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HotStockRockets – ECR Minerals #ECR – a speculative buy?
Shares in gold-focused ECR Minerals (ECR) have recently risen strongly to a current 1.7p offer price but that follows not having previously joined in with the gold surge – they having commenced this year at 0.725p and the market cap is still comfortably below £10 million…
Recently-announced results for the company’s half-year ended 31st March 2020 showed administrative expenses of £0.37 million on nil revenue, with both cash and current assets over total liabilities of £0.17 million. However, “post the period end, the group’s cash position benefited from a £500,000 equity financing completed by the company and the receipt of AUD$500,000 from the sale of licences”. The latter also 
includes; “A further payment of A$1 for every ounce of gold or gold equivalent of measured resource, indicated resource or inferred resource estimated within the area of one or more of the Licences in any combination or aggregation of the foregoing, up to a maximum of A$1,000,000 in aggregate; A further payment of A$1 for every ounce of gold or gold equivalent produced from within the area of one or more of the Licences, up to a maximum of A$1,000,000 in aggregate.” In February the company also completed the sale of interests in Argentina – retaining a NSR royalty of up to 2% to a maximum of $2.7 million in respect of future production from the SLM gold project – to focus on gold exploration activities in Australia.
The above is with results from exploration activities in Victoria, Australia having recently included positive findings of an alteration study on RC drill cuttings from the Creswick project (in March), and confirmation of very high grade gold mineralisation at Creswick by the completion of ‘full bag’ testing (November 2019). It emphasises its “tenement position at Creswick covers approximately 7 kilometres of the DMS trend, and the 2019 drilling only tested approximately 300 metres of this. ECR therefore believes there is significant potential upside in the project”. There is also particularly Bailieston, where “ECR is considering a number of potential exploration programmes… including further drilling at the Blue Moon prospect, where 2019 reverse circulation drilling… returned an intercept of 2 metres at 17.87 g/t gold within a zone of 15 metres at 3.81 g/t gold from 51 metres in BBM007, and soil and stream sediment sampling in the Cherry Tree South and Ponting’s areas”.
This is still early-stage stuff but is in one of the ‘hottest’ geographic areas of interest currently – and the results statement noted “Victoria, Australia continues to enjoy a gold exploration boom and interest from third parties in ECR’s projects in Victoria is strong, with several discussions taking place in respect of potential commercial transactions over our Bailieston and Creswick projects”. There are COVID 19-related international travel restrictions but the team on the ground continues work and we expect the restrictions to relatively soon be eased, potentially facilitating the “potential commercial transactions”.
Therefore, at 1.7p and up to 1.8p, targeting 2.7p+ (a £15 million market cap) on continuing Victoria, Australia gold and deal excitement, Buy.
Link here to the full HotStockRockets article on ShareProphets
Open Orphan tip of the year update on mega contract win
by Tom Winnifrith
Open Orphan (ORPH) was one of my tips of the year at a 4.6p offer. The shares are now 5.5p bid – the recent market sell off hitting it like nearly all other stocks. But the news today of a contract potentially worth £10 million plus really does slam home the message of how cheap the shares are.
There are currently no broker forecasts out there but that is something that I expect to change in the next few weeks. For what it is worth, in my late December share tip I wrote:
But it too has been hacking at its costs and would, I guess, have made it through to profitability in 2020 on a stand-alone basis. Put the two enterprises together and cut out some easy cost overlaps and you will create a business that will deliver, I reckon, sales this calendar year of c£30 million and a pre-tax profit of £2-3 million. And the next year those numbers could well be £40 million+ and £5 million. These are, I stress, my forecasts and the company is not allowed to comment on them or validate them, it is my work alone.
Ends.
Today’s news is, in the context of those forecasts, pretty stunning. We are told:
Open Orphan is pleased to announce the signing of a new contract with a European Biotech Company for the provision of a RSV human challenge study. The study is projected to deliver £3.2 million in revenue all of which is expected to be recognised in 2020. If the study is successful, it is anticipated that an additional follow-on larger pivotal challenge study will commence end Q4 2020, delivering significant further revenue and expected to be a minimum of £7 million
Ends.
So that is at least £3.2 million top line new business this year (possibly more) and potentially an eve bigger boost in the first half of next year. I am not altering my forecasts on the basis of today’s news but it is an indication that they are all the more credible.
In addition we are reminded, in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic that Open owns “Europe’s only commercial 24-bed quarantine clinic and on-site virology laboratory and is the only company globally with the capability to run an RSV human challenge study.” I’d imagine that it should be doing something of a roaring trade.
Open sits on net cash of c£5 million. At the current mid it is valued at just under £30 million so ex cash it trades on well under 1 times current year sales and on a PE of 8-12 falling to just 5. That is clearly far far too low and the shares remain a strong buy with a target of at least 10p if not more.
