JUNIOR helium miner Renergen, which has seen its share price rocket 192 percent over a year, plans to go into commercial production in April 2022, chief executive Stefano Marani said yesterday.
The share price traded at R37.59 per share yesterday morning on the JSE, well up from R12.75 a year ago. The company said after a sharp upward revision of its helium reserves late last year, that it was potentially one of the biggest helium producers, with the richest concentrates of the gas.
Helium is a rare element used for space exploration, rocketry, high level scientific applications, in the medical industry for MRI machines, fibre optics, electronics, telecommunications, superconductivity, underwater breathing, welding, nuclear power stations and lifting balloons.
Marani said in response to Business Report questions yesterday that some of the challenges in late December that had delayed the targeted commercial production date by a month, had largely been dealt with.
Equipment that had been affected by shipping delays was now “on land”, he said. In a quarterly report to December 31, 2021, 18 cases of Covid-19 on site, adverse weather, shipping delays and construction delays were among the factors listed for the delay in going into commercial production.
Meanwhile, he said yesterday Renergen anticipated the listing of its tokens on the BitGet cryptocurrency exchange in the next few weeks, which he said was “an exciting development as the tokens become tradeable.”
Renergen has entered into a prepaid formal supply agreement with Argonon Helium in the US, which would give Argonon the right to purchase up to 100 000 mcf (mcf=one thousand cubic feet) of helium from Renergen’s Phase 2 plant at a predetermined price, ranging from $230-$270 per mcf.
Argonon had also been issuing tokens on a subscription basis using Ethereum, to provide the blockchain infrastructure for the tokens. The tokens allow a holder to purchase helium from Renergen.
Marani said yesterday that Argonon had also taken steps to list the token on a second exchange, PancakeSwap, “so the liquidity should hopefully be quite good when the tokens launch.”
“Ärgonon has had quite a number of subscriptions, and the tokens are listing in the next few weeks so this aspect should be quite an exciting development as the tokens become tradeable,” he said.
Recently, in an interview with Australia-based Kalkine TV, Marani said the tokens were a way to democratise the trade and price of helium, which had historically been a tightly held trade.
He said Renergen’s issue of its own crypto-currency was a milestone for the company, and would likely become a more common and efficient way for junior mining companies to raise capital in future rather than through traditional fund raising means such as on a stock exchange.
He said Renergen would typically get a price of around $250 per mcf for its helium, while hospitals typically pay between $1000 - $1300 per mcf.
He said buyers of the tokens would effectively enable the holders to trade between these two price parameters.
He said Renergen had “enormous supplies” of helium and its reserves were expected to have a major impact on the current global constraints of the gas.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE