06/06/2023

Golden Metal Resources (GMET), a mineral exploration company focused on tungsten, gold, copper and silver within Nevada, USA, announced a significant outcome from the interpretation of results from the high-resolution induced polarisation geophysics survey completed over its 100% owned flagship Pilot Mountain Project located within the prolific Walker Lake Mineral Belt in Nevada, USA. The company said the scale of the opportunity presented to it as 100% owners of this advanced tungsten Project is large, and with these three new exploration targets now identified the opportunity has grown significantly.

Comment: The goal of any mineral exploration company new to the market is to prove up as much asset as possible, in as short a timeframe. This is not only what GMET are doing, but it has also added potential new targets.

Tertiary Minerals (TYM) announced that, via its local partner, Mwashia Resources, it has been provided with extensive geophysical exploration data for its Konkola West copper exploration project in Zambia by KoBold Metals. The company said through judicious agreements, it has been fortunate to have acquired large data sets for a number of its projects in Zambia which have significantly advanced its exploration targeting as highlighted in its recent announcement for its Mushima North project, and before that at Mukai where its data sharing and technical cooperation agreement with First Quantum Minerals has been highly productive.

Comment: As the company says, it has made judicious agreements, and once again FQM has been an enabler to its activities. It would be hoped that off the back of all of the progress made the shares would finally bounce back to the top of their recent trading range near 0.3p.

Great Western Mining Corporation (GWMO), which is exploring and developing multiple early-stage gold, silver and copper targets in Nevada, USA, provide an update on its Western Milling gold and silver processing project. The company said that at the end of 2020 it produced a doré bar from waste material collected at Mineral Jackpot.  Since then, it has established a working production partnership, identified and evaluated greatly increased volumes of material for processing, found an ideal site and are now constructing a mill which will produce precious metals this year.  This is a transformational move and an exciting time for Great Western, aimed at producing first revenues and funded directly by shareholders.

Comment: GWMO does indeed appear to be on the path of positive transformation, with the only hurdle at this point really being for the company to get the message out regarding its production prospects, and how soon this could happen.

Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU) an African focused mining and development company, announced a number of key management appointments, including the appointment of Tokkas Van Heerden, as COO of the Company in a non-board position. The company said the past several months have proven to be transformational for Marula and have seen the company go from strength to strength, with a number of milestones in all of its planned mine operations and mine development activities.

Comment: A company in a hurry like Marula, is one where one would expect to see it beef up its board in a timely fashion. Given the momentum achieved in recent months, it is only right that MARU is consolidating its position with new, significant appointments.

Aquis Markets, the pan-European equities trading division of Aquis Exchange (AQX), has launched new ‘Dark to Lit Sweep’ functionality on its UK and EU platforms. Dark to Lit Sweep allows members to sweep from Aquis’ dark book, the Aquis Matching Pool (AMP), to the lit book with a single order. The company said it is intent on offering our members multiple options to execute their flow with as minimal impact and cost as possible. That is why it launched its dark pool (AMP) a year ago and continue to enhance the functionality of Auction on Demand (AoD).

Comment: It is great news that this initiative means that the Aquis platforms are able to offer such optionality to cope with the tsunami of flow that no doubt hits the dark pool / dark book on a daily basis.

Hellenic Dynamics (HELD) is a medical cannabis cultivator, provided a business update. The company said that having evaluated the rapidly changing dynamics of the European medical cannabis markets and seen the challenges and issues that have confronted other cultivators it is adapting is growth strategy to take advantage of opportunities which are emerging as a result of such changes. Its approach will now involve harnessing the scale, low operating cost and expertise at its growing facility to service the burgeoning demand from end use customers in its target markets.

Comment: A chirpy update from HELD, but as RNS watchers are aware, the devil is in the detail, and more would be appreciated here. Cost and timing for a start to get to the milestones, and even mentioning exactly what they are.

Gfinity (GFIN), a technology and media company in the video gaming industry, announced the divestment of 72.5% of Athlos, a subsidiary of the company, to Tourbillon Group UK Limited. All future liabilities associated with Athlos will be assumed by Tourbillon, with the buyer also providing growth capital to support the business moving forward. The company said this has been a difficult year for Digital Media with the company having losses across all verticals, however after a significant re-structuring, it is confident that Gfinity will flourish without the requirement to raise further working capital. By focussing on its core web offering for Gamers, it is able to remove the capital intensive businesses of software development and esports events, and focus on returning to a positive return on investment.

