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Vicinity Motor Corp. Receives $2.6 Million to Support Calgary Transit Fleet Electrification Efforts

Company: Vicinity Motor Corp(formerly Grande West Transportation )
Listings :TSXV , NASDAQ
Ticker: VMC.V & VEV
Market cap at time of publication: $187 MCAD
Stock price at time of publication: $5,31 CAD
Target price: 15-32 CAD by external analysts
Business: Leading supplier of electric, CNG, gas and clean-diesel buses for
both public and commercial enterprise use in the U.S and Canada
Comparable peer : Lion Electric Market cap 2,1 BCAD
Website: https://vicinitymotorcorp.com/

ESGFIRE comment: We are very pleased to read that our top pick in the electric vehicles sector Vicinity motors has received a grant of C$2,570,000 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a foundation created by the Canadian government, for the development of zero-emission transit busses. This is a great testimonial to their quality of electric vehicles and their effort to decarbonize public transit in North America! We see a big upside in Vicinity Motors shares as the company despite the recent action is valued at only 1,33 X sales of 2022 and with target prices of 15-32 CAD by external analysts!

Press release can be read in full below:

VANCOUVER, BC – February 7, 2022 – Vicinity Motor Corp. (NASDAQ:VEV) (TSXV:VMC) (FRA:6LGA) (“Vicinity” or the “Company”), a North American supplier of commercial electric vehicles, today announced the receipt of an initial C$2,570,000 million grant from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a foundation created by the Canadian government, for the development of zero-emission transit busses.

SDTC helps Canadian entrepreneurs accelerate the development and deployment of globally competitive clean technology solutions. The non-repayable grant from SDTC will help Vicinity Motor to introduce its new all-electric, true low-floor wheelchair-accessible (fully ADA-compliant), mid-sized, medium-duty bus. This project creates an affordable new class of mid-sized, true low-floor buses, providing maximum versatility and an environmentally responsible alternative to buses with traditional combustion engines.

“We are honored and appreciate the significant initial support from SDTC to accelerate the development of the innovative design of the Vicinity Lightning EV which will mitigate exposure to energy and carbon costs,” said William Trainer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vicinity Motor Corp. “As cities and governments around the world continue to establish climate goals, they are rapidly committing the funding needed for zero emission transit options like our breakthrough Vicinity Lightning™ EV.

“SDTC focuses developing and deploying new technologies with the potential to transform the environmental and economic prosperity of Canada. With this complementary mission between us, we look forward to our continued relationship with SDTC as a valued partner to enhance our growth and encourage adoption of electric vehicles within the Canadian market,” concluded Trainer.

Leah Lawrence, President and CEO of SDTC, added: “Vicinity Motor’s new Lightning EV bus will give municipalities a way to provide transit options that are both sustainable and accessible to all citizens, SDTC is proud to support Vicinity Motor Corp. as they continue to innovate and find cleaner options for moving people.”

About Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)

SDTC supports companies attempting to do extraordinary things.

From initial funding to educational support and peer learning to market integration, SDTC is invested in helping small and medium-sized businesses grow into successful companies that employ Canadians from coast to coast to coast. SDTC is relentlessly focused on supporting our companies to grow and scale in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The innovations SDTC funds help solve some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges: climate change, regeneration through the circular economy, and the well-being of humans in the communities they live in and the natural environment they interact with.

For more information, please visit https://www.sdtc.ca/en/.

About Vicinity Motor Corp.

Vicinity Motor Corp. (NASDAQ:VEV) (TSXV:VMC) (FRA:6LGA) is a North American supplier of electric vehicles for both public and commercial enterprise use. The Company leverages a dealer network and close relationships with world-class manufacturing partners to supply its flagship electric, CNG and clean-diesel Vicinity buses, the VMC 1200 electric truck and a VMC Optimal-EV shuttle bus. In addition, the Company sells its proprietary electric chassis alongside J.B. Poindexter business unit EAVX, the Company’s strategic partner, for upfitting into next-generation delivery vehicles. For more information, please visit www.vicinitymotorcorp.com.

Legal Disclaimer

We own shares of this company personally.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this website.

We’re cutting our losses in Aurora Solar technologies!

Company: Aurora Solar Technologies
Listings : TSX Venture, Frankfurt, USOTCB
Tickers: ACU, AACTF , A82
Market cap at time of publication: $15 MCAD
Stock price at time of publication: $0.105CAD
Number of shares fully diluted: 160,899,725
Business: SaaS Solar producer software and cost savings
Market Size: US$25bn 
Website: https://aurorasolartech.com/

ESGFIRE comment: The returns have been horrible for our investment in Aurora Solar Technologies since we added the company to the portfolio at the end of september 2021. Our position is down 56 % and we are not happy about the development of the company or the stock price. Aurora has, finally, released an update on the insight trial for the client which all investors have been waiting on. The results so far ? No financial decision by the client due to ” financial constraints” meaning no revenues for Aurora despite the fact that they met their targets for the trial. We can’t help to wonder how long this information has been known by the company and the company now puts their faith into the second trial with a larger manufacturer in China which begins now in March 2022. For us this is the end of the line and we are cutting our losses and investing in other positions. When management fails to deliver on several points such as shareholder information, transparency and above all business execution theres little faith left for us in management. Also the company is burning about 4 MCAD per year. The cash position was 3,9 MCAD by end of september 2021. The cash position in March 2022 should be about 2 MCAD and should last another 6 months. Unless the Chinese client trial is considerably faster than the first trial and gives substantial revenues there will be a financing need for the company in the next 6-9 months.

