Alba Mineral Resources Share Discussion Threads

[moneymunch] 03/5/2017 07:17

Plenty of cash

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year £668,340

[moneymunch] 03/5/2017 07:09

OUTLOOK

The past year has seen the Company make significant strides forward in the development of our key assets. At Horse Hill, the oil and gas project in the Weald Basin in Surrey in which Alba is the second largest shareholder in the HHDL consortium, flow tests undertaken in 2016 returned excellent results. We now await the planning consents which will enable Alba and its partners to carry out long term production testing and further appraisal drilling commencing later this year, with the objective of moving towards a declaration of commerciality and stable long-term production by the end of 2018.

Alba's Board of Directors also took the decision in the past year to exercise the Company's option to earn a 5 per cent interest in the Brockham Oil Field. This decision was vindicated after the end of the financial year, when in March 2017 the Operator announced that, as a result of the drilling of a side-track well at Brockham, it was confident that the Brockham well would be similar to Horse Hill and possibly, given the thickness of the reservoir zones encountered at Brockham, even better.

While these oil and gas investments at Horse Hill and Brockham must inevitably pass through the normal regulatory processes in the UK, which we understand can at times be a source of frustration for shareholders, this is part and parcel of operating in the UK onshore environment. At the same time, however, the Alba Board has taken steps to ensure that as a diversified natural resources exploration company, the Company and, by extension, its shareholders are not solely reliant on the developments at Horse Hill and Brockham to see value accretion in the Alba Group. It is for this reason that, having identified an opportunity to invest initially on a modest earn-in basis into the Amitsoq Graphite Project in Southern Greenland, the Company's work in 2016 led it to see the significant potential of the Project and, consequently, to decide to negotiate to acquire outright a 90 per cent interest in the Project, with the right to move to 100 per cent ownership in the future. The results of the work announced after the end of the financial year - in particular the identification of over 12 km of strike length and the confirmation of graphite grades that are amongst the highest of any graphite project in the world - have given the Board cause for great encouragement as we look to fast-track development at Amitsoq.

The coming year promises to be an exciting one for Alba, as we seek to commercialise our UK oil and gas investments and at the same time to push forward with the further work at Amitsoq that will see the Project progress from the exploration into the development phase.

We thank our shareholders for their continued support.

George Frangeskides

Executive Chairman

[moneymunch] 03/5/2017 06:56

Looks like Ukog have decided to smooth the waters for their other development sites by withdrawing their plans for Markwells Wood which is located within the boundary of the South Downs National Park... Gla ;-)

Breaking: UKOG withdraws application for Markwells Wood in South Downs
By Ruth Hayhurst on May 2, 2017

[moneymunch] 02/5/2017 06:43

The article loaded on to Ukog's website is from the New Statesman, which can only increase investor interest imho, further enhanced by the time OGA approval lands and Brockham's production gets underway followed by HH's permit approval for ewt's etc etc .....the Weald Oil Basin will no doubt be in full focus soon enough on good flow data with full market appreciation, positive sentiment and major investor interest.

Ada's only naturally concerned as most residents would be when they haven't got the full facts and have been influenced by the anti fracking brigade's scare-mongering tactics.....and so should be easily appeased along with the other residents of the surrounding area ( she presumably lives in Dorking ) if the scare-mongering around acidisation is her main concern with Brockham.....especially as it is the same process used by Southern Water et al....Gl ;-)

[mikeygit] 01/5/2017 17:37

Well I hope Ada will be more reassured by the lengthy explanation by Mr Sanderson on the acidisation question!!

[moneymunch] 01/5/2017 16:21

Courtesy of Dinero on Lse..Gla ;-)

One of the people hoping this won’t happen is Ada, a spokesperson for Brockham Oil Watch. Ada says she is “not part of this anti-fracking movement”, but that she became involved in scrutiny of oil exploration in the area “because it’s all happening on my doorstep.” Ada lives between Brockham and Leith Hill.
“When we found out about what was happening it was a shock, especially at Leith Hill, because it’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. You go there and it’s like being in the mountains, it’s very special. Brockham is different, because there’s been a well there since 1987. People are used to it; they don’t have
a problem with it because it’s out of sight.”

Ada found out about the Brockham well “because there was a camp by the side of the road. Originally, people in the village were just upset about the camp – they were slowing down lorries, blocking traffic on the lane. It’s generally quite a conservative village, politically, and the feeling was, what’s the fuss?”.