Link here to view on ShareProphets website
Malcolm Stacey, ShareProphets – You’ll Need to Be Brave to Invest in this Gold Explorer – But You Never Know
Hello, Share Travellers. Though the Footsie is moving up, there’s scant news to keep things bubbling along even faster. As usual, at this time of year, more traders are on hols with their kids and volumes go down. So by way of a change, may I bring to your attention ECR Minerals #ECR a gold explorer in Australia. Sounds risky – and of course it jolly well is…
Link here to view the full article
The Tray Now Standing on Platform BigDish #DISH could Head for Brighter Prospects – ShareProphets
by Malcolm Stacey
Hello Share Munchers. Now here’s a novel idea for the technological age. You’ve heard of Late Rooms which began as a way of filling empty hotels at the last minute. Well, BigDish (DISH) aims to perform similarly for restaurants. The company helps to fill tables at quiet times by offering quickly applied discounts.
Folks can get these bargain meals through the BigDish app or its website platforms. In return, the restaurants pay a fee for every customer. The share rose by 17% this week. This was on the news that a new BigDish platform has gone live in Swindon. Reading has also been added as a new location
. Then BigDish comes to Taunton in a few days time. Winchester is also on the list. You may have noticed that most of these towns are within commuter distance of London. Earlier this month, it launched in Basingstoke and Exeter. Brighton will come soon. In fact, the company plans to expand throughout the UK.
So we could be looking at an early opportunity to take part is something which becomes really tasty. Though we shouldn’t perhaps get too carried away as all good ideas attract competition. And it could be from a firm with more expansion money.
Nevertheless, BigDish has a good idea here. And it should help overcome the trials that mid-range restaurants are said to be going through at the moment (like Jamie Oliver’s). In fact, the more restaurants struggle to put bums on seats, the more BigDish could flourish.
The share price has shot up since mid-April, but as expansion continues in what seem to me like wealthier southern areas, it’s possible that the share price will climb on each new location. After all, it doesn’t require too much dosh to keep adding locations. It’s not like buying a new lorry every week.
And now let’s rejoin the Punter’s Return.
Link to the full ShareProphets article here
ShareProphets – Do You Feel Lucky, Punk? This Small Gold Explorer May Hit the Jackpot – or Not
By Malcolm Stacey – ShareProphets
Hello Share Turners. Say what you like about Fulham-based ECR Minerals (ECR) it is a mining company which likes to keep its shareholders up to date for every step of the way. It seems to me hardly a week goes by without it posts some news or other. The danger is that we tire of reading everything and consequently miss something which is important.
ECR describes itself as a precious metals exploration and development company. Its exploring for gold in the state of Victoria, Australia. Now you need the mining expertise of my brainy Shareprophets colleague Gary Newman to understand this company’s many pronouncements.
But it seems to me from their latest bulletin, that recent exploratory drilling may be encouraging. It points to a possibility of accessible gold at its Black Cat holding in the state of Victoria. ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd has 100% ownership of the project. I believe some deeper drilling is now required.
The Black Cat area has not been mined before, so I suppose anything might happen. But the company’s CEO Craig Brown said ‘I’m delighted with the positive outcomes from this programme. As well as some encouraging grades, the drilling has provided important geological information which may help vector further exploration in the project area towards achievement of ECR’s prime strategic objective, which is the discovery of a multi-million ounce gold deposit.”
Well, that’s not exactly mind-blowing news, and you can expect him to be optimistic. But imagine the jump in share price if a ‘multi-million ounce gold deposit’ is found out there. As always, there is a huge investment risk in exploring for gold. And the safer way to invest in the big glitter is choose already successful miners.
But if you’re not adverse to highly speculative punts (though I am) and you only consider a small outlay, then ECR might be worth some further research.
Unlike the Punter’s Return.
Link to ShareProphets article here
ShareProphets – Catenae Innovation #CTEA proof-of-concept agreements & management appointments all good – BUY
Catenae Innovation (CTEA) has updated including proof-of-concept agreements for its Trust in Media joint venture and its ‘OnSide Pro’ solution and management appointments…
The former is with “a leading provider of rights included music”, with the Digital Asset Registration and Transactional Tracking system – the first phase of a distributed ledger-based (DLT/Blockchain) application development – having been successfully demonstrated at B2B music event, MIDEM. There is then also an agreement with Aston Villa FC for OnSide Pro – which is to be used to manage a number of coaching sessions and community engagements.
There are no financial indicators provided, but these follow a recent “first agreement for the provision of Trust in Media’s Fanbase service to one of the UK’s largest entertainment promoters representing some major names in the music industry” and further help confidence in annual pre and post tax profits of several hundred thousand pounds by as soon as next year we suggested possible in our March share tip.
