Bushveld Minerals Limited (AIM: BMN), a diversified mineral development company with projects in South Africa and Madagascar has told DirectorsTalk about the operational performance of the Company for the six months ended 31 August 2016. Our portfolio of projects is organised into three platforms, Bushveld Resources Limited (vanadium, titanium and phosphate), Greenhills Resources Limited (tin) and Lemur Resources Limited (coal). These commodity platforms are structured to ensure clarity of focus and purpose to deliver maximum shareholder value.
· Bushveld is making significant progress to becoming one of the largest, low cost integrated primary vanadium producer in Africa.
Bushveld Resources Limited
· Strategic Minerals Corporation acquisition targeted to transform the Company into a high quality, low cost vanadium producer with a global customer base;
· Memorandum of understanding signed with prominent USA based vanadium-redox flow batteries (“VRFBs”) manufacturer, UniEnergy Technologies (“UET”) to partner in identifying and securing energy storage opportunities in Africa;
· Cooperation Agreement with the Industrial Development Cooperation (“IDC”) for the joint development of both the market opportunity for VRFBs in Africa and the potential for creating manufacturing capacity for VRFBs in South Africa;
· Finalisation of tenders for studies related to VRFB’s in partnership with the IDC provides impetus to fully understanding the energy storage market and value chain in South Africa;
· Integrated environmental authorisation for Mokopane Vanadium project, an important milestone to attaining the mining licence. Development of the project will further enhance synergies identified in the Vametco acquisition and increase the Company’s global vanadium supply footprint.
Lemur Resources Limited
· Settlement of mining licence 4578 re-affirms Lemur’s ownership rights of the Imaloto coal concession in Madagascar.
Greenhills Resources Limited
On 22 November 2016 Greenhills Resources announced that it had signed an MoU with VBKom (Proprietary) Limited (“VBKom”) for the joint development of the Mokopane Tin Project.
Corporate:
· Settlement of all outstanding financial obligations arising from the £2,600,000 Darwin Strategic facility.
Commenting on the results, CEO Fortune Mojapelo, said, “I am pleased to report on an interim period that has recorded strong progress towards our goal of being a renowned global integrated vanadium producer. The six months period was defined by the conclusion of fundamental partnership deals in the vanadium production and energy storage sectors.
“A major milestone in the period under review, was the execution of the share purchase agreement with Evraz Group SA for the acquisition of SMC, the holding company for Vametco primary vanadium mine and processing plant. Since then, we have been focused on fulfilling the conditions precedent for the transaction which include securing all requisite regulatory approvals and funding. To date we have made significant progress towards raising capital for the transaction which we anticipate will be structured as a combination of debt and equity with the objective to minimise the dilution impact on our shareholders.
“I am equally pleased with the progress in developing the energy platform, Bushveld Energy. The MoU signed with UET provides us with access to advanced technologies and a deep knowledge base in the manufacture of VFRBs. Furthermore, our finalisation of the tenders for studies into the VFRB market in partnership with the IDC will enable us to effectively enter the market by targeting the most lucrative opportunities.
“The settlement of the dispute over the Imaloto coal concession mining right in the reporting period is greatly welcome and will enable us to pursue the identified power generation opportunities in Madagascar.
“As with all exploration groups at this stage of the resource development cycle, Bushveld’s working capital funding is derived principally through equity financing. Therefore I am pleased to confirm that in August and October our shareholders continued to support us through two successful capital raises that grossed £1,330,000 in total. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank our shareholders for their confidence in the strategy and management’s ability to bring the projects to account. The guidance of the Chairman and the board has helped the Bushveld team to successfully pursue the strategic objectives thereby achieving the milestones highlighted in this report. Finally, I would like to thank all the Bushveld employees for their continued commitment to achieve the Company vision.”
