Mars_2050
04 Oct 2016
Graphite mining pollution China [link]
Dorset 53
03 Oct 2016
Re: BOD taking salary at 2.5p RNS implies they're actually paying for the privilege too?! Can that be right? Anyway, can't see how they would want to sell those shares for less than 2.5p, so I would have thought share price should rise to that immediately on the news sinking in, especially given that their new cash salaries could be only £10,000 and the modest rest in shares. I really don't see how any detractors could now claim this is in the category of AIM shares where BOD suck cash from investors, do you? If the shares don't reach, say, 5p in a couple of years, they haven't made anything to speak of.
Mars_2050
03 Oct 2016
BOD taking salary at 2.5p Strong vote of confidence.Aligning their interests with shareholders at 54% REMIUM!
Mars_2050
03 Oct 2016
BOD taking salary at 2.5p Strong vote of confidence.Aligning their interests with shareholders at 54% PREMIUM!
Mars_2050
29 Sep 2016
CEO "Needless to say we are pretty excited with the deal we have done on the Bass shares for US$1.5m. We have effectively swapped a 7% interest in an 8,000 tpa plant for a 45/145 share in a 12,000 tpa plant which has been designed and and is under development by a team that has already done this twice in the past. In addition, the JV company is also reading graphite from other Madagascar producers and runs at a profit. We will be looking to do similar deals with the rest of the Bass shares as we receive them."
Mars_2050
28 Sep 2016
Canny loan deal StratMin surges after canny loan deal28 Sep 2016 Proactive newsSo, now we know how StratMin will finance its investment commitments to the 12,000 tpa large-flake graphite project in MadagascarStratMin shares shot up on news of the loanIt should be full-steam ahead for the Vatomaina graphite project in Madagascar after joint-venture participant StratMin Global Resources PLC (LON:STGR) announced a novel fund-raising.The company has arranged a US$1.5 million non-recourse loan facility secured against its holding of 75mln Bass Metals Limited (ASX:BSM) shares, prompting a 22% leap in the shares to 1.83p.Working with a corporate investor that is an existing stakeholder in Bass, StratMin has agreed to assign security and voting rights over its entire Bass holding to the lender, in return for a 12-month non-recourse loan facility. The loan will be repaid in some or all of the Bass shares, with no cash amounts payable, and no interest payments.StratMin became the largest shareholder in Australian Stock Exchange-listed Bass Metals Ltd after it sold its Graphmada investment to the Aussie firm.The loan will be used to fund StratMin's investment commitment to the Tirupati Resources Mauritius (TRM) joint venture and for general working capital.TRM owns the Vatomaina project in Madagascar, a 12,000 ton per annum large-flake graphite project, currently being developed by Tirupati Carbons and Chemicals Pvt Ltd.The redemption amount of the loan is set at 120% of the amount drawn down – referred to as the basic redemption value - plus 50% of the value of the Bass shares in excess of the basic redemption value,"working with existing Bass stakeholders and leveraging the value of the voting block held by the company, we were able to secure funding on terms well in excess of the open market value of the Bass share holding,” said Brett Boynton, chief executive officer.“This facility gives us capacity to fully fund our commitment to our joint venture partner without any delay to the planned development of the Vatomaina project. Now that Vatomaina is funded, we will work with Tirupati to release a detailed project review and update for shareholders within the week," he added.
Dorset 53
28 Sep 2016
Re: STGR Seems like progress is happening to schedule. And the Technical Director of Stratmin is very motivated to make the now Bass project work for both sides. It feels like two years were lost, but that a year from now, PIs might be wondering why they didn't buy into a decent business. A properly funded Loharano should be bringing $ms of value to Stratmin, and Stratmin will have at least as much value visible in Vatomaina, so twice the scale, which should be valued at 5-6p.
