01/06/2023

ENGAGE XR Holdings (EXR), a metaverse technology company, announce that, further to the announcement made on 28 September 2022, Lenovo™’s new ThinkReality™ VRX all-in-one virtual reality (VR) headset engineered for enterprise customers, ENGAGE XR’s target market, will be available for purchase in select markets worldwide, commencing June 2023. The company said it was confident that having secured Lenovo as a channel partner in September 2022, the launch of the new headset will enable us to grow its international reach and customer base. As the headset becomes available in selected markets, it anticipates seeing further revenue growth during the second half of 2023.

Comment: ENGAGE XR shares have made a tentative recovery off the lows in the last couple of months, and it will be interesting to see whether the VR headset move, something which feels a little 2010s, can turn this situation around.

Neometals (NMT), provide an update on the activities of Primobius GmbH, the joint venture company owned 50:50 by Neometals and SMS group GmbH, that is commercialising its lithium-ion battery recycling technology. The company said the success of the latest trials support Primobius’ goal of being the first to achieve the proposed recycling recovery requirements in the pending EU Battery Regulations.

Comment: If nothing else, as it rides the green mania were are enduring at the moment, Neometals represents a good proxy to the EU regulation gravy train, so in a way is a double winner in the present environment.

Rockfire Resources (ROCK), the gold and base metal exploration company, announced that it has successfully raised £880,000, before expenses, through Paloma Precious DMCC subscribing for 400,000,000 shares at 0.22p. ROCK said this investment provides a level of financial confidence and strength for the company as it heads towards feasibility of the Molaoi project in Greece. Paloma is a large metal refining and commodity trading house, which owns its own refineries for gold and silver.

Comment: Shares of Rockfire have more than doubled in recent months, following the last fundraise at 0.12p in the autumn. As well as the cash raised, the investment by Paloma underlines the prospects for Molaoi, something which the run up to feasibility reminds us of.

Greatland Gold (GGP) advised that the management of the Juri Joint Venture will transfer from Greatland to its joint venture partner, Newcrest Mining Limited (Newcrest), from 1 July 2023. The Juri Joint Venture is an unincorporated joint venture between Greatland (49%) and Newcrest (51%) which was formed in November 2020 to accelerate exploration at the Paterson Range East and Black Hills exploration licences. GGP said Greatland and Newcrest are two of the largest landholders in the Paterson Province. It welcomed Newcrest elevating its engagement and interest in the Juri Joint Venture property. Its partnerships at Havieron and Juri are central to unlocking the full potential of the Paterson Province.  Greatland strongly believes in the prospectivity of the Juri Joint Venture tenure and will continue to be an active participant following the upcoming management transition.

Comment: It remains somewhat puzzling that despite standing on the shoulders of giants in the space, Greatland’s share price is still waiting on the pixie dust to get the share price through recent sticky 9p resistance. That said, one would imagine that with news like today’s we should see the big breakout as we roll into summer 2023.

Clontarf Energy (CLON) announced that the company has raised £350,000 at a price of 0.08p. CLON said “Strong demand growth and rising, though volatile, prices are transforming the lithium business. The Board believes that projected demand for clean lithium cannot be met without South American brines, and especially Direct Lithium Extraction technology. Its joint venture partners, NEXT-ChemX, identified techniques that had previously purified fluids of radioactive elements through a technique mimicking the human kidney.

Altona Rare Earths (AQSE: ANR.PL), a mining exploration company, said the company announced that it has raised £2.0 million via an oversubscribed placing of £1,677,300 and a subscription of £322,700 at 5p. The company said the funds will be utilised to complete Altona’s maiden JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate and a Scoping Study for the Company’s flagship asset, Monte Muambe Rare Earths mining project, in northwest Mozambique, which is expected to be published in August 2023. This will enable the Company to increase its holding in Monte Muambe Mining Lda (which owns 100% of Monte Muambe) from 20% to 51%. The company will commence its Phase 3 Pre-Feasibility Study activities on site in July 2023.

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (QBT) announced that it has raised £1,000,000 shares of 0.25 pence each in the company at a price of 1.4 pence. The company said the net proceeds of the Placing will allow it to continue to progress its research and development programmes, particularly the further development of its proprietary bitcoin mining machine learning algorithms and software product release, North America business development activities, fund the progression of the Sipiem in Liquidazione S.r.l’s response to the defendants’ appeal and provide general working capital.

