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Lewis: Is £31k per month total BoD remuneration?
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qkeHBaXoOI
The future of mining in the SW.
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qkeHBaXoOI
The future of mining in Cornwall
Why not talk RBW on the RBW board?
Https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/investing/stocks-shares/investors-look-ahead-2024-optimism-gains-miner-glencore/
"For example, in the first half of the year it spent $1.3bn on acquisitions across “transition” metals such as copper and nickel. It also announced a $1.2bn share buyback programme and a special dividend of $0.08 per share. "
China, the world's top processor of rare earths, banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets yesterday, adding it to a ban already in place on technology to extract and separate the critical materials.
Alternatives to Chinese suppliers are becoming more attractive - good news for PRE.
Its all about operational gearing.
The fixed costs will not be covered until the volume of sales rises. The order book and level of interest suggest that may come in 2025. Finance to cover increased working capital needs is as you say likely to come first, but a strategic partner may cover that need, or indeed if IES can find the right customers they may fund their purchases in stages.
Croissant
Have you heard that aggregates can be produced with out the outstanding permit? I thought the LFN came from the crushing equipment, but maybe I am wrong.................................
Clearly BoD remuneration is out of line with the size of the company.
Https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/15/china-weaponised-dominance-critical-minerals/
Https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/15/china-weaponised-dominance-critical-minerals/
Https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/15/china-weaponised-dominance-critical-minerals/
Hi Gingy
Cornish Metals exposure to Cornish Lithium
The Cornish Metals Pre IPO presentation states:-
----------------------------------------------------------
Lithium exposure through Cornish Lithium
Cornish Lithium has the right to explore Cornish Metals’ mineral right areas for lithium-in-brine & geothermal energy. Cornish Metals has a 25% free carried interest on the first project advanced to completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study within its mineral right areas, and a 10% free carried interest on all subsequent projects advanced to completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study.
Cornish Metals will receive a 2% Gross Revenue Royalty on all metals produced from brines or geothermal energy produced from within its mineral right areas.
From January 2017, Cornish Metals benefits from annual cash / share issuances from Cornish Lithium of US$50K per year in years 1-5, US$100K per year in years 5 –10, US$500K per year from year 10, and US$1,000K per year from year 15.
Refer to Company news release dated January 19, 2017 for further info.
Hope that helps. Unfortunately CUSN has taken its annual cash payments so far in the form of Cornish Lithium shares.
Those have recently been diluted by a deal CL did exclusively with Techmet, EMG and UKIB. Others and existing shareholders were offered a far inferior deal. It will be interesting to see if CUSN accepts shares again or now goes for cash for future annual payments.
SP Angel has re-iterated its 48p per share valuation and concluded:-
"Cornish Metals is gaining momentum with dewatering the flooded historic workings now well underway and feasibility studies progressing towards a decision point on a resumption of production. Drilling of the recently discovered mineralisation south of the mine is continuing with potential to add mineral resources, increase production, and extend the mine-life of a rejuvenated South Crofty."
Rogue_rader
RR Assuming you mean a bid from VBR to buy the shares they do not own...........
Apart from its shareholding, VBR also owns a large number of warrants (138,888,889) which are exercisable at 27 pence. If VBR exercised its warrants its resultant holding would be around 40-42 %.
If every holder of warrants exercised, the VBR shareholding would become around 36% of the fully diluted total.
"20p payback" ==> i.e. to make a bid at 30p, VBR would expect that all warrants it doesn't hold would be exercised as the warrant exercise price would be below the bid price. So the cost to VBR would be around £150m.
However, VBR would then benefit from CUSN having just received £21m cash from the other warrant holders, so the net cost could be argued to be £129m.
To this VBR would have to allow for the cost of building and equipping the process plant which might be around £100m.
So all in at 30p, VBR would be looking at around £220m to own the whole thing and be up and ready for mining/processing.
My view is that we could find CUSN is worth many times that figure, (£bns) if further exploration proves the wide formation (WF) is a district scale reserve of similar quality to the GFL. Then as you say, there is considerable potential in the other mineral rights around Cornwall, the potential for profit from processing ore from WF etc and ore from other exploration companies such as Cornish Tin and Godolphin, plus the value in the arrangements with Cornish Lithium.
CUSN might become the hub of all Cornish mining and a major mining company.
As they have board representation VBR will have a very well informed idea about the value in all these parts.
