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Looks like there is more to come also, from this separate sale -
"A separate sale process will be conducted over the coming months following the closing of the Acquisition with the net proceeds from the sale of the FMI business to be distributed to Payapps shareholders as additional consideration, however, neither Payapps or Buyer are party to or responsible for such sale arrangements of FMI following the closing of the Acquisition. Primorus will issue further announcements in relation to the proposed disposal of the FMI business in due course"
Now what to do with all that cash?
DB, I'm not sure.
Maybe they think it safer to just leave the equipment in place as the heavy rains will start shortly.
However it could be they are intending to drill at that location again, if not now then starting maybe end April, once the dry season begins again.
I had been thinking they'll move to Eyasi. Maybe they will.
The Predator is good for 2500 metres. But Eyasi is upto 5000 metres deep before it reaches basement. Depending on where the targets are. Nobles drill is good for around 3600 metres, and if they're just testing the shallow targets at 2-300metres won't likely need a full sized rig for that.
But I hadn't expected to see everything still in place, hadn't actually expected to get such a clear view actually, after 2 months of cloud.
So I'm a bit intrigued by this set of events.
Due to recent problems with cloud cover Sentinel 2 imagery has been disappointing for a couple of months now.
However yesterday the Sun shone bright, and for the first time in many months Rukwa was (almost) cloud free.
This is what Sentinel revealed -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53541796950/in/dateposted-public/
To the uninitiated it just looks like a mass of browns and greens, however a bit of annotation reveals the sites of Tai-3 and Itumbula W and SE.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53540491272/in/dateposted-public/
The site of Tai-1 is just next to the green blob SE of Tai-3. The river in flood to the north is the Momba River.
Unfortunately one of the few places covered by cloud was Camp Rukwa (the original FOB) so we cannot see if there is any activity there, I suspect not, but cannot be sure.
Next is a closeup of Tai-3 -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53541371056/in/dateposted-public/
the left image is the last clear day 17-12-2023 and right, yesterday 20-2-2024. Little change there, and that black blob is probably just a stack of pipes. no activity at all over the last couple of months and all the equipment has been removed and parts of the pad are now overgrown with vegetation. It is affectively "abandoned", but not necessarily in a technical sense - when Tai-1 was abandoned it was totally erased within around a month of drilling ceasing, at Tai-3 we see the pad and roadway to it still in existence, ready for a revisit, with a bit of work, although I suspect no time soon.
Now the juicy stuff - Itumbula W and SE.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53540757182/in/dateposted-public/
The top image is yesterday, the bottom image 17-12-2024, again the previously last clear image.
Well not too much has changed over the last couple of months. These images are obviously pretty grainy, Sentinel is a land use tool, not really designed for detailed reconnaissance, but i will try to get more out of them than is represented by just the fuzzy images.
So in the above image at Itumbula W comparing the two images the white and black "blobs" appear roughly in the same places, the latest image shows the black blobs as slightly larger, as you would imaging after around a months drilling has taken place throwing oil and mud all over the place.
So what can we make of the black and white blobs?
Well unfortunately He1 has not provided us with any nice aerial images, unlike at Tai-3, and we don't have any recent spy sat resolution Maxar images to hand, so we have to rely on the bits that He1 presents us with.
So this is an image tweeted by He1 on 19-12-2024, compared with the ground features revealed by Sentinel -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53543626513/in/dateposted-public/
Cont/...
Part 2
Cont/...
The big white blob is accommodation/offices, the smaller white blob cement containers and the black blobs the rig and support equipment.
we know exactly where the well heads at both Itumbula w and SE are located as previous Sentinel imagery showed then being excavated here -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53542080135/in/dateposted-public/
Sentinel repeats every 5 days, but can't as yet, look through cloud.
Now He1 tweeted another even more interesting image to accompany the RNS of 7-2-2024 -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53543870581/in/dateposted-public/
Add an image from Sentinel you get this
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53543870941/in/dateposted-public/
And a bit of annotation, and you can see how the features in the tweeted image match those from the Sentinel satellite -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53544301885/in/dateposted-public/
And you can now see that as at yesterday, the accommodation/offices, the road oil tanker and various other pieces of equipment all still appear to be in place.
In the commentary in the image I suggested that I wasn't sure that the rig was still there, but having thought about it as all the support equipment appears still to be in the same place, the rig itself hasn't moved either. This can be contrasted with images from Tai-3 when as soon as drilling ceased all the equipment was obviously being dismantled and on the move. There is also some equipment between the rig and road tanker, looks interesting, not sure what it is as the image isn't good enough.
In fact the images provided by He1 relating to Itumbula are noticeable poorer and nowhere near as good as those for Tai-3. I wonder why?
Also it appears that whilst Itumbula SE has never been drilled it would appear that some sort of equipment also covers the cellar at that pad. I wonder what that is?
So the conclusion is that as at yesterdays date it would appear that the equipment on the Itumbula W pad has not been dismantled and the rig is still in situ.
I had thought the next "big" news would be concerning Eyasi, but maybe not.
If the rig is still there what is it doing?
a) nothing, waiting for the next drilling season?
b) waiting on disassembly?
c) testing the well?
d) getting ready to drill again - the weather is obviously reasonable at the moment?
And whilst were at it there is also some movement at Noble's Base Camp, around 90km NW of Itumbula, with new equipment arriving in the last couple of weeks and they've also dusted off the helipad.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53528643408/in/dateposted-public/
Interesting as they seem to be only planning some shallow drilling around the middle of this year, a pilot plant and not much else. Nobles pad remain and appear in a position to accept drilling equipment at short notice if required.
