MNB signs civil construction contracts - completion date “12 May 2025”

“Concrete foundations now underway”

It's officially happening for Minbos Resources (ASX: MNB).

This morning, MNB signed civil construction contracts for its Phosphate Fertilizer Plant in Angola.

Mobilisation to MNB’s project “is underway with siteworks commencing this month”.

AND the contract has a “Completion Date” of “12 May 2025”.

That means by May of next year, MNB’s phosphate fertiliser plant will be in place on site and ready for commissioning.

It's good to see MNB moving fast only a few days after the initial US$6.4M cash was received from the Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund as part of its US$10M Investment into MNB’s project.

Now we get to see MNB benefit from all of the work that has already been done getting its project to where it is.

MNB already had its plant shipped to Angola last year which means there are no long lead times and probably why the contract completion date is less than six months.

We went and saw it in person back in February last year.

We also saw key plant parts arriving at port:

As mentioned in today’s announcement, all of this equipment is in storage and only needs to be transported to site.

So MNB is a lot closer to being production ready than any other company that would be starting civil construction works…

MNB to move up in the Lassonde Curve and quickly?

With construction now underway, we are hoping MNB can move from development purgatory (waiting for financing) to an operating mine as quickly as possible.

The quicker the company can get into production the quicker it can be valued as a producer.

We mentioned it in our most recent note - moving from development into production is where mining projects are typically re-rated for a second time (as per the Lassonde Curve).

We think MNB’s project is moving into the phase where the Lassonde Curve signals a second run in a company’s valuation.

Here’s MNB’s share price chart as it stands right now:

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

What’s next for MNB?

🔄 Construction and assembly of MNB’s Phosphate Fertiliser Plant

First of all, we want to see MNB complete construction works and get its plant operation ready.

We should see a fair bit of newsflow on this front between now and May next year.

🔄 Lock in remaining financing to get the project into production

At the same time, we want to see MNB lock in the remaining funding deals that are being worked on right now.

MNB has two key financing deals that are being progressed in parallel:

1. A US$10M term loan with Angolan bank Banco BAI 🔄 - MNB confirmed in a recent announcement that it was getting close on a deal for this term loan…
2. A US$14M loan with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Ltd (“IDC”) 🔄 - This loan is conditional on the US$10M term loan being locked in AND MNB locking in an offtake agreement for its phosphate.

We wrote in detail about the latest for both of these funding deals in our latest note here: MNB has two more key financing deals being worked on