Thread by @BigBiteNow

1/13
What I liked most about the @BushveldMin_Ltd update today, was that it was focused on an isolated but important project for #BMN. Thus allowing it to breathe a tad more and not get lost in the lengthy and often detailed updates, that are the norm.

londonstockexchange.com/news-article/B…

2/13
I would like to see the company continue with this pattern moving forward.

As to the update, very solid but it will now be all about how long NERSA need to sign off on the license application. Being 1MW, its certainly falls within their powers to act quickly but what that..

3/13
...means exactly, will act as a template for future BMN projects at their facilities and indeed across S.A.

Great to see Enerox staking a claim in this particular area of the business too. They were always going to be the focus due to the increased ownership and control...

4/13
...that BMN has over them.

I fully expect to 'soon' see a repeat over at Vanchem, which I am sure we will hear about in H1 2021. However, it was clearly highlighted as a 2020 goal (see p. 31 of 2019 report) and as the RNS from 4th May stated, it is actually Vanchem that...

5/13
...has suffered power rationing to date and not Vametco, so the drive surely has to be there, to develop an off grid solution for Vanchem.

What's also very clear from this deal, is that whilst we would all dearly love to see that electrolyte plant in production,

6/13
VRFB projects with Enerox, in S.A, are viable and can employ BMN oxides.

That means one very important part of the value chain is already in play, whilst we wait for the electrolyte plant to come on line.

7/13
In addition, there are the other Bushveld Energy priorities for 2020, be it they will now likely mainly fall in 2021.

One big one is "Investigate the business case for South African-based VRFB assembly."

This has been around for several years and has several options...

8/13
..but I have very much liked Enerox from the moment the deal to buy them was announced. I had thought it would relate to the Eskom projects but the criteria there, perhaps calls for another entity (Rongke) to be involved.

So perhaps said localised VRFB asembly will focus on

9/13
the sorts of markets that today's demonstration project, will open up, for both BMN and Enerox. Lets see.

The of course there's the deployments angle, which is now defined as 3 things.

1. 2,000 MW South African Integrated Resource Plan energy storage allocation

10/13
2. other African projects within the World Bank’s 17.5 GWh energy storage roll-out programme.

3. World Bank Eskom (BESS) project.

With BMN, nothings ever listed without a plan, be it execution can take time.

So there's a reason why "other African projects" is mentioned.

11/13
All of that should come to a head in 2021, along with further advancement of the VRFB investment platform and of course the big Enerox ownership reveal.

Localised VRFB assembly driven by Enerox, certainly lends itself to S.A. ownership, which is a clear BMNs policy.

12/13
Its taking longer to reach their goals than many BMN investors thought/hoped for but the necessary parts are now slowly coming together, which is why I have confidence of a far better year for BMN in 2021.

The valuation may take longer to fully catch up...

13/13
...but it isn't what is truly important. This is about that value chain model being brought together, backed by substantial expansion, which is now certainly in play and we will no doubt hear about shortly.

Next stop Q3 update and those refurbishment plans.