Interview with Peter Reeve, Executive Chairman of Uranium Explorer, Aura Energy (ASX:AEE) and on (AIM: AURA). Peter Reeve worked with Robert Friedland at Ivanhoe. He explains the thinking behind their uranium and vanadium strategy and how they intend to deliver growth for shareholders. They have a team with big company experience but now find themselves starting up a junior miner, specialising in uranium and vanadium. We ask Peter Reeve if he and his team have the relevant experience to do so. Have they got the ability to raise capital in this market. Do they have knowledge of how to market themselves to enhance the liquidity and volume of trading? Do they have specific uranium and vanadium mining experience? And how are they remunerated? This is a tough environment for both these commodities, so what does this management team think they need to do to circumvent the obstacles in their way? Find out in this hard hitting interview.
Aura Energy has three assets in two countries. Tiris is a uranium play in Mauritania. Aura energy has just released a DFS which suggests that this is low capex low opex project capable of generating nearly £1M pa of free cashflow, assuming licences & permits are granted and no holdups. Potential for a farm in? It is currently a small project as Aura Energy has decided to get in to production early rather than develop out the Resource. They believe that the cashflow from this asset will allow them to fund most of the exploration for their second asset in Sweden which is a Vanadium project. The third asset is a very early stage Gold & Battery Metals project.
Haggen Project in Sweden has the potential to be large but as yet not a lot of drilling has occurred. Previous owners had spent £20M but unsure as to what it was spent on. Aura Energy is talking the usual vanadium explorer/developer game of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB) but that is far from reality. They indicated that they are in discussion with a battery manufacturer. We don't know the nature of this conversation given this is an exploration play. A scoping study is due in late August.
One large concern is the CEO's remuneration which is out of kilter with a junior miner of this size and stage. In our opinion this should be target driven and rewarded against set deliverables.
They have appointed SP Angel who will be providing a coverage note soon. We wait to see what this Paid for Research looks like and what they choose focus on. Truly independent research does not exist for retail and brokers cannot afford to provide it.
Being able to producing Yellowcake is a great academic exercise. But what we want to understand is at what point are you able to do so economically? Too many factors that are not in this companies control to be able to answer. We find out what they have to say though.
Company page: http://www.auraenergy.com.au/
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