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WAK - WA Kaolin

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WA Kaolin is a mineral extraction and processing company and is the sole owner of the Wickepin Kaolin Project, located in the township of Wickepin, 220 km south-east of Perth, Western Australia.

The Project, which is one of the largest known remaining kaolin premium primary resources in the world, contains an Ore Reserve of 30.5 million tonnes, a Mineral Resource (reported in 2019) of 109.1 million tonnes and a Mineral Resource (reported in 2017) of 644.5 million tonnes of high-grade premium kaolinised granite.

WA Kaolin has invested approximately $42 million in acquiring the Project in 1999 from Rio Tinto, which included the tenements and all associated engineering and feasibility studies, and developing the foundations for commercialising the Project.

WA Kaolin has, as part of its work, undertaken trial mining and processing leading to it having developed a dry processing method (K99 Process) at its plant in Kwinana, which together with the high-grade Wickepin kaolin resource, produces an ultra-bright, high-quality kaolin product at a low cost, in comparison to other methods which rely on chemical bleaching and multiple wet mechanical and magnetic separation methods.

The Kwinana plant has a capacity of up to 5 tonnes per hour and is currently operating on a 16 hour per day, 5 day per week roster.

It is anticipated that WAK will list on the ASX during November 2020.

 
listed today. Comme d'hab, a flurry then quiescence, consolidating to a natural level ... above the 20c IPO price, so that is an endorsement for the faithful.

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" ...As part of its market expansion strategy, WA Kaolin said it will be targeting customers across paper and plasterboard, ceramics, fibreglass, pains and coatings, plastics, rubber, pharmaceuticals and medicine, cosmetics, concrete and agriculture sectors to potentially secure more offtake agreements.

The company is looking at entering the premium paper and packaging market by constructing additional wet processing facilities. Approvals for this product have already been secured with major producers in China, Japan and Korea. Further research and development as well as market testing of this products will be undertaken.

Meanwhile in the high-value, high purity alumina space, WA Kaolin noted it will continue monitoring the industry and make a move to enter the market “at the appropriate time”.

Another potential market that WA Kaolin is evaluating is in metakaolin production. The company plans to commercialise its technology for generating metakaolin at its Kwinana pilot plant.
Metakaolin is used in geopolymer cements that do not require the extremely high temperature that is critical in the Portland process. WA Kaolin estimates geopolymer cements could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 80%."
 
It is good to see a project get going this quick, as often there is a lot of talk and no action but maybe one to watch

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There has been so much potash hype that I'm surprised another industrial cousin - kaolin has remained reasonably hidden from the market view. At 17 cents this is very interesting. All the hard yards are done - exploration, permitting, funding. WAK is building and expanding as we speak. Now there is risk of cost blowouts and schedule blowouts in the construction stage but what I like is that WAK is very close to Perth (i.e no fifo). If there's a problem, no need to wait on a charter plane or 3 days for a road train. If it goes to plan WAK is trading on about 3.7x forward earnings (or 40% of project NPV) and positive cashflow would be year 2 - Not a bad risk reward. Expansion is a possibility and (if you believe them) is bolt-on. The kaolin deposit is very high grade and one of the better deposits around.

Also the board looks very good. (I know none of them) but there's a good mix, mining engineers, geologists, chemists, accountants. Actual skill diversity and they've sunk a lot of their own money in to the company.

I'm usually reasonably skeptical of mining projects, so to balance my optimism I'll point out that this has dropped below the IPO of 20 cents from only a few months ago. Not sure why - but that's not usually a good thing.
 
So far WAK has gone well. No hint of the project or mine being delayed, by all accounts everything is going to schedule. I'll note that there are a about 125 million options out there @ 25 cents, and a few more at 35 cents - so success will certainly cap the SP a little by adding dilution (but also funding) - which is fine by me. Not all shares need to be a potential 10-20 bagger. 2-3 is good enough!

They still have another 5-6 months of commissioning and then a little time after that to confirm production economics. It's rare to see a project not have problems. But I think this is what happens when you see people who bring a privately held project to the market - they tend to do it right. To me - this is a proper skin in the game company.
 
