Trader’s Cafe with Zak Mir: Cora Gold, Kodal, Pires, Predator, Saietta, Strategic Minerals

Being a stock market darling is not always plain sailing, as a hiccough this week for Helium One (HE1) underlined. If nothing else, there can be the problem of it being far more pleasant to travel than arrive. However, so far Cora Gold’s (CORA) golden boy Bert Monro has been able to steer the West African-focused company in the right direction. Shares of Cora closed up another 15%, as investors enjoyed the afterglow of the ninth set of drill results from its largest ever drilling campaign at its Sanankoro Gold Project in Southern Mali earlier this month. The company said it is focused on targeting resource growth as well as infill drilling to convert existing Inferred resources to Indicated. Cora said the results to date have been extremely encouraging with good widths and high-grade results in generally shallow oxide ore.

Another stock market darling, in a similar neck of the woods, also saw a positive delayed reaction to news served up at the start of August. Kodal Minerals (KOD) was up 21% as investors savoured the update regarding its application for the Bougouni mining licence in Mali being forwarded from the Ministry of Mines, Energy & Water to the Secretary General's office for final review. At the time Kodal also pleased the market as it revealed aircore drill results for Nielle gold project in the Ivory Coast. Here there were widespread drill traverses confirming a 4.5 kilometres gold mineralised trend with extensions of up to 1.5km south and over 1km north.

There was an 18% share price rise for Strategic Minerals (SML), which has for an extended period been unable to enjoy some of the positive stock market sentiment of some of its peers. Here investors were left hanging in terms of an arbitrated claim of $21.9m, and the potential for what would be a chunky recovery against CV Investments. SML has said that it is unlikely that the receivership will be completed before the end of 2021, and the final size of any settlement is difficult to quantify. However, the bull argument here is that the end of the year is not far away and that given the £9m market cap of SML, almost anything retrieved would have a materially positive effect on the company.

It may be the case that shares of next generation technology group Pires (PIRI) are set to continue the 12% recovery they delivered at the end of the week, as the fundamental pendulum swings back in the company’s favour. A revival in the crypto / digital assets space, and US tech stocks at record highs make the stock’s decline from 18p in March to 6p lows this month appear rather overdone. Indeed, so far little of the positive read across from its investee Sure Valley’s holding in Smarttech247 with a possible £33.5m price target seems to have been factored in Pires, nor the near €800,000 windfall from SVV’s recent Artomatix sale. It is likely that minds will be focused towards Pires shares in the run up to interims due by the end of September. Some in the market are speculating that rather like Riverfort (RGO) has started doing, Pires may be on the road to offering a dividend to shareholders.

It does not normally pay to catch a falling knife in the stock market, especially when investors may feel that they were not fully in the loop, or perhaps wish they had not been in the loop in the first place. In the case of Jersey-based Oil and Gas Company with operations in Trinidad, Morocco and Ireland, it may be that the dust is starting to settle along with the share price. For June / July the company’s effect on the bulls was rather in the manner of the old Gillette advertising campaign, with the first placing at 15p shaving investors close, while the second at 5p closer still. Now that this one / two manoeuvre is out of the way, it may be there is something to look forward to with regard to Predator looking forward to enter the Moroccan gas market, and see what recently appointed Chief Operating Officer, Lonny Baumgardner, can deliver in terms of the next stage of C02 EOR operations in Trinidad.

Given the share price performance of Saietta (SED), an electric motor supplier and licensor, across specific electric vehicle sectors, since it came to market on July 7, it would appear that someone, somewhere, floated the company a tad on the cheap side. Of course, it is better to err on the cautious side of things in order to avoid doing a “Floperoo” or an Aston Martin. To be fair to those involved in this successful AIM listing, the timing for the EV related company is perfect. We also know that in any Gold Rush it is those who make the picks and shovels who tend to thrive more than most. Last month Saietta raised £37.5 million and had an initial market capitalisation £102.1 million, which is now up to £172 million.