DJW, If you go back through my previous posts, from a few months ago, you'll see that the deal is already done.
All explained in excruciating detail.
And it is far more interesting than exchanging oil for helium or vice versa.
Ever wondered why a (very) small exploration outfit bought their own rig long before they ever found anything of value?
There is an election coming in Tanzania next year and the people generally, especially in the cities are far more interested in keeping the lights on then than finding some esoteric element in some remote area.
An oil find is what will ding their bell, and allow the governing party to retain power.
No reason to decamp here, been in for nearly 3 years, highs and lows, but I think we need a bit of a reality check.
This from The Citizen today, there is a $ crisis and Tz could run out of fuel.
https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/national/tanzania-in-crisis-no-electricity-sugar-and-dollars-4528102
Oil and Eyasi is far more important than the helium.
Well, I did say someone would correct me if I had got the wrong end of the stick.
Although the Tanzanian Mining portal does still show it as being an active licence.
But that area, and its surroundings, could therefore still be up for grabs by some enterprising outfit.
It looks to me as if they are very roughly short of around £4M pa.
Under the resolutions at the AGM a placing at 10p would get them around £800K.
Rights issue would get them much more, and preserve Mr Currens %.
They could do and EGM, or cashbox but I don't think that is his style.
So most likely loan (which they've had before), together with a rights issue.
Win-win big time if they were to pull that off.
Missed out the nice view of the faulting, doh!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53530822920/in/dateposted-public/
Another view showing the faulting a little better. Edenville to the bottom right.
Noble are planning to drill (to around 300M)and build a small pilot plant this summer at Mbelele-1.
PURA carried out seismic and drilling at Eyasi over the last couple of years. Seismic over quite a large area cost £2.5M, drilling 3 wells using a local water well rig (Noble look like this is what they'll be using) to 300M cost £0.625M. Edenvilles licence here is quite small. I'd imaging they could do seismic and drill a couple of shallow wells and still get change out of £4M- £5M.
Wouldn't cost much to prove up any shallow helium such as Noble says they have, 30km south.
I think the licence will probably stay 70/30 on paper, it would be easier if Upendo simply assigned their rights as part of the settlement.
Of course you'd still have to get the licence to include helium, as it is coal atm, but given the buzz around Rukwa and helium that might not take too long.
Early stage, but settling the Upendo dispute a few weeks after the two helium discoveries could be a pointer.
Oops! The third link following on from this
"But the licence Edenville holds with Upendo (70/30) doesn't fall outside the rift, it falls within the BMFC, and here is a view of that looking from the north to south, with the Edenville/Upendo licence shown yellow, edged blue in the lower right corner"
Should be this link
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53529509587/in/dateposted-public/
Shuka caught my eye this morning with their RNS.
I don't know the full background here, so I'm sure someone will correct me if I have got the wrong end of the stick.
However Shuka reaching a deal with Upendo, bearing in mind the recent events in the Rukwa Valley could be an interesting development.
It is all to do with geography.
This is a map taken from the Tanzanian Mining Portal showing Edenville's licences (I know the company is now known as Shuka, but the licences are still in the Edenville name, I'll probably use both from time to time, but they are the same, of course).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53530391086/
Now the licence I'm really interested in this the one highlighted showing Edenville as 70%, Upendo as 30%.
I'm not quite sure how this fits in with Upendo having a legacy 10% interest as described in the RNS, however I'll gloss over that and whatever the disputes or interests are, they've obviously been settled on terms.
And just for context these are all the helium licences in the North Rukwa Rift Valley, Edenvilles are towards the upper left, but they're for coal and other commodities so weren't included when I did this map.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53313421152/
Now the interesting thing is that the dispute has been settled now following two companies apparently finding helium in significant quantities in the rift valley. Geology is also important as the helium is theorised to be generated deep underground within the rift, and its release is aided by volcanic heating. But the helium also has to be trapped by sedimentary rocks within the rift, most of it actually escapes.
Noble is targeting BMFC's on the edges of the rift, along the two main faults that form the rift itself. He1 is targeting IBFC's within the rift itself. Two quite different plays, but both have licences containing both types of closure.
Now Edenvilles three main licences fall outside the rift valley, so in theory any helium there should simply escape through the faulting system and not be trapped.
But the licence Edenville holds with Upendo (70/30) doesn't fall outside the rift, it falls within the BMFC, and here is a view of that looking from the north to south, with the Edenville/Upendo licence shown yellow, edged blue in the lower right corner.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53313421152/
The interesting thing is that this licence is bounded by the main Ufipa fault, but within the sedimentary rock area where Noble says they have found gaseous helium, Mbelele-1 is 31km SE of this licence area.
This is another view, again looking south, showing the Edenville/Upendo licence, Nobles well/licences, He1 wells/licences, and the Rungwe volcanic Province towards the top.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53529509587/in/dateposted-public/
Interesting development. Will keep an eye out.
Brimsness - newbies are learning that owning He1 shares can be an "interesting" experience.
I thought that they were cheap when they fell to 2p, having fallen 80% in a round 4 months.
Little did I know that they had another 90% to fall.
Not 90% in total but 90% from 2p ie 98% in total.
If you're not prepared for a wild rise, in both directions, then you need to belt up, and fast.