Press release can be read in full below:

North Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – February 7, 2022) – Aurora Solar Technologies Inc. (TSXV: ACU) (“Aurora“, the “Company“) is pleased to provide an update on InsightTM Essentials and strategic initiatives.

Aurora’s initial evaluation of its Insight Essentials product is now complete, with the product validation needs successfully met, particularly the project’s objective of progressing Insight Essentials for market readiness. Due to customer constraints, there has been no financial consideration exchanged at this time. The Company will continue our focus on our larger-scale China-based evaluation as previously reported on November 30 and October 26, 2021. This project is underway and on track. Wafer tracking is about to be installed and the Insight platform and use case evaluation period is expected to start in March of 2022.

In parallel, Aurora is actively pursuing strategic opportunities to scale its measurement products business to complement and enhance the value of the Insight platform. The focus of this initiative is to build the breadth and depth of process control capability for high-value Insight applications to continue the Company’s first-mover advantage and drive to be an industry standard for yield management and process control solutions.

In the recently completed evaluation project, the most significant outcome was validation of the reliability and accuracy of Insight’s platform capability known as “tool tracing”. Tool tracing is the act of regularly collecting and processing solar cell production equipment performance and the information it generates is vital for timely and effective fault remediation and yield management operations such as preferential wafer routing. As such, trusted tool tracing is the platform for all current and future Insight product applications. For benchmarking purposes, Aurora’s analysis found that Insight’s tool tracing can consistently and significantly outperform the current methods being used at the initial production facility. This important result will now be built upon for broader application in our second larger China-based project.

“We are pleased to validate that Insight Essentials can provide a clear advantage in the core function of tool tracing, with superior data reliability, utility and cost-effectiveness. Insight’s platform unlocks value through all aspects of plant operation from material routing to fault detection and correction to maintenance procedures to optimize the quality of manufactured solar cells,” said Gordon Deans, Aurora’s Chief Executive Officer. “Looking forward our commercialization focus is now to capitalize on this positive result in executing the next step in the market introduction of Insight and our strategic initiatives to enhance the value of our product line to set the industry standard for yield management and process control systems.”

About Aurora Solar Technologies:

Aurora Solar Technologies is a leader in the development and delivery of inline process control and yield management solutions for solar cell manufacturers. We believe that solar power will be a dominant element in the renewable energy field, and our mission is to bring quality and profitability to every customer through superior control of critical processes during solar cell manufacturing.

Aurora’s products are used by some of the world’s most advanced and respected solar cell manufacturers. With headquarters near Vancouver, Canada, Aurora has operations in Shanghai, China, and partners in all major solar manufacturing markets. Aurora is a public company, traded on the TSX Venture Exchange (ACU) and is a two-time TSX-V Top 50 winner. Aurora’s website is located at www.aurorasolartech.com.

Legal Disclaimer

We own shares of these companies personally.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this blog.


Aduro to Attend 8th Annual AlphaNorth Capital Conference

Aduro will meet with potential investors to broaden their exposure to its HydrochemolyticTM Technology Platform and ongoing activities.

Company:Aduro Clean Technologies
Listings:CSEOCTQBFSE
Tickers: ACT, ACTHF, 95DO
Market cap at time of publication: 37 $ MCAD / 29 MUSD
Stock price at time of publication: $0.77 CAD / 0.59 USD USD
Business: Plastic recycling, bitumen upgrading, Renewable diesel & Aviation fuel
Website:https://adurocleantech.com/
Target price: See price target estimate at end of article
Comparable Peer evaluations:
Purecycle 674MUSD
Clean Energy fuels 1,25 BUSD
Agilyx  278 MUSD

SARNIA, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 2, 2022 / Aduro Clean Technologies Inc.(“Aduro” or the “Company“) (CSE:ACT)(OTCQB:ACTHF)(FSE:9D50), a Canadian developer of patented water-based technologies to chemically recycle plastics, and to transform heavy crude and renewable oils into new-era resources and higher-value fuels, will attend the eighth annual AlphaNorth Capital Conference from March 25-27, 2022.

The AlphaNorth Capital Conference provides an opportunity for growing companies like Aduro to meet with top-level capital finance firms and present their investment opportunities through a day of scheduled one-on-one meetings.

The Aduro team will be discussing the advantages of its proprietary Hydrochemolytic™ chemical conversion technology. Aduro recently received independent validation proving completion of work demonstrating the viability of its technology in the types of continuous-flow reactors commonly used in commercial applications. These results will inform the next phase of activity for Aduro to scale the technology for pilot plants, pre-commercial deployments, and, eventually, full-scale commercial systems.

Aduro will also discuss its pending partnership with Brightlands Chemelot Campus, an international shared innovation community located in Limburg, the Netherlands. The objective of this partnership is to complete an installation that applies Aduro Hydrochemolytic™ technology to demonstrate, on a tons per day scale, the conversion of polyethylene waste to useful feedstock for chemical processes.

Additionally, Aduro will discuss its activity with Switch Energy, a recycler and operator participating in Canada’s agricultural & industrial film recycling program by owning and operating the largest collection program for agricultural waste in the province of Ontario. The goal of these discussions is to develop a framework whereby the two companies can work together to design, build, install, and operate a pilot plant to process waste polyethylene and other types of waste plastics, such as polypropylene.