Mars_2050
28 Sep 2016
STGR Taken from LSE- Is now partnering with proven experts in graphite mining engineering and distribution (Tirupati)- Has a relatively new BOD hungry for success here- Sold its previous asset to BSM for GBP8m in cash and equity- Secured funding for next venture from part of the BSM equity- HAS YEARS OF LOCAL EXPERIENCE IN MADAGASCAR- Will leverage that experience to get the new JV mine up and running - they now have the dream team to achieve that.We will get a comprehensive report out on Vatomaina in a couple of days. It is a great project and now have it funded.There is a possibility with the Vatomaina deal now funded they can re approach AIM and have that as their qualifying asset, then we expand when we get the next Bass monies in.
Mars_2050
28 Sep 2016
RNS! Brett Boynton, CEO, commented:"working with existing Bass stakeholders and leveraging the value of the voting block held by the Company, we were able to secure funding on terms well in excess of the open market value of the Bass shareholding. This facility gives us capacity to fully fund our commitment to our joint venture partner without any delay to the planned development of the Vatomaina project.Now that Vatomaina is funded, we will work with Tirupati to release a detailed project review and update for shareholders within the week."
Mars_2050
27 Sep 2016
The next big thing The next big thingBob Kohut | 26.09.2016There are many ways to hype investor enthusiasm for early stage companies and at the top of the list is the attribution the company is poised to cash in on “the next big thing.”Technologies or new products that qualify as having “next big thing” characteristics are those with the potential for having a major impact on the way the world works. Investment advisory firms frequently earmark a technological breakthrough as having potential impact of biblical proportions. Here is an example, from LarrainVial, a major South American firm based in Chile with substantial operations in the US, on the impact potential of graphene.“The attributes of graphene – transparency, density, electric and thermal conductivity, elasticity, flexibility, hardness resistance and capacity to generate chemical reactions with other substances – harbour the potential to unleash a new technological revolution of more magnificent proportions than that ushered in by electricity in the 19th century and the rise of the internet in the 1990s.”A few years back investors bought the hype and flocked to stocks set to benefit from what many were calling the new black gold – graphene. This is a relatively new material, tracing its origins back to 2004 when two researchers at the University of Manchester -- Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, were able to create it from graphite. Exactly what is it? Here is a definition, suitable for technophiles, from the website gigaom.com: Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon atoms that are bonded together in a repeating pattern of hexagons. Graphene is one million times thinner than paper; so thin that it is actually considered two dimensional.For investors the relevant issue is what this material can do, not how it is made. The possibilities are tantalizing, to say the least. Graphene-based solar panels and a graphene based replacement for silicon chips are two undergoing research, but the application generating the most buzz is the use of graphene in battery technology.The lithium-ion battery is the current technology of choice, and graphite is a major component along with lithium and cobalt. Demand for graphite is expected to increase 200% over the next four years, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a data collection firm.However, as investors revved up their engines and climbed aboard the graphite miners, the fact current demand for graphite came primarily from steel production may have been overlooked. As the steel demand dropped so did the price of graphite, as seen in the following graph.This may explain in part the decline of one of hottest graphite explorers on the ASX in 2012, Kibaran Resources (KNL). Kibaran is an exploration stage company with its flagship project in Tanzania, Africa. Not all graphite is created equal and the company’s Epanko site is expected to be a source of high quality large flake graphite. The stock price rocketed upward in June of 2012 on positive results from the Tanzanian site, collapsed by year end, lingered for a year before rising and collapsing again. The rocket ride was also fueled by the company’s venture into a joint venture company, 3D Graphtec, to explore graphene applications in 3D printing. That venture went nowhere and the newly named 3D Grapthec (333D Pty Ltd) is being acquired by Oz Brewing and will go public under the symbol T3D. The company began as 3D Group before the deal with Kibaran at a time when 3D Printing was being hailed as a “next big thing.” Such is the path of many early stage companies in search of the often elusive next big thing. Here is the price movement chart for KNL.While investor impatience coupled with lower graphite prices can lead to wildly volatile moves in stocks like KNL, the forecasted demand for graphite remains high, as does the potential for applications for graphene.Demand for lithium batteries for EV (Electric Vehicle) use i
