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.
BB I've heard the same things as you have, and the US DoJ don't go after huge global companies just for fun, so maybe the reputation of Glencore as you described it is well deserved. I guess time will tell, but if some of the stories about them turn out to be true then I hope the people at the top go down with a real thud.
Make your own minds up...
https://www.msn.com/en-za/money/news/a-gift-is-a-gift-says-glencore-on-dollar14bn-drc-debt-write-off-%E2%80%94-but-us-dept-of-justice-is-watching-the-mining-giant/ar-AABjntu
Apols, here's the link
https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/no-load-shedding-in-winter-says-eskom-23067565
Good news if they can do it, but what really caught my eye was this:
"“There is also the possibility of lowering Eskom’s cost of debt through arranging a large blended finance facility which includes some climate-related funding linked to accelerated closure of some of the old expensive dirty coal power stations.”
He said Eskom was not in a position to build new power generation capacity beyond its commitments at Medupi and Kusile.
“It does not have the balance sheet to raise more debt to finance more plants. But customers are prepared to invest, as is the private sector, and it is straightforward to free up this market.”
Eberhard said some interventions that could be made would be the launching of the next round of Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme(Reipppp) by Energy Minister Jeff Radebe.
“Prices have fallen so rapidly that we are likely to see bids well below 50 cents per kilowatt compared to Eskom’s average selling price of 102c/kWh. This procurement could be done within existing ministerial determinations for new generation capacity. But it would be good to also gazette an updated intergrated resource plan so clarity is provided on future electricity generation requirements,” he added.
On small-scale generation, a huge backlog of applications for licensing and registration existed which, according to Eberhard, could be cleared “at the stroke of a pen”.
For instance, Radebe could gazette new Schedule 2 regulations under the Electricity Regulation Act exempting generation plants under 10megawatts and getting the regulator to simplify and accelerate registration procedures.
“This would unleash innovation and investment in many hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of small-scale distributed electricity generation plants and significantly alleviate pressure on Eskom and the grid,” according to Eberhard.
South Africa was a leader in renewable energy but has now fallen behind after Eskom blocked the signing of the previous Reipppp for two years.
“But we could turn this around in a very short time. South Africans are becoming impatient at the inexplicable delays,” Eberhard said."
https://m.fin24.com/Economy/Eskom/kusile-should-be-cancelled-greenpeace-report-20190426-2
Great posts BBN. And the even better news is that the African free trade area could be on the verge of being much, much bigger than just the 13 SADC countries if the latest efforts bear the expected fruit:
Extract:
"It is now official: Africa’s free trade agreement has drawn enough signatures to go into operation.
On Tuesday (Apr. 2), The Gambia’s parliament was the 22nd nation to ratify the agreement, the minimum threshold expected to approve the deal among the 55 member states of the African Union. The move posits a major step forward for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which was created last March in Rwanda. The trade agreement is set to become operational within a month after the required number of endorsements are deposited with the AU chairperson’s office.
Once in place, the AfCFTA will cover a market of 1.2 billion people and a combined gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion—making it the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization seven decades ago. African leaders hope the agreement will eliminate current high tariffs, generate employment opportunities for a rapidly growing young workforce, and harmonize the work of already-existing regional economic communities. It could also enhance intra-African trade by 52.3% annually, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
“Posterity will recall this day,” the ex-president of the African Development Bank Donald Kaberuka wrote on Twitter. His sentiments were shared by the former executive secretary of UNECA Carlos Lopes who wrote, “Africa made it.” Lopes noted that it took the continent a year to operationalize the trade deal, “an absolute record for these type of agreements.”
Trade deals have a reputation for being slow and drawn-out affairs with the European Union-Canada deal, for instance, taking seven years to negotiate after being 22 years in the making."
https://qz.com/africa/1586526/africa-free-trade-deal-gets-gambia-signature-to-go-into-force/
on Tuesday, 7 May 2019. Book your place here:
https://www.miningreview.com/energy/battery-storage-africas-energy-metals-market-and-supply-chain/
If that was the case I'd also be disgusted but we have to bear in mind that we're not joining the JSE for a few months yet. Si, if that was the ploy, they'd have to be pretty sure that they could keep the price depressed during that period, no matter what news drops. And don't forget - the price of V is outside of BMNs control. So I just think this is the MMs playing their games and filling their short having found a tame seller that will accept 25p+ for their shares and, until that seller runs out of shares or massive news hits, then this is where we will remain IMO
Well, providing that JSE is less bent than AIM (no guarantee) then that 'should' stop the AIM MMs going short and playing other games, and we should see more 'fair' trading as a result. After all, if the sp in SA is rising but the sp in UK Is falling then that will show a disparity which would be pretty obvious to anyone who cared to look. AIMO
Unfortunately this is yet another article that talks exclusively about Li-ion, but the same can - or will soon - apply to VRFBs once the positive effects of electrolyte leasing on their pricing becomes more widespread:
https://www.ee.co.za/article/decline-in-storage-costs-staggering.html
..spouting about the past whereas LTHs on here are looking at the present and to the future.
Those current V prices posted by LS are an increase after a rapid downtrend, so if this is the start of the expected upturn then the future is looking rosy as far as I'm concerned
..that BE are putting all their eggs into the Eskom basket, here's an article (courtesy of Mr Remmy) which highlights Africa's free trade ambitions:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/africa-free-trade/
"On April 2nd, 2019, The Gambia became the 22nd country to ratify African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), meeting the minimum threshold needed for the agreement to move forward.
AfCFTA aims to create a free trade region among the African Union nations. If the full vision is realised, Africa will become the world's largest free movement and single-currency union"
So, they've now signed up 22 African countries, of which 16 already belonged to the Southern African Development Community (SADC). If that's not a big enough market for a developing VRFB producer then I don't know what is...
Hear, hear! Pdub I completely agree with your stance on BMN, IMO the fundamentals and the potential of this company are huge, perhaps so huge that many can’t quite see it yet.
Good luck for the future, fight your illness even more fiercely than you’re fighting the two hats that post negativity on here with the sole intention of sowing the seeds of doubt in order to crash the sp for their own selfish gains.
Razor, it appears to be an orchestrated attack by shorters, not investors, but also co-ordinated and assisted by the MMs who so obviously manipulated the share price down to trigger some very sizeable stop losses (could that be classed as theft? I wonder...). However let's hope they have now all filled their boots at others expense and will allow the sp to recover to more reasonable/sensible levels in the near future