The next focusIR Investor Webinar takes places on 14th May with guest speakers from Blue Whale Growth Fund, Taseko Mines, Kavango Resources and CQS Natural Resources fund. Please register here.
Hi Sarah, on this occasion AP didn’t totally stick his neck out. He reported what ZCDC told him. The date moved a bit to accommodate President Mnangagwa’s big statement regarding all minerals. As much as some people claim AP is the ultimate deal maker, he had no control over when President Mnangagwa would make his announcement or when ZCDC will sign. They have the mining rights & control the timetable , which I have confidence in because of what Minister Chitando said last Friday
Definitely serious trading action this morning. MMs not having any problem creating a market, as can be seen with the slight premium being charged for larger than normal market size purchases, & slightly worse bid price for larger than normal market size sales
There definitely is rob, the Zimbabwe Mining Minister confirmed that in his speech last Friday. He said the ZCDC/Katanga deal would be signed late this week. We’re now in the part of the week that I think most would accept to be the latter part. So IMO the diamond deal confirmation RNS could appear at anytime
Sarah, as I hope you know the situation with Alrosa & Anjin is different to that of Vast. Alrosa & Anjin have both been granted exploration licences which in essence gives them equal status with ZCDC. For some months around the beginning of the year it was hoped/expected that Vast would be given a licence, but as we know that turned out to be an unfulfilled dream & we had to partner with either Alrosa; Anjin or ZCDC to be able to mine for diamonds. We correctly IMO chose to continue to partner with the Zimbabwean community & are partnering with ZCDC which is a Zimbabwe Government controlled entity.
Why were Alrosa & Anjin granted licences when Vast weren't? IMO there were 2 reasons:
1) Political: Zimbabwe needs considerable support & both the Russian & Chinese governments want to ensure they exert/continue to exert influence upon how Zimbabwe develops. Both Alrosa & Anjin have strong links into the Russian & Chinese governments respectively.
2) Financial: Neither Alrosa or Anjin would have any difficulty in raising funding to mine. Alrosa is listed on the Russian stock exchange & has a RUB 524billion (US$ 8billion) mcap. Anjin is not listed but is a joint venture between a Chinese corporation & former members of the Zimbabwe military.
As to the impact of obtaining the Zimbabwe licences, although clearly very important to Anjin because it's not listed we don't know what the diamond licence will mean for their profits etc. By comparison Alrosa is the second largest diamond mining company in the world & they already operate 5 out of the 10 largest diamond mines. Due to the global economic effects having an impact on softening demand & prices for diamonds the Alrosa share price has actually declined by 20% since the beginning of the year.
We clearly can't draw any comparisons between Vast and Alrosa or Anjin. The only thing they share in common is that all 3 will soon be mining diamonds in Zimbabwe
It is indeed 2pence & very pleased to see the company figures quoted rather than some of the ‘homemade’ figures that have often been posted here.
If the new concession is as good as the original HC, then as you quote serious fcf will be generated within a few months. There’s no need to ramp Vast now, just understand the genuine opportunity
cordenadam the fact the request is only for £250k at nominal values is IMO great, because it actually means the opposite to your concerns. The funding is going to get us fully into production in both BP & the diamond opportunity, & the company isn’t going to be constantly asking shareholders to approve the issue of more shares.
After seeing 5 billion new shares issued this year, a request for only a further 250 million headroom is a blessed relief
That’s true Welshie as I’ve already posted. But those warrants have been factored into the SP since earlier in the year when the additional warrant cover was approved.
IMO the significance of today’s GM resolution is the relatively small headroom request which means the finance deal isn’t likely to risk significant additional dilution which I believe to be hugely positive. These are my personal views, everyone should do their own research & reach their own conclusions
Remember that is at nominal value of 0.1p per share so really they’re requesting authorisation to print up to another 250 million shares.
Remember we have the 2.2 billion Mercuria warrants that can be pledged, but they’re already factored into the SP.
As I’ve already said IMO the GM resolution is good news, because we could have been asked to authorise much more headroom which would have had a negative SP impact
The GM motions have now been posted on the Vast website.
IMO even more fantastic news is incoming regarding the finance deal, as we’re only being asked to authorise £250K at nominal, headroom, this as LTHs will know is a p*ss in the ocean for Vast, & IMO means we’re not looking at convertible finance. Unless AP is confident the SP is going to double and the existing Mercuria warrants would be enough to cover the $13.5 million finance.
Whatever the case, only looking for £250k headroom is great news. Well done AP.
Good morning Sarah.
You’re right to be optimistic about the start date for BP, as AP confirmed operations would start in December. That won’t be affected by the weather because BP is an underground mine & therefore rock & diesel freezing etc. isn’t a problem like it is at Manaila.
With regards to historic claim money, let’s see what the deal details are. IMO there won’t be any claim money. If there was such a bonus we wouldn’t need to raise $13.5 million, instead we’d need $13.5 million minus the $6 -8 million that has been claimed here.
Please read the Annual Report. The company are very explicit Manaila will remain on care & maintenance for the foreseeable future until a further round of funding is possible to enable them to implement a totally revised plan, to make Manaila & the Carlibaba expansion a viable profitable option. Although not clarified in the accounts IMO that means implementing the changes recommended by SRK/the Mercuria Competent Person who also required the changes to be made (at a higher implementation cost) to optimise BP output.
passion, ref your post at 21:29. ZCDC are essentially the government so no deal to sign there. What we were awaiting confirmation of was that the Zimbabwe Government approved the deal between Katanga & ZCDC, the minister could confirmed that on Friday, when he confirmed the deal between Katanga & ZCDC would be signed towards the end f this week.
The deal is therefore confirmed we now await the disclosure of the details
Dr Kananga, Angus.
What will confuse some people is that there is already a stockmarket listed (TSX) company called Katanga Mining (a Glencore subsidiary)who are active in the Democratic Republic of Congo mining copper. However that company has had it's controversies in the recent past. They recently had to reach a $22 million settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission in the settlement, the regulator alleged that the company overstated copper production, understated mining costs, and does not have sufficient internal financial controls.
Sounds a bit like another company I know & their copper mining activities