Member Info for SickOfTheRatRace

In the meantime South Africa based Bushveld Minerals via its Vametco plant can export to China and USA and not be subject to these tariffs. If you were a buyer in either of these countries where would you try and seek supply?

I am starting to smile every time I think about my investment here.

It absolutely is incredible news. Not only will this drive storage demand at small to medium scale it could mean, should they wish to do so, that Bushveld Energy can start setting up their own renewable energy plants (solar most likely), backed by VRFB storage for smoothing. All built with local labour using local suppliers and local mined minerals.

The mini grid they are setting up at Vametco will be a proof of concept and showcase. In theory we could see these springing up all over SA to provide geographically dispersed generation vastly reducing transmission costs.

Bring it on.

"Within 12 months it is likely to some degree we will have Vametco, Brits and Mokopane all online. That for me is the biggest news of all."

Couldn't agree more. Gets my vote for "observation of the month" Sanchez. This company is going to be a behemoth in the metals and storage spaces and it's coming together at an increasing pace.

"If March production is so fantastic and sustainable, pb940, why is the 2019 Vametco guidance so low?! The guidance certainly ain't 3240mtv for 2019 - not even close."

If the past year has taught BMN anything with RNS releases being torn to shreds (some of it justified) it is the need to be conservative going forward. Under promise, over deliver.

A good point to make at this juncture is that the info yesterday confirms that there is a lot more to Bushveld Energy than an Eskom battery. When the subject comes up there is a definite impression given from some contributions that it is all about Eskom and think that the only income avenue for BE is an Eskom contract which isn't the case.

The words from Mikhail yesterday should reassure all investors here that BE doesn't have all its eggs in an Eskom basket but is speaking to/has spoken to "hundreds" of other companies.

To quote the company website "Bushveld Energy is uniquely positioned to deliver energy storage solutions to the African continent and recognises that electricity in Africa intersects paramount potential for social transformation with an immense commercial opportunity."

https://www.esi-africa.com/industry-sectors/renewable-energy/bushveld-minerals-a-large-scale-battery-storage-contender/

Article on Bushveld Energy including a good picture of the Eskom battery.

"“What places us in a good position for future growth is that our business strategy of mining and producing our own vanadium at a low cost (the largest and most expensive component in VRFB manufacture accounting for 35% to 40% of the total cost) enables us to participate in the downstream energy market profitably,” Mojapelo concludes."

Oh, shame. Still when you read the same thing from multiple sources of course we are going to get excited about it.

Great to get the confirmation from Mikhail so quickly.

Back to sleep....

Incredible news!

There is more to Bushveld Energy than Eskom. Cannot wait for the official Bushveld Energy confirmation of their part and value in this FOUR HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR project.

@faramog sorry I forgot to respond to this part:

"As for div policy with results in June, correct me if wrong someone, but was there not a note about being 'this year' or 'by year end'"

It was confirmed in the 5th April RNS:

"The Group's capital allocation and dividend policy will be outlined in the CY 2018 Annual report."

That report must be out by the end of June.

@faramog the placing was not open to PI's if you recall. It was a deal done in secret and we only heard about it after the fact.

Many growth funds will have an element of speculative investment in them, that's how they will grow above safer investments and why a higher return is attractive to people who buy into them - of course that comes with risk which will be mitigated by diversification.

Without knowing the full mix of the institutions that bought in to the last placing it is difficult to analyse with any certainty however I am open to all other theories as to why investors last year would bail a large investment this year when a buy and hold would almost certainly get them a better return. For me the only reasons I can see are either self imposed investment rules such as defined time periods, % profit or % holding or a perception that one or more outcomes they were expecting were not forthcoming which could certainly include the dividend policy they were told at the time was "coming soon".

@faramog "Is SA not classed as a junk investment right now ?"

Moody's rate as lower medium grade (Baa3) with S&P (BB) and Fitch (BB+) rating as Non-investment grade speculative.

Brazil on the other hand where Largo is based, is rated as Moody's (Ba2) and S&P/Fitch both (BB-) as non-investment grade speculative.

In English if you are determining the host country for mining as a yardstick for whether you should invest in Vanadium, Largo would be rated a lower investment grade than BMN in all instances.

@YinYang in relation to your comment:

"It will however wipe out all BMN's cash as well as requiring debt funding"

You do of course realise how much BMN made last year (to be confirmed in the annual report but easily calculated from previous Vametco updates) and that by the time the Vanchem deal goes through there will be at least another six months of income in the bank?

In addition have you taken into consideration that Vanchem is already in active production and will immediately start contributing profits from the point of acquisition?

If you take the time to examine the deal in more detail I am sure you will see that it is another master stroke by our incredible board of directors.

@MenoMosso we can only speculate on the dividend policy until it is released which the last information from Fortune indicated it would be in the annual results which must be released by the end of June. As to why it was delayed maybe Vanchem played a part, maybe it didn't. Obviously they couldn't put an RNS out saying the policy had been delayed because they were in secret talks with Vanchem management as it would have been obvious what was going on.

When the policy finally gets here I am sure it will be picked apart with the usual ferociousness and attempts will be made to interpret the reason for the delay.

Personally I am of the opinion (and it is just that, an opinion) that it is quite likely that there will be certain investors who bought in on the basis that a dividend was forthcoming (this was signposted at the time of the placing) and have either had to sell or lost patience at this being repeatedly pushed back and we have suffered as a result. The good news is that the annual report is a maximum of just seven weeks away and CANNOT be pushed back.

Thanks Bmnfan. So that's a further five years that Ramaphosa has to deliver on his plans which as he is pro-mining can only be a good thing for BMN.

"The study found that EBITDA multiples are highest for the information sector (11.1x) and the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector (8.6x)."

8.6x.

BMN is currently trading basically with an EBITDA multiple of 2. We should be four times this price.

If anyone missed the webinar you can now watch it here: https://goto.webcasts.com/viewer/event.jsp?ei=1242694&tp_key=b2059300c4

@faramog unfortunately it is increasingly an essential conversation that the market needs to have particularly when talking about these huge installations of Lithium batteries. The comment regarding one fire bankrupting a utility is very important particularly in the USA where punitive damages can run to many millions of dollars per complainant. If the fire risks are well known and effectively ignored then punitive damages are very much on the cards.

Good webinar although difficult to make out some of the low grade phone conversation.

Some excellent answers from Mikhail and well done to whomever asked the fire question! Shame they didn't ask Harry for his views on that.

To be expected given he is running a Lithium project.

I have requested Mikhail get's a chance to answer the recycleability and lifetime of Vanadium batteries.