I'm usually reasonably skeptical of mining projects, so to balance my optimism I'll point out that this has dropped below the IPO of 20 cents from only a few months ago. Not sure why - but that's not usually a good thing.
A good barometer... WAK sits at the top of my HPA watchlist, and I've noted IPO then fall,,,, and now the rise. Without doing any buying, but hey, at least such easily tracked price action allows for investigation.. Thanks for yr posts @The Triangle
 
Hmm. Looks like a capital raising at 18 cents. Not entirely surprising as it was more or less flagged in the quarterly as they only had 2 mill left - but Its still disappointing to see for the 1000th time another IPO where the initial raising is not enough to get things going and another raising is needed below the IPO price. I would have preferred debt funding in this case - it increases risk but also shows confidence in the project economics. Certainly my confidence is lower today than it was a few months ago. Once I hit the 12 month hold I may just dump these shares. The SPP if offered will be small and of no interest to me.

This is and always will be the problem with WA. brokers are constantly pushing capital raisings. If you let them happen you're much more likely to get yourself more board seats. Its a vicious incestuous cycle and we see it play out every day, month, and year, with the same top 20s, the same brokers, the same directors, the same power players.

I'm sure this CR will be played as an 'advance to stage 2' raising.
 
Well after just over a year of holding I'm now out of WAK and more or less shifted(ing) the money to ORR since goldies started getting a hammering this month.

May consider reinvesting in the future - however they are clearly having issues and delays (as are everyone) and I think this is a very risky time to be holding a junior in construction. I'm not sure how they can continually say they are on budget and time when they have not followed the original project timelines published over a year ago. Below is from an announcement today and the screenshot below is from a March 2021 presentation... They were supposed to be finished and into steady state production months ago.
  • Installation of all Stage 1 processing plant at WA Kaolin’s Wickepin Kaolin Project in Western Australia is now complete and on budget. Dry commissioning is well underway. 
  • COVID 19 has hampered materials delivery and caused severe shortages of labour. 
  • The result is a short-term delay in our forecast of achieving full nameplate capacity.
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A good barometer... WAK sits at the top of my HPA watchlist, and I've noted IPO then fall,,,, and now the rise. Without doing any buying,

Since listing in late 2020, WAK has been in a narrow range. I have taken the view that Kaolin/ HPA is widespread, especially in WA, and too commonly found for any player to claim a 'unique market advantage', hence I will not take any position amongst the hopefuls. Am not sure the recent incremental lift, on no news other than shuffling at board level, means anything:

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Its now 2023. WAK should be well into the making money stage. It does not appear that they are - which reasonably explains why the share price is 14 cents. I'm surprised it's not lower.

This came out yesterday in an operations update, and for the life of me I can't see what the point of this announcement is. Ramp up, that's all they seem to talk about and who cares about a customer site visit??? How much money did you spend, how much revenue did you bring in and what are you forecasting for the future. That's what you need to tell the market.
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The capital raising at 15 cents in December was a dud and was not fully subscribed, and the fact that two thirds of the $ raised was for working capital rather than capital spending is a worry.

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It's now 2024 ... grinding down at 7.8c
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Sold a million bucks of product. ... lost 5 mill ... cash on hand 3 mill

a few directors out, and new ones in

sold and leased back Rockingham property

Operations
The Company is sole owner of a mining lease, a general-purpose lease, a miscellaneous licence and retention licences which comprise the Wickepin Kaolin Project. The Project, which is one of the largest known remaining kaolin resources in the world, contains an Ore Reserve of 30.5 million tonnes which is included in the Mineral Resource (reported in accordance with JORC 2012) of 644.5 million tonnes of high-grade premium kaolinised granite.

The Company conducts mining operations at its mining tenement in East Wickepin, WA and has developed a production plant to produce refined kaolin adjacent to its mining operations. The Company also has a research and development centre located at a Company-leased facility in East Rockingham, WA. At the R&D centre, the company is seeking to produce specialty products from its kaolin ore.

In August 2023, the Company established a wholly owned subsidiary in Malaysia, WA Kaolin (Asia) Sdn. Bhd., staffed by one sales and marketing person in Kuala Lumpur. The office was established in order to provide greater support and visibility to its customers throughout Asia.

During the half-year, the Company continued to stabilise its Stage 1 operations at its Wickepin plant, with kaolin products being sold to its customers in Australia and overseas. The Company has also committed to acquiring new U.S. sourced classifying equipment for its plant in order to reach nameplate capacity of its finer grades in order to boost market share.

