Mississauga, Ontario Jun 10, 2019 (Issuewire.com) - DNI METALS INC. (CSE:DNI)(DMNKF:OTC)
DNI Metals – Update
Toronto, Ontario - (June 10, 2019) DNI Metals Inc. (DNI: CSE; DNMKF: OTC) ("DNI" or the "Company")
China Now Open to Global Graphite
An excerpt from Mirage News, by David Sorrell of Jane Morgan Management:
“Natural graphite concentrate supply is moving west away from China towards East Africa. According to UK energy research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie, demand from battery makers will force the supply chain west as China’s natural graphite concentrate supply chain falls from 68% of the market share in 2017 to 31% of the market in 2040.
Recent tariff changes have already begun to show in China’s import statistics. In 2018, as a result of growing African graphite supply, China became a major flake graphite importer for the first time in a generation, with flake volumes over 60,000 tonnes for the year over a period which also saw a 12% decline in Chinese exports. This trend has continued into 2019, with import data showing that in February 2019, China imported approximately 13,500 tonnes of flake graphite.
The Chinese Government is encouraging trade with Africa by means of zero tariffs on imported goods and Chinese suppliers have already begun to acknowledge that new graphite supply from Mozambique and Madagascar are beginning to compete within the Chinese market, by providing low-cost feedstock, which is often of a higher quality. In 2018, Madagascar was the second largest offshore supplier of natural graphite to China after Mozambique.
The rising Chinese supply constraints coupled with the rising interest in the graphite market more broadly, and for use in the battery sector specifically, have resulted in China now being open to global graphite. According to Energy Storage Journal (Feb 21, 2019), “Production costs have been rising and supply falling in China since 2016 amid plant closures, mainly in the Shandong and Heilongjiang provinces, the centres for the country’s flake graphite and spherical graphite processing industry and mine.”
As this story continues to unfold over the course of the year, it is expected that number of smaller Chinese operations will be displaced by African suppliers and China will become a net importer of flake graphite for the first time.”
Dan Weir, CEO of DNI Metals, commented, “There are producing graphite mines 20kms north and 50kms south of DNI’s Vohitsara and Marofody graphite deposits, in Madagascar. A Chinese group operates the mine 20kms north of DNI’s projects which we understand ships directly to China. DNI has identified India, Korea, and the USA as its main markets and now China as well.
What Trade War? Africa Sidesteps Tariffs, Starts Free-Trade PactBloomberg By Prinesha Naidoo
May 29, 2019, 11:00 PM EDT Updated on May 30, 2019, 6:02 AM EDT
African continental free-trade agreement takes effect.
The deal will eventually cover a market with 1.2 billion people. Africa, largely ignored in a U.S.-China trade war that could roil economies worldwide, is quietly piecing together the world’s largest free-trade zone.
The African Continental Free Trade Area comes into force on paper on Thursday after the required 22 countries ratified the deal a month ago. Once it’s passed by all 55 nations recognized as part of the African Union, it would cover a market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion.
The potential benefits are obvious if the usual hurdles of nationalism and protectionism don’t yet stand in the way.
The deal would help the continent move away from mainly exporting commodities to build manufacturing capacity and industrialize, said Jakkie Cilliers, head of African Futures and Innovation at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. Boosting intra-regional trade would spur the construction of roads and railways, reducing the infrastructure gap in Africa, he said.
(See Picture "A" )
World’s Largest Free-Trade Zone
Countries joining the African Continental Free Trade Area
Source: African Union
Trade between African countries is at 15%, compared with 20% in Latin America and 58% in Asia, according to the African Export-Import Bank. This could increase by 52% by 2022 and can more than double within the first decade after implementing the deal, the Cairo-based lender said in a report last year.
After four years of talks, the mechanics of the agreement will be negotiated in phases and it should be fully in operation by 2030. Non-trade barriers, such as delays at ports, and politics, would have to be navigated before the plan to remove tariffs on 90% of goods can be realized. Negotiators will also have to convince economies reliant on these levies for revenue to let them go.
“This is a technocratic agreement,” said Ronak Gopaldas, a London-based director at Signal Risk, which advises companies in Africa. “It’s aspirational in nature and while the direction is positive, translating what has been agreed by the technocrats and the policy makers into stuff that has a material impact on the ease and the cost of doing business and fosters more integrated markets” will remain challenging, he said.