About Aduro Clean Technologies

Aduro Clean Technologies is a developer of patented water-based technologies to chemically recycle waste plastics; convert heavy crude and bitumen into lighter, more valuable oil; and transform renewable oils into higher-value fuels or renewable chemicals. The Company’s Hydrochemolytic™ technology activates unique properties of water in a chemistry platform that operates at relatively low temperatures and cost, a game-changing approach that converts low-value feedstocks into 21st-century resources. With funding and support from Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, the company has developed a pre-pilot reactor system to upgrade heavy petroleum into lighter oil.

Legal Disclaimer

We plan to subscribe for shares of this company personally in the current private placement.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this blog.

Vicinity Motor Corp. Receives Order for 50 VMC 1200 EV Trucks from Skydome Auto and Truck Centre with ESGFIRE comments!

Company: Vicinity Motor Corp(formerly Grande West Transportation )
Listings :TSXV , NASDAQ
Ticker: VMC.V & VEV
Market cap at time of publication: $138 MCAD
Stock price at time of publication: $3.93 CAD
Target price: 15-32 CAD by external analysts
Business: Leading supplier of electric, CNG, gas and clean-diesel buses for
both public and commercial enterprise use in the U.S and Canada
Comparable peer : Lion Electric Market cap 2,1 BCAD
Website: https://vicinitymotorcorp.com/

ESGFIRE comment: Vicinity continues to provide clarity that they seem well on their way to achieve their guidance of 140 MCAD sales for 2022. We are very impressed with the speed that they are delivering orders. There is a big valuation difference between new EV producers and more mature players like VicinityMotors, for example Lion Electric is valued at 6X sales for 2022 meanwhile Vicinity Motors is trading at less than 1X sales for 2022, this is too big of a difference in our opinion. Worth mentioning is also that Vicinity Motors has target price coverage by several external analysts between 15-32 CAD and we see a significant upside from current levels.

VANCOUVER, BC – February 1, 2022 – Vicinity Motor Corp. (NASDAQ:VEV) (TSXV:VMC) (FRA:6LGA) (“Vicinity” or the “Company”), a North American supplier of commercial electric vehicles, today announced that it has signed a sales and marketing agreement with Skydome Auto and Truck Centre Inc. (“Skydome”), an automotive dealer and service center in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, including an initial order for 50 VMC 1200 Class 3 electric trucks. Skydome has also been appointed to act as Vicinity’s exclusive dealer in the City of Brampton, a part of the Greater Toronto region in Ontario, Canada.

The Skydome family of companies have over 25 years of professional auto and truck sales and service experience, currently operating from three locations in Brampton. Skydome’s Truck & Fleet and Truck & Coach Centers provide a variety of repair services for fleets, including transit, coaches, trucks, ambulances, school buses and commercial vehicles. The VMC 1200 deliveries are expected to begin with five in the second quarter of 2022.

“We are excited to begin offering the VMC 1200 in the Toronto market alongside our new sales partner, Skydome,” said William Trainer, Founder and CEO of Vicinity Motor Corp. “Skydome has decades of experience serving and maintaining fleets in the region across a wide variety of vehicle types, and we believe the VMC 1200 as well as our expanding line of all-electric vehicles will be of strong interest to their large base of customers.”

“The VMC 1200 continues to attract early attention from dealers and customers seeking a fully electric class 3 truck for ultra-quiet operation in urban environments while aligning with clean fleet goals. In Toronto alone, the city is undertaking a major expansion of its EV charging infrastructure to enable and support accelerated transition of city fleets to electric vehicles, and to further spur adoption of EVs in the greater Toronto region. We believe our ongoing dealer agreement will position us to be the premier providers in this segment,” concluded Trainer.

Daljit Singh Gaidhu, President of Skydome Group, added: “As a trusted one-stop-shop in the Toronto region, we look forward to showcasing our first VMC 1200 vehicles to our customers later this year. We expect the VMC 1200 and the Vicinity brand’s well-known performance, versatility and affordability – combined with their growing EV reputation – will advance sales and success for the VMC 1200 line.”

About Vicinity Motor Corp.

Vicinity Motor Corp. (NASDAQ:VEV) (TSXV:VMC) (FRA:6LGA) is a North American supplier of electric vehicles for both public and commercial enterprise use. The Company leverages a dealer network and close relationships with world-class manufacturing partners to supply its flagship electric, CNG and clean-diesel Vicinity buses, the VMC 1200 electric truck and a VMC Optimal-EV shuttle bus. In addition, the Company sells its proprietary electric chassis alongside J.B. Poindexter business unit EAVX, the Company’s strategic partner, for upfitting into next-generation delivery vehicles. For more information, please visit www.vicinitymotorcorp.com.

Legal Disclaimer

We own shares of this company personally.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this website.

Extensive analysis of Aduro Clean Technologies – A unique ESG opportunity

Company: Aduro Clean Technologies
Listings: CSE, OCTQB, FSE
Tickers: ACT, ACTHF, 95DO
Market cap at time of publication: 26 $ MCAD / 20MUSD
Stock price at time of publication: $0.75 CAD / 0.59 USD USD
Business: Plastic recycling, bitumen upgrading, Renewable diesel & Aviation fuel
Website: https://adurocleantech.com/
Target price: See price target estimate at end of article
Comparable Peer evaluations:  
Purecycle 674MUSD
Clean Energy fuels 1,25 BUSD
Agilyx  278 MUSD

Legal Disclaimer

We own shares of this company personally. Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted.