Comment: There was something of a buzz around shares of GFIN yesterday, something which suggested that some clairvoyant investors successfully guessed a RNS was on its way. The key phrase here was not having the requirement to raise further working capital, something which should ensure that yesterday’s early bird buyers see a decent result stock wise.

Vela (VELA), an AIM-quoted investing company focused on early-stage and pre-IPO disruptive technology investments, announced an update for the quarter ended 31 March 2023. The company said it was a disappointing result for the quarter, reversing the positive result of the previous quarter, reflects the poor state of the quoted markets generally and the market’s continuing abstention from the small cap sector in particular. Vela remains of the view that many of the businesses in which it is invested are materially undervalued.

Comment: One has to feel for Vela in terms of being in a market which is clearly undervaluing almost everything in the small cap space. However, we have been like this for some time and just waiting for a change may not be enough.

Zephyr Energy (ZPHR), the Rocky Mountain oil and gas company, announced a placing and subscription at a price of 3.5p, to raise £3.15 million. The net proceeds of the Fundraising will be used to fund an estimated $3.65 million of incremental near-term CAPEX at the company’s flagship project in the Paradox Basin, Utah, U.S. This is expected to include a production test on the company’s State 36-2 LNW-CC well as well as future infrastructure and gas processing costs. The company said it looked at a number of financing alternatives and felt that given current market conditions (particularly the cost of debt), and after taking into account Zephyr’s bespoke situation, that an equity raise with circa 5% dilution was the optimal choice.

Comment: If in doubt ask shareholders for cash, seems to be the ZPHR mantra, something which it may have learned from Predator (PRD), given its “bespoke position” with investors. This presumably means investors have to cough up. One hopes that ZPHR can promptly justify the faith the market has put in it, and execute in the Paradox Basin.

CleanTech Lithium (CTL), an exploration and development company advancing next-generation sustainable lithium projects in Chile for the EV transition, shared the latest operations update and latest supportive commentary from the Chilean government. CTL said it remains in positive dialogue with Chilean Government representatives, following recent announcements on Chile’s National Lithium Strategy, as the company continues to progress its projects towards production of battery grade ‘green’ lithium, through Direct Lithium Extraction. The company said it continues to make significant progress on the ground across all three of its projects.

Comment: As stated previously, the point of CTL being listed was to be Chilean government friendly, especially in terms of the apparent desire of the state / people of get control of their mining wealth, after someone else has paid to get it out of the ground. In the meantime, we are reminded today of the operational progress CTL.

African Pioneer (AFP) the exploration and resource development company, confirmed that the latest quarterly Report from First Quantum Minerals Limited has confirmed the presence of mineralisation with diagnostic regional geological and architectural similarities apparently consistent with Kamoa-Kakula deposit mineralisation located in the DRC.  The targets are located in northwest Zambia on licences within the AFP-FQM Option Agreement concluded by the parties with AFP’s 80% owned subsidiary African Pioneer Zambia Ltd. The company said the discoveries made during the last quarter and the resulting report are ground-breaking for its partners and AFP shareholders.

Comment: As we are aware these days, due to Kafkaesque overregulation, companies have to choose their adjectives carefully, and many do not get past the Nomad etc. The fact that AFP has said its latest discoveries are ground-breaking, can be taken at face value, indeed, it may even be Great British understatement.

Jubilee Metals Group (JLP), a diversified metals processing company, announced a new partnership agreement for its PGM and chrome operations in South Africa. JLP said this new partnership agreement presents a more integrated long-term relationship with an existing chrome producer that will offer a stronger integration of the processing solution with the source of the material ensuring a long-term stable production profile. Under this new template agreement, Jubilee is offered a much greater exposure to the earnings derived from the sale of chrome concentrate.

Comment: Today’s announcement from JLP regarding a long term partnership with an existing chrome producer, reminds us that the stock has been off the boil for far too long and needs to be given a fresh look by investors.

Ondo InsurTech (ONDO), the claims prevention technology for home insurers, announced  Portsmouth Water LeakBot pilot results. The company said the findings for Portsmouth Water supported what it sees in the data across the UK, which shows that it could achieve most if not all of Ofwat’s 36 litre per day consumption reduction target in houses in England and Wales. It looks forward to progressing conversations with Portsmouth Water about next steps and presenting the full findings to other UK water companies today.

Comment: One can be quite sure that the water companies will be licking their lips at all the leak savings set to be made domestically, which can help offset all the rather larger leaks from our Victorian era infrastructure, of which billions are overpaid to repair by domestic consumers.