04/09/2023

Pensana (PRE) advised that on 29 August 2023, 30 August 2023 and 31 August 2023, Paul Atherley purchased shares in the company.

Comment: For those who have spare time on their hands at 7am, PRE allowed them to tot up that Mr Atherley bought shares 20 times over the above three day period, amounting to around 430,000 shares and doing this between 0.205p and 0.248p. So he is clearly keen. One would hope this really is the bottom for the stock off the back of this relative enthusiasm from this director dealing.

CleanTech Lithium (CTL), an exploration and development company advancing sustainable lithium projects in Chile for the clean energy transition, updated on the commissioning of the DLE Pilot Plant. The company said this is an exciting milestone for the company to see the DLE Pilot Plant equipment arrive in Copiapó. Once operational, its aim is to produce up to 1 tonne per month of lithium carbonate using Direct Lithium Extraction, which, it believes, will be the future of lithium production in Chile.  DLE is now moving into the mainstream as it offers a cleaner way of supplying battery grade lithium with higher purities and shorter production timelines versus other methods such as evaporation ponds. It is working towards having the DLE Pilot Plant in operation in Q4 2023. The Pilot Plant is being installed at our facility in Copiapó where we now have our main operational base and hub for community and stakeholder engagement, which is critical to the success of our business. It will be updating the market shortly on other activities including the Scoping Study for Francisco Basin.

Comment: It is clear that CTL is getting into gear as the year progresses, with the evidence for this being the magic acronym DLE, essentially one of the key aspects of the company. This process underpins the company in Chile, as soon as Q4 this year, with the RNS reminding us that we will get an update on the recently upgraded Francisco basin imminently.

Lexington Gold (LEX), the gold exploration and development company with projects in North and South Carolina, United States announced its unaudited interim results for the six-month period to 30 June 2023. The company said the first half of this year was particularly successful, with promising exploration results at both its Jennings-Pioneer and Argo projects, both located in the Carolinas, US, a region that has seen historic production from multi-million-ounce mines. Whilst Lexington Gold remains focused on the advancement of its US projects, the company also spent the first half of 2023 assessing new gold exploration opportunities.

Comment: LEX has been one of the better junior mining performers, helped along by an active management, and of course being in a first class mining jurisdiction.

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (CGNR), the gold exploration and development company focused on Ireland and Finland, announced that over 6,000 metres of drilling has been completed to date in Phase 1 of the Company’s joint venture with Demir Export AS in the Longford-Down Massif. CGNR said this DOB programme has substantially raised the prospectiveness of each of the five areas surveyed. The collection of over 1,500 samples and resultant data has yielded extensive information for follow up drilling which we will pursue in partnership with Demir Export.

Comment: While progress has not been reflected in the share price, nor the merits of the deal with Demir, it can be seen that CGNR continues to plug away and make progress in terms of defining new targets.

Zenova Group (ZED), a provider of proprietary fire safety and heat management solutions, announced an inaugural order in Greece for its proprietary fire-retardant intumescent Zenova IP paint combined with proprietary thermal insulation Zenova IP paint for the solar panelled roof market for a large international coffee producer with lots of warehouses across the globe. The company said it was delighted with this business win and am confident that this innovative Zenova IP and Zenova FP solution for solar roof installations will generate additional business in the future.

Comment: There has been a noticeable turnaround in ZED shares since the beginning of July, and one would expect this process to continue off the back of announcements such as today.

ANGLE (AGL), a liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumor cell (CTC) diagnostic solutions for the research and diagnostic oncology market, is pleased to announce the launch of its Portrait™ Flex CTC assay. The assay is provided as a service from ANGLE’s Onc-ADaPT™ GCP-compliant laboratories and conducted by an expert team with over 10 years’ experience in CTC analysis. The company said to support adoption of its technology by adding “content”, ANGLE has been developing a menu of imaging assays and molecular assays to analyse the CTCs harvested by the Parsortix system.  These assays support both ANGLE’s pharma services business and product business for third-party customers.

Comment: It may be the case that this RNS would have been enough to baffle even the late Dr Magnus Pike, at least we see the company boldly trying to deliver new initiatives that may eventually turn the share price around.

S4Capital (SFOR), the tech-led, new age/new era digital advertising, marketing and technology services company, confirmed that it will publish the announcement of its 2023 Interim Results on Monday 18th September.

Comment: We may have an opportunity for a recovery / short squeeze buy on SFOR, after the company shot itself in the foot in terms of being overly frank regarding its position in July. Indeed, we have already seen a rally from below 90p. Hopefully Sir Martin can resist the temptation to overshare the fundamentals this time. Well, perhaps not.

Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV), a gold company primarily focused on bringing historic mines back into production, has received a TR-1 Notification relating to a sale of shares that took place last week.  The sale of the shares is part of the previously announced transaction agreed between Catalyse Capital Ltd, a long running and supportive shareholder of Bluebird, who agreed to acquire Southern Gold Limited’s 122.5 million shares in the company through a number of staged purchases over the coming months (see RNS 23 August 2023). The Board believes that the share purchase by Catalyse, that recognises the true potential of the company’s South Korean and Filipino gold projects, removes a significant perceived ‘overhang’ in the trading of Bluebird’s shares and allows investors to focus on the inherent value of the three-project portfolio.

Comment: While most RNS’s from BMV have been middling to say the least, this one really does give the impression that it has found a sugar daddy to get it over the line. “Staged purchases” should be music to the ears of the bulls.

SDX Energy (SDX) announced that it has commenced drilling the Ksiri-21 (well in Sebou Central of the Gharb Basin, Morocco. The company said commencement of drilling signifies an early milestone in SDX’s new roadmap in Morocco, which the company will present imminently. As part of re-energising the company’s upstream production, it will assess the feasibility of drilling additional wells, back to back. This type of programme would reduce capex per well, ensure operational efficiency, and prove sufficient reserves of ‘gas-behind-pipe’ to meet both existing and future demand.

Comment: As we may find out later this month with HE1, you cannot beat a RNS with the word spud in it. SDX shares made fresh lows late last month, so may be due for at least an intermediate rebound.

Physiomics (PYC), the oncology consultancy, announced the hiring of a new member of its senior management team.  Effective today, Dr Peter Sargent will be joining the company as Chief Operating Officer. PYC said it was delighted that it has been able to attract a candidate of the calibre of Dr Peter Sargent, who joins it with significant experience of building service businesses in the biopharmaceutical sector.  Peter will work to set and drive forwards the company’s key business priorities and it looks forward to him making a significant positive impact.

Comment: PYC finesses its recent recovery in fundamentals and share price, with the addition of a heavy hitter COO. This should back the rebound still further as it implies he will have plenty to do.

Sareum Holdings (SAR), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, announced the successful dosing of the first subjects in the multiple ascending dose part of its Phase 1a clinical trial for lead programme SDC-1801. Dosing has started at a specialist clinical unit in Melbourne, Australia, and subjects will receive SDC-1801 orally once daily for 10 days. The company said as SDC-1801 continues to progress through the clinic on schedule, it remains committed to bringing this innovative medicine to patients with autoimmune disease. It looks forward to the completion of the Phase 1a study and to progression into Phase 1b, subject to continuing positive safety results in the remainder of the Phase 1a.

Comment: SAR certainly needs decent positive newsflow like todays to get the shares on the front foot, after an extended bear run over the past couple of years.

Blencowe Resources (BRES) announced that additional metallurgical test work on its Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda has now been completed by leading graphite technical specialist laboratory, Jilin New Technology based at Yanji in Northern China, following its recent update on 14 August 2023. The company said it now has proof we can deliver a very high quality graphite concentrate from Orom-Cross on a commercial scale, which is a key DFS milestone.  In parallel we are testing the upgrade of this concentrate to uncoated battery-ready 99.95% SPG (spheronised, purified graphite) and expandables as the next important step to significantly value-add our end products.

Comment: Perhaps ironically most followers and shareholders of BRES already believed that the company could deliver very high quality graphite concentrate. Well, now we really know.

Intercede (IGP), a cybersecurity software company specialising in digital identities, announced that it has received orders, with an aggregate contract value in excess of $2m, underpinning the Group’s revenue forecasts for FY24, creating contracted revenue backlog for FY25 and FY26 as well as further enhancing recurring revenue KPI’s.

Comment: IGP delivers a chunky aggregate contract value number today, something which should underpin its fortunes for a decent period of time, and presumably feed through to the share price.

Zenith Energy (ZEN), the international energy production and development company, announced it has terminated the SPA for the acquisition of 100% of the outstanding share capital of OMV (Yemen Block S 2) Exploration GmbH, OMV Jardan Block 3 Upstream GmbH, and OMV Block 70 Upstream GmbH. The SPA has been terminated due to the conditions required for completion of the SPA not being satisfied. In accordance with the terms of the SPA, OMV has refunded the deposit of $4,323,800 plus accrued interest to Zenith.

Comment: ZEN getting a decent seven figure refund is something that the market will not have been expecting, and as an additional bonus allows it to build on its recent big move in the USA. A win in Tunisia would of course be the icing on the cake.

Metals One (MET1), which is advancing battery metal projects at brownfield sites in Finland and Norway, announced that the company’s SRH Råna Project (nickel, copper, cobalt) partner and operator, Kingsrose Mining Limited, has reported results from the first two holes drilled as part of the 5,000m diamond drilling programme. The company said it looks forward to updating shareholders on further diamond drilling being conducted and funded by Kingsrose at the project as they continue to test a number of targets identified by the recent geophysical and geological studies.

Comment: ME1 hits the ground running in terms of advancing its strategy so soon after coming to market. This is especially important given the critical metals it is involved in.