Short Summary:
Rarely do we come across investment cases that have the chance to change the world as we know it and being able to invest in such a company early is even more rare. Aduro Clean Technologies is a new addition to the ESGFIRE portfolio that has the potential to become a billion-dollar cleantech company with a new industry standard. The company has developed a patented, carbon neutral technology named Hydrochemolytic that can upcycle plastic, bitumen and renewable oils (Aviation fuel, canola, corn etc). The combined total global addressable market for Aduro’s three different market vetical is a staggering $437 billion USD (See calculation below in the market overview section). In fact simply looking at the domestic market in Canada for Bitumen upgrading this alone could be worth over $3 billion dollars.Aduro is now aiming to rapidly expand and commercialize their business with industry partnerships using a low capex business modelin order to maximise shareholder value. Aduro’s technology is necessary for a global circular economy! As a quick competitor comparison we want to highlight that Purecycle (which are further into commercial stage)  and which focuses solely on recycling only one type of plastic (Polypropylene) in one of Aduro’s three possible markets is currently valued at 34 X of Aduro’s market cap. It should be mentioned that Aduro’s patented technology recently has received independent third party validation, which is something not many competitors can display ! Aduro also owns all of their patents directly.


Another competitor, Agilyx from Norway is valued at 14X of Aduro’s market cap with $30 MUSD projected revenues for 2022 .
For the last 10 years management of Aduro have invested their own private funds to come up with a solution to some of the most concerning environmental issues faced by humanity today. The most environmentally hostile issues which Aduro addresses is how to unlock value from waste plastics that pollute lands and waterways all over the world. The two other pressing issues addressed by Aduro’s technology include how to improve the characteristics of bitumen used in oil production through a greener conversion process (effectively eliminating the need for diluent and increasing the economic value of renewable oils (such as corn, canola etc) in scalable operations that can be implemented locally.

Hydrochemolytic (HTC)

HydrochemolyticTM (HTC) technology was originally developed to upgrade heavy oil. Aduro have since redirected and reconfigured their technology to upcycle plastics and upgrade renewable oils. Simply put the HCT technology leverages the unique properties of water in a chemistry system that transforms large molecules of low value into smaller molecules of higher value; materials with undesirable characteristics are converted into materials that are more useful, the result is a tremendous uplift in market value of the materials processed. Also ESGFIRE believes that one of the differentiating aspects of Aduro’s technology is the reduced reliance on hydrogen and less need for high heat in the process of cutting carbon bonds. This aspect both simplifies the processes and reduces CAPEX requirements tremendously. The time has now come for Aduro to commercialize this technology which ESGFIRE believes has the potential to become the new industry standard for upcycling worldwide. Aduro states that their technology is 50 % cheaper than traditional processes with lower expected CAPEX and OPEX. Aduro also states that their strength is their ability to scale their process to fit both large and smaller production requirements unlike the massive facilities required for economics by other competitors today. The company has cash at hand to keep their operations running for another 12 months ($150 000/month CAD burn rate) without external financing.  Recently announced pilot facilities in Canada and Europe could bring in revenue as early as the current calendar year of 2022. Warrants could also bring in an additional $1,5 MCAD in funding.


Stock History background:

Aduro Clean Technologies was listed on the CSE on 29th of April 2021 at a stock price of  55 cents per share. Since then the stock price has increased moderately by 36 %. The market cap right now is hovering around 25-30 MCAD.

Ownership structure and management incentives

Insider ownership: 16 million shares (35,5 %)
Free float: 18 million shares
Number of shares in the market: 34 million
Warrants / options: 15,9 million
Total share count fully diluted: 48 million shares
Extra shares granted to management if milestones are achieved: 26,7 million


Insider ownership in Aduro currently stands at a reassuring number of 36 % and there is currently a very tight free float of just 18 million shares.  What really makes Aduro stand out in terms of ownership structure is the milestone system set in place to incentivise management to reach the official goals of the company’s development plan. We have never seen anything quite like this and think it’s extremely positive to this structure  since it makes management interest even more aligned with shareholders. Most of the management’s upside is linked to hitting  stringent milestones.

The milestones are as follows:

1. A demonstration unit or showroom up and running and leading to commercialization with an industry partner which means a live pilot

2.A completed financial transaction with an institution which clearly has the capacity to finance Aduro majority owned commercial operation of a manufacturing plant producing Product for commercial sale.

3. Product produced by a manufacturing plant owned in part by Aduro  where Aduro’s portion of the plant’s equity is at least $6,000,000 greater than Aduro’s investment;

4. A third party entering into a licence agreement with Aduro in respect of the Technology which Aduro and such third party estimate will generate at least $15,000,000 in revenue for Aduro over a three year period;

5. A third party equity investment in the Company of at least $9,000,000 at a company pre-money valuation of $120,000,000 or more.

6. The total market capitalization of the Company remaining at or above $195,000,000 for 19 out of any 20 consecutive trading days;

7. The Company having completed a public offering or private placement raising at least $12,000,000 at a minimum price per share of $1.05, or a combination of grants, $1.05 share offering and other financing transaction raising at least $12,000,000; or

8. A third party enters into an agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding Company Shares at a minimum value of $3.00 per share.

The strike price for managements exercise of the 26,7 million incentive shares are at nominal value and the shares are all subject to a 3 year lockup period.

