Marenica Energy (MEY)

Here is a summary for Marenica Energy an Australian uranium explorer (formerly known as West Australian Metals):

As this company had a complete change of managment in the spring of 2009 i will start from that time ignoring earlier developments,as they have little significance for Marenica today.

In the spring of 2009 Marenica was nearly broke,which was prevented by Batavia Mining who bought 30 Mio shares for 0,07 AUD each-giving Marenica 2.1 Mio AUD CASH.

 On the 5th of June MEY raised another 9.9 Mio AUD through a placement which was signed by POLO Resources (49.56 Mio shares at 0,12 AUD) and associates (who signed the remaining 33.04 Mio shares at 0.12 AUD)

After this capital raising Marenica Energy announced a drilling program for their Marenica project which they conducted in the summer and fall of 2009. This led to a resource upgrade after they evaluated 39 % of the drillings: They now have 38.6 Mlbs uranium at an average grade of ~ 150-160 ppm. (from 34 Mlbs at 140 ppm)

The final grade is not quite clear as they make a difference between indicated resources (170 ppm) and inferred resources (140 ppm ) The final resource upgrade is expected in January 2010 and should lift the overall resource somewhere in the ~ 45-50 Mlbs category (more would be a pleasant surprise) It is also expected that Marenica will be able to increase the average grades to ~ 180 ppm. (Especially the last drilling results with average grades of 196 ppm could prove to have a positive impact on the final resource upgrade)

MEY also had some drillings done at the Phillipus Dome,which were dissapointing and some more at Springbok which are still pending,but are expected to be released very shortly. According to management these results are expected to be more promising than the Phillipus results.

The third Dome hasnt seen some drilling yet,but was overflown in September to target promising drilling zones. It is expected that MEY will start drilling here in March or April of 2010.

On the corporate side MEY was able to get its license extended in the fall.

The most significant development for MEY is the entry of AREVA on th 23rd of december,who swapped their Berkeley shares for nearly all of Polos Marenica shares. Polo kept its options though,which are exercisable at 0.25 AUD (expiry date in the summer of 2010) along with 2 Mio shares.

So AREVA now has a 10.5 % stake in Marenica ( 47.56 Mio shares) for which AREVA paid a 75 % premium to Polo at the time of the deal (= 0.184 AUD/share)

Marenicas ore is of the same nature as AREVAs ore at Trekkopje,so it would make sense for AREVA to acquire Marenica, as the French already built a processing plant for 1.4 Bio USD as well as a desalination plant at Trekkopje. According to management both facilities will not be running at full capacity from Trekkoppjes ore alone.

Marenica furthermore announced that they are looking into other interesting projects,which they might like to acquire but so far nothing definitive has been announced.

So I am looking forward to the Springbok results and the final resource upgrade for the paleochannels,which might have a very positive impact on the shareprice. As AREVA is not known to be an investment company,there is of course speculation about a future takeover.

The shareprice has performed poorly from the 2009 height (after the entry of Polo in the summer) = 0,245 AUD,but made a nice jump after AREVA announced its entry. Volume has increased considerably since then,but there is still some selling pressure.

Marenica is currently valued well below 2 USD/lbs so IMO this could be a bargain.

It is speculated that Batavia Mining (ASX:BTV) might be the seller,as they are on the brink of buying into a new iron ore project,where they would need huge amounts of money:  a total of 16.5 Mio AUD over the next 6-7 months which is massive for a company with a market cap of only 17.5 Mio AUD. But up to date no formal announcement has been made concerning this issue,so it will be very interesting to see their next financial statement which is due in a couple of days.

So happy investing for everybody and dont forget to DYOR

Wantedman

Disclosure: I own Marenica shares

Very interesting is the view of analyst Gavin Wendt,which was partly published in the well known Australian:

http://www.superliving.com.au/StoryView.asp?storyID=1040684&sectionsource=%2D+Cover+Story

Resource juniors to watch in 2010

Marenica Energy (MEY) If the world is in any way serious about viable energy alternatives then uranium has to be on the agenda. Remember it wasnt that long ago the price of uranium had surged well above $US130 per pound in direct correlation with the rising oil price, which almost hit $150/bbl. Given the extraordinary success of emerging Namibian uranium company Extract Resources and the abundance of corporate activity in the Namibian uranium space over recent years, investors can be forgiven for wanting to identify the next Extract.