That feeling changed abruptly on the 9th March, when a BBC news report alleged that Angus Energy had drilled without permission. “People here trust the regulatory system. They trust the Environment Agency to look after them. So when the news came out, it challenged that trust. There is interest, now from local people, and it’s mostly around these new [extraction] technologies.”

The technology that most worries Ada and her fellow villagers is not fracking, but
something less well-known: acidisation. UKOG’s Stephen Sanderson says acidisation “has been around for 120 years or more. We use a dilute hydrochloric
acid that dissolves the limestone. Most wells on the planet have a bit of dilute
hydrochloric acid in there, to ‘clean up’ the well. We also use it to dissolve a little bit of the limestone immediately surrounding the well, so it allows a good
connection from the fractures into the well. It’s not fracking at all. In order to
frack a formation you have to inject very large amounts of liquid in, at very
high pressures. To do that you need massive pumps, and permission from the
Environment Agency. Acidisation is entirely misunderstood, and there’s a huge amount of scaremongering going on. The techniques we use to drill through the rock are exactly those used by the water-well drilling industry.”

[moneymunch] 01/5/2017 12:27

RNS 4/4/17 Horse Hill update - confirming SCC's meeting in July. Gl ;-)

OGA Agrees Work Programme and Extends Retention Area Periods for Horse Hill Licenses, Weald Basin, SE UK

The Company announces that it has been informed by the operator, Horse Hill Developments Limited ("HHDL"), that the Oil and Gas Authority ("OGA") has consented to extend the current PEDL137 and PEDL246 Retention Areas ("RAs") until 2021. The PEDL137 and PEDL246 RAs, which cover the entirety of the licences, will now expire on 30(th) September and 30(th) June, 2021, respectively. The Company holds a 9.75 % net interest in the licences via its 15% ownership of the licence's operator HHDL.

Mike Nott, CEO of Alba, commented:

"We are very pleased to have received this notification from the OGA. The matter represents another significant step in the journey from discovery to production. There is no doubt in my mind that the Wealden area is developing into a significant natural resources oil play and we are pleased to be one of the joint venture partners pursuing the exploitation of one of our Country's significant natural resources"

HH-1 Oil Discovery

The HH-1 Kimmeridge Limestone and Portland oil discovery well is located within onshore exploration Licence PEDL137, on the northern side of the Weald Basin, 3 km north of Gatwick Airport. As previously reported in February and March 2016, two naturally-fractured limestone members within the Kimmeridge section, known as KL3 and KL4, flowed dry, 40-degree API oil, at an aggregate stabilised natural flow rate of 1,365 barrels per day ("bopd") with no clear indication of depletion. The overlying Portland flowed dry, 35-37 API gravity crude at a stable pumped rate of 323 bopd. The Portland was produced at the rod-pump's maximum achievable rate and thus flow was constrained by the pump's mechanical capacity.

As previously reported in October 2016 and March 2016, an application for long term production testing and further appraisal drilling was submitted to Surrey County Council in October 2016, and is now scheduled to be decided at the Council's planning committee meeting in July 2017. The Company therefore envisages that these operations will commence in the second half of 2017 upon grant of the necessary remaining regulatory permissions.

[moneymunch] 01/5/2017 11:57

Wednesday 12 July 2017

Scheduled meeting of Surrey County Council at which Horse Hill planning application (SCC2016/0189) and plans for Bury Hill Wood (SCC Ref 2016/0170 and SCC Ref 2008/0169 may be discussed. To be confirmed. Details

[moneymunch] 28/4/2017 15:55

Leaky leaky????

They want your shares.....BIG news and SIGNIFICANT upside coming......watch out for a surge into close imho....Gla holders....Tick Tock Tick!!!! ;-))))

[moneymunch] 28/4/2017 11:31

Up we go.....momentum upwards from now in....OGA approval for Brockham's production close....Significant upside on confirmation....production expected June-ish...and then permit approval for HH eagerly awaited extended flowtests and more good news expected on Amitsoq's graphite and gold with drilling planned for H2 201.Gla holders..a stellar transformational year ahead on free flowing limestones in commercial volume at a Brockham and/or HH.....a game changer and multi-bag on both, and Amitsoq could be bigger again with 100% interest with a Major suitor keen on a JV....amongst the highest grade graphite in the world. Gla ;-)

[moneymunch] 28/4/2017 07:39

OGA approval for Brockham's completion/production coming soon....SCC's local elections next week!!! Gla holders....fingers crossed for continued upward momentum as the share price bounces from the bottom and heads back to fair value to reflect Alba's outstanding prospects at Brockham, HH and Amitsoq.....On and Up!!! ;-)

Drill or Drop 29th March 2017

Angus Energy said it had not been notified formally by Surrey County Council that it had breached planning permission at its oil production site at Brockham near Dorking.

