THOR MINING (LON:THR)
SECTOR – MINING
RATING – CORP*
MARKET CAP – £14.7m
CURRENT PRICE – 2.25p#
ANALYST – DR RYAN D. LONG
Year-end June
2016A
2017A
Revenue (£m)
-
-
No forecasts provided
EBITDA (£m)
(1.7)
(1.3)
Adj. pre-tax Profit (£m)
(1.7)
(1.3)
Adj. EPS (p)
(1.0)
(0.4)
DPS (p)
-
-
Net Cash/(Debt) (£m)
(0.4)
(0.1)
P/E (x)
n.a.
n.a.
Dividend yield (%)
-
-
EV/EBITDA (x)
n.a.
n.a.
SOURCE: Northland Capital Partners Limited estimates. #Priced at prior trading day close. *Northland Capital Partners Limited acts as Joint Broker and provides commissioned research coverage to Thor Mining and therefore this information should be viewed as a Marketing Communication.
Molyhil DFS: 26% increase in NPV5 & 34% increase in IRR
NORTHLAND VIEW
Thor Mining has completed the updated Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for its 100%-owned Molyhil Open Pit Tungsten Project, located in Australia. The results include:
- A 26% increase in the post-tax Net Present Value using a 5% discount (NPV5) to A$101m, when compared to A$80m in the previous DFS, announced 12/01/15.
- A 34% increase in post-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of c. 59%, compared to 44% in the previous DFS.
- A 19% increase in project EBITDA to A$239m, compared to A$201m in the previous DFS.
- Project payback period of less than 18 months after payment of royalties and taxation.
- A 20% reduction in C1 opex, including Molybdenum (Mo) credits, to US$90/mtu from US$112/mtu in the previous DFS.
- An 8.5% reduction in project finance requirement to US$43m, from US$47m in the previous DFS. Total capex is A$69m.
- Mine life increase by one year, to seven years, with substantial upside potential from subsequent underground mining at Molyhil and from the nearby Bonya Tungsten Project.
- Target average annual production is reduced by 4% to 125,000mtu, from 130,000mtu in the previous DFS. Production is targeted to commence in early-2020, subject to financing.
Chart 1: Molyhil’s opex, net of Mo credits, compared to tungsten peer group
{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}
Source: Northland Capital Partners
Chart 2: Molyhil’s capex intensity compared to tungsten peer group
{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}
Source: Northland Capital Partners
The completion of the upgraded DFS for the Molyhil tungsten project is a major milestone for Thor Mining. The results show a clear improvement in the metrics of the Project across the board when compared to the previous DFS completed in 2015. Molyhil is now expected to have one of the lowest opex per mtu of tungsten of US$90/mtu, which compares to its peer group average of US$157/mtu (Chart 1) and a capital intensity (capex per tonne of product) of US$408/mtu, well below the average of US$511/mtu for its peer group (Chart 2).
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Thor Mining owns 100% of the Molyhil and Pilot Mountain Tungsten Projects, located in Australia and the USA, respectively. The Company is also earning up to a 60% interest in the Kapunda Copper Project and has a material interest in USA Lithium, a private business.
POLAREAN IMAGING (LON:POLX)
SECTOR – HEALTHCARE
RATING CORP*
MARKET CAP – £11.8m
CURRENT PRICE – 15.0p#
ANALYST – BARRY GIBB
Year-end Dec
2017A
Revenue ($m)
1.24
EBITDA ($m)
(3.55)
Adj. pre-tax Profit ($m)
(3.96)
Net Cash/(Debt) ($m)
(0.14)
No forecasts provided
SOURCE: Northland Capital Partners Limited estimates.*Northland Capital Partners Limited provides acts as Nomad and Broker to Polarean Imaging Ltd. and therefore this information should be viewed as a Marketing Communication.
First patient enrolled in Phase III FDA clinical trial – the official start
NORTHLAND VIEW
- Polarean announced that the first patient has been enrolled in its Phase III clinical trials testing the Company’s drug-device platform which generates polarised 129-Xenon (129Xe) gas to provide a non-invasive, radiation-free method to visualise lung structure and function using MRI.
- The trial is a non-inferiority study testing 129Xe MRI, against 133-Xenon scintigraphy, a conventional imaging technique. A non-inferiority trial tests whether the novel technique is not clinically worse than an established control. The trials are taking place in the US at Duke University and the University of Virginia.
- The trials will evaluate two patient populations over c. 12 months - candidate patients for lung-lobe resection, and lung transplant procedures - 80 patients in total. In these populations, lung-function information will be obtained and non-inferiority against 133Xe scintigraphy will be compared.
- The trials follow on from the completion of a Pilot Study in which 10 patients with COPD were assessed using both Polarean's technology and scintigraphy. In this study the design and analysis methods of the Phase III trial were successfully demonstrated which should reduce study-design risk, in our view.
The initiation of the Phase III trials is a significant achievement for the Company since its IPO in March 2018. Given that 133Xe scintigraphy is a 40 year-old technology which uses radioactive pharmaceutical contrast agents and produces low resolution 2-dimensional images, Northland expects Polarean to meet the trial endpoints. It is important to note that the trial focuses on the pre-operative assessment of patients. Therefore patients do not need to undergo surgery to be recruited for the trial. Alongside the small sample size, this further reduces the risk of recruitment issues, which can become a potential bottleneck for any clinical trial.
Given a US market for pulmonary disease estimated at US$150bn, Polarean’s opportunity to satisfy a significant unmet need for non-invasive, quantitative, and cost-effective image-based diagnosis technology and lung disease monitoring is clearly significant. This should be borne out as the clinical trials progress toward anticipated completion in Q319, ahead of prospective commercial launch in 2020E.
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Polarean Imaging is a healthcare technology company with a proprietary drug-device combination in late-stage clinical trials.