Member Info for MrMagic

Large producer Panasonic's view on Cobalt . . .

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-panasonic-battery/panasonic-plans-to-develop-cobalt-free-car-batteries-idUSKCN1IV14Y

"Tesla Inc’s battery cell supplier Panasonic Corp said on Wednesday it is aiming to develop automotive batteries without using cobalt in the near future amid soaring prices of the key battery ingredient. "

"We have already cut down cobalt usage substantially,” Kenji Tamura, who is in charge of Panasonic’s automotive battery business, said at a meeting with analysts.

“We are aiming to achieve zero usage in the near future, and development is underway.”

Big fish Tesla's view on cobalt . . .

"Elon Musk tweeted that batteries for the Tesla Model 3 use less than 3 percent of an expensive chemical called cobalt, and the next generation battery “will use none” of the material that some have called the “blood diamond of batteries.”

Cobalt is a key component of batteries. It’s also the most expensive material in the battery and mined under conditions that often violate human rights. As a result, scientists and startups are rushing to create a cobalt-free battery.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/21/17488626/elon-musk-cobalt-electric-vehicle-battery-science

https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/611518/a-freshly-funded-battery-startup-aims-to-ease-the-cobalt-crunch/

"A freshly funded battery startup aims to ease the cobalt crunch"

"Conamix, a little-known startup based in Ithaca, New York, has raised several million dollars to accelerate its development of cobalt-free materials for lithium-ion batteries, the latest sign that companies are eager to find
alternatives to the increasingly rare and expensive metal."

"Conamix is developing cobalt-free electrode materials that would work in existing manufacturing processes. The company didn't reveal the funding amount, but Bloomberg put the Series A round at $2 million. "

"Tesla's battery partner Panasonic announced last month that it's also working to develop cobalt-free automotive batteries. Others companies like LG Chem, Samsung, and Johnson Matthey are shifting to new chemistries
with higher energy density and less cobalt "

You will see if you DYOR on cobalt that this is why our resident ramper Helpful never pops up links or witty quips about cobalt and instead just does it for copper. Cobalt, as can be seen from the plethora of links below, is massively over-supplied and set to drop in value. That will squeeze the profits of the producers.

On top of this everyone knows that cobalt itself is out of fashion and very much an unwanted product in the electric car battery space. Battery producers are already greatly limiting their quantities of cobalt in their batteries and are developing Cobalt-free batteries. Attempts to jump on the coat tails of the electric car frenzy by focussing on cobalt are imo somewhat misplaced. It would have been better to go mining for Lithium.

Source link for last post there:

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/cobalt#forecast

Cobalt forecast 2019

"Cobalt is expected to trade at 30793.60 USD/MT by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 27440.00 in 12 months time. "

https://d3fy651gv2fhd3.cloudfront.net/charts/historical.png?s=Cobalt&v=201903090600a1&forecast=3

https://business.financialpost.com/investing/these-battery-skeptics-think-cobalt-and-lithium-prices-are-overcooked

"In the case of cobalt, supply will exceed demand by 652 tons this year, and that will widen to 20,842 tons next year, Wood Mackenzie Ltd. forecasts. The surplus is expected to send prices tumbling to an average of US$62,502 a ton in 2019, down 23 per cent from the forecast for this year, according to the London-based research and consulting firm. By 2022, the price will average just US$44,585"

"Prices slump as 2019 bearishness filters through to international metal market "

"Global cobalt prices came under mounting pressure in December, with the bearish outlook for 2019 and forecast oversupply showing no signs of relenting and sellers rushing to get stocks off their books ahead of the year-end.

https://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/3852524/COBALT-MONTHLY-REVIEW-DECEMBER-Prices-slump-as-2019-bearishness-filters-through-to-international.html

200 millio shares recently issued at 0.5p. Presumably many placees are still looking for mug punters to take those shares off them. Thanks but no thanks. AB has a great deal of form with RRR and RGM. Diluted both companies to oblivion, lowered the nominal share prices of both companies when the SP was approaching that level so dilution could continue, then performed share consolidations with both companies. SP continued to be decimated after those capital reorgs. Nothing but lifestyle ventures for the BOD imho. DYOR

Helpful: "there is no requirement on the company to notify the market"

Ah and there lies the difference between a professional company that respects its shareholders and what amounts to nothing but a bunch of "Barrow Boys".

