Cantillon has noted another flurry of buying by Matthew Warner in the shares of Clontarf Energy, the exploration company founded many years ago by John Teeling, and now run by one of his right-hand men, David Horgan.
Warner, a London-based retail trader who seems to have an interest in lithium and a few quid to take a punt, has been buying up shares in the company. First disclosed in June, the stakebuilding has continued with Warner disclosing last week that he now holds 555 million shares in the business – equivalent to 7.71 per cent – which is worth just under £500,000 at the company’s current share price (or €588,800, roughly).
Warner has clearly not been turned off by the political instability in Bolivia, where there was an attempted coup against the president, Luis Arce, just as he was making his first investment.
It’s easy to see why Warner would be willing to take the gamble. Bolivia has 23 million metric tonnes of lithium in its salt flats, and Clontarf is in a race with companies from Russia, Europe, China and the US to tap into it to meet ever-growing demand for the mineral in electric vehicle and other batteries.
In a recent corporate update, Clontarf said it was in phase four of a five-phase process to develop Bolivian lithium brines with its partner NEXT-ChemX.
It has “applied for bulk samples to be collected on its behalf, by the State Lithium Company under applicable rules”, and expects to be able to extract high-grade lithium and magnesium for testing.
It’s a complicated process thereafter, involving co-operation with the Bolivian government and a number of other companies, further complicated by the geopolitical tensions in any race for a new resource.
But David Horgan, Clontarf’s chairman, seemed quite pleased to have Warner on board.
“Having met Mr Warner and his adviser, Clontarf Energy believes that he is a committed, value shareholder who wants to build an interest in a profitable high-grade lithium business over the long term,” Horgan said. “This aligns his interests with those of Clontarf, European offtakes and the Bolivian people.”
One to watch.
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