The company remained adamant that it had done nothing wrong and said it would not apply for retrospective planning permission.

Speaking at the company’s AGM, Executive Chairman Jonathan Tidswell-Pretorius said the first he knew about the breach allegation was from a website.

The issue had initially been reported on 9 March 2017 by the BBC regional TV news programme for London. The item included a statement from the council that it was “extremely disappointed” that Angus Energy had “acted without planning permission”. (See also DrillOrDrop report)

Mr Tidswell-Pretorius said :

“When we saw the BBC News recording, that’s when we got a bit of a shock.”

Answering questions, he said had received no communications from the council about a breach:

“We still have no formal correspondence from them”.

He said if there had been, the council would have put the company “on notice” straightaway. He added:

“We’re not in breach”.

Afterwards he confirmed to a person at the meeting that the company would not apply for retrospective planning permission.

Permission in place for “even more wells”

The company said its planning permission covered production from existing wells “and even from more wells”.

Managing director, Paul Vonk, said drilling a side-track was covered by the existing planning permission. It was approved under “maintenance of on-going production”.

The company hinted that confusion over the side-track may have arisen because the council had diagrams of the Brockham site that were different from those provided by the Oil and Gas Authority.

Angus also said it had “constant engagement” with the Brockham community, which was fully-informed and “up-to-date221;.

It said it had invited the parish and county council to the site, as well as people who had protested against the operations at Brockham.

OGA seeks further information from Angus

A spokesperson for the Oil and Gas Authority told DrillOrDrop

“The OGA held a meeting with Angus Energy on 16 March to discuss the operations at Brockham and has subsequently sought further information from the company about its operations.”

[moneymunch] 27/4/2017 09:14

Nice chunky buy....can't be too long now for the next update on Brockham. Gla holders:-)

[moneymunch] 27/4/2017 07:58

SCC's last Cabinet meeting today before next weeks local elections......Any other business??? Gla ;-)

[moneymunch] 24/4/2017 18:59

Another graphite related tweet from George.....an indication of Alba's excitement in Amitsoq's potential and the "fast track" development plans. Gla :-)

Michael Nott, Alba's CEO, commented: 12/4/17

"The results from this phase 1 metallurgical test work are impressive. The test work results confirm the very high grade graphite content at Amitsoq (averaging 25%) and a good spread of flake size in the key and high demand/value categories. We were able to achieve +99 per cent recoveries using fairly simple and low cost processing techniques, which bodes very well for the economics of future production at Amitsoq."

"Additional metallurgical test work to optimise a processing plant, which is a key element in proving up commercial viability, will now be undertaken. This will also form part of an integrated, fast-track approach to the project. We look forward now to the furtherance of our fast-track development programme this year, with our priorities being resource estimation drilling, initial environmental assessment and process plant logistics and construction design."

[moneymunch] 24/4/2017 17:18

George Frangeskides posted a squawk

09:43
21 Apr

Graphite miner part of consortium to build lithium-ion battery plant

Strong announcement today by ASX-listed Magnis Resources that it is part of a global consortium that has signed an MOU to build a 15GWh Lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in Australia:

Good to see a graphite miner at the forefront of developments in the fast-growing EV battery market. Graphite is a key component in lithium-ion batteries.
Townsville Announcement Final with BEI.pdf

[moneymunch] 24/4/2017 14:33

Lol...it definitely will not be left in the ground, Brockham's completion production approval imminent. Gla :-)

A little reminder of why Alba has multi-bag potential. Gla holders ;-)

Ernst and Young Report



The so-called Gatwick Gusher, a shale basin in the United Kingdom, could add as much as $74 billion to the nation's economy, a study finds.

U.K. Oil & Gas Investments commissioned Ernst & Young to examine the future potential of oil production from the Weald shale basin.

"Assuming it can be extracted from a development site at the volumes projected by U.K. Oil & Gas, has the potential to generate significant economic value to the U.K. economy," the report read.

Oil & Gas U.K., the industry's lobbying group, said the North Sea oil sector is in for a long period of decline, with less than $1.4 billion in new spending expected in 2016. Inland shale, meanwhile, has the potential to add between $10 billion and $74.6 billion to the British economy in gross value, the commissioned report said.