Mars_2050
26 Sep 2016
Buy signal [link]
Mars_2050
20 Sep 2016
EV boom requires ready graphite supply EV boom requires ready graphite supply20th Sep 2016 BNN.ca International automakers are laser-focused on increasing their penetration into the electric vehicle (EV) market. But they all face one potential supply chain roadblock: China controls not only most of the world’s graphite, used to make lithium-ion batteries, but much of the battery production infrastructure as well.Lithium-ion batteries for EVs require not only lithium but also two electrodes — a cathode, usually made with metals such as nickel and cobalt, and a graphite anode. If North American automakers want to ensure an uninterrupted supply of lithium-ion batteries, they’ll have to develop a domestic graphite supply chain, says Jack Lifton, founding principal of U.S.-based Technology Metals Research LLC and an expert on the market fundamentals of technology metals.“The Chinese have the total supply chain,” says Lifton. “They’re producing most of the lithium-ion battery electrodes and are really dominating this space. With this burgeoning thrust in electric vehicles by major nations, we’d better start thinking about graphite to make anodes, because you can’t make a ladder with only one rung.”“To accommodate all of the EV battery demand, the world’s flake graphite output needs to expand exponentially,” says Jamie Deith, president of Eagle Graphite. “With so much of it coming from China already, the world in general and automakers in particular need to come to grips with the problem.”A recent report from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reveals that China currently produces 100 per cent of the world’s spherical graphite — a purified grade valued in the production of battery anodes. Benchmark also forecasts that demand for graphite used as anode material in lithium-ion batteries will increase by more than 200 per cent in the next four years to satisfy the twin demands of the electric vehicle industry and the utility storage market.China has previously flexed its economic muscle along the high-tech supply chain, dropping rare earth export quotas significantly in 2010 and causing international prices to soar. The country only dropped those quotas following a World Trade Organization ruling in 2015.While eyes are currently focused on China’s international ambitions in the South China Sea, Lifton notes that it won’t require a high-profile diplomatic incident to trigger further supply disruptions for North American EV manufacturers.“The Chinese are now gearing up to make most of the world’s electric vehicles,” he says. “They want to build five million of these things by 2020, so they’ll be needing their own specialty graphites. I wouldn’t depend on Chinese suppliers to supply North America at the expense of their own EV industry. These suppliers are more likely to tell you that they’re sorry, but First Automotive of Shanghai has all of their production. That’s what’s got North American auto producers who are ramping up electric car production worried.”In a recent report, Goldman Sachs predicts that by 2025, 25 per cent of cars sold, including hybrids, will have electric engines, up from five per cent today. Tesla alone plans to build 500,000 cars per year by the end of the decade. Its Gigafactory in Nevada aims to produce more lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. by 2020 than were produced worldwide in 2013. With such increased market demands, Deith says the North American EV industry needs to secure alternative graphite sources sooner rather than later to assure supply.The cost of a small cellphone or laptop battery won’t be affected significantly by inefficiencies in the supply chain between graphite extraction and producing battery anodes,” says Deith. “The market won’t worry too much about the supply chain if a battery costs an additional 50 cents for a $500 laptop. But when you scale up the volume, a Tesla requires something like the equivalent of 7,000 laptop batteries. If supply chains add $3,500 to the cost of a $35,000 car, you start c
Mars_2050
18 Sep 2016
Re: Graphite demand The world's largest chemical company is betting big on electric cars [link]
readyeddie
14 Sep 2016
I have held shares for a longtime and have waited years for things to start moving up for a change, I just checked out [link] and the general consensus is sell which is worrying but my hope is that we have at last turned the corner on the bad times with a brighter future so that I can retire.
stressboy
14 Sep 2016
Re: RNS $1.5m in cash + VAT Bonus A bit early to say but it does seem an uptrend may be starting, and given the recent BASS deal and the enhanced value of the company, this should re-rate over time.However, again we see a huge spike on the news announcement (45% or so this morning) and it dying back (23% now).Still not invested, personally I'm hoping this will hang around 2p for a month or two to give me a chance of releasing profits elsewhere.BUT, as I say the chart is showing the green shoots of recovery..... I may end up being too late.