One company I believe has the potential is Marenica Energy. The company has achieved two milestones: an extension of its exploration licence and an upgrade in its resource base. Marenica is a quiet achiever that has a nice ground position and could well generate strong price appreciation for investors over the next couple of years as exploration activity increases.

Update on Marenica,

unfortunately no drilling results:

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100114/pdf/31n58swyvqmtz8.pdf

16 new drilling targets identified.

But Marenica makes a clear statement,that AREVA is very !,very ! close by !  ;-)

Hello everybody, Just a few thoughts on my side concerning the update: (it was bit late yesterday ;-) )

Managment makes it very clear,that AREVA is close by,which gives a broad hint IMO.

  A couple of new prospective drilling targets has been discovered and i especially find MS7 and MS8 very apealing in the region of the original resource.

Now coming to the Southern Dome,we can see further indication that it could have been the source for AREVAs Trekkopje. Just have a look at MS 3,4 and 5.All potentially secondary uranium which had to be flushed out somewhere.

And in case you didnt notice,there is a big mining conference taking place in SA from February 1-4th:

http://www.miningindaba.com/Pages/SponsorsExhibitors.aspx

Many companies from the business will participate,among them AREVA and Marenica.

As can be seen in Marenicas update,they intend to finish the final resource upgrade until end of January/beginning of February. So i guess they want to have these results before the conference.

So i am very pleased with the progress. 2010 could prove to be a real nice year for Marenica.

Regards Wantedman

Hi wantedman,

For the header, AfNat has 20.7m MEY shares, according to their recent admission document.

Cheers,

Mark

Cheers Mark,

I was trying to find this out for quite a while.

I get the impression that Insties are starting to get in.

Massively increased volume in Germany and Australia since AREVAs entry.

And guess what,i met Uncle Barry again in another australian forum,where he now started ramping MEY ;-)

http://www.topstocks.com.au/stock_discussion_forum.php?action=searchgo&rol=&searchfor=mey&searchtype=favourite_forum

Great work, wanted...
lets hope, that AREVA buys more shares of MEY.
Maybe they are allready in discussions with BTV or AfNat.
It seems there is a longtime-hurdle at 18 AUDcent and 25 AUDcent.
Would be nice, if the Springbok-Results break the 18c hurdle and the upgrade the 25c hurdle.
I am very curious about the further strategy of the management.
This weekend they had an discussion about that.
I think AREVA is a little bit under pressure, because the 16 new mineralisation-zones.
The management did a really fantastic job the last 9 months.
If you calculate a little bit, you have following numbers:
Marenica has 38.6 mlbs right now.
I am calculating with 6.5 CAD per lbs.
Fully dilutet we have 521mln shares.
The options-changing gives 16,3 mln AUD.
The 5%-Stake for BEE, Millenium ltd maybe 5mln AUD (?).
So we have 75% of Marenica.
Total: 223,9Mln AUD.
So we have 0,43 AUD per share at now if AREVA want to have total Marenica!
Calculate yourself, if Springbok will be a hit and the resource-Upgrade (minimum 46 mlbs) is included... :-)

I hope you understand my english,
Mark

The press wakes up:

Marenica sees resource update for Namibia uranium project out soon - 18.01.2010

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/marenica-expects-to-publish-namibia-resource-update-soon-2010-01-14

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed uranium explorer Marenica Energy on Thursday reported that its resource update for the Marenica uranium project, in Namibia, was likely to be completed by the end of January or early February.

Marenica Energy owns an 80% stake in the Namibian project.

In December, the company reported a series of positive results from the Marenica project, including an interim resource estimate upgrade of 122-million tons grading 140 parts per million (ppm) uranium oxide (U3O8), comprising an indicated resource of 16-million tons grading 170 ppm U3O8 and an inferred resource of 106-million tons grading 140 ppm U3O8.

Sixteen new priority exploration targets had been identified following the receipt of new airborne radiometric and magnetic data for the project. Preliminary interpretation of the data has been completed within an area of 340 km2.

Marenica’s exploration team in Namibia would begin ground checking and sampling of the anomalies in early 2010.

The uranium explorer said in a statement that the anomalies have been categorised as primary granite-hosted targets and secondary uranium palaeo-channel-hosted targets, similar to the Marenica deposit.

Primary granite-hosted targets analogous to the previously identified Phillipus and Springbok prospects have been identified within and adjacent to the Main Dome and Southern Dome areas.