Technology overview

As previously stated the management team of Aduro have spent 10 years in R&D focusing on developing what’s called Hydrochemolytic technology (HTC) platform that has already been proven to work at lab stage level and the company has also successfully secured 7 patents (3 owned, 3 pending and one acquired) prior to going public. Management have so far invested over 4,5 MCAD of their own money while also securing a significant amount of non-dilutive funding via government grants during the process. Aduro describes their HCT as a water based chemical conversion platform that creates cleaner, greener resources for the 21st century from waste plastic, renewable oils, and bitumen. An important aspect which deserves to be highlighted is that “in recent lab runs, HPU produced 99% pure, diesel-like paraffin oil from polyethylene with a yield above 90%. Though the product could be used as fuel, Aduro CEO Ofer Vicus said the real prize within reach, thanks to HPU, is efficient chemical recycling of polyethylene (PE) for use in production of more polyethylene in a fully circular mode”. Aduro states there are competitors working on this solution as well but all of them currently use some form of pyrolysis which is limited at its efficiency at 76 % . All Aduro patents can be viewed HERE


An important aspect that should be highlighted is that Aduro owns all of their patent and does not share any third party ownership of its intellectual property, also as previously mentioned the technology has been validated by an independent third party. The company aims to commercialize their product in three different verticals each with their own huge potential. The verticals which are being targeted are bitumen, plastics and renewables and are covered below in the market overview section. In most cases, high temperature is used to crack down macromolecules  and this process is referred to as thermolytic or pyrolytic. Aduro’s HTC technology on the other hand is a chemical conversion process that uses low value readily available metals as catalysts, the co-process biobased material also Glycerol, cellulose and other biobased materials replace the need for hydrogen gas.
HTC is a novel chemical conversion process that deconstructs macromolecules which are large, intractable molecule chains that are shortened in the processing operation to make them useful (Source: Aduro Corporate presentation).

The heat levels required for the HTC technology is, according to management, considerably lower than comparable technologies which operates between 325 -350 degrees Celsius  / 600-660 degrees Fahrenheit. Aduro’s processing does not require hydrogen gas which is a highly energy intensive source of energy which can also emit high levels of CO2 depending on the way that it is sourced
The HTC technology does however require bio-based material which is fed into the process and that becomes the equivalent of hydrogen in the chemical reaction. Another revenue stream which has not yet been highlighted is the fact that Aduro will be able to extract metals through the water stream that requires processing.  The company plans to model this in full scale with their R3 scale up (processes 5-10 barrels per day) and with this they will have complete data on the full energy consumption process with its long duration trial.
The energy consumption required could be supplied with green energy from solar panels or a solar heat collector (ESGFIRE portfolio company Absolicon to name as one example for a 100 % green process. The HTC process does not use a significant amount of water since the wastewater from the process can either be returned back into the process or filtered and be returned to its source. Aduro have stated that they are very engaged in water management and want to contribute to a positive environmental impact.

Aduro’s technology is still at an earlier stage than some competitors which is also reflected in the extremely low market cap and valuation of the company which gives a tremendous upside possibility for early investors. As we have previously stated comparable competitors which are only active in ONE of Aduro’s three markets are valued between 10-34  times higher than Aduro’s current evaluation. Below is a summary of how far progressed Aduro’s technology is. NOTE even though the Bitumen upgrading is the only vertical closest to commercial stage these pilots will most likely be quite large and will be able to generate substantial revenues in the range of 4-40 million USD per year depending on scale (5000-50000 barrels per day pilots) and partnership.




Market overview


The global market for Aduro’s verticals  exceeds $437 billion USD (307 B$ Biofuels, 63 B$ plastics, Oil 67 B$)

The combined total addressable market for Aduro’s three domestic markets in Canada alone is 95 billion USD. Breakdown of the addressable domestic markets are as follows:

Waste plastics $30B
Renewables     $25B
Heavy oil           $40B

Market estimates above only calculate the domestic Canadian market.

Plastic recycling market
The plastics recycling market is most likely the most competitive one that Aduro is pursuing. Aduro’s HTC technology is a chemical deconstruction process that rapidly converts various kinds of plastic into components useful for a variety of consumer applications, for fuel, and even for true chemical recycling that produces new, virgin plastics. Every year mankind produces 370 million metric tons of plastic. Out of this only 14 % is actually recycled (source: PlasticsEurope & Ellen Macarthur Foundation). An astonishing and shocking fact we ran into researching Aduro is that only 10 % of U.S. consumer plastic is actually being recycled. The EPA estimates Americans generated 292.4 million tons of trash in 2018. Twenty-three percent of it was recycled. Half of it ended up in landfills. If we break it down by material: paper and paperboard were 68% recycled. Glass, 25%. Metals, 34%. But plastics — only 9%.  It should be noted that Aduro’s technology has been proved (in lab testing) to be able to process 6 out of 7 different types of plastics. Fortunately there are more and more government regulations aiming to increase recycling on a global scale. The European Union for example aims to increase plastics recycling to 50 % for 2025 and 55 % for 2030 (Source PlasticsEurope & Ellen Macarthur Foundation).  Aduro recently posted a corporate video with a possible solution to clean our oceans this can be viewed by pressing here. Plastic, made from coal, natural gas and oil has historically been the most challenging commodity to recycle causing a global waste problem.