Transactions and loans with Amulet Diamonds . . . not notified to the markets at the time
Past failure of the Greenland sale . . . An LSE poster practically forced the RNS out from the company

Now we have some mystical debt with Steelmin which AFAIK (pls correct me if wrong) has also not been RNS'd as per the Half Year report which states:

"We do not have high expectations here, and have written off our equity and a portion of debt amounting to £256,510.56 while efforts continue to find a buyer for the business."

Perhaps you Helpful could enlighten readers here what this Steelmin debt is of which £256k is just a "portion" !!

I was under the impression from past RNSs that Steelmin had dutifully repaid ALL the money owed to RRR. Was that not actually the case? Or has some new additional debt been set up in which case:

1) How much is that debt in total?
2) When did that debt get arranged?
3) What are the terms of the debt (interest, repayment period etc)?
4) Why wasn't it RNS'd?

In the end the difference between a professional company and a bunch of AIM sharks (for me personally) is that a professional company respects shareholders and has the morals and courtesy to keep shareholders informed of all transactions and deals regardless of whether specifically required by AIM rules or not. It's difficult to see imho how any discerning investor could ever place their trust in this BOD.

WIth the passing of today's GM resolution ConfettiEttie Bell has now gained authority to issue up to 2 BILLION shares here. Only 1 bn currently in issue.

They've made absolutely no attempt to hide their intentions so anyone buying or holding here at this point has only themselves to blame if they get mega diluted going forward. Here is the company statement of their strategy and intentions from the 11th March RNS:

"The current business model of Regency along with that of most other junior exploration companies in the small-cap space relies on the ability to access capital by the issuance of new shares to investors to fund ongoing working capital and project development requirements"

Note that the company in that same RNS also highlighted immediate financial deficits thus:

"Regency has been made aware by its JV partners that an immediate requirement for additional working capital of approximately $400,000-500,000 currently exists"

plus

"and that additional sums may be required over the next six months"

"The Company currently estimates that a deficit funding situation with its JV partners of approximately $565,000 thus currently exists"

https://www.investegate.co.uk/regency-mines-plc--rgm-/rns/corporate-update/201903110700083845S/

There you have it. Add to this the fact that the last Annual Report told us that the BOD here expend circa £735,000 a year just on Admin Expenses and one can see the enormous extent of the confetti issues that are surely coming.

I would personally not be surprised to see the SP fall towards the nominal share value of 0.01p now. This happened a few years ago, the SP falling towards the then nominal share value of 0.1p at which point Bell simply did a capital reorganisation and lowered that nominal value to 0.01p. He also did a share consolidation. The same also happened with RRR within the space of 12 months. Very much rinse repeat.

As I said, anyone from this point on who gets mega diluted only has themselves to blame imho. DYOR as always
.

It's worse than that booboo

The recent Annual Report stated that this BOD expended a whopping £735,697 just on Admin Expenses so tons of confetti needed just to fund the expenses let alone any project deficits ! Just crazy that such companies exist at all imho. AIM rules really need to change.

All good questions burningspear. Meanwhile . . . .

Cash and cash equivalents . . . £27,059

Total Current Liabilities now £2,733,316

The snouts will surely be in the trough again soon as these porkers get through £849,518 a year just on Admin Expenses plus over £300k on "Other Project Costs".

Those expenses don't pay themselves!

So I suspect it's tIme for the mugpunter saps to assume the position as the spring confetti falls!

Already £910,000 of outstanding Convertible Loan Notes here waiting in the wings and of course shed loads of warrants. Probably a good one to short at this point.

Meanwhile today the special GM for RGM occurs where ConfettiEttie Bell is requesting authority to issue up to another 2 BILLION shares. Seems nothing changes. Another great one to short I would think but I doubt anyone would take the transaction.

DYOR

I think Zumore is right to highlight the Steelmin revelation there:

"We do not have high expectations here, and have written off our equity and a portion of debt amounting to £256,510.56"

What is this debt? When was the debt acquired/agreed? What is the TOTAL amount of that debt?

