camp5.17This camp will house up to 150 men who will construct infrastructure for mining lithium concentrate at Bald Hill. Photo: CompanyTawana Resources' share price shot up 9.4% to 24 Australian cents on the Australian Stock Exchange on Thursday, 6 July 2017.

What it said in response to a stock exchange query is relevant also to Singapore-listed Alliance Mineral Assets Limited (AMAL) even though the latter's share price inched up by 0.5 cents only to 33.5 cents on that day.

Tawana is the 50-50 joint venture partner of AMAL in developing the Bald Hill mine in Western Australia. (For more, see ...)


The partners are racing to produce and deliver lithium concentrates worth at least US$200 million over two years (2018-2019) from the mine under an offtake agreement with Hong Kong-listed Burwill Holdings.

The following are excerpts from Tawana's reply to the Australian Stock Exchange (full version here): 

The Company provides the following potential explanations for the recent trading in the Company’s securities: 

a) On Wednesday, 5 July 2017, Volvo Car Group announced that it will cease producing petrol-only vehicles from 2019 and has thereby become the first major traditional automaker to set a date for phasing out vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. 

As lithium is a major component of lithium-ion batteries that are used in the electric vehicle industry, it is likely to have provided market assurance about the longevity of current lithium pricing which Tawana, being a near-term producer, can take advantage of. 

b) This has also been compounded by Neometals Limited (ASX: NMT) and Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) announcing on 5 July 2017 that it had reached agreement with Ganfeng Lithium that effective 1 July 2017 the price payable per tonne of 6% spodumene concentrate produced at Mt Marion and delivered CFR had increased from US$750 to US$841, also confirming that the current pricing of lithium concentrate is sustainable.

c) All major Australian, listed lithium producers and/or developers have also enjoyed increased trading and price appreciation.

AMAL
Stock price 

32.5 c

52-week range

7.3 – 42.5 c

PE (ttm)

--

Market cap

S$156 m

Shares outstanding

481 million

Dividend
yield (ttm)

--

Year-to-date return

257%

Source: Bloomberg

News to look out for next from AMAL and Tawana: 

♦ Definitive Feasibility Study for mining at Bald Hill Project.
♦ Second prepayment by Burwill Holdings of A$8.75 million on 15 July 2017
(First prepament done in April: A$7.5 million. Third and final prepayment to come: A$8.75 million on 15 Sept 2017).

For further reading: 

♦ All Volvo cars to be electric or hybrid from 2019

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