Through stronger management in sales and marketing, the Company is seeking to expand and solidify customer relationships and at the same time focus on production and cost controls, as it seeks to achieve positive operating cashflow by the end of the 2024 calendar year.

The Company is primarily focused on establishing itself as the preferred supplier of high-grade premium kaolin products globally through:
- continued production ramp-up of its processing plant in East Wickepin, utilising the K99 Process;
- investment in new classifying equipment to refine the production process and increase the output of finer kaolin;
- progressive increase in production to circa 200,000 tonnes per annum through the plant;
- expansion of production capacity at the Wickepin plant to 400,000 tonnes per annum through the installation of a second stage of production equipment;
- negotiation of sales agreements for product on suitable commercial terms with acceptable counterparties; and
- investigating further processing expansion including the construction of an additional wet processing plant to produce product suitable for use in premium paper and packaging markets.
 
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It's now 2024 ... grinding down at 7.8c
it's now 2025

WA KAOLIN UPDATE

Overview

- The classifier project, commissioned by WA Kaolin Ltd at the end of November, has proven more successful than previously indicated. The three objecties of the project have been achieved, being
1) finer products,
2) higher production rates, and
3) improved yield.
In commissioning, both classifiers achieved 15 tonnes per hour each of standard K99 products, i.e., total output of 30 tonnes per hour, which is 20% above nameplate. We would expect further increases as production is fine tuned.
- Once continuously operating at these levels the intention is to increase the feed and drying system capacities to optmise the first train.
- Another exciting project outcome is that the Company, from all indications to date, will no longer need to implement a wet process to participate in the paper, paint and other markets that require super fine particle size. Further test market results are required to validate this outcome.
- Two new technical/engineered clay products with provisional specifications, have been launched to the Ceramics industry: - EC-SAN for sanitary ceramics and EC-PLA for high end ceramics where plasticity is a key performance criterion, e.g., high-end tableware.
- The Company has commenced active pursuit of the above-mentioned finer product markets and distribution agreements have been signed for the purpose.
- The team on site has now accumulated considerable experience and has overseen and implemented these production and efficiency improvements and have idenified a number of low-cost incremental improvements that can enhance the production profile and reduce energy costs.
- With sales orders growing, production capability in place, the path to profitability is more certain.

... announced 23/01, so discovery is slow
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.
NH
 
$0.070 .... but likely to drop....

trading halt in its securities pending an announcement regarding the institutional component of an accelerated entitlement offer
 
$0.070 .... but likely to drop....
.... to , say, 4c?
.. one (1) new fully paid ordinary shares ..for every three (3) existing shares .. at an issue price of A$0.04 per New Share..

ACCELERATED NON-RENOUNCEABLE ENTITLEMENT OFFER TO RAISE A$7.0 MILLION​
- WA Kaolin Limited to undertake a fully underwritten Accelerated Non-Renounceable Entitlement Offer to raise up to a total of A$7.0 million.
- Proceeds of the ANREO used to provide general working capital for WA Kaolin to pursue its sales ramp up and look to achieve cash flow positivity.
- The Offer is strongly supported by the Company’s key shareholder group who have committed A$2.6m in accelerated rights and A$2.2m of sub-underwriting of the retail entitlement offer.
- WAK’s classifier project, as announced to the ASX on 22 January 2025, has proven more successful than previously indicated, with all three objectives on the project being achieved
1) finer grades,
2) higher production rates and
3) improved yield.
- Having demonstrated volume and specification, the Offer places the Company in a position to ramp up sales from production at the Wickepin Project.
- Operations at the Wickepin Project have been streamlined with staff numbers calibrated to a production profile capable of delivering circa 50% of nameplate capacity and designed to generate positive EBITDA.
 
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$0.043

WA KAOLIN UPDATE
Overview
- June Sales of 4,677 tonnes (record) for $1.01m of revenue (record).
- Forward orders as of the 1st July of 12,911 tonnes representing revenue of A$2.39m of which c. 5,562 tonnes are expected to be delivered in July.
- Operations being increased to 24 hours x 6 days per week utilising one classifier at a time to meet growing sales and to build inventory.
- Current planning is for both classifiers to be operating in the 4th Qtr 2025.
 


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