This is further the case with Tony Sanders now confirmed as permanent CEO and experienced technologist (including being the Technical Delivery Manager for BBC’s iPlayer project), Alan Simpson, joining as Chief Technology Officer.
The shares have slipped back since we last updated and there remains clear turnaround risk. However, we also reiterate that there looks some exciting potential from the current sub £3 million market cap – both speculatively (e.g. the shares have previously touched 0.7p+ on a blockchain spike) and more fundamentally (the profit potential from sound businesses in growth areas). As such, at 0.15p or better – and looking to sell at comfortably above 0.2p – the stance remains buy.
View the article at ShareProphets website here
Why I might be prepared to give Powerhouse Energy another chance – Gary Newman of ShareProphets
Powerhouse Energy (PHE) is a company which I have previously been very negative on, and rightly so given its performance over the past few years. The company specialises in waste-to-energy production, either in the form of generating electricity or producing hydrogen for fuel cells, but in the past its gasification technology has failed to really take off in the way that investors had hoped.
It had also been debt-ridden in the past, with lender Hillgrove holding a debenture over the assets of the company, but back in February 2017 it managed to raise £2.5 million, which was enough to settle the outstanding £2 million that it owed and it is now debt-free and looks to be in a healthier position. A remaining amount owed to Hillgrove was settled via shares at 0.5p at the end of January. Whilst I wouldn’t exactly be rushing to put my life savings in here, I do like the idea of the technology and if it is able to deliver this time around than I can see upside potential, especially considering the sector in which it is operating. But whether it can prove that it really has turned things around now still remains to be seen.
Powerhouse certainly does seem to be making progress though, with an extended trial of its G3-UHt gasification unit, with old tyres being used to produce syngas that contained in excess of 50% hydrogen, and no carbon di-oxide. Testing has now been underway for more than six months and the unit has been performing as expected with a feedstock of plastics, and it will now be hooked up to the micro electrical grid at Thornton Science Park to see how it handles supporting its heating and power plant.
As long as everything goes to plan with the testing, and the company is able to prove that there is demand for the product, which hasn’t been evident in the past with previous systems, then it could have timed things just right when it comes to getting these units into production. Waste plastic is a hot topic at the moment and a lot of time and money is going into finding ways to deal with this problem. The beauty of the Powerhouse units is that it will actually get paid – typically between £50-£90 per tonne – to take plastic, and at the other end will then be able to sell the electricity produced, or eventually the hydrogen fuel.
Hydrogen fuel is still at a relatively early stage, but it looks set to really take off as EU countries look to convert more vehicles over to run on hydrogen – for example, out of the 8,500 buses in London, currently only 23 run on hydrogen, and there is also interest in converting lorries and other forms of transport as well.
It isn’t just the EU that is looking to go down this route, and Powerhouse currently has a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Qatar to look into providing these systems to provide fuel for filling stations catering for fuel cell vehicles ahead of the World Cup in 2022. Although I wouldn’t put too much trust in a MOU at this stage, as often for these smaller companies they aren’t worth the paper they are written on, and the potential for any deals still remains to be seen.
In terms of the economics, the company estimates that a single site can process at least 25 tonnes of plastics per day – and as much as 100 tonnes potentially – and that would produce hydrogen worth £5,000 per day, plus a minimum of £2,000 per day to take the plastic, so that would give annual revenue of at least £2.5 million per site. It is also working alongside Waste2tricity Limited and has developed a ‘CORE’ version of its system, with Powerhouse receiving a 20% licence fee from any units sold, alongside any revenue from its participation in these ventures.
The company doesn’t burn through excessive amounts of cash when compared to other similar sized companies, at typically around £70,000 per month, and salaries don’t appear to be particularly high. The last set of annual accounts for 2016 showed that CEO Keith Allaun took a salary of just £66,000. The risks here are that the company won’t be able to sell any of its units, nor be able to expand rapidly enough to take advantage of this market as it grows quickly in the coming years even if it does manage some sales. There is also always a danger of better technology being launched by its competitors, as this looks set to be a huge market in the future.
On the positive side though, if it can finally prove that there is market demand for its product, then there is plenty of potential for it to grow. I view this company as very speculative, in a similar way to investing in any very early stage technology often is, and this market is still very much in its infancy. Currently it is valued at around £7.6 million at a share price of 0.52p, and I can see potential for anyone who likes the idea of the technology, or who usually invests in higher risk oil and mining companies, and is looking for something a bit different but with similar levels of risk. It was one of my picks in the recent Dragons Den sessions at the UK Investor Show.
Read the full ShareProphets article here
ShareProphets – Prairie Enters a Legal Tussle. But Have its Shares Been Oversold?
Hello, Share Wallowers. In recent months I’ve featured Prairie Mining (PDZ). It has an interest in two projects in Poland where the company hopes to produce coal suitable for turning into coke.
