Critical Metals (CRTM), a mining investment company established to acquire mining opportunities in the critical and strategic metals sector, provided an update on its Phase 1 diamond drilling programme at the Company’s Molulu copper/cobalt asset Molulu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Results from first hole – Drill hole DD-1-01 intersected high grade copper mineralisation of 13.02%, 6.77% and 5.42% from 10.80 meters to 15.83 meters deep. CRTM said it has been a very successful start to its drilling programme with a high grade interception of copper mineralisation of 13.02% on its first hole. Further work is needed to fully understand the potential of our ore body, which has been accelerated by its decision to bring in a second drill rig this week.
Comment: If a 13% copper mineralisation does not get shares of CRTM back to the highs near 30p, one wonders what will. Pulling this kind of rabbit out of the hat should mean that CRTM shares resume the uptrend of earlier in the year.
Premier African Minerals (PREM) reported on the progress of the installation and commissioning of the RHA Ball Mill at Premier’s Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project. The company said it was pleased to confirm the completion of the installation of the Mill including all necessary feeds and discharge components, pumps, control circuitry and grinding media requirements that is expected to support planned production of up to 1,000 tons per month of spodumene from November 2023 at Zulu. The commissioning phase is now planned to commence from today with first material expected to be fed through the Mill on Monday, 25 September 2023.
Comment: PREM is currently delivering as many RNSs as Power Metals used to. All of this amounts to what is set to be a very busy autumn operationally for the company, and for shareholders ideally a rebound from current prices near the lower half of the recent 0.4p to 0.7p.
IamFire (AQSE:FIRE) updated on progress within its primary portfolio company, WeShop Holdings Limited, showing an increase of 118% annualised sales figures through the platform for the 3 months ended August 2023 compared to the 3 months ended May 2023. WeShop said the growth of WeShop over the last 3 months continues to validate the proposition the company was founded on. It is witnessing consistent and sustained increases in users, transaction value through the platform and the benefits that users gain through referrals to their own social networks.
Comment: While the market still does not value or appreciate the strength of FIRE’s investment in WeShop, the drip – drip of improved metrics on the platform is going to make a decent impact on FIRE shares, sooner rather than later.
StreaksAI (STK), a UK-based generative AI platform, announced the launch of Streaks Idols, a social product and AI character generator which offers a range of customisable AI-powered chatbots capable of sophisticated humanlike interaction. The company said Streaks Idols is a revolutionary social product that enables anyone to craft their very own digital avatar, imbued with their own personality, or created from scratch. Not only will this usher in a new era of interactive engagement, but it will empower creators with its innate monetisation opportunity, allowing them to generate revenue while retaining complete ownership of their online persona.
Comment: While the London market is not great understanding tech, the STK offering is at least simple enough to understand, even for grey haired / middle aged investors. This is over and above STK offering those with a social media following a way of monetising their fame in a novel way.
Bluejay Mining (JAY), the exploration and development company with projects in Greenland and Finland, announced the results of the 2022 field programme at its Disko-Nuussuaq nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group elements-gold Project, on behalf of Nikkeli Greenland A/S, the Greenland registered Joint Venture company created by Bluejay and its JV partner KoBold. The company said it was delighted to report the results of its first JV exploration campaign with KoBold, which has considerably advanced its understanding of several key targets at Disko-Nuussuaq. In a separate RNS the company said that there is a very low probability of its Dundas deposit being economic with its current resource base.
Comment; The KoBold JV was and is the main attraction at JAY, and shareholders can take solace that this is still on track. Clearly, this is of even more importance given the latest news from Dundas.
Neometals (NMT), announced that the Australian Patent Office has granted Neometals’ 50% owned recycling intellectual property subsidiary, A.C.N. 630 589 507 Pty Ltd, a patent for the key process steps of its lithium-ion battery recycling process. The Australian patent (Australian Patent No.2019400942) is the first to grant of the seventeen national patent applications filed by ACN Co for the LiB Recycling Technology in key jurisdictions across the globe. NMT said it was pleased to receive the first granted patent for our battery recycling process from the Australian Patent Office. This cements our competitive advantage as a leading provider of recycling solutions and allows Primobius to accelerate its recycling plant supply and licensing business model.
Comment: NMT is a company looking to get itself on the map and perhaps today’s news will be an initial step for it. This is especially the case given the way that with a market cap of over £100m.
Cizzle Biotechnology (CIZ), the UK based diagnostics developer, announced a further update regarding the Company’s put option to sell its 5% economic interest and royalty sharing agreement in the AZD 1656 asset to treat inflammatory pulmonary and cardiovascular disease to Conduit Pharmaceuticals for a total consideration of £3.25 million, to be satisfied through the issuance of new shares in Conduit and its prospective parent Murphy Canyon Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: MURF). CIZ said should it exercise its Option, the Company will hold shares in the NASDAQ listed merged business. The new shares in Conduit to be provided to Cizzle pursuant to the exercise of the Option will not be subject to any restrictions.
Comment: This is a nice little windfall for CIZ and should help the stock retrace some of the bear run that has been in place since the shares peaked back in March through 4p.
Corero Network (CNS) after midday yesterday and ahead of today’s Interims the shares improved 13% to 7.35p, as a significant strategic global partnership was announced with Akamainc (NASDAQ: AKAM). This US cloud company powers and protects life online and will be offering CNS’s fast-growing flagship SmartWall, DDoS solutions to its wide client base. CNS provide real-time, high performance automatic DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) cyber defence solutions on multi-year contracts with ‘blue chip’ clients. Today’s, Interims to June, reported a 19% increase in Revenue to $10.9m, importantly with annualised recurring revenues improving 13% to $15.3m, and EBITDA of $0.2m from break-even. The marketing focus is on its Ideal Customer Profile and momentum is growing with the order Intake up 19% to $13m. A $1.2m bank debt was repaid early and net cash is $6.2m, that’s more than sufficient to fund organic growth. Caraway Group Inc, Panama registered management consultancy business has emerged with 10%.
Comment: The Mkt cap is £36m and would most likely be higher in the US, CNS Gross Profit margin is over 90% so increasing revenue accelerates profits.
Synairgen (SNG), the respiratory company developing SNG001, announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023. The company said it was focused on progressing its method of identifying those individuals most likely to respond to SNG001 treatment using the large body of data already gathered through previous trials and new non-interventional research, which is currently underway. It hopes to maximise the benefits of treatment with SNG001 by targeting patients most likely to respond to treatment by applying both existing and new technologies for patient selection in its next trials of SNG001.
Comment: SNG is one of several biotech plays looking to regroup after the pandemic bubble. Getting SNG001 over the line would clearly be a step in the right direction.
Firering (FRG), an exploration and development company focusing on strategic minerals, announced that, further to its announcement of 6.33 p.m. (London time) yesterday, it has successfully completed and closed the Placing. This raised £756,000 at 6.5p. Certain directors of the Company, have confirmed their intention to subscribe for shares to the value of approximately £70,000.
Comment: FRG manages to get just over three quarters of a million pounds in the kitty, thanks to our friends at Optiva Securities. The funds should now clear the impasse in FRG shares, and allow it to move forward with its Atex Lithium-Tantalum Project. Yesterday witnessed news regarding the commencement of a 3,000 metres RC drilling campaign.
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