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I am a LTH since Afritin days and I'm excited by the lithium potential but I was concerned by an interview with Neil Herbert (ALL chairman) last week. He was commenting on the future demand for battery grade lithium and said that producers were moving away from petalite to spodumene due to the cost of processing petalite. It was just a throw-away line from NH but it will be interesting to get the metallurgy results. Obviously, if the lithium price rises, any additional processing costs will be less significant.
ATM does have some spodumene but I'm not sure if there has been a separate MRE. In the meantime ATM can sell the petalite concentrate into the glass and ceramics sector, albeit the market is a lot smaller.
When PREM announced their latest assay results in January, their sp responded. The best of their assays was:
8.3m @ 1.53% from 165m
Compare this to ALL's assay today
83m @ 1% from 36m
And our sp falls! ALL's intervals are 10 times those of PREM at far shallower depths (in a better jurisdiction and infinitely better management team). I am happy to hold long term but do find the latest sp frustrating.
as the ditau assays were due in early may (according to bt in april presentation), i think it safe to assume that they didn't indicate an iogc. ben never releases negative assay results. looks like we are now relying on finding gold in the zimbabwean **** heaps!!!
Ben has been (mercifully) quiet of late but he is booked to do the LSE Webinar on 25th July. My guess is this will all about the opportunities arising from a Purebond takeover.
In the meantime he is keeping schtum on the progress of the B1 drilling and the results of the Ditau assays (due May). It makes me wonder just who Ben is serving as it definitely isn't KAV's LTH.
@Korriban I agree that delays happen but CE seems to have a habit of over-promising but massively under-delivering. The off-take agreement with AtoZ was announced on 14th June 2022, to commence sales in Q4 2022. We are now 6 months late and are still awaiting news of the first sales (even though we commenced production on 24th May.
Similarly with the gold deposits at Garolo-Ntiela in Mali. CE was planning to visit Mali in March 2022 for JV discussions but he has failed to provide any update.
We could be days away from the announcement of the first met coal sales or there could be problems with production or the off-take agreement has gone sour. We simply don't know and in the meantime the sp drifts lower. How long before we need to raise further capital? Come on Carl, give us an update.
@Aligator, I think you are painting a very black picture. If the fighting in Sudan does worsen and it leads to problems in the Suez Canal (a big 'IF'), then the rig could be shipped round the Cape to Dar. Would add a week to the journey but not a major problem.
IMO the major powers would act to prevent any significant delays in the Suez. It just carries too much trade.
@Crocqman you have no need to apologise for taking gains. During the recent weeks, I have twice sold KOD to finance my investments elsewhere. One sale was very opportunistic, as ,on the spur of the moment, I sold 1m KOD to increase my ALL holdings when their price fell to 20p after the Blur Orca attack. That decision has already paid off. On the other occasion I sold KOD to top up my holdings in HE1 and ATM.
It is all about balancing one's portfolio and taking opportunities when they arise. I still hold 3 million KOD shares and my immediate target sp is 1.25p. Unlike others here, I am not that excited by gold. I've held shares in gold explorers for years but none of them are close to actually mining the ore. Unless there are truly exceptional assays results (to spark the interest of one of the big boys like Newmont, Barrick or Anglo), it will take years (5-10?) before you see any mining.
I agree @JP that KAV should drill the KSZ conductors first. In his interview last week, BT stated that the KSZ was "drill ready" whereas Ditau isn't. Even after the assay results, there will be further work to identify the drill targets. Assuming the assays come back in May (as BT indicated) and KAV decide to drill Ditau first, I suspect it will be quite a few months before drilling starts. We've had no news on potential drilling contractors.
I must admit I'm conflicted about this stock. I'm over £15k under water and have a horrible feeling that the B1 conductor will turn out to be the geological equivalent of a rusting shopping trolley. On the other hand, I'm reluctant to sell up, like @Cox, in case the B1 conductor turns out to be a major nickel/PGE discovery.
I find myself agreeing with @LiquidSilver that 1.1p is a great entry point. If HE1 sign their rig contract in the next week or so, I might just invest a bit more. Probably throwing good money after bad. Luckily my lithium stocks are flying.