If a bid was in prospect, I would think it would be appropriate to make sure all shareholders had received the same information to evaluate the business as had been received by VBR.
One thing is for sure, there will be a lot of interest in the drilling results and the tin price over the next 24 months.
Rogue_rader
Thank you for a very interesting and worthwhile overview of CUSN. Yours is the best post I have seen on any company since I started using this website. It must have taken you several weeks to research all the facts and figures you brought out. The points about the history of the mine and being at peak tonnage output when it closed, I have not seen before, are well found and support the view that there is a huge amount of tin still to come out of the mine.
Like you, I am not seeing the investment in Cornish Lithium shares as a major plus, especially after the recent dilutive fund raise bringing in the UKIB, EMG and Techmet, on very favourable terms (terms which were not made available to existing shareholders -CUSN being one), but the royalties may be worthwhile if Cornish Lithium gets into production.
One point on your narrative is that the end of de-watering is estimated to be 18 months after the start so that would be end April 2025 not April 2024 as stated verbally. The completion of the feasibility study probably comes after that, as I think the FS may need info from drilling within the mine after de-watering is completed. Once the FS is completed the company can then make a decision re production and if positive, proceed to raising finance for the process plant. Hopefully by then, raising finance will be easier and the tin price may have made more upwards progress.
It should be remembered that the points you made about management remuneration are stated in Canadian $ not US$ or £, so although the figures look large in Ca $, in £ they are reasonable for such well qualified and experienced people. £1 = Ca $1.705. As you point out the news for a long period has been positive and that does not happen if monkeys are employed being paid peanuts. One does not have to look far to see the devastating results of a monkey-led experience.
Otherwise it might be worth considering that the NPV figures you mention from the 2017 PEA, will benefit from a higher tin price, but also the introduction of Tomra ore sorters at the beginning of processing and possibly higher throughput as a result of higher indicated and inferred figures, offset to some extent by increases in the cost of plant. The sensitivity analysis -summarised on p22 of the PEA -suggests that a 10% move in the tin price adds about US $57.6m to the NPV. Indeed the tin price now is about 10% higher than the base case scenario in the PEA.
Re your point about VBR taking a stake; if VBR (who have board representation) wish to increase their holding above 30% they will have to make a bid. VBR did raise US$ 650m earlier this year. For Sir Mick Davis and his team to have taken the stake they have, huge due diligence must have taken place, all of which must give other investors great confidence in the outlook even at a share price of 18p - the price VBR paid.
Hopefully we are at a good point on the Lassonde curve for your interest to have been aroused. I look forward to you
Buysellfredmcfc
In the past when the mine was working I think about 6k-7k tonnes of water were pumped out per day, so about that amount must seep in. At present up to 25k tonnes are pumped out every day, so I guess around a net 18k-19k tonnes are disappearing.
Page 33 of
https://cornishmetals.com/site/assets/files/4930/cusn_october_2023_corp_ppt.pdf
shows the de-watering plan. (I think the numbers displayed are fathoms.i.e. 6 feet equal to 1.8288 metres.) The water level started at around the 60 fathom mark, where its drained away via the adit.
The Dec 6th RNS stated "On December 5th the water level stood at approximately 155 metres below the surface" which equates to 84.75 fathoms. This is below sea level. So around about 24.75 fathoms had been drained by then. The first stage - hoped to be completed after about 9 months of pumping, will have taken the water level down to about 200 fathoms. i.e. another 115.25 fathoms.
As the water level drops and reaches voluminous workings , the amount of water to be pumped out for each fathom will increase, as the volume of the workings rises. So progress through the fathoms is fast to begin with but slower as big volume workings are hit.
Https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/IES/invinity-awarded-16311m-for-30-mwh-flow-battery-h3knshm5snxe2fx.html
The key paragraph in the announcement states
"The award is structured as matched-funding and is conditional on the Company executing a sales contract with a project partner, who is expected to provide the balance of funding then develop, own, operate and optimise the battery project. The Company has already signed a heads of terms agreement with its preferred project partner and will provide a further update upon conclusion of definitive contracting. Upon completion of that step the build and commissioning phase of the project will commence subject to necessary planning and connection approvals being received."
What ever the balance is, the partner pays it. if the final price is not known I guess we cannot work out the percentage the £11m represents. It is a little unsettling that there appears not to have been an announcement of who the partner will be.
Https://www.ft.com/content/ce18cc79-b501-440e-a12a-1473fd85d88e