A number of secondary (supergene) targets have also been identified in areas adjacent to the Marenica resource, as well as previously untested downstream parts of the Marenica Palaeo-channel and adjacent to the prospective Southern Dome region.

Last month, the French-based multinational industrial and nuclear energy giant, Areva, agreed to acquire a 10,57% interest in Marenica from Polo Resources.

Areva, which is the world leader in the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining, conversion and enrichment through to spent fuel reprocessing and recycling, has a majority interest in the Trekkopje uranium mine, which is located less than 30 km from the Marenica project.

Friday, January 22, 2010
Westhouse says Polo Resources decision to sell 10.5% stake in Marenica Energy to Areva is good news for Marenicas ambitions in Namibia
company news image

Westhouse Securities elaborated on Marenica Energy's (ASX: MEY) (Marencia) announcement to the market (on 21 December) that Polo Resources (AIM: PRL)(Polo) had sold its 47.56 million shares or 10.57% stake in Marenica to French nuclear group, Areva.


The 47.56m Marenica shares are the remainder of 49.56m shares that Polo purchased in June 2009 at A$0.12 as part of Marenica raising A$9.9m. Polo retained the 24.78m options in Marenica it received as part of the fundraising. These are exercisable at A$0.25 each by 30 June 2011. Westhouse said this is good news for Marenica as Areva is the only real partner for the Marenica uranium project in Namibia which is adjacent to Arevas Trejkoppe project.


Polo previously held 10.3m Berkeley Resources shares (ASX: BKY; AIM: BKY) and 5.67m options at A$0.75 but sold these over the summer in order to participate in the raising by Extract Resources. However, in discussions the company has always remained positive about the outlook for Berkeley.


As part of the deal, Areva will exercise its 10.6m options in Berkeley Resources and sell these shares plus its existing 3.5m shares to Polo. The difference in value, equivalent to ~6.4m Berkeley shares, will be met by Polo paying Areva A$7.42m - the average trading price over the ninety days prior to the 30 November 2009.


Over the summer, in order to participate in a fundraising in its largest investment Extract Resources (ASX: EXT), Polo closed several positions. These included selling its entire holding in Berkeley Resources and significantly reducing its holdings in A-Cap Resources (ASX: ACB), Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT), Marenica Energy (ASX: MEY) and Uranex (ASX: UNX).


As a consequence of the deal Berkeley announced on 12 January 2010 that Arevas rights for off-take or marketing of the uranium production from Berkeley's projects had been terminated.


On 2 December Berkeley released the results of its scoping study for the Salamanca uranium project in Spain and hopes to have the feasibility study completed by November 2010.


As well as selling its entire holding in Berkeley over the summer, Polo also significantly reduced its holdings in A-Cap Resources, Impact Minerals, Marenica Energy and Uranex.


Polo sold down its stakes in A-Cap Resources and Impact Resources to China Growth Minerals Limited (CGM), a Hong Kong based investment company. CGM purchased 13 million A-Cap Resources shares and 5.92m shares in Impact Resources from Polo. CGM also has an option to purchase the remaining shares in A-Cap and Impact Polo hold at the 15-day Volume-Weighted Average Price (VWAP). The option expires on 23 March 2010.

For immediate release
25 January 2010
AfNat Resources Limited
(“AfNat” or the “Company”)
Disposal of Shareholding in Marenica Energy Limited.

AfNat, the mining company focused on developing a diversified portfolio of interests in exploration and advanced stage mining assets, announces that following a review of the Company’s quoted investments, the Company has disposed of its entire shareholding in Marenica Energy Limited (ASX: MEY). AfNat retains an interest in 10,325,000 options over ordinary shares in MEY exercisable at A$0.25 per share by 30 June 2011. The net proceeds from the share disposal will be used to increase the Company’s cash balance.

Enquiries:
AfNat Resources Limited
David Weill, Chairman
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7881 0180
Nominated Adviser, Seymour Pierce Limited
Nicola Marrin/Catherine Leftley
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7107 8000

now we know, why we had so much pressure on WME/MEY.
I am wondering, why this was not worth an ann before, from AfNat (Amber Petroleum before).

But this is very good news.
Now we have the chance, that good results will raise the sp without any pressure. A free highway for the sp.
But thanks to AfNat, that we could pump our depot with many cheap MEY-shares...

I think there are some busy people under a hard pressure, because the Extract-Story, so they are selling everything they have, to pump the money up for difficcult situations in the Extract-War.