Picture above shows current handling of plastics waste management


The plastics recycling industry is a highly fragmented market with many different types of competitors and processes.  The plastic recycling market is experiencing a tremendous growth due to the global pollution of waste plastics and even more importantly is the consumer demand for recycled plastics over virgin plastics. Governments globally are imposing harsher and harsher demands for plastic recycling . Landfills are a global problem today which releases tremendous amount of harmful methane gases. Plastics in oceans is also a huge problem for the global ecosystem which threatens entire species. Higher cost of recycled plastics. Stringent competition with virgin plastics in terms of performance is a major factor restraining the growth of the market. China has recently banned the import of plastics that normally have ended up in landfills which has put a bigger pressure on western economies to find a solution to this pressing issue.

There are currently 7 types of plastics used globally, named from number 1 through 7. Typically type one and two generate the most revenue for recycling and the rest usually goes to landfills and incineration because its usually worthless.  Most recycling facilities appear to only accept types 1,2 and 5 which could open up for a gigantic opportunity for Aduro if they can prove to, on a massive scale, recycle almost all types of plastics as their HCT technology potentially could.


The most commonly recycled plastics are:

1 – Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) – water bottles and plastic trays

2 – High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) – milk  and shampoo bottles

5 – Polypropylene (PP) – margarine tubs and ready-meal trays

Somewhat recyclable plastics (at specialist facilities) include:

3 – Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) – piping

4 – Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) – food bags, protective foil

6 – Polystyrene (PS) – plastic cutlery Some of these are incredibly hard to recycle plastics include crisp packets, salad bags, plastic wrap and more.
For more reading on the different types of plastic we found this write up useful.

Renewables oils aviation fuel & diesel market

The renewable fuels market , much like the plastic recycling market, is fragmented and contains many different stakeholders The burning of fossil fuels to create electricity, enable industrial production and to heat buildings stand for a majority of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions (Source: Climate watch, the world resources institute (2020). Although Aduro is not in a near term outlook going to generate revenue from aviation fuel since this is time consuming and requires extensive testing with airline manufacturers it is a possibility for the future development. However, on the renewable diesel side Aduro’s technology may very well generate more near term revenues and therefor an overview of the market is desirable to comprehend the massive opportunity.


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With the world population expected to reach 10,9 billion by the end of this century, up from 7,7 billion in 2019, we can only assume that global energy consumption will continue to increase. This combined with ongoing climate change which is increasingly becoming more alarming calls for immediate action in the renewable fuels sector. Electrification alone will most likely not be able to solve the replacement of internal combustion engines. Liquid and gas types of renewable fuels will be needed as well.



Even if the expected electrification of the transportation sector is very successful the most optimistic calculations show that oil is projected to fuel 20 % of the global transport sector in 2050. In the most pessimistic calculations however oil stands for 83 % of all global transport in 2050. There is  currently an annual market of 900 billion gallons (or 3400 million litres) for renewable fuels (Source: BP Energy Outlook 2020. Reflects Business-as-usual scenario). In a net zero scenario there will still be a 245 billion gallon (or 946 million litres) market demand in 2050. ook 2020. Net Zero scenario assumes that global carbon emissions fall by over 95% by 2050 broadly in line with a range of scenarios limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Net ZeroThere is therefore a large market that needs to be addressed no matter how fast the global electrification is done and this gives room for plenty of companies, of which Aduro could be one.


Bitumen market:

Today there is a global oil production of over 98 million barrels per day. Canada represents 6 % of this production or roughly 5,88 million barrels per day. The need for diluent in Canada alone is estimated to be used in 2 million barrels of oil production per day. Diluent costs roughly 12-15 dollars per barrel and it’s a conservative estimate that Aduro would likely be getting roughly 20-30 % of the cost savings from diluent as a license fee. As an example, if Aduro is successful in taking just 10 % of their domestic market in Canada for their bitumen upgrading they are looking at annual licensing revenues of $160 million USD – $240 million USD  for Canada ALONE. If we hypothetically assume Aduro would be able to conquer 1 % of the global bitumen market this number would likely be closer to $850- $1270 million USD in annual licensing revenues. Other aspects which make it highly likely that oil companies would not be deterred by this new technology is the fact that the process can be added without production halts and without interruptions. As the payback time for the technology is roughly 3-8 years this would be a quick payback and value adding feature for oil companies. The oil industry is not known for being particularly innovative however Aduro have strong industry connections that should prove valuable for a quick adoption.

Diluent is required to transport heavy oil in pipelines. Diluent is expensive and consumes valuable pipeline space. Diluent is used to partially upgrade heavy oil.  Approximately 75% of all crude produced in Canada is exported to the U.S. (much of it heavy oil) therefore a bitumen upgrading product like Aduro’s would be a gamechanger if applied since it would free up a lot of pipeline capacity. Bitumen which is extracted from oil sands is a heavy petroleum that contains large fractions of complex long-chain hydrocarbon molecules. Depending on the process used, the bitumen product can sometimes contain as much as 2% water and solids, which does not meet pipeline specifications for transportation over long distances. Pipeline specifications can be met by either upgrading or diluting with a very light oil. Currently, about 65% of bitumen produced from the oil sands is diluted, typically with natural gas condensate, and sold directly to refineries as a heavy/sour blend. The remaining 35% is upgraded into a light synthetic crude before being sold to downstream refineries. Most upgraded bitumen is sourced from oil sands mining operations, while most diluted bitumen is sourced from in-situ facilities. Diluent is used to upgrade oil in order for it to be transported via pipelines. Usually the cost of diluent ranges from 10-15 USD per barrel of oil which is a significant cost saving that Aduro could enable if their technology was to be used . Aduro’s technology would also be able to lower the carbon foot print of the oil process itself . Upgrading is  therefore a process by which bitumen is transformed into light/sweet synthetic crude oil (SCO) by fractionation and chemical treatment, removing virtually all traces of sulphur and heavy metals. About one-third of Alberta’s bitumen is upgraded into SCO before being sold to downstream refineries. Looking at Aduro’s domestic market in Alberta, Canada about 35% of Alberta’s bitumen, mostly sourced from mined oil sands, is upgraded into light/sweet synthetic crude (SCO) before being sold to downstream refineries. 


Competitors

Aduro states that their process has  competitive advantage compared to their peers for several reasons.
Firstly their CAPEX requirements are significantly lower, secondly many competitors solutions are only economically viable on a massive scale, thirdly competitors high operating temperatures require high energy input and often cause high CO2 output and last but not least competitors processing often result in complex product mixtures, often requiring postprocessing.

Since Aduro are operating in three different markets there is an enormous amount of comparable peers and competitors. For the sake of simplicity we have chosen to focus on a handful of competitors in each market segment therefore we do not claim in any way that this competitive analysis is a complete overview of the existing competition.


One thing that most competitors do have in common is that they are significantly higher valued than Aduro despite not all of them being significantly further advanced commercially. Aduro’s market cap of $20 MUSD stands out as miniscule when compared to the industry peers we have found.

Plastic recycling market competitors:

Company: Purecycle Technologies
Market cap: $674 MUSD
Website: https://purecycle.com/
Listing: Nasdaq, USA

Purecycle commands a $674 MUSD market cap and focuses on polypropylene recycling only (type 5 plastics) . The company went public through a SPAC merger with Roth CH Acquisition I Co. (“ROCH”) in early 2021 which valued the company at post-money equity value of $1.2 billion.The company projects revenues of 6 million USD in 2022 and 176 MUSD in 2023. The company aims to build their own processing facilities across the United States which will require a significant amount of CAPEX. Their recycling process aims to produce only one type of plastics namely type 5 Virgin-Quality polypropylene. The company is currently ramping up production scalability and are opening new facilities. We think Purecycle uses a highly CAPEX intense business model.

Company: Agilyx
Market cap:  $272 MUSD
Website: https://www.agilyx.com/
Listing: Merkur Market, Norway

Agilyx has developed a technology for chemical recycling of post-use plastics known as depolymerization technology that handles Plastic-to-Plastic, Plastic to-intermediaries and Plastic-to-Fuels) and they also aim on a circular economy for the handling on waste plastics. Agilyx appear to have the most similar business model to Aduro as they are focusing on diversified revenue streams from technology license fee’s,equipment sales operating royalties and feedstock service fees. The company projects revenues of 13 MUSD for 2021 and 30 MUSD for 2022.  Agilyx is in fairly early commercial stage with revenues starting to take off. They have 17 patents and a total of 150 M $ invested in their technology. They also have a few impressive partners such as Mitsubishi chemical and Exxonmobil ( which owns a 25 % stake in a joint venture) . It’s unfortunately unclear for us which types of plastics Agilyx can process, some documents indicate they can handle all types but this information is not clearly stated .


Renewable fuel market and aviation fuel competitors:

Company: Quantafuel
Market cap: $464 MUSD
Website: https://www.quantafuel.com/
Listing: Merkur Market, Norway

Quantafuel upgrades plastic waste into valuable products that are in high demand. Quantafuel claims to convert almost all kinds of plastic waste into environmentally-friendly fuel and chemicals.
Their entire value chain is circular, and production takes place by means of chemical recycling at Quantafuel’s facilities. The company projects 10 MUSD in revenues for 2021 and 30 MUSD for 2022.
S
eeing as their SKIVE plant is not yet in full production it’s hard to estimate if their financial projections actually will be correct. They have yet to achieve proof of concept for some of their technology and recently had to announce a $45 MUSD raise. The company is also planning an expansion of their KRISTIANSUND plant. They are currently testing a pilot reactor for chemical line which is processing plastic waste and producing chemicals with promising quality. The company also has a big plant in ESBJERG for plastic sortings. One of their advantages is that they can process impure plastics and different colors. It’s unclear to us if Quantafuel can process all types of plastic or just some.



Company: Gevo
Market cap: $589 MUSD
Website https://gevo.com/
Listings: NASDAQ

Gevo is a good example of a competitor which is aiming to commercialize what they call the next generation of renewable jet fuel, gasoline and diesel fuel that they state has potential to achieve zero carbon emissions. Gevo projects $4 MUSD in revenues for 2022 and 15 million for 2023. Gevo does have an impressive portfolio of contracts and off take agreements. However its questionable whether its actually sustainable to use farmland and food crops such as corn and soy beans for fuel especially when looking at the growing global population and global food shortages. The price for food crops is also likely to increase which risks to undermine profit margins . Also Gevo have high CAPEX requirements for their facilities. The company does have an interesting production line of renewable natural gas.

Company: Lanzajet
Website: https://www.lanzajet.com/
Privately owned

LanzaJet’s technology is uniquely able to produce up to 90% of its fuels as SAF, with the remaining 10% as renewable diesel. The company was was founded through contributions Lanzatech, Suncor, Mitsui, along with support from ANA. They have recently also added Shell and British Airways as investors. Lanzajet claims that to have  Agreements for 100% of offtake already in place. They also state that their sustainable aviation fuel is price competitive with conventional jet fuel when factoring in available incentives and the cost of carbon. They use waste-based, sustainable ethanol – that is not made from either food or feed as feedstock for their sustainable aviation fuel. Their goal is to reach 100 million gallons per year in commercial production by 2025. Lanzajet states that their fuel has been shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% and up to 85%.

