Hi everyone
It has been a fascinating week for us KFE shareholders. Here are a couple of things I have uncovered.
In October the annual Nigeria Mining Week conference is on and PW Nigeria are one of the two main sponsors. I got an email about this yesterday and in the summary about PW Nigeria our KFE gets a mention. Great from a visibility perspective and this will only increase as we head into the conference.
Secondly, I have been doing some research on Inner Galaxy. Its fair to say that this is a company with big ambitions.
If you werent aware, Inner Galaxy are a Chinese owned firm
that have operated in Nigeria for about a decade. See
https://www.innergalaxygroup.com/about-us/the-groupAnd here specifically re the steel division -
https://www.innergalaxygroup.com/about-us/subsidiaries/innergalaxysteelThey have significant growth aspirations which can only be positive for KFE
This article appeared earlier in 2019:
https://guardian.ng/appointments/chinese-firm-eyes-largest-steel-status-employs-3000-workers/A Chinese firm, Inner Galaxy Steel Company, a subsidiary of Inner Galaxy Group, has said with the significant progress it has made over the years, and establishment of factories all over Nigeria, it plans to be the largest steel company in West Africa.“I am glad for the fact that we are helping to drive the cost of steel products. In the past, importers of steel products could just flood the market with imported steel products. Today, we have made it more expensive for anybody to import and sell foreign steel products in Nigeria, but more importantly, our locally produced steel products are comparable to the best in the world.”While commending the Federal Government of Nigeria for its support to genuine manufacturers, Lu, however, said there should be continuous dialogue between the Federal Government and the manufacturing sector, especially the steel manufacturing industry.
According to him, “If this happens effectively, not only that this sector will be a foreign exchange conserver, it will also be indeed a foreign exchange earner for the country. At the moment, we are already exporting our steel products to other West African countries, to the benefit of Nigerian economy.
And the above article was picked up by the industry website steelguru -
https://steelguru.com/auto/chinese-inner-galaxy-steel-eyes-largest-steel-status-in-nigeria/530440?type=steelFinally, there is a conference next week in South Africa called the mining investment 121 conference
https://www.weare121.com/121mininginvestment-cape-town/This conference is about connecting CEO's with investors.....
And Kogi, while not presenting, is there. I can only assume this may be to advance negotiations with a CI
https://www.weare121.com/121mininginvestment-cape-town/client/kogi-iron/What is your rationale for attending 121 Mining Investment?
As Kogi is in the development stage we are Capital hungry and keen to present our story to resource and infrastructure specialist potential investors with an interest in African assets with long term profitability potential.
What recent news would you like to highlight to investors attending?
Kogi has recently released independent test results confirming the viability of making a high grade, international quality, cast steel product from Agbaja ore and recently released an independent market study confirming the storing demand in Nigeria for our product.
What are your key goals for the next 3, 6 and 12 months?
3 Months:
Completion of independent review of capital and operational cost estimates
6 Months:
Upgrade of local road infrastructure and additional drilling to Agbaja iron ore deposit to increase and upgrade resource
12 Months:
Completion of full DFS for integrated cast steel project including iron ore mine and sourcing of local coal and limestone and other key materials
What do you see as the key risks and challenges facing your company at the moment and how are you overcoming these?
Enhance management bandwidth to fully optimise the project
In a sentence, what do you think makes your company such a compelling investment?
Set to be a monopoly provider of a product vital for the infrastructure needs of Africa’s largest economy.
I love this Q&A with Martin Wood and in particular that last sentence - in effect the elevator pitch.
Sounds good to me!!
It is an undeniable wasted opportunity that the company didnt make the LOI announcement today when they came out of halt but this doesnt change the fact that the company has executed a LOI with a company that wants to be the largest in West Africa, producing high quality steel products (I see CARES pricing being applied) and with deep Chinese pockets as well.
Our visibility is increasing. The business plan is progressing. The only thing that isnt moving forwards is the share price.
But it will. Especially with all this positive progress. It will.
Good luck all
(20min delay)