23/08/2023

Premier African Minerals (PREM), provided a further update on the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project with particular reference to installation of the interim milling solution and concentrate grades. The company said it continues to expect that the Zulu plant will produce spodumene to the specification required by the company’s offtake partner. The planned relocation of the RHA mill to Zulu is an interim mitigation step, which should result in sufficient correctly sized material feeding to the floatation circuit to achieve close to 50% of design capacity. On this basis the company expects that new target production levels should be attainable by November 2023.

Comment: Shares of PREM have traded sideways between 0.35p and 0,65p since the start of the summer, with the hope for the bulls being that the run up to possible new target production levels may give the stock fresh impetus, especially in terms of breaking through recent 0.65p resistance.

Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU), an African focused mining and development company, announces that it is joining the Apex segment of the Aquis Stock Exchange with effect from market open today, 23 August 2023. The company said to now see its shares admitted to trading on the Apex segment of the AQSE Growth Market is another achievement for the Company and it believes will further assist in its growth given the likely increased market exposure and visibility with investors that it will bring.

Comment: While most stocks on AQSE do not necessarily move on a day               to day basis, it has been notable that MARU shares have been one of the most active, and indeed, best performing. The moral of the story in terms of liquidity, is that a company makes its own market, whatever exchange it is on.

Aferian (AFRN), the B2B video streaming solutions company, announced that Virgin Media, has used its 24i integrated solution to launch and monetise a new line-up of themed Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) channels on Virgin TV. 24i worked in partnership with Amagi, the cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV group, on the project. The company said this has been a real team effort to give Virgin Media’s customers access to a range of exciting new streamed content with a great user experience. The successful and seamless roll-out to a variety of device models already in the field is a testament to the powerful and flexible combination of 24i’s Appstage Big Screen client, cloud-based Backstage content management system, and Amagi’s unrivalled FAST solutions.

Comment: After a brief rally last month, shares of AFRN have started to drift again. It may be that the Virgin Media connect revealed today gives the stock some positive momentum again.

Bluejay Mining (JAY), the AIM, FSE listed and OTCQB traded exploration and development company, announced the completion of an equity fundraise, raising gross proceeds of £600,000 through the private placement at a price of 1p. The company said it was grateful to receive funds for the further development of the portfolio, and welcome new investors in the company who are excited to get involved with the new Bluejay story. The immediate use of these funds will position us for a productive and pivotal second half of 2023, and what we believe could be a transformational 2024.

Comment: Full marks to JAY for raising any cash in current stock market conditions. It will be interesting to see how much progress can be made with £600,000.

Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) announced that Catalyse Capital, an existing 17% shareholders will acquire 122.5m(£762k@0.625p) shares from Southern Gold and so removing a share overhang. This should be  a relief to shareholders who supported the £1.125m funding in March at 2p. Bluebird aim to bring historic mines back into production focusing on gold projects in South Korean and the Philippines. The funds are being used to attain its Mountain Temporary Use Permits in South Korea. The JV with a local partner in the Philippines has already seen $20m invested in the project. It is finalising a drill programme for the next phase of development aimed at bringing the high-grade Lobo area into production. This JV structure gives BMV shareholders a free carry to the decision in return for 60% of the project equity.

Comment: Colin Paterson, the CEO and 11% shareholder and his team have invested more than $2m into BMV mainly at higher prices and now with this major shareholder doubling down it seems fair to say that the present  £4.3m market cap may undervalue the prospects….

Bradda Head Lithium (BHL), the North America-focused lithium development group, announced assay results from the latest 2 drill holes of the Basin East Extension 2023 drill programme, returning the highest single interval grade so far of 2,791ppm Li over 0.40m and a separate sample of 641 ppm Mo over 1.22m. Drilling has now finished and Bradda Head is busy working on the upgraded MRE and anticipated in mid-September. The company said it was excited about the potential for significant expansion of the resource at the Basin Project. These latest assays solidify the resource expansion potential at Basin and the high-grade lithium intercepts encountered in the recent drilling campaign demonstrate the exceptional potential of the project and underscore its importance as a potential strategic lithium asset.

Comment: BHL is clearly making progress on the ground, and it is to be hoped that at some point soon the market will reward the company with a rather better valuation / share price than it has currently. At the moment we see the stock below where it was 2 years ago, despite all the water under the bridge.

Upland Resources (UPL) announced that the planned Technical Workshop for the Joint Technical Study (JTS) on Block SK334, Onshore Sarawak was successfully conducted with Sarawak’s state oil company Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS) in conjunction with Upland’s joint venture partner in Sarawak, Big Oil Ventures sdn bhd on 17th August 2023. The company said to date progress on Block SK334 has been excellent – high-quality work on-time and on-budget. Continued engagement with the UBO team has demonstrated the value of their highly skilled team endowed with regional geological knowledge and a deep understanding of proven petroleum systems adjacent to Block SK334.

Comment: UPL has been delighting its new band of devotees with regular, decent updates such as today’s. Once the slack of recent sharp share gains has been taken up, we can expect a retest of the best levels at 2.8p during September.

Cohort (CHRT), the AIM-listed independent technology group, announced that its subsidiary Systems Engineering & Assessment Limited (SEA) has been awarded a 32-month contract to the value of £17.5 million with a UK customer to provide an External Communications System (ECS) for a major defence programme. The ECS will provide enhanced real-time data exchange, critical information dissemination, and seamless co-ordination, significantly enhancing overall mission effectiveness. The company said this contract is another significant win for SEA and will deliver essential communications capability to our customer’s programme. It builds upon SEA’s long-standing reputation and record of successful performance in this technology area. Together with other recent wins across the Group, this contract further underpins our order book and enhances the visibility of future revenues.

Comment: Shares of CHRT have been in an extended 400p – 520p range over the recent past. Therefore, one would expect the massive contract win should be enough to break the impasse.

Alien Metals (UFO), a minerals exploration and development company, announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Iron Ore Company of Australia Pty Ltd has awarded REGROUP Australia as its preferred primary contractor to undertake the construction works, mining operations and haulage services for its flagship Hancock Iron Ore Project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The company said securing REGROUP as a key contractor for the Hancock Project is a significant milestone for the company as it further de-risks the Hancock Project. This is the first step in locking in relationships with contractors on the back of the IOCA sourcing process, securing competitive pricing from contractors, which moves planning for the project forward.

Comment: Given the recent share price performance of UFO, any talk in a RNS regarding de-risking has to be taken positively. But it may be that further milestones need to be hit to enable the big turnaround here.

Orcadian Energy (ORCA) advised that yesterday its subsidiary, Orcadian Energy (CNS) Ltd, executed an agreement to amend the repayment date in its secured, facility agreement with Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited. As previously announced the STASCO loan of $1m (and associated interest) was due to be repaid on 23 August 2023. The repayment date of the Loan has now been extended to 13 September/ The company is continuing discussions with STASCO regarding possible further extensions of the Loan, and further updates will be made as appropriate. The company’s current cash balance is £95k and the financial position remains as outlined in the company’s latest announcement dated 2 August 2023.

Comment: While it is helpful to know that ORCA is down to its last £95k, one would imagine that this is not great in terms of negotiating repayment dates. This situation looks like something of a nail-biter, given how close to the wind the company is sailing.