call a "middle manager". You must surely have noticed this in your dealings with U.S. colleagues?

The lady in question is what we would call a sales manager. She will be on a modest salary with commission. I have no problem (although I disagree) with posters demanding JS resigns. However, the lady you referred to is likely to be a young professional with a family to support, doing presumably a good job. It's unfortunate that she has been named and singled out on a public forum.

I'm also surprised you believe a sales lead can be converted within a year. This isn't going door-to-door selling double glazing to grannies. Each customer will require at least a year or two in R&D testing the new formulation. The work may not even be a priority and each project could spend several months inactive. Even once the material is approved in the formulation, everyone from regulatory, marketing, production, procurement etc. will have an input before the material finally makes it into a production batch. Again, I'm surprised you do not seem to appreciate this.

It is, in fact, reassuring that the process takes so much time and effort. Itaconix are not making a commodity chemical with a "me too" sales team. Itaconix customers do not change their formulation just for fun. Once a material makes it into the recipe it will stay there for many years. As they say, business that is easily won is easily lost. It has been rightly pointed out on this forum before that once Itaconix wins business it's "sticky" and likely to grow in volume in the years that follow.

You are entitled to your opinion on JS, I happen to disagree. You are also entitled to your opinion on where the share price should be but I think it's about right atm. The market got a bit carried away earlier in the year but the current price represents good value for anyone with a 5 year view imo.

Seriously Verney, have you ever worked in a corporate environment? You have rattled off half a dozen posts which demonstrate a stunning lack of knowledge. Maybe you're a tradesman, a sole trader, army/police or whatever. Nothing wrong with that but at least have some awareness that this is clearly not a world you understand and maybe invest in businesses that you are more familiar with.

A whole 20 weeks and still not a millionaire, eh? Even Del Boy was prepared to wait until this time next year.

I agree it's a mixed bag and plenty of food for thought for both optimist and pessimist.

Has the geo consultants model been disproven? EG01, previously thought to be a 'massive sulphide bedrock conductor', may now be carbonaceous shale? Drilling appears too shallow to hit the anomoly originally proposed by BHP. The board thought it 'prudent' to revise to the shallower model. I question the economics of not going deeper having gone to the expense of chopper lifting everything to site.

Nevertheless 1-3% metal sulfides, even at this shallow depth, could be a good result depending on composition. It's true only a fraction will be copper but what of the remainder; cobalt? Zinc? REE? I'm not putting any value on the graphite as quality depends on type (flake, amorphous, lump etc.)

Most encouraging is the intention to continue drilling EG01, EG02 & EG10 next year. Clearly they have seen enough to justify further work. It also appears they are persisting with the model and will explore the magnetic anomoly to the proximal south as a 'primary source of base metal'. Eldorado also seems to have piqued their interest and a timely reminder that Arya is not the only prospect in the vicinity.

So, just like Big One, it could be this time next year before we truely know what these resources hold. We should still get plenty of news between now and the end of the year, further drilling at Arya, assays from both Arya and Litchfield and maiden drilling at Luanshya. It looks like 2022 will be a big year and while 2021 was frustrating at times, a lot of ground work has been done. I'm not ready to write off Castillo yet.

Australian market still not quite sure and remains unchanged. Two things are encouraging for me; visible sulphides between 1-3% (visible estimation difficult due to black schist) and further drilling planned for next year. So certainly not a dead rubber by any means. On the other hand, no mention of how this fits with the geo consultants model. I assume it is the carbonaceous siltstone showing as the electromagnetic anomaly so we cannot rely on the model. Not quite the slam dunk I had hoped for but still enough there to keep the market interested. The assay results will be very interesting.

The poster nevchev posted the following news on Hot Copper forum...

https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1104184058?-56510:35015

Australasia Gold up 25% today on 1.61% Li2O in rock chip samples assayed in their licence adjacent to Core Lithium; "The discovery comes less than three months after the company pegged the tenement in late August and is along a strike of known spodumene-bearing pegmatites located in the adjacent EL26848 owned by Core Lithium Limited (ASX: CXO)."

@aprogerson. I agree, the options on the Lithium prospects were a masterstroke by BOD. Not least because we can walk away from it anytime and at minimal cost (although hopefully that won't be necessary). I only hope that these unproven Lithium licences do not distract from what is happening right now at Arya which management describe as 'one of the largest copper discoveries in Queensland'.

Arya is potentially a £10 billion resource and could easily dwarf Core Lithium's Finniss resource (15 million tonnes at 1.3% lithium oxide) and that's even if we find anything of similar size to Finniss at Litchfield. Don't get me wrong, Litchfield has many attractions. Relatively low cost open pit mining and access to Core Lithium's processing facility means we can achieve positive cashflow very quickly. Regulatory and environmental permits already secured by Core should make it easier for Castillo and we are only 100 km from Darwin Port. Arya on the other hand will be a hard slog and many years before we see the first ounce of copper. It is a high capex project so it's encouraging that Rio have the licence next door as partnership with a major will be necessary.

Litchfield and Arya are very different beasts and I am simply saying that the time to get excited about Litchfield is not when we analyse surface rock chips. Right now Arya is the star attraction and I'm concerned that disappointing news from Lichfield could overshadow what you and I have always seen as the company maker. I have waited over a year for Arya since buying into this stock, how disappointing that Lithium seems to have stolen the limelight so near to what could have been a three or four bagger announcement.

Oh dear, A_Game; and you're a shareholder? I think you need to do some more homework. Here's a starter, only 4 out of every ten aircraft are leased. Ryanair lease only 33 of their 383 aircraft. The leasing market is dominated by small, start-up airlines with poor credit histories.

A higher interest rate environment will shift the balance even more towards buying rather than leasing and will destroy what remains of AVAP's customer base who are usually small, loss-making regional operators on a 'pretend and extend' business model.

All the talk of Lithium has diverted attention from Arya which is, and always has been, our flagship asset. News may land on Sunday night (Monday morning in Oz). Credit is due to the company for not leaking news and this has left us all guessing (including market makers); that's the way it should be.

The RNS promised an 'update' which suggests we will not get the full assay mineralisation results but I wasn't expecting this anyway as samples would have to be helicoptered to the lab and it makes sense to do this in one go, once drilling is complete. It's more likely we get visualisation results. It would be great if the update included XRF analysis but CCZ didn't do this at Big One so I'm not expecting it in this update either.

I am more intrigued by the expression 'more detailed' update. This suggests there is something to report. If they had found nothing then the RNS would surely have said so. My big fear was that Arya would be a duster but it appears, at the very least, there is something worth further exploration. Any indication that that 'something' supports the current geophysics model and it's game on.