Fluormin
Fluormin, formerly known as Maghreb Minerals Plc, is focused on the development of assets in the fluorspar sector. The Company has a portfolio of fluorspar assets in South Africa, Kenya and Tunisia.
Related news
- RNS Release - Result of AGM
2012-11-30 - RNS Release - Kenya Fluorspar Disposal
2012-11-27 - Fluormin posts profit after tax of £3.5 million in 2012 financial year
2012-10-18 - RNS Release - Buffalo Project Disposal
2012-09-20 - RNS Release - Buffalo Project Disposal
2012-09-20 - Fluormin sees ‘effective progress’ at Witkop despite challenging quarter
2012-08-13 - Fluormin hires advisors for Witkop mine review
2012-06-01 - RNS Release - Mine Review and Management Changes
2012-06-01 - RNS新聞 - 煤礦審查和管理變革
2012-06-01 - RNS 发行-矿业审查和管理改变
2012-06-01 - RNS Release - Q3 Update
2012-04-26 - Fluormin receives first payment of US$6.5 million for KFC stake sale
2012-04-26 - RNS Release - Director/PDMR Shareholding
2012-04-06 - Fluormin considering options to reduce costs at Witkop fluorspar operation
2012-04-02 - Fluormin sees improvement in South Africa power and water issues
2012-02-23 - RNS Release - Operational Update
2012-02-23 - RNS Release - Re-organisation of Nominated Adviser and Broker
2012-02-01 - Fluormin現在擁有Sallies97%的公司債券
2012-01-24 - RNS Release - Sallies Debentures Update
2012-01-24 - Fluormin now owns 97 per cent of Sallies' debentures
2012-01-24 - RNS Release - Appointment & Grant of Options
2011-12-13 - Fluormin appoints Minay Mahidharia as general counsel and company secretary
2011-12-13 - Mako Energy, Avalon Rare Metals, Silvermere Energy and Fluormin to present at Proactiveinvestors One2One Forum
2011-12-06 - Fluormin: Sallies shareholders vote in favour of takeover
2011-11-30 - Fluormin aims to become major mover in fluorspar market
2011-11-14 - Fluormin appoints Muriel Dube and Brian Kiernan to board
2011-11-04 - Fluormin “hugely undervalued”, says Westhouse
2011-10-30
Company Statement
Fluormin, formerly known as Maghreb Minerals Plc, was admitted to trading on AIM in December 2004 with a focus on Tunisian base metals projects. The Company sold these base metal projects (retaining an interest in any fluorspar production) in August 2011, whilst retaining its Zriba Guebli fluorspar exploration project.
The Company's focus is now solely on the development of assets in the fluorspar sector. The Company's strategic shift into the fluorspar industry was accelerated in September 2011 when it acquired a controlling stake in Sallies Limited, owner of the Witkop Fluorspar Mine, and a 20% interest in Kenya Fluorspar Company.
Stratergy
Fluormin plc is a producer of acid grade fluorspar, an industrial mineral widely used in the chemical and aluminum industries for the making of products such as hydrofluorocarbons (e.g., freon gas) and aluminum fluoride.
The Company currently holds interests in mines with the capacity to produce an aggregate of 250,000 tonnes per annum of acid grade fluorspar. In addition, the Company holds a 49% interest in a leading trader of fluorspar, Fluorone. Fluorone is targeting trade volumes of 100,000 tonnes per annum.
The 2010 freely traded global fluorspar production (and demand) for acid grade fluorspar is estimated by Roskill to be approximately 700,000 tonnes.
Similar to rare earths, China dominates the production and consumption of fluorspar and has been the leading supplier of fluorspar for 20 years, accounting for over 50% of production and consumption in 2010. However, in recent years increased internal Chinese consumption has led the United States and Europe to place fluorspar on their list of critical minerals.
Fluormin's strategy is to acquire a meaningful share of the international fluorspar market in order to be a supplier of choice to American and European customers of fluorspar and to provide such customers with security of supply, variety of product quality and potential freight advantages from multiple producing plants in different geographic locations.