Company: Neste
Market cap: $29 BUSD
Website: https://www.neste.us/
Neste is a serious and massive producer in the renewable diesel sector. They state that their  renewable diesel has up to 75% lower GHG emissions and reduced tailpipe emissions compared to fossil diesel. It’s not unlikely that a big actor like Neste could possibly be interested in licensing Aduro’s technology should it prove to be better than current manufacturing technology in the renewable diesel sector.

Bitumen Market competitors:

Company: Fractalsys
Privately owned
Website: https://www.fractalsys.com/

Fractalsys develops patented and cost effective solutions for transporting heavy oil and bitumen. They state that their products can “improve bitumen product quality and significantly lower bitumen viscosity allowing processed fluids to move more freely in transport pipelines at a significant cost advantage over alternatives”. They also state that their technology lowers greenhouse gas emissions with their enhanced jetshear product. Shortly put it their product reduces diluent need by 61 % which reduces costs, lower pipeline tariffs, lower quality discounts, opens up pipeline utilization and improve the ESG performance (11 % lower GHG from well to tank) . Fractalsys claims their product adds 14 CD of value to every barrel of oil processed. Fractalsys also claims there is a potential carbon credit feature with their product. If Aduro’s bitumen upgrading can perform as described by their company their technology is vastly superior to Fractalsys as Aduro aims to completely eliminate the need for diluent. Fractalsys is currently targeting a 54000 barrel per day production and have so far processed 225000 barrels of oil.

Company: MEG energy
Market cap: $4.5 BUSD
Website: https://www.megenergy.com/

MEG energy is an oil company which have developed a technology called Hi-Q.
The technology is a pipeline product with several advantages over partial upgrading by delayed coking. The product gives a high liquid yield (90%) without needing a catalyst. It also reduces the need for hydrogen and thereby decrease operating costs. Finally the technology also claims to give lower greenhouse gas emissions and a higher quality product. MEG have stated they may license this technology to other oil companies and if so it would be a direct competitor to Aduro’s bitumen upgrading.



Business model

As stated Aduro’s processing units costs anywhere from $10m to $50M and has a
payback period of 3-8 years which is a significant improvement over current conventional CAPEX projects. We believe the company will have one or more revenue generating pilot projects to launch during the current calendar year of 2022. The three main revenue streams that ESGFIRE had identified for Aduro are likely licensing per volume fees, joint venture projects and equipment sales.

Source: Aduro corporate presentation

Aduro is at an early stage in their commercial phase which means they will most likely be flexible in terms of business models to maximise shareholder value. The business models for bitumen upgrading will likely look different than for plastics upcycling. The licensing revenue model offers the option to work with Engineer Procure & Construct companies who often already have a large client base that they are already servicing.  These companies are constantly looking for new technology solutions. The licensing model will likely generate revenues for Aduro in the term of sharing cost savings and with a 20-30 % cut for the company.

For joint venture projects, similar to how competitor Purecycle operates, would involve the design , construction and management of a facility. Here the feedstock supply and offtake are aligned and involves an extended producer responsibility. This may become a model that producers will start having a closer look at.  Lastly Aduro may engage in straight forward equipment sales however we do not believe this business model will be the priority for management at this stage. We think licensing will be the main revenue model for Aduro to begin with.

The plastic recycling market is the one for which Aduro is building out their test site in Sarnia Ontario for. Our impression is that it seems their goal is to find a homogeneous supply source at this point rather than municipal waste.


Upcoming catalysts for Aduro Clean Technologies

Below is a summary of upcoming catalysts which may have an effect on the evaluation of the company. It is by no means a complete list.

Buyout candidate

There is no shortage of billion dollar companies searching for feasible clean technologies to adapt in their business. As Aduro’s technology can be applied on three different verticals it could definitely prove to be a buyout candidate for larger corporations or SPAC companies.

Technology disclosure

Since the details about Aduro’s technology have not yet been revealed we are hopeful that the market will see more information on the technology soon from the company which will reveal the true value across all markets. Hopefully this disclosure will also bring into light which potential partners Aduro are considering in all three market segments.

Demonstration of showroom


Aduro is planning to utilize the Showroom unit to run client trials and demonstrate the technology and its capabilities to future clients.  The demo unit will initially be used for heavy crude oil, followed by various plastic materials.  

Revenue generating Pilots

We are hopeful that within 6-12 months we will see one or several revenue generating pilots for Aduro. This could either be with their bitumen upgrading or with their plastic upcycling. Since the technology adds value and is cost effective even at smaller scale we think these pilots will add meaningful revenue to the company.

Aduro announced that over the past 12 months they have been in discussions to form a partnership with Brightlands Chemolot Campus.  “The objective of this partnership is to complete an installation that applies Aduro Hydrochemolytic™ technology (HCT) to demonstrate, on a tons per day scale, the conversion of polyethylene (PE) waste to useful feedstock for chemical processes. Interest in this project by Brightlands is a result of its comprehensive and detailed review of HCT. The review concluded that HCT offers distinct advantages over traditional pyrolysis for bringing PE into the circular economy through chemical recycling to obtain valuable, high-purity products, such as value-added chemicals or feedstock for the production of new, virgin PE.”  This review by Brightlands is a strong indication of support that the chemistry works and is novel.  Brightlands has played host to some of Aduro’s competitