Member Info for perroverde

We should hope so Troajan - it represents a market cap of under £1.5m. Which values the whole of Stonepark at circa £6.5m (and that’s valuing all ARK’s other stuff ie llithium etc at nil). Hardly any overhead and no debt. Has to be crackers?

DVH - agreed. 23% share of Stonepark seemingly safeguarded for now at least, with the cost share covered for the extensive drill this Summer with who-knows-what excitement that might bring, plus the lithium.

Mcap still only £1.5m-ish with no debt and tiny overhead.

DVH - answer received: Yes the funds are indeed earmarked for ARK to stand its corner at Stonepark in the imminent drilling programme. Because the exact details of the programme have not been announced yet by G11, ARK is not able to make specific RNS reference to it. However the total cost has previously been estimated to be around/just under EUR1m, so ARK's share will be in the order of £200k at today's exchange rate.

DVH - the placing was 'sold' to me on the basis that the funds WOULD specifically be used for Arkle to stand its corner in the imminent Stonepark Drill. So not sure why it isn't mentioned in the RNS. I will ask!

Rich3r while I agree that 2 suitors is best for best price, 42% of the shares here are held with directors + ‘friends and family’ so it isn’t going to be sold on the cheap to anyone anytime soon!

The market cap here is crackers, but in this situation not terribly relevant in the context of what the assets are worth to the right suitor.

There's some discussion on another bulletin board about the company being employed to do the AI. The people doing this job are Planetary AI which has been formed out of International Geoscience Services, the former having received funding from various Governmental investment funds, the latter having a multitude of international mining and exploration corporate and Government clients including The World Bank in the USA, The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK.

In Africa they have done projects across Africa (Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Cameroon, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mauritania, Liberia and Sierra Leone, mostly in conjunction with projects many of them funded by The World Bank.

More specifically and more importantly from a BOD perspective, in Botswana they worked for the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water on a Government-sponsored plan to transform the Department of Geological Survey to a statutory public entity known as the Botswana Geoscience Institute (BGI).

They don't necessarily need a big balance sheet or a herd of employees to do what they do, but it seems reasonable to assume that the bona fides of both Plantetary AI and IGS will have been thoroughly checked by the abovementioned investing and client organisations, and so would appear extremely well equipped and experienced to do this particular job. Looking forward to seeing what they find!

Agree IG - bear in mind that DeBeers are spending USD 1bn just to extend the life of Jwaneng, have just appointed a new, younger/ambitious CEO, and just agreed a new/extended deal for the Debswana jv with the State to continue and they are short of new resource... BOD can't not be on their radar.

The RNS highlights the enormity of what they have in Botswana - 380 gigabyte of data, 95000 sq km of coverage, that's around the size of Scotland and Wales combined. And the second biggest exploration database in the country.

At llong last some movement on Stonepark!

G11 share price up 50% on the news

ARK hardly moves and mcap still only circa £1.5m. Crackers!

MCAP now circa £1.2m (with plenty of very interesting assets and no debt). Madness!

As InvestingGenius says - do the maths!! Cf the Mcap of £5m or so (and no debt).

This is also a very important piece of BOD’s role in the rapidly-developing Kalahari diamonds jigsaw and hugely enhances BOD’s already-central seat at that table. Roll on February for the other anomalies.

Brine lithium in Botswana… now that is interesting and for all sorts of reasons !

I suspect you're thinking along the right lines, but I've a gut feeling it's bigger than just KX and Ghaghoo - James's presentation of a couple of weeks ago mentions a couple of other producing/potenially-quickly-in-production mines not far away (in Kalahari terms anyway) including Lerala which is the right size, location and on care and maintenance since the (local) owners haven't done anything with it since acquiring it a couple of years ago, and perhaps more significantly mines belonging to DeBeers/Debswana (though I'm guessing not Jwaneng or the main Orapa operation - too big/developed, too old, but Daamtshaa would be an interesting fit).

The concept of a joint effort for a mid-tier operation to mine and market diamonds from the CKGR with these components (plus perhaps others) is a strong one given that all the pieces are largely already in place, with production already happening or can be made to happen in short order. Then there's the whole Maibwe/Sekaka/Sunland prospects to add exploration and development of new resources into the mix, all of which the State has already stated it strongly desires (and, who knows, may even provide some backing).

Like I said earlier, big big stuff for a very small company to be involved in, and beyond exciting were it to come to pass.

Techguru all good points and agreed.

The 'sudden' decision to make this move on KX36 cannot be insignificant, the very directed nature of James's presentation the other day was not insignificant and the specific mention of Ghaghoo in the RNS is, I suspect, not insignificant either. It all points to a bigger picture process of creation of a more substantial 'thing' being done in the Kalahari presumably with JV partners. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out who they are most likely to be - just look at who else has operations nearby plus the declared desire of the State to increase and polarise production in the country - and, if true, likely to big big news for a very small company. It would push TR and Mars into relative insignificance (even though they were, I know, the reason many of us bought in here originally and I share the frustration of some others re the lack of information). But circumstances change, opportunities arise, and this one looks very exciting indeed.

Very promising indeed!

Market cap now only circa £2m (and no debt) so off the radar - for how much longer I wonder.

I agree JPW. The new NomAd is much better positioned, much more useful than the previous one as an ally for not just fundraising whether debt, equity or whatever, but all sorts of corporate finance activity.

Roll on some decent news!

A good move to Strand Hanson! Not particularly price sensitive I suppose (sadly!), but they are well-connected in the mining sector and likely to be a very constructive advisor/partner IMO.

They raised USD10m last September, stated that they had USD 4m+ at bank at end 2022 and have since announced grant awards, plus have stated that operations are going much much better in 2023 than in 2022, so hopefully now cashflow positive, so a raise seems rather unlilely to me, but of course anything is possible!

(That goes for Maibwe and the rest of Sekaka too of course, but they are a long way off production compared to Ghaghoo and KX36).

I should think it paves the way for any deal for Ghaghoo and KX36 involving a jv partner/third party funder to be able to go ahead as it removes that element of uncertainty regarding the Botswanan Government’s attitude to, and revenue share requirements from commercial diamond mining operations in the country (ie not just DeBeers). What’s your view TR?