There are 60 trading days leftto the calendar year and there is still a large amount of news expected in this timeframe provided things go according to plan.
My previous post #4758116 was in rough chronological order and this post will not attempt to be as time-specific as things are now overlapping quite significantly. This post aims to provide some detail.
Apologies for the long post there is a bit to this company and apologies for the formatting it is a nightmare to format on hotcoppers terrible chat box.
Below is my updated list of projected outcomes through to Jan 2021.
1.Define a halloysite-kaolin resource at Hammerhead (confirmed 29/09/2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azwVFYHC06g&ab_channel=TCNTV
-Key take home points from this and today’s YouTube video from managing director James Marsh
-Hammerhead More than doubling the resource of Great White, still open in both directions with more drilling to come
-GW/Hammerhead each have a ultra-purity kaolin (no halloysite nanotube) segments that are perfect feed for HPA. 5:38 for time stamp.
-An 100kg sample of Hammerhead material is being prepared for planned commercial scale trial in underground mine shotcrete. This is best explained in post #47710993 by @rhythm34
-We have ~10 tonnes of final product already produced. We have non-binding offtakes for 1mpta of final product in various different forms which Conrad is progressing. “They have 10-11 people on the ground, and already in the first couple weeks of their work they’ve had some major breakthroughs, so that is going well”.
-Feb 2022 i.e. 15 months until mining (quarrying). No major barriers projected simply going through the motions getting the necessary approvals.
-Trying to divest the Pilbara gold tenements is how I interpreted his commentary.
-Current capital sufficient unless CR needed to actively pursue opportunities in the best interests of shareholders.
2.JV partners Cobra Resources are undertaking Programme 1 at the greater Baggy Green area today on schedule drilling 25 holes for 3,750m. Assay labs are currently experiencing high demand with turn time expected to be between 3 to 5 weeks. Need to actually complete drilling first so I am expecting news around this somewhere in November. There will be further programs with further updates expected through the year, follow the link or the announcement by ADN For reference.
https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/cobra_resources/news/rns/story/w3gnpzx
3.Concrete application 28 day testing has now passed it’s milestone with positive trends in strength gain and bleed reduction continuing. Next up is 90 day testing meaning we will be getting an update on this in ~60 days from now. Concrete doesn’t rest for the weekend so am assuming we will get results on this in about 8 weeks, ~ 2 months likely end of November.
This is separate to the shotcrete application which should also be completed in Q4 this year.
4.I interpreted the Compliance Testing AS1478.1-2000 Type SN to be the Australian Standards Certification which (please correct me if I am wrong) seems to be on track to provide compliance for concrete industry supplied mix designs by late November.
5.I have posted and will continue to post about the significance of the government funding towards carbon capture which I believe we are in the box seat to receive as we have a joint pilot plant with MEP (Natural Nanotech pty ltd) If you have not read this article http://theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/industries/mining-resources/global-carbon-capture-potential-for-rare-nanoparticle/ then begin with that and have a look at the $$ being thrown at the sector from recent news articles I tried to post them two nights ago but they got moderated.
The budget will be handed down October 6th and I believe the money will trickle down through the relevant key stakeholders accordingly. I would be extremely disappointed if we did not receive funding for this. Though not a short term catalyst it does bring attention towards the significance of an already poorly understood industrial mineral.
We have received in the past upwards of over $130,000 in research grants before, one semi-recently (from the SA gov) and one near 24th October 2019 as published in ASX announcement “Commonwealth Funding Approved for Research into Halloysite-Kaolin for Hydrogen Storage”
Hydrogen storage is another key part of the budget funding allocation so I think there could be money from that too. Interestingly, the initial research project was to have run for 12 months at the Global Innovative Centre for Advanced Nanomaterials (GICAN) based at the university of Newcastle and so I think we will get an update on this in December. This information was from 24 October Announcement. I think this has been a missed discussion point In recent times.
6.I believe we will earn our 75% of the GW project in the very near future.
7.Tomney, now Tiger deposit has yet to be defined as a resource at all, which I expect will also be completed through further drilling this year (Page 9 Noosa Mining Virtual Conference Presentation)
8.Full option conversion adding another 5m to the bank by 30th November 2020. At the time of posting this there will be close to 37% of the options converted with management already having done some and ways to go.
9.Regarding the DFS, James has mentioned in the past that the engineering work completed In the PFS was to such a standard that it will help reduce the amount of time spent on elements in the future. Will leave the commentary regarding the DFS to the YouTube video linked above which covers it well starting from 5:57. It is evident they are working out logistical details and I am excited to see what they decide. It is due December but I would not be surprised nor hate them for it if it took as long as required to sure things up. My guess is January.
10.Naturally mining lease approval somewhere near DFS / assuming just after.
11.We have three potential products that can be converted to binding offtake agreements. PW50, PW70, and PW90 with actual end-stage product having been produced from these materials in various capacities aforementioned (the 10t is PW70), however some of it was in the form of a ceramic that was expected to be completed also in September, so I assume that is done now from the higher whiteness grade material.
I am of the opinion that BoA’s will be the next major catalyst and likely to be around the time of the DFS. @Scarpa has touched on the rationale as to why in the past and reading his previous posts are invaluable. The reality is that James’ commentary regarding Conrad today could have been about the toll refining facility too, not just BoA conversion and so I refuse to get excited about it so early on. I think if we had 1 BoA between now and Feb for some product I’d be happy.
12.We are also progressing our HPA strategy (alliance/collaboration partner or feedstock mapping) that I believe we will hear news about some time this year. For those who don’t know, High Purity Alumina is a pre-cursor material used in coating the cathode and anode particles inside lithium-ion batteries. High-nickel cathode batteries are becoming quickly recognized as the preferred cell chemistry for longer range / better battery characteristics. This is not new to the company and on an ASX announcement dated 26 April 2018 “Andromeda Metals to enter HPA sector” will help provide some background as to how it got started at Andromeda.
Further to that announcement is 30 May 2018 “Initial High Purity Alumina results confirm 99.99% (4N) potential at Poochera. I will leave you to read the announcement for further information and to digest its significance. Once done, head to 4th February 2019 “HPA Testing Confirms Premium Grade Feed Potential at Poochera.
The significance of this is summarized by the first two dot points “Additional Third Round of HPA testing on Poochera halloysite‐kaolin has confirmedthat4N(99.99%)purityisachievablewithonlyasingle purification stage. This compares favorably to peer companies which require multiple purification stages to reach 4N purity.”
And…
“The result represents the potential to significantly reduce capital requirements and operating costs for any HPA processing plant”
Where I am unsure and welcome to introduce discussion is as to whether this change will actually change any HPA producers flow sheet and plant design. If so, would it not be more likely that we collaborate with a soon to be producer like FYI as it would be mutually beneficial? Rather than provide feedstock for an already designed plant?
13.The holy grail.. highest purity halloysite in the world….Camel Lake. We’ve had the meeting with the traditional elders to gain access and that’s on track for some work this year. Won’t speculate on that but James comments on “I get people asking me every week for that product” pretty much sums it up.
Further to this we obviously have institutional / broker investment on board now.
Trading activity today speaks volumes to the change of hands on the registry as people’s price points are hit. People need the money for different reasons at different times so I do not judge their selling.
Not able to put a price point on this myself but It’s pretty obvious where this is heading.
Looking forward to Noosa Mining convention in November. If able to leave Melbourne’s dictatorship will try to get up there.
(20min delay)