Member Info for RichKen

Fortune Mojapelo is the CEO of Bushveld Minerals, and after starting several other junior mining ventures through his company, VM Investment. He was previously a consultant with McKinsey, where he worked on corporate strategy and organisational development in South Africa and Nigeria. He has a BSc in Actuarial Science from the University of Cape Town.
EVRAZ Highveld Steel’s financial problems were a company-changer for Bushveld Minerals. Until then it had undeveloped vanadium, iron ore, coal and tin projects in South Africa and Madagascar, and an AIM listing that was largely getting the cold shoulder. The acquisition of an initial stake in the Vametco vanadium mine and processing plant from Highveld’s owners, which it has subsequently increased, provides it with an operating asset at a time when vanadium prices are rising. China now requires its steelmakers to add specified quantities of vanadium to rebar and other structural steel. Vametco produces about 3-5% of the world’s vanadium and Fortune is targeting 10% in the next few years as Vametco is investing in increased capacity. But he is not stopping at being a vanadium supplier to the steel industry. Bushveld now has its own subsidiary developing and promoting utility-scale vanadium redox flow-batteries and has persuaded Eskom to test one. Bushveld and the Industrial Development Corporation are looking at the technical and economic viability of building a vanadium electrolyte production plant in South Africa. Getting onto the energy storage bandwagon is a share price booster. Shareholders are very supportive of this business and it is going from strength to strength! Quite a company to invest in right now as it goes to the next level!

This is an article "edited today" from August shared earlier by Clarkgriswold. But worth sharing on here with the embellishments.

Cheers,
RK

No problem Alfa. I will put it together and then send something through to you to make sure it fits in with everything we need. This will be later tomorrow if that is ok!
It gives me something else to focus on and it is for the common good of us all. It is good to be able to work together to aid our investments!
Cheers,
RK.

Hi Alfa,

I should have a little time in the next few days to complete a summary. If this would be of help.

Cheers, RK

If you want to read the transcribe of Fortune's Natural Resources Forum presentation please scroll down!

Some interesting points not all easy to pick up till you listen over again. So I have written it out not quite word for word but close!

I hope this helps!

Have a great weekend all! And Fatbanker - enjoy your holidays we are all very jealous!! A stunning part of the world!

Cheers,
RK

Of course Mrremmy! The only thing missing is the presentation which was clearly being beamed on to the screen which would tie it all up.
Cheers,
RK

You are welcome Serenus. It helped me understand this better too.
One of the things with chemo is it makes you sleep a lot. My Claire is doing ok. But it is really tough for her. Life goes from real excitement to a sense of calm. So I have a little bit of time, so I thought I would use it to help us all to clearly understand Fortune's words clearly.
I have watched a few for Elon Musks presentations in the US and the reaction to him in the US is so different from investors in the UK.
This was a spectacular speech with so much to be excited about. But no real reaction from the crowd. As yet no reaction from the market. There should be! This is huge news and very clear.
Cheers,
RK

3 of 3The key for vanadium is we see the growth in long cycle storage where vanadium is best suited and it is expected that this technology will account for 90% of this type of storage capacity required. It should be noted that frequency regulation will only account for 1.8%, now why this is important when we talk long duration. It is because this is the sweet spot for VRFB’s.
VRFB have a long cycle, their depth of discharge and the low cost per kWh over the lifespan of the battery. They can be scaled up easily up to 800 MWH! (Massive battery!!)
There are many VRFB already installed around the world some for more than 5 years. One other key advantage is their safety record, compared to Lithium Ion, they can be installed in buildings without the risks seen when they go over temperature. This opens up a significant opportunity for VRFB.

Demand going forward sees up to 100 GWH energy storage installations being deployed by 2027. Even if only 20% of these are VRFB this is a very big market.

If we look at the PV (solar panel market growth) year on year this uptake is being accelerated worldwide and we see this being mirrored in the VRFB market. With significant updates year on year. If we look at how this will transform into the vanadium market we see that somewhere between 50,000 and 96,000 tonnes of vanadium will be required. When you consider last year 92,000 tonnes were produced for the steel industry. This is a significant increase in requirement.
So we need to think of the security of supply, and also the input costs of vanadium. Firstly, there is enough Vanadium within the earth’s crust around the world. But is there enough capacity to extract it? The vanadium takes up a significant capital value of a VRFB. However, as it is easy to build the vanadium redox flow battery, but the vanadium itself does not degrade over the life of the battery so it can be extracted at the end of use and re-used. This is very important! So it makes it very attractive to vanadium electrolyte rental, so this takes out up to 45% of the upfront costs when installed.

If we consider the current vanadium prices and then have a downswing in the prices going forward, there will still be sufficient demand in the world for new supplies to come on stream. If we ignore China where they look after their own domestic steel market and the Vanadium prices halved there is still sufficient requirement to bring our other assets on stream. As a company, we are well positioned with our resource base and our low-cost production capacity to succeed!

