Grosvenor Fire Brings Anglo Coal Sale to a Halt

WA1 wraps first numbers around Luni, Administrators brought it at Calidus

The Pre-Start

  • WA1 released Luni’s maiden MRE, with an inferred resource of 200Mt @ 1.0% Nb2O5, with a high-grade subset of 53Mt @ 2.1% Nb2O5 (WA1)

  • Calidus has been suspended as Administrators have been appointed by secured creditor Macquarie (CAI)

  • Kingsgate says the arbitral award with Thailand will be deferred until September as negotiations for an amicable resolution continue (KCN)

  • St Barbara lifted its targeted conversion of ounces from inferred to indicated to 1.5Moz at Simberi, following drilling (SBM)

  • IGO received A$159 million from TLEA for the June quarter, bringing total dividends during FY24 to A$761m (IGO)

  • The Mt Bevan Magnetite JV (Legacy, Hawthorn & Hancock) revised its MRE, up 10% to 1,290Mt @ 33.52% Fe with a DTR of 43.91% (LCY)

  • Lindian Resources shared a feasibility study for Stage 1 at Kangankunde, underscored by a US$555m NPV8, pre-prod capital of US$40m with average long-term pricing of ~US$110/kg NdPr (LIN)

  • Metarock said all employees are safe & accounted for following the fire at Anglo-owned Grosvenor (MYE)

  • Strike updated on its CSBP gas supply agreement for West Erregulla, reverting to its original terms after environmental approvals delays (STX)

  • NuEnergy Gas has tabled a framework agreement for gas sales with Indonesian gas distributor, Perusahaan Gas (NGY)

  • Adriatic Metals appointed Laura Tyler as NED (ADT)

  • David Ransom has resigned as director of Perseus Mining (PRU)

  • Spartan re-appointed David Coyne from NED to exec director and co-sec (SPR)

  • Ausgold appointed 2 new execs in Ben Stockdale & Troy Collie (AUC)

High Grade It

  • Pilbara gold miner Calidus has collapsed with its lender, Macquarie, calling in receiver KordaMentha (AFR, The Australian)

  • Anglo said on Sunday it was battling an underground fire at its Grosvenor metallurgical coal mine (Reuters) Let’s see what delay & price impact this puts on their sale process

  • Foreign-owned entities are set to qualify for $13.7b in incentives aimed at boosting critical mineral processing under draft guidelines (AFR)

  • China tightened management of rare earths with the approval of the first comprehensive regulation governing the supply chain (Bloomberg)

  • Vedanta Resources can take back control of the Konkola copper project in Zambia after a court-sanctioned a plan to settle debts (Bloomberg)

  • First Quantum will launch formal arbitration proceedings against Panama over the country's decision to close Cobre Panama (Reuters)

  • The Philippines is scouting Western investment to develop its nickel reserves, pitching itself as a China alternative (FT)

  • Local people in Serbia's Loznica rallied to protest the contested Rio Tinto lithium project, fearing environmental damage (Reuters)

  • Canberra has warned Australian miners could suffer indirectly as the EU & USA look to boost manufacturing (AFR)

  • Copper supply out of Chile got a boost through May, rising 8% compared with April, down from 20-year lows (Mining.com)

Wheelin’ n Dealin’

  • Sierra Rutile’s Board has recommended a takeover offer from 19.9% shareholder Gemcorp, entering a Bid Implementation Agreement for a cash offer of 16c/share, valuing SRX at $68m (SRX)

  • CZR’s sale of Robe Mesa to Miracle Iron is one step closer following China’s NDRC approval, though the big one, FIRB, is outstanding (CZR)

Rattlin’ the Tin

  • Tivan is in halt pending a capital raise (TVN)

  • Jindalee Resources is in trading halt to raise capital (JLL)

  • Saturn Metals has raised $14m via a share placement (STN)

Word on the Decline

  • Fortescue’s ambitions in Gabon might be much tougher than the iron ore major has publicly talked lately. Word on the decline is that a consortium of Chinese parties has put forward an alternative mining proposal to the military junta which is in power following the country’s coup last year. This proposal involves exporting via the lesser developed south of the country, something the Gabonese reportedly always wanted.

  • Rumour has it, that there was an emergency meeting of top executives in Gabon a month ago which was less than fruitful for Fortescue.

  • While this development would be a big deal within the walls of the big miner, we doubt the market will be particularly phased. Most brokers ascribe less than one per cent of Fortescue’s NAV to the Belinga project

Do you have some Word on the Decline? Reply to this email or shoot a message to [email protected] directly. We will always take your privacy seriously.

In the Weeds

  • Why Big Oil is wading into lithium (The Economist)

  • Mining’s FY24 winners & losers - from Spartan to Viridis, and Lake to Core Lithium (West)

  • In the race to regain rare earth glory, Europe is falling short of the goals that it has set itself (Reuters)

  • The Exponential Growth of Solar (The Economist) In 2004, it took a year to install a gW of solar-capacity power, by 2023 it took a day

  • Despite plenty of investment, Argentina has brought one lithium mine online, though within months we should see 4 more (Bloomberg)

  • Germany is drafting laws to expedite approval processes for geothermal plants, heat pumps & heat storage systems (Reuters)

  • If you enjoyed Mike Bevan’s deep dive on ASX rare earths companies, we think you’ll appreciate his technical deep dive on Boss Energy where he expands on the critique tabled briefly in our chat (YouTube)

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Today’s Top Tweet

Devil’s in the Detail

We know that no one bothers to read the Notice of Meeting anymore. But they really should. Especially the ones uploaded aftermarket on Fridays. They’re probably loaded with resolutions that the Directors didn’t want you to read properly.

Take for example, Torque Metals, the $24 million gold / lithium explorer. At 6:27pm on Friday they dropped a 56 page document that included resolutions to top up the Directors with performance rights totalling 11.15% of the diluted share capital.

These would appear a hefty valuation relative to Torque’s humble market cap

If aligned to actual performance, we’d let them off. But the directors threw in termination benefits that would ensure the four of them would be entitled to the unvested performance rights in a change of control. Now, without shareholder approval, ASX Listing Rule 10.19 would limit the payable termination benefits to 5% of the equity interests of the Company. How is a mining stonk director meant to put food on the table with that limit?

And if you remain unconvinced, let us point you towards another resolution that was slipped into a shareholder meeting a few months ago. Directors literally asked shareholders to change the company’s constitution to allow them to double the maximum “employee share incentives” from 5% of total fully paid shares to 10%. Righto..

There’s an easy fix to all of this. Read the resolutions and actually vote.

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Disclaimer

All information in this newsletter is for education and entertainment purposes only and is of general nature only. The hosts of Money of Mine are not financial professionals. Money of Mine are not aware of your personal financial circumstances. Before making any investment decision, you should consult a licensed financial, legal or tax professional, along with considering any relevant Product Disclosure Statement. Money of Mine does not operate under an Australian financial services licence and relies on the exemption available under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) in respect of any information or advice given. Money of Mine strives to ensure the accuracy and currency of the information contained in this newsletter but we do not make any representation or warranty that it is accurate, reliable or up to date. Any views expressed by the hosts of Money of Mine are their opinion only and may contain forward looking statements that may not eventuate. Money of Mine will not accept any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect, consequential or other loss arising from any use of information in this newsletter.

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