Last year in Feb the company announced that:

The "Total amount due under the Loan of €4,314,688.68 has been repaid to Red Rock"

and that:

"Red Rock will now repay US$3,000,899 in full settlement of its obligations to the institutional investors that provided the back to back financing for its Loan to Steelmin, and will retain the balance as £976,525.46 and US$912,457.90"

AB commented in that RNS:

"we now hold at no net cost a key stake in an emerging European ferrosilicon producer"

So where did this "portion of debt amounting to £256,510.56" come from?

So, the previous Annual Report (to 30 June 2018) stated :

Cash and cash equivalents were £2,265,636

Total Current Liabilities were £2,653,992

Yet just 6 months later the Half Year Report (to 31st Dec 2018) states:

Cash and cash equivalents just £27,059

Total Current Liabilities now 2,733,316

Thus in those 6 months Bell & CO have managed somehow to expend £2.2m of precious cash whilst not paying off the liabilities which still remain and have infact increased slightly.

Where did the cash go?

What shareholder value has been delivered from that £2.2m of cash?

Open questions to the feckless rampsters here

Typo ABM shares only worth £70,000

Feckless rampers on ADVFN shown to be lying again in regards to cash and liabilities. Never ever believe rampers of this share !

Meanwhile, on top of the dubious anomalies others have already highlighted in regards to this Half Year Report I add my own here:

GREENLAND
===========

Annual Report stated:

"The entire interest in Melville Bay was sold on 29 June 2018 for £1, and an additional liability of £183,100 was accrued at 30June 2018 to reflect the Company's obligation to clear the site of the previous exploration camp and to remove residual drilling equipment and supplies"

Fine, except that this HALF year report covering period 1st July to 31st Dec states:

Other Project Expenses for Greenland of £82,361

Hmmmm project expenses for a project that was sold off before this reporting period???????

CONVERTIBLE LOAN NOTES
========================

Previous RNS stated that after various renewals there were £585,000 of the Series 1 Notes and £325,000 of Series 2 Notes outstanding making £910,000 in total. Even this half year report states the same details.

Yet in the Section 10 Notes (Short Term Borrowings) it states CLNs as 1,052,311 ?????

Look forward to any company explanations of the above !

Plus

AFRICAN BATTERY METALS
=======================

£100,000 invested in ABM @0.5p on 30 Jan

Today ABM Bid (Sell) price is just 0.35p

Thus in just 2 months this (cough) "investment" has lost £30,000 !!

Now worth just £75,000

All in all the usual stuff we have come to expect from Bell's lifestyle ventures imo. DYOR

Helpful: "So accounts released towards the end of May. That is when the RRR JMS shares are out of escrow".

Don't you mean only 50% of the shares will be out of escrow?

Link to agreement that a previous poster provided some time ago. Let me know if you don't believe it is correct.

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20180417/pdf/43t8hfmq8tvqst.pdf

9th from the top of the Share Fallers board here at present. That must be the 4th or 5th time it's been on that board since Bell and Johnson took over.

Sells now at 0.33p, 0.35p, 0.36p despite them having issued 200m shares at 0.5p.

Not surprising imo.

I maintain my prediction that, as he did with both RRR and RGM, Mr Bell will lower the nominal share value here from 0.1p to 0.01p within 12 months and/or will perform another share consolidation. Just my view. DYOR

Just to further the previous post, here are the amounts Amounts expended on Admin and Other Expenses across the past few years, taken from the Annual Reports. Staggering stuff.

2012 - £2,275,786
2013 - £4,751,948
2014 - £1,563,808
2015 - £1,334,404
2016 - £758,351
2017 - £644,688
2018 - £849,518

I make that a whopping £12,178,503 in total !!!! Just incredible for this AIM tiddler with 3/4 directors and 1 admin staff.

Over those same years the company has raised over £15 million via various share issues.

Yet today sits with a paltry £3m to £4m MCAP.

Hard not to agree with those claiming this is just a lifestyle venture.

I interpret from those kind of figures that no matter what monies come into the RRR coffers, the SP won't respond in kind because of that collossal Admin drain. That's why imo the Jupiter divi's have little effect on the SP here and is why any sale of the Yilgarn assets will imo be met with a healthy dose of indifference.