This is a summary of Fortune's text at the presentation (slightly edited)

Cheers,
RK

2 of 3
With resource base we are well placed to grow even using other assets around us and this is critical to be in an industry we are quite excited about (Very excited was what he meant to say!)
Vametco 2017/18 cash generation we are looking a cost of $16 to 20 per kg and generating high cash flows and in the first half of 2018 produced just over $65
Million. At $65 per kilo selling price it generated and EPTD $42 million. With prices now at $125 per kilo it is a very solid cash generator. But not only that but it is doing it of a low cost production facility. (Unfortunately the audience were in London not LA. If they were, they would have been Woop Wooping!!)
Our first half of the year showed really strong performance which in the second half can only get stronger as we go forward!

Six important points

The Vanadium Redox Flow Battery market is real and potentially very large and ten times bigger than the current vanadium commodity market.

Unlike other battery metals vanadium is anchored in the steel market sector where it is mainly used today and this provides critical support to our business today

Bushveld Minerals is neatly positioned along side other low cost primary vanadium producers to be able to support the new potential growth going forward. So we can support the VRFB market We support the diversification and the specific demand profile element whilst capturing a commercial opportunity which is quite compelling!

Then we can capture an ongoing hedge for vanadium production even if prices swing. As the vanadium price goes lower the competitiveness of VRFB becomes more compelling in its own right.

So why vanadium for Bushveld – the first one not that we will dwell on is the steel market. By adding 2 kilos to 1000 kilos of steel you double its tensile strength. So it is very important in high strength low alloy steels. 90% Of vanadium is used. Especially in building industry.
If we look at the use of Vanadium in other uses there are four oxidised states which are ideal for use in VRFB. At the moment only 2% of the world’s vanadium is used in VRFB and it is forecast that this will grow to 44% by 2027.
We think that many new developments and many suppliers should take note. The world market for the energy mix is changing between 1980 and 2050 expect to see the renewable energy market moving from 10% to 45% and this is a big shift upwards. This has significant opportunities for the energy storage industry.
We see that the majority is residential and commercial users and this is the space that stationary energy storage takes a significant role so whilst it is fairly unexplored today. Stationary energy storage today is growing at quite a fast pace.

1 of 3
Energy Storage from a different perspective

The core of Bushveld Minerals is our vanadium and our future is growing it as vertically integrated low cost, vanadium platform and growing into the energy storage market

We do that believing that not only does this strengthen the vanadium story but makes it a very compelling story!

Listed on Aim since 2012, in the last two years a SP rerate coming from a “junior company” then acquiring a low cost vanadium producer called Vametco. An integrated mining asset we acquired from Everaz Group. When you see a rise like we have seen it brings questions. However we have a very solid base to bring the company forward. Two years ago we had a market cap of £15 million to today where we have a market cap of nearly £500 million it easy to see us a retail stock and top heavy. However, we have a big interest from institutional stock holders who we expect to see joining us going forward as they see our potential. Our low cost resource is important and we have the largest resource base in the world and we are looking to grow to process 10,000 tonnes per annum within the next 3 to 5 years. From the current 2650 tonnes per year.

This gives us a solid base to move into energy storage where we see these potentials.

1. Low cost high quality electrolyte 200MWH expanding quickly to 1000 MWH
2. Developing opportunities for large scale energy storage
3. Contacts with stakeholders

One important point is that the market is not like selling widgets, you need to do a lot of back ground work. The markets are very structured and very regulated. Your approach to this market needs due diligence with stakeholders, the regulators, the utilities and other important stakeholders. We have great examples of this in South Africa which we have built up.
You then have a captive market to build VRFB units and we intend to partner with existing OEM’s in this Industry.

The Bushveld Complex has world class vanadium resources with great infrastructure with significant brownfield opportunities. We have Vametco producing 2650 Tonnes grow to 5000 tonnes with a reserve of 26 million tonnes! From 142 million tonnes of ore with a 2% of V205 one of the highest quality reserves anywhere. Next to it is Brits Vanadium project which is just an extension of the Vametco Mine. Vametco has a life of mine at the current rate of 24 years from just the reserve. But Brits which has been fully tested and is a green field asset and gives a lot of expansion capacity to extend the life beyond 100 years. Then we have the Mokopane Vanadium project. This is the largest none greenfield vanadium resource in the world today 300 million tonnes of ore with 1.75% content V205. At $33 V205 per kilo it can give a 25% IRR. However, with the current price sitting at $125 so even if the Vanadium price fell to half of that it is a fantastic project (Cash Elephant!!)

£33 per share and a 5% dividend at £1.65.
That sounds rather good.
If that happened most of the LTH would be able to buy a decent small island! Solar powered and there own VRFB installed, from good our BUshveld Energy!
Cheers
RK

Now go and relax!

Jaffas short term - February the 14th 2019 it will be £1.
Bringing some love to the board. Stop fretting and go have a beer or a glass of wine.
If you want long term, 2021 then long at £10 plus per share.
No go. And relax. Don’t ask Skier he is the LSE websites expert in everything master of none!
If you want assurances then do some research into fundamentals of this company. Don’t worry about these short term blips.
Cheers
RK.