Pantheon Resources (PANR), the AIM-quoted oil and gas company, announced that it has formally accepted and paid for the award by the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for the 39,540 acres that it was the successful bidder of in last year’s state lease sale. The company awaits formal granting of the leases from the DNR, expected in the near term, subject to standard formalities. Pantheon said it will soon have c. 193,000 acres under lease with a material resource base in the billions of barrels. In the past it has limited it public profile to reduce competition for offset acreage while it acquired the current acreage position.

Comment: Ironically, if one were trying to think of companies with a low public profile, it would be unlikely that Pantheon would be on the list. We look forward to seeing how much limelight the company can gather now that the latest lease sale is out of the way.

Chaarat Gold (CGH), a AIM-quoted gold mining Company, announced the signing of a conditional preliminary investment agreement and a strategic co-operation agreement with Xiwang International Company Limited in respect of a potential equity investment of $250 million. CGH said it has now progressed beyond the letter of intent stage to conditional agreements within the agreed timeline. It looks forward to working with its prospective partners to achieve completion of the Investment by our target of the end of July 2023.

Comment: Arguably one of the funding deals of the year, and it is surprising that the market has not embraced CGH’s achievement more than it has so far. Nevertheless, this “reminder” RNS could help underline how significant the deal is.

Avacta Group (AVCT), a life sciences company, announced that it has acquired Coris Bioconcept SRL  for an upfront cash consideration of £7.4 million, with an earnout based on future business performance, payable in cash, of up to £3.0 million. AVCT said antibiotic resistance is a major global challenge and it strongly believes that the market for antimicrobial resistance testing is one with good future growth prospects. It is particularly pleased, therefore, to have added an AMR product portfolio to the Group with this acquisition.

Comment: As the saying goes, it would appear that Avacta has “pivoted” with the latest acquisition. You do not have to be a Dr. Kildare to realise that the antimicrobial resistance crisis is actually one of the most urgent of our times, arguably more pressing than COVID is, or was.

Invinity Energy Systems (IES), a manufacturer of utility-grade energy storage, announced a 2.07 MWh sale to Orcas Power and Light Cooperative (OPALCO), the non-profit cooperative utility for San Juan County, Washington, U.S. for use in a solar plus storage project. IES said it was very pleased that OPALCO has selected its vanadium flow batteries to play a major part in dispatching locally produced renewable energy to the San Juan Island community. This exciting project will further demonstrate how its batteries can bring the benefits of 24/7 renewable power to even the furthest reaches of the U.S. electrical grid.

Westminster Group (WSG), a supplier of managed services and technology-based security solutions, announced Final Results for the 12 months ending 31 December 2022. The company said it was pleased to report that, despite the challenges from the tail end of the Covid pandemic, the impact of the Ukraine conflict and the ensuing global economic turmoil, we still delivered a 35% increase in revenues to £9.5m (2021: £7.1m) and achieved an effective break-even position with a 99% improvement in losses to £0.0m (2021: loss £1.9m), demonstrating the recovery underway and that it is heading back to a growth trajectory.

Comment: It would appear that congratulations are in order, especially for a company which has taken its fair share of negativity over the years. It will be interesting to see whether being back in the black (effectively), is enough to back to even just the 2p plus zone they were as recently as the beginning of this year.

United Oil & Gas (UOG), the full-cycle oil and gas company, announced an update on the testing of the ASD-3 development well in the Abu Sennan licence, onshore Egypt. The company said ASD-3 is the second successful well in its 2023 drilling programme, delivering additional production and revenue to United as the well is brought into production through existing facilities. Discussions are underway with its JV partners on plans to maximise the economic return from the potentially large in-place volume on ASD that this result has indicated.

Comment: Despite the ongoing operational successes being revealed by the company, such as today’s news, the rally attempts we have seen in the stock struggle to be maintained. However, it may be that the weight of positive newsflow does eventually allow the stock to clear the sticky 2p – 2.5p resistance zone.

Creo Medical Group (CREO), the medical device company, announced that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has selected Speedboat Inject to be scoped and routed for guidance in respect of the endoscopic submucosal dissection of lower gastrointestinal lesions. The company said it was delighted that Speedboat Inject has reached this stage with NICE and the validation this provides given the progress it is already making in the UK. It looks forward to the outcome of the final stages of the review process as NICE concludes its work.

Comment: Creo has a “man from Del Monte” moment, in the form of a thumbs up from NICE. One would expect that after an extended bear run in the shares, the latest news will make a positive impact.