Operators are working to assess the potential in the shale area by testing the Horse Hill-1 oil discovery. Preliminary estimates made by the company last year put the entire Horse Hill reserve total as high as 100 billion barrels of oil. If its full potential is reached, the future production from the area could provide as much as a quarter of the nation's total oil demand over its lifespan, based on 2014 demand levels.

The field, locked in a geological formation called the Kimmeridge Limestone, is about three miles away from the Gatwick Airport, earning it the nickname the Gatwick Gusher.

Stephen Sanderson, the executive chairman of U.K. Oil & Gas, said developing the shale basin could make a significant contribution to the British economy. Oil is already flowing at nearly three times the expected peak rate.

"It is therefore possible that the overall economic impact of Kimmeridge Limestone oil could be significantly higher than this initial report describes," he said in a statement.

[pugugly] 24/4/2017 13:55

mikeygit:> Spot on - Diplomacy also not in my vocab - but your post above hits the nail on the head - If not enough oil or too NIMBY to move economically from the well head then possibly marked as UK strategic reserve to be left in ground !!!

[moneymunch] 24/4/2017 13:15

Tick Tock....Code 25??? Significant upside on OGA Approval for Brockham's completion/production....anytime now.:-)

[mikeygit] 21/4/2017 19:13

PUGUGLY---True, he can talk a talk whether its good or not?? Seen some of his presentations and diplomacy aint in his vocabulary!! What MM says above is true--POTENTIAL--we now want reality and whilst there maybe a shed load of oil we must have the news they can get loads out---flow tests very encouraging but we need long term proof. No big boys jumped in yet and I guess they too are waiting for THE RESULTS of how much can be got out and also waiting for all the planning and approvals before rubber stamping The Weald as the PROVEN world beater. Thing that slightly concerns me is that these little companies we are invested in have---as far as I know---not presented anyone with a business plan. Lorries will not be enough to get this lot out of the ground and we need an infrastructure of pipelines or oil tanker trains---costs a lot so where do these minnows get their money from to do this---maybe this will be when the BIG BOYS step in. Lots of water to go under the bridge yet before we get OIL!!

[moneymunch] 21/4/2017 13:41

So far DL's expectations of the Weald have been spot on, and the proof will be in the pudding.....Brockham's completion/production expected Spring/Summer and Horse Hill's extended flowtests expected to be underway late Summer. Gla holders...a potential transformational stellar year ahead on confirmation of free flowing high quality oil in volume from either/both sites. ;-)

[pugugly] 21/4/2017 13:18

mikeygit: May I suggest that too many investors have bought DL's enthusiasm in the past and subsequently got burnt so that his involvment could be a red flag to many ?

[moneymunch] 21/4/2017 06:55

OGA approval due!!!

Approval process

Licensees can apply for consent to drill and conduct other activities on a well and notify the OGA of these through the Well Operations and Notifications System. Applications to drill should be submitted at least 28 days in advance.



Introduction WONS (Well Operations Notifications System) is an Energy Portal application to allow the UK Oil & Gas Industry to apply for, notify and receive consent for a wide range of drilling and related activities as required under Production Licences.

The primary focus of WONS is the technical (geological and geophysical) basis for planned wells, collating and assigning consent for activities required under the model clauses of Production Licences (and various landward licences). WONS works by a system of online submissions: applications for planned activity (from the operator), consents for that activity (from OGA) and notifications of what actually took place (from the operator).

Applications may be supported by mandatory or optional supporting documents which can be attached to the relevant submission.

Further permits and notifications will be required (for example, environmental permits for offshore wells handled by DECC's Portal Environmental Tracking Software, and for onshore wells, HSE, relevant local authority and Environment Agency submissions).

However, consent under the Production licence issued by the OGA from WONS will normally be the final consent in place before drilling can commence.

[blueblood] 20/4/2017 14:25

Hopefully get final results next week was 25th April last year.

[mikeygit] 20/4/2017 11:28

Problem is--as DL said in his presentation---none of any BIG BOYS are invested here and is full of people trying to make a quick buck here and there, which does not make sense, they think they are big wheeler dealers when all they are doing is creating an share price stalemate!! As DL also said--MM--the quality of the oil is better than the North Sea---one day this will BOOM and hopefully we can make some real money not just 10 quid here and there!! Hope I am still alive to appreciate it!!! GLA

[nevgroom] 20/4/2017 09:50

4m sold at .26 and over this morning (of some 7m+ sold altogether.

Can now buy for .26 - Where's the business sense in that?