Current Operations
Witkop Fluorspar Mine
Witkop Fluorspar Mine ("Witkop") commenced operations in 1972. With the exception of periods of suspension Witkop has been producing and selling acid grade fluorspar since that time. Witkop is located 18km south of the town of Zeerust in the North Western Province of South Africa, approximately 250km northwest of Johannesburg.
Following extensive refurbishment and upgrading, the mine recommenced production in March 2011. Witkop plans to mine at a production rate of approximately 1.5Mtpa ROM, producing an average of 140,000tpa of acidspar over a 10 year LOM plan.
Product is sold via the deep water port at Durban and is dispatched to Durban by train from the Company's rail-siding.
Resources
The mineral resource estimate for Witkop is set out below and is classified in accordance with the SAMREC Code. It was prepared in February 2011 by Mr Jansen, an independent geological consultant, and subsequently reviewed by Coffey Mining in the preparation of the CPR contained in the AIM Admission documents (September 2011). Based on the data and the methods used, Coffey considers the mineral resource estimates to represent a fair estimate of the mineralisation. The SAMREC compliant mineral resource is tabulated below.
Notes Mineral resources are estimates for which uncertainties are conveyed through rounding of figures presented in the table.Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of mineral reserves
Reserves
The Mineral Reserve declaration in accordance with the SAMREC Code is presented in the table below:
Notes The tonnage and grade reported for the Mineral Reserves are based on 16per cent dilution of between 3.2per cent and 5.6per cent CaF2 with geological and mining losses of 5per cent as estimated by Witkop..
Sallies owns 74% of Witkop with the remaining 26% owned by Sallies' Black Economic Empowerment partner
Kenya Fluorspar Mine
The Company has a 20 per cent interest in KFC, which commenced production in 1971 and is a significant fluorspar producer for global markets. In 1996, KFC was privatised under the terms of a governmental reform policy and, in 1997, KFC received a 20-year mining lease from the government. In total, approximately 1.7 million Mt of ore was milled during the period from 2004 to 2008, resulting in annual production of between 80,000 and 100,000 Mt of acid grade fluorspar at a head grade of approximately 40 per cent. The mine has been operating without interruption since September 2010.
Zriba Guebli Project
The Zriba-Guebli Fluorspar Project in Tunisia consists of a dormant mine with surrounding prospects, which is classified as a brownfields exploration project. Mining occurred in underground developments at the Zriba-Guebli mine until 1992, at which time the mine was closed, largely due to low fluorspar prices. The project is situated 70 km southwest of Tunis and comprises a single exploration permit, 34.6 km2 in extent, within the Hamman Zriba mining district, a renowned fluorspar-barite-lead-zinc metallogenic province. The project has an extensive poly-metallic, fluorspar-barite MVT deposit, with associated lead-zinc, which straddles the northwest-southeast trending Zriba-Guebli graben.
The project has been subdivided into three prospect areas, namely, the western Guebli horst, the graben valley and the Zriba horst block in the east. The mineralisation is structurally and lithologically controlled and hosted in the shallow dipping unconformity between Upper Cretaceous reef limestone units and Jurassic carbonates. The magnitude of the target is large in terms of global fluorite-barite deposits and this, coupled with the grade, the good quality of fluorspar and barite, and historic exploitation, suggests that further exploration is warranted.
Glencore Offtake
The offtake agreements pertain to three Tunisian projects, Bou Jabeur, Fej Lahdoum and Jebel Fej Lahdoum, which were sold to subsidiaries of Glencore in August 2011. These agreements each permit the Company (or its nominee) to offtake all fluorspar produced from these base metal projects at the incremental cost of separating the same from other processed minerals. The incremental operating and capital costs are expected to be very low, or even nil, as a result of the fact that most process design plans would foresee the separation of fluorspar and other by-products as a natural consequence to the production of zinc and lead concentrate.
Buffalo Fluorspar Project
Buffalo Fluorspar Mine (Proprietary) Limited, which owns the Buffalo fluorspar tailings retreatment facility, was acquired in July 2006 and is currently on care and maintenance. The Buffalo fluorspar deposit contains a high level of phosphorus and, when operating, has a restricted market.
FluorOne Trading Limited
Fluormin has formed a specialised fluorspar marketing company in conjunction with a leading expert on the trading and marketing of fluorspar. The new trading company is owned 49% by Fluormin.
FluorOne's business will involve the purchase, sale, storage, transport, offtake, hedging, marketing or other dealing of fluorspar products (whether produced by the Fluorspar group of companies or otherwise).
Management
Nicholas Davidoff , Non-Executive Chairman
Mr. Davidoff is employed by New York based Firebird Management LLC, which has, through two managed funds, a major shareholders in the Company. His career has been spent in various investment management roles and he holds a BSM from Tulane University.
Albert C. Gourley , Co-CEO
Mr. Gourley has a Bachelor of Business Administration from York University (now Schulich), Toronto, and a law degree from the University of Ottawa. He has practised law since 1992, originally in Canada and then in the UK and is admitted as a solicitor in both Ontario and the UK. He founded and managed the South African office of an international law firm. With a focus on mergers & acquisitions, financings and initial public offerings. He has sat on a number of boards of mining companies and has aided Fluormin in its development since joining the Board in 2008.
Mark Bolton , Co-CEO
Mr. Bolton has substantial expertise across a broad range of financial and commercial issues in the resource sector. Mr. Bolton has a Bachelor of Business from the Edith Cowan University, he has completed the professional program for membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and he has held a number of senior executive officer positions, including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President - Corporate Development with resource companies listed on the ASX, TSX and AIM with activities in Australia, Southern and Central Africa, Asia and South America. Mr. Bolton's career includes a 10-year tenure with Ernst and Young, stepping down as Director of Ernst & Young Corporate Finance Pty Ltd in 2002.
Jeffrey Kofsky, Marketing Director
Mr. Kofsky has 20 years' experience in the international fluorspar trade. During this time he has developed a particular expertise on the Chinese fluorspar market and developed close, professional links with the major fluorspar consumers in America and Europe. He also has gained extensive experience in the global freight market for bulk commodities.
James Passin , Non-Executive Director
Mr. Passin joined Firebird in 1999. He co-founded and manages Firebird Global Fund, Firebird Global Fund II, Firebird Mongolia Fund, and Firebird New Mongolia Fund. He is a former editor at investment newsletter Taipan. James is a graduate of St. John's College, where he majored in philosophy and classical literature. James serves on the board of directors of several Mongolian and Canadian companies.
Sean Murray , Non-Executive Director
Mr. Murray has held senior management positions in the Rio Tinto group of companies and, in particular, at Rio Tinto Borax, an industrial minerals company and subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group. He became Managing Director of Borax Europe and then Deputy Chief Executive of Rio Tinto Borax, also serving on the boards of other Rio Tinto subsidiary companies including U.S. Borax (California), Borax Francais (Paris and Dunkirk) and Borax Argentina (Buenos Aires and Salta). He has also served as a Vice-President of the European Zinc Institute (The Hague), as an Industry Advisor to the UK government on non-ferrous metals and minerals, as Vice-President of the Industrial Minerals Association, and as President of the European Borates Association.
Major Shareholders
Notes:
Firebird I and Firebird II are investment funds that are organised in the Cayman Islands and are managed and controlled by, respectively, FGS Advisors, LLC and FG2 Advisors, LLC. James Passin is one of the owners of FGS Advisors, LLC.
Contact Information
Corporate
Fluormin Plc
Blackwell House
Guildhall Yard
LONDON
ECV 5AE
Telephone +44 (0) 20 7556 0940
Fax: +44 (0) 207 556 0949
General enquiries to: [email protected]
Investors
Al Gourley Co Chief Executive Officer
Mark Bolton Co Chief Executive Officer
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7556 0940
Fax: +44 (0) 207 556 0949
Corporate Information
Nominated Adviser and Broker Westhouse Securities Limited
Auditors and Reporting Accountants Nexia Smith & Williamson
Solicitors to the Company (United Kingdom) Fasken Martineau LLP
Legal Advisors to the Company (South Africa) Fasken Martineau DuMoulin (Pty) Ltd
Registrar and Crest Service Provider Computershare Investor Services Plc