The latter stuff is vital for the making of steel. And steel is becoming more and more needed to feed the growth of infrastructure in developing countries, not to mention more established areas of industry. I bought the shares for about 30p and saw them rise to more than 50p, partly I suspect because two big investment institutions came on board. Then came a whammy. There is now a legal tussle with the Polish government.
When the news came the share retreated to my original buying price in a shake of a donkey’s tail. But I think the selling may well be overdone and the result might be a second chance to buy the shares cheaply.
As usual, with mining matters, the situation is complex. But as far as I can gather, the Polish government has not confirmed an environmental consent within a three month required time-frame. So Prairie has launched a legal case against the Polish Dept of the Environment to secure its position.
Now, whenever court action is mentioned a lot of investors take fright and drop the shares. But there is talk that a Polish administrative department has simply not dealt with things within a time limit. Polish politicians will, after all, want the local jobs that Prairie will bring to coal mining. And Prairie reckons that its legal action will bring the possibility of a lost opportunity to the attention of local residents who may not be pleased by the delay.
We can’t predict the end of any legal case, where we don’t know all the facts. And taking on a government is rather daunting. But I will certainly not sell my shares until we know the outcome.
And now the Punter’s Return is open.
Link here to view the article on ShareProphets
Take a Look at Prairie and You Might See Greener Grass on the Other Side – Malcolm Stacey, ShareProphets
Hello Share Splurgers. The name Prairie Mining (PDZ) might give an impression that it’s a green company. Yet it deals in coal. But this coal is ideal for making coke, and from school days I think this is a cleaner alternative to the stuff we burned to keep the ‘frost flowers’ from the inside of our windows in the ‘fifties.
Since I bought into Prairie in December, the shares have risen from 30p to 39p. Which is up by about a third. Not bad. But I have grounds for believing that the jolly action isn’t over yet. Luckily, Prairie was one of my Shareprophets tips for 2018 and I continue to have great faith in this lot.
Coke is used to make steel. You’ll be aware that sales of steel, so depressed a few years ago, are making a comeback. It’s all this structural work being done by the emerging nations. As well as big projects in the developed world – including that big new rail plan here in Blighty. But that was known when I bought the share. What has given further impetus since then has been an RNS this month saying Prairie had been talking to a big polish miner called JSW. The idea was to co-operate, though this has yet to be confirmed.
According to rumours, JSW might even buy Prairie’s coke mine in Debiensko – it’s valued at £350 million, but there’s no firm word from Prairie on this story. And also China Coal is also interested in Prairie. Enough, it seems to order a bankable feasibility study – once again China helps to boost a share price.
I’ve not heard that either of Prairie’s two big mines are yet producing the black lumps in commercial quantities, but they will be doing that soon and, ok, investing in miners isn’t always hugely successful for private shareholders like us, but this one does seem to harbour the possibility of becoming a bagger of some kind (if all goes to plan).
And now to the coal fire in the Punter’s Return.
Link here to view the article on the ShareProphets website
Fancy Doing the Okey-Cokey with a Miner Called Prairie?
by Malcolm Stacey – ShareProphets
Hello, Share Sweetners. I rarely bring a developing miner to your further scrutiny. I prefer to leave all that to my mining expert colleague Gary. Also, I’ve been burned quite a lot by disappointing mineral and metal finds in the past. But any road up, let’s have a look at this one.
Coal miner Prairie Mining (PDZ) seems to have a good chance of success in the next few years. Based in Perth, it focuses on Poland. The firm claims it could eventually have one of the most advanced coking operations ‘in the Northern Hemisphere.’
Coke is used heavily by the steel industry. And we all know, from plant closures in the UK, that steel-making is currently not the most profitable undertaking in the world. There’s too much competition, including interest from our friends in China.
But manufacturing, construction and heavy engineering all need steel, as does the car industry. So coke, which heats up the raw material, is always going to be in demand. Can you imagine, for example, how much steel will be needed for that new HS2 rail link?
Prairie has a coal project called Debiensko, which in January will start producing a slightly lower grade coking coal than that of its other site, Jan Karski. The Karski mine is set to start producing next year also.
Both locations are at the centre of industrial Europe and have excellent access to infrastructure. The reserves at both mines have been estimated at $3.3 billion. Which is big compared to the company’s present valuation. Though one should be aware that such estimates, especially in the mining game, can go wrong.
Prairie shares are now just over 30p. In March they were over 40p. This is not one of those mining shares which aims to serve a market which may not be all that big. Coke is vital for manufacturing. There are signs that the developing world, especially, is going to be making and building many more machines, buildings and heavy plant.
But, as with all miners, there just may be hidden snags along the way. And you should be aware of those risks.
As we all are in the Punter’s Return.
Link here to the article on the ShareProphets website