If I was you I would transfer to a professional company like Hargreaves and Lansdown. They sort everything out. You can trade on the phone, on your lap top and even on an app on your phone. Best option by a mile for long term investments. Not the cheapest to trade but overall a superb trading platform and great b ack up support. bed and ISA is just a button on the trading account. You press it and it is done. Easy.
Other ISA’s, Pensions, transfers. They make it easy.
I hope this helps.
Cheers
RK

Ophidian- please please keep up your posts.
Cheers
RK

One other important thing which many on here know, but if you don’t you should with an ISA, although the yearly limit is £20,000. This is how much you can payin each year. If the invested amount doubles or more that doesn’t matter. Then the next year you can add another £20,000 if you are fortunate to be in that position. There is no limit to how high an ISA can reach. So you could end up with £1 million or £10 million in your ISA. If you happen to buy all those magic shares!
The good point is though when you withdraw any amounts from the ISA they are free of tax! No income tax and no capital gains tax!
That is the whole point. I hope. This helps any who were unsure and too afraid to ask!
You should use your allowance to the max you can afford each year. Until you need some cash of course!
Cheers
RK

Cindercone - I completely disagree with you about Ophidian! I know you don't mean to come across wrongly but you do.

Ophidian is a chemist and has a lot of experience in mining. If you read all his posts he makes this clear. he has been looking at the TA technicals and sharing how he sees it. This is nothing to be suspicious about. In fact, it is reassuring when all this market manipulation is going on. We know where this is heading. Calling tops and bottoms of SP movements is almost impossible. If anybody could have called this they would have sold at 50.2 p two weeks ago on Wednesday and bought back today. They would be a genius! But don't suppose anyone one did.

Let's not shoot down one of our best posters! Let's just be constructive. And try to post in a more constructive and positive way then you will win some friends!

This will soon be going back up again and then it will likely be rinse and repeat. Look at any SP history it is clear to see, these things happen! At what price it will happen again is not anything we know for sure.

Cheers,

RK

I agree with your points Alfa. Thanks for that

PV - thanks for your points too. It is a huge growth stock and making lots of income to which the market still won't fully appreciate until it sees the figures for 2018 in clear ink.
One point though Fortune made it very clear that he was going to set out the policy and that he already has a roadmap from revenue for the various streams of income going forward to finance the various expansions. I think we will have to wait for more news and more meat on the bones to see what he has in line for us.
Cheers,
RK

Alfa, Looking at the chart it looks very quiet considering we have just won an award! Just had an RNS with more information pointing at the direction BE is heading and given we have just had 3 days of presentations and discussions where Fortune has played a key role.
The market is very quiet considering it should be bursting at the seems. Do you have any thoughts?
Maybe the dividend policy will set this alight. The MM's must caught every week with shorts somewhere, as companies they must make a substantial profit. do they really need to close every position?
What do people think about this?
Cheers,
RK

Good afternoon all,
Trying to catch up after yesterday.
Today we have the plan clearly laid out about the future of BE and this is surely very exciting. I don't think anyone should be disappointed that there is not a huge list of details published and on large projects with so many pieces to put together it needs a lot of people working under Fortune and Mikhail to bring this project together. Thanks to whoever posted the plant scoping study document. there is a huge amount of information in there including all the ingredients to make up the electrolyte a potential plant layout and the considerations.
http://www.cesnet.co.za/pubdocs/Bushveld%20Energy%20Company/Draft%20Scoping%20Report_Bushveld%20Energy.pdf
See pages 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 all very interesting. There is a lot of info to digest but you can see this is no small project and they must have already progressed much further on from when this report was written.
The long-term perspective of what this plant will bring and the fact it is laid out to be able to grow to 3 times its initial concept tells us that there is a huge upside here moving forward. I don't think we have any concerns about the vanadium grade Mikhail knows this stuff inside out. He will be very clear what is needed and why this area is ideal. The team's foresight has already brought us a huge way forward. We are on a journey and for sure by the end of 2019, we are going to be in a very strong position.
Selling, Leasing the electrolyte from the lowest cost base is going to give us a major competitive edge in the market and this will clearly see us moving to the best position in the industry complete with all the grants and funding being made available.
With respect to partners, Fortune has involved many partners with funding and expertise as the company has grown and these partnerships, in the end, need those with the best financial backing to take them over and there is no reason why this would not happen with Bushveld Minerals again on the Bushveld Energy journey. We have all the potential income to create all the cash needed at this time to make all this happen and working with partnerships at the beginning lightens the load.
So the seeds are clearly sown and this is going to grow into a giant. We just need to be patient, If this was in the UK it would surely take even longer! There is a huge appetite here and even the President of Soth Africa will want to take advantage as this will be a very great step forward for them. As shareholders we have so much to gain here.
I hope this helps here.
Cheers,
RK

Thanks YTSS!
I think we wish we were all in Robs local tonight!