One hurdle to integration is Nigeria. The country that vies with South Africa for the title of Africa’s biggest economy, hasn’t signed up yet. Now re-elected, President Muhammadu Buhari is reviewing an impact-assessment report.
Analysts including Tshepidi Moremong, the head of Africa coverage at FirstRand Group Ltd.’s Rand Merchant Bank, said the deal could still face opposition from oligopolies making “super profits” in the West African nation. Nigeria is one of three countries, including Benin and Eritrea, that hasn’t signed the deal. Twenty-two nations, including South Africa, have ratified the text, the next step after signing.
The trade pact’s implementation could also be scuppered if leaders seeking re-election put sovereign interests ahead of the continent, Moremong said.
“In each of our countries, there are proper issues that one needs to deal with and where people need to see that the government is focused on their day-to-day issues,” she said. “Opening up a market for the people from other parts of the continent to freely come and do commerce and trade in your country is going to take a lot.”
— With assistance by Jeremy Diamond
According to Dezan Shira & Associates, “The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will boost China’s African continental trade ties.”
Financial Statements
DNI's board of directors and its management are working expeditiously to meet DNI’s obligations relating to the filing of the 2018 Annual Financial Statements.
At DNI’s last annual meeting, a motion was approved by shareholders to change DNI’s year end to December 31. The previous year end was March 31.
DNI’s subsidiaries in Madagascar and Mauritius are required to file financials at December 31 year ends. DNI decided to change the year end of the Parent company, DNI Metals Inc., to better align with the accounting in Madagascar. This will simplify the accounting practices as DNI builds its pilot plant and gets into production.
DNI has set up new companies in Mauritius and Madagascar.
The Mauritian companies, DNI Mauritius Vohitsara, and DNI Mauritius Marofody are 100% owned by DNI Metals Inc., the parent or publicly listed company. The Mauritian companies, in turn, own 100% of the Malagasy subsidiaries, DNI Madagascar Vohitsara Sarlu, and DNI Madagascar Marofody Sarlu.
The benefits of having Mauritian subsidiaries are twofold:
- Mauritius and Madagascar have an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (“IPPA”) in place since late 2010.
- A double-taxation treaty is in force between Madagascar and Mauritius.
The Vohitsara permit is 100% owned by DNI Metals Madagascar Sarl, a private company incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Madagascar. In December 2018, a meeting was held, a motion put forward and approved to merge DNI Metals Madagascar Sarl (“old company 1”) with the new company called DNI Madagascar Vohitsara Sarlu. The permits will be transferred to the new company name.
The Marofody permit is 100% owned by DNIM Holdings No.1 Sarl (“old company 2”), a private company incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Madagascar. In December 2018, a meeting was held, a motion put forward and approved to merge DNI Holdings No. 1 Sarl with a new company called DNI Madagascar Marofody Sarlu. The permits will be transferred to the new company name.
DNI has held back filing the final documents until the environmental licenses have been issued. DNI does not want to slow down the issuance of the licenses since the applications had been filed in the “old” company names.
Environmental Licenses
DNI’s team is in constant contact with the government officials and from all indications, DNI will receive all its documents shortly.
Since DNI has completed all the requirements for the environmental licenses, its team is focusing on completing the audited financials.
Madagascar Elections
Madagascar completed its Presidential elections in January of 2019. New ministers and government officials were appointed in the months following the election.
Madagascar had parliamentary elections on May 27, 2019. This process elects the 151 members that make up the National Assembly.
Both the President and the members of the National Assembly serve a five-year term.
(See picture "B" )
Dan Weir, the CEO, commented, “Since the new team took charge of the Malagasy operations in October of 2018, we have had great success in building relationships and working with government officials, particularly with everyone at the Office National pour l'Environnement Madagascar (the “ONE”). Now that the elections are complete, and the government will be in place for the next 5 years, we look forward to working with all tiers of government in Madagascar.”
DNI – CSE
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Issued: 134,402,603
For further information, contact:
DNI Metals Inc. – Dan Weir, CEO 416-720-0754
DanWeir@dnimetals.com
Also, visit www.dnimetals.com
Media Contact
DNI Metals danweir@dnimetals.com 4167200754 119 PINEWOOD TRAIL http://dnimetals.com
