With the resources market very much in a malaise, it is timely the year\u2019s first major gathering of influential industry figures should take place against the backdrop of perhaps the world\u2019s most picturesque setting.<\/p>\n
Table Mountain, isn\u2019t she a beauty?<\/p>\n
If you are remotely connected to anything mining and exploration on the African continent, Cape Town is undoubtedly the place to be during the first week of February.<\/p>\n
Just ignore the fact there\u2019s not a single mine or exploration prospect within spitting distance of South Africa\u2019s \u201cMother City\u201d.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Investing in African Mining Indaba will be the 30th edition of the conference with a whopping +8,100 delegates expected to saunter through the Cape Town International Convention Centre.<\/p>\n
According to the official conference website, +900 investors, +700 senior mining executives and +450 junior resource companies will be in attendance.<\/p>\n
Not included is the number of London-based brokers, lawyers and finance professionals looking to sneak in a bit of networking while sipping on a cocktail and basking in the African sunshine.<\/p>\n
The who\u2019s who of the African mining scene will be there, from Barrick Gold boss Mark Bristow to Gold Fields chief Martin Preece and head of Rio Tinto\u2019s minerals division Sinead Kaufman.<\/p>\n
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema is the most senior African government official confirmed to be speaking at the conference.<\/p>\n
The Indaba program now includes the 121 investor forum \u2013 previously a competing side event to the main conference \u2013 and is typically a must attend for any ASX-listed miner or explorer with a project on the African continent.<\/p>\n
Stockhead <\/em>caught up with some of the key figures heading to Cape Town to ask what they were expecting from the arguably the most important week of the year for African-focused companies.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Peter Ledwidge has lost count of the number of Mining Indabas he has attended over the years, but the 2024 conference could well prove to be one to remember if his emerging gold exploration company continues to attract the investor interest it has garnered over the past few days.<\/p>\n Mako Gold\u2019s (ASX:MKG)<\/a> share price surged 55% earlier this week on the back of positive progress at its flagship Napie project in Cote d\u2019Ivoire as well as a timely and favourable plug from respected mining guru Barry Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n Ledwidge is anticipating a \u201cpretty full on\u201d first two days at the 121 investor forum.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the name suggests, it\u2019s one-to-one meetings with potential investors and some of our current shareholders as well,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously the objective is to give more exposure to the company and hopefully to get people to jump in and buy shares on market, and then get involved in capital raises down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n Ledwidge \u2013 who along with his wife Ann is revered for spearheading the multimillion ounce Boungou and Nabanga discoveries\u00a0in Burkina Faso for Orbis Gold early last decade \u2013 looks forward to catching up and making new acquaintances at Mining Indaba each year, primarily due to the fact he doesn\u2019t have to spend long explaining the risk profile of Africa as he might be required to do elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to convince anybody there that Africa is a good place to invest, because that\u2019s why they\u2019re at the conference,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes if you go to conferences in Australia, or in Europe, or wherever, you have to spend the first half of your discussion explaining why Africa is a good place to invest. That\u2019s why for us, Indaba is a must do, because people have a genuine interest in investing in African projects.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Joining Ledwidge and the MKG team in pitching the credentials for West African gold explorers and developers will be Toubani Resources (ASX:TRE)<\/a>.<\/p>\n For TRE chief executive Phil Russo, his discussions with potential investors will be vastly different to those he held during the course of Indaba Week 2023.<\/p>\n The Mali-focused company last week indicated in a DFS progress update that its 2.4Moz Kobada gold project was amendable to free milling with ~95% of the oxide material expected to be recovered.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a real distilled vision for the project now, following that work on the DFS update, and we\u2019re looking forward to communicating that to investors,\u201d Russo says.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my mind, we\u2019re the largest single asset oxide project of scale in the sector. Other large oxide projects are run by producing companies so in terms of assets of this size and this simplicity, given the soft rock nature of our Kobada gold project, that\u2019s a key differentiator for us.<\/p>\n \u201cCreating a project that\u2019s relevant and has reduced technical risk and is as economic as what we think it can be is what I\u2019ll be telling people. And I can say that with a lot more confidence now than I could have said 12 months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n For the first time in close to 15 years, uranium will likely be the headline commodity at Mining Indaba.<\/p>\n Not since Paladin Energy (ASX:PLN)<\/a> was breaking ground in both Namibia and Malawi in the late 2000s has the yellowcake sector received so much love from investors.<\/p>\n Longstanding Elevate Uranium (ASX:EL8)<\/a> managing director Murray Hill is more than happy to trade precious time on the golf course for a full book of meetings with prospective investors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was only 2-3 years ago where you called investors and they didn\u2019t want to take your call. Now, you\u2019re choosing who you want to talk to because there\u2019s so many people interested in uranium,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have any free time, it\u2019s all fully booked, and I\u2019m staying for an extra couple of days than I normally would have to accommodate additional interest and additional meetings. It\u2019s a great time to be in uranium.\u201d<\/p>\n Having made four uranium discoveries in the last four years, headlined by a 48Mlb U3O8 resource at its flagship Koppies project in Namibia, EL8 will be jostling for the spotlight among a throng of other emerging ASX-listed uranium hopefuls including Senegal-focused Haranga Resources (ASX:HAR)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Newly appointed Aura Energy (ASX:AEE)<\/a> managing director Andrew Grove, formerly of Chesser Resources, will also use the Indaba platforms to touch base with the company\u2019s investor base and unveil his plans for the development-ready 113Mlb Tiris uranium project in Mauritania.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n While uranium might be all the rage, the same can\u2019t be said for battery minerals such as lithium and nickel which have fallen out of favour with investors.<\/p>\n Rare earths have also taken a bit of a hit in recent weeks, but it hasn\u2019t proven a detractor for the likes of Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR)<\/a> which will continue to spruik its plans to build Uganda\u2019s first commercial mining operation. The company last week ticked off an important milestone with the landmark award of a mining licence for its Makuutu project.<\/p>\n Prospect Resources (ASX:PSC)<\/a> will also mount strong investment cases for its burgeoning lithium and rare earths portfolio which extends across Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia.<\/p>\n Having only listed on the bourse six months ago, Malawi-focused rare earths hopeful DY6 Metals (ASX:DY6)<\/a> will be one of the fresher faces on the Indaba agenda and chief executive Lloyd Kaiser plans to use that fact to his and the company\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still building our brand, at the moment that brand probably sits behind me as the face of the company, so I\u2019m looking forward to talking more about the interesting projects we\u2019ve got in the rare earths space,\u201d Kaiser says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in a region that is very unexplored and over this next sort of six months I think we\u2019ll probably discover a few things that others haven\u2019t done before. It\u2019s a very exciting phase coming up for DY6 and for the groups that will be having a listen to our presentations over in Cape Town.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rare earths markets been quite solid hasn\u2019t really suffered all that much, but unfortunately we\u2019ve been caught up in this sort of lithium and nickel slide to an extent. The dysprosium price is actually higher now than what it was at the start of last year and NdPr is still looking pretty solid around US$56\/t. That\u2019s what I\u2019ll be pointing out to investors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Mako Gold, Toubani Resources, Elevate Uranium and DY6 Metals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post Turning the tables: Could Africa lead a resources revival?<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seasoned goldie continues African love affair<\/strong><\/h2>\n
An easier investment pitch than this time last year<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Everyone is craving a slice of yellowcake<\/strong><\/h2>\n
There\u2019s still some appetite for battery minerals<\/strong><\/h2>\n