Always assess your position in oil & gas and gold investments. A fresh look at four small cap companies.
Natural resources are currently enjoying a revival in the eyes of investors, particularly in these times of high market volatility.
While gold and precious metals have long been seen as safe haven assets for a diversified investment portfolio during uncertain times, today’s technology development is shaping the mining industry in new ways, creating increased demand for base metals as well as enabling lower impact and more eco-friendly mining practices.
On October 16th, Cassiopeia hosted the latest edition of its Investor Symposium at a new venue, the central London private members’ club Home Grown, a favourite hub for entrepreneurs of the investment community.
Angelos Damaskos, CEO of Sector Investment Managers, opened the evening by, outlining why he believes the bullion market is entering a bull run. Sharing invaluable insights on gold and precious metals
For Angelos, there are three main factors heating up the precious metals sector: geopolitics and political tensions; the macroeconomic forces showing slowdown in global economic growth, particularly in China; and central banks’ policy changes of interest rate cuts. These are beneficial factors for investments in gold and silver, which are unlikely to change in the near future given the current global climate.
Angelos also recommends that investors look at small-cap mining companies: “the growth engines of the industry with prospective assets” as they hold assets that could yield great future value. He also added that any diversified investment portfolio should have a strong allocation of precious metals.
According to Bloomberg, bullion — precious metals in the forms of bars, ingots or coins — has risen 16%, driven by the boosting demand for safe haven assets. James Steel, Chief Precious Metals Analyst at HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. expects a year-end price of $1,555/oz, end-2020 at $1,605.
In the metals space, our symposium welcomed the presentation by IMC Exploration Group (LSE:IMC), a junior mining explorer recently listed on the London Stock Exchange. IMC focuses on the exploration of gold and base metals in high-impact prospecting licences in Ireland. As well as developing the work at its licences in the North Wexford Gold Project PL where IMC had previously encountered gold grades yielding 354g/t Au respectively in their licence area PL 2551, the company has recently been awarded an MRE for the spoils and tailings project in Avoca, Co. Wicklow with a gold estimate alone coming in at almost 20,000 ozs. The Board believes that the scale of the opportunity at Avoca is transformational for IMC and its shareholders, a sentiment also validated by the company’s recent partnership with the world renowned, Trinity College Dublin, whose Raw Materials Research Group has chosen IMC’s Avoca projects for studies and analysis.
Also in mining, we heard from St Georges Eco-Mining (CSE:SX), a Canadian-listed company focused on base metals and eco-mining. St Georges’ strategy is to leverage on its new lithium technologies to make mining more sustainable, involving less waste and fewer chemicals. In addition, the company has completed a transaction for its Canada-based gold project Kings of The North with the London-listed entity BWA Group and is itself looking to enter the London space soon.
Aside from metals, the Cassiopeia symposium hosted two handpicked oil & gas companies, as the energy sector remains highly active, particularly among independent companies which can deliver potential huge gains to those prepared to research their investments.
The respected Oil & gas ‘Guru’ and advisor, Zac Phillips, presented on behalf of Union Jack Oil (AIM:UJO), one of the most promising Oil & Gas exploration companies currently among small and mid-cap companies. Over the last year, Union Jack has performed to such an extent that it’s on the cusp of delivering a Major UK Onshore O&G discovery at West Newton ̶described by stock picker Michael Walters as a billion dollar well. UJO are also targeting yet another hugely potential significant Oil Play at their Biscathorpe prospect and are confident on their planning permission application to start production at their Wressle interest with initial oil production of 500 bbls/d (gross). The Planning Inspectorate Inquiry commences 5 November 2019.
“A year ago, we had a market cap of £5m and now UJO has a market cap of £25m — this shows the significant progress and excellent projects that UJO has,” said Executive Chairman David Bramhill.
Last but not least, junior oil producer Zenith Energy (LON:ZEN) updated investors on their portfolio of assets in Azerbaijan and Italy vis-à-vis their recent progress. Zenith successfully listed on the London stock exchange early last year and hit the ground running with oil producing assets in Azerbaijan. Since then, it has progressed its operations significantly, increasing the bopd aiming to achieve their management target of 1,000 bopd. Zenith is the only listed junior company to own a drilling rig, which assures continuity for work and wells.
The Symposium was attended by over 60 private investors who had the opportunity to ask the management teams direct questions during the presentations, as well as during the post-presentation networking session.
Stefania Barbaglio, founder and director of Cassiopeia Services said: “It has been a productive evening. We’re committed to improving communications and dialogue between companies and shareholders as a key element of their decision making. It’s all about having the right information. The trading world is rife with speculation and misleading information, so a key step in successful investing is to make informed decisions about the companies and projects you want to engage with.
I can never stress enough how important it is for investors to actively engage with the companies they invest in. This is what our symposia are about: Creating opportunities for investors/shareholders to research, network and establish connections with the management teams running the companies they invest in”
Cassiopeia Symposia are quarterly investor evenings designed for shareholders and investment professionals to talk directly to companies’ management teams and hear first-hand about developments and updates. Register your interest for the next edition of the symposium here:
Spaces are limited.
The companies’ presentations and interview will be released soon.
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