GLA
A bit optimistic there JP2000.
The 5th April RNS was contradictory. Early on it said KAV had sent X077 and X081 samples for assay but later, under Highlights, it stated that they would be sending the samples.
I would have thought you have been invested here long enough to realise it is not wise to rely on BT's statements regarding assays. I remember waiting months for previous KAV assay results, with BT blaming the logjam at the labs which didn't seem to affect other explorers.
I hope you are correct in your estimates but I'm not holding my breath. IMO we will not be seeing any drilling until Q3 at the earliest.
@iLOVElithium
Keep an eye on ATM (Adrada previously Afritin). Huge lithium resource in addition to tin and tantalum. Latest drilling figures released last week include
113m @1.15% (including 59m @ 1.62%)
114m @ 1.15% (including 48m @ 1.51%)
About to double tin production and a pilot separation plant is due to come into production in June. Smallish mcap of £70m and very much under the radar as regards lithium.
@MM2015
Who said 'one hole' in the KSZ. BT has said KAV would be drilling both the main conductor and the secondary conductor. His plan now (although it will probably change next interview) is to drill i10 before decamping for the KSZ. So BT obviously believes have the cash to drill both target areas. As waiting for the assays is delaying exploration, wouldn't it be more sensible to start with the KSZ.
In an interview on 7th March, BT stated that KAV would be drilling the B! conductor "within two months". BT is now saying that KAV 'might' drill Ditau first. Presumably this means waiting for the Ditau assays to come back before a decision is made and we all know how long it takes KAV to get assay results.
The logical thing (to me at least) would be to drill B1 whilst waiting for the Ditau assays but what do I know, I'm just a mug investor who is about £25k under water.
Mattslim
As well as KOD and ALL and an interest in FRG (through Ricci), am also invested in ATM (now called Andrada but formerly known as Afritin). They are very much under the radar as a tin producer but have massive lithium and tantalum resources. A pilot plant is due to be in production next quarter.
@ElricOfMeinbone
It was interesting, however, that KAV went to drill Ditau as soon of the news that the other explorer had not found diamonds. I suspect that somebody spread the word on what the diamond drillers had found. Ditau drilling was rather out of the blue and KAV only drilled 3 of its 10 targets.
LuckyLuciano
Don't care if you believe me or not but yesterday I sold 1m KOD and used the funds to buy 15K ALL.
I'm sorry my post was not more enthusiastic. IMO ALL will be granted a mining licence but the Blue Orca report may well be used by politicians when Parliamentary Approval is sought. Neil Herbert's interview yesterday suggested that it may be next year before the licence goes before Parliament. 2024 is an election year in Ghana. A party campaigning on an anti-corruption platform may well make the licence approval an election issue.
I have read the Blur Orca Report in full. It is a mixture of facts (most sourced from IRR/ALL documents) and baseless assumptions. Yes, ALL did acquire the Saltponds and Coastal licences from a company owned by General Mosquito's son, but there is absolutely no evidence of corruption in obtaining the exploration rights. General Mosquito's son (Kwaku Asiedu-Nketiah) does stand to benefit substantially from production at Saltponds and Coastal but that is a long way off into the future (ALL has yet to start drilling the Coastal Licence).
I am a LTH (since IRR days) and ALL is by far my largest investment, but I am aware of the risks of investing in AIM mining stocks especially those operating in Africa.
DYOR
I managed to to acquire an additional 15k shares yesterday in a couple of tranches at an average of 21.2p.
Investors need to be aware that there is widespread corruption in Africa. Whatever the veracity of Blue Orca's story, this will cause reputational damage to ALL. I am now concerned that Ghanaian Parliamentary Approval might be difficult in the run-up to the general election. I would feel a lot more comfortable if the MIIF investment goes ahead.
Not surprised that we are moving on the the licences next to the Namibian border. Ben mentioned this in his last interview. I am concerned on the basis for prioritising KCB targets. Were PL082 and the new targets chosen on the basis of the geophysics or because they are adjacent to discoveries by other explorers? Have we carried out CSAMT and soil sampling on these new targets?
Hopefully , we will get the delayed strategy in the next week or so. Will be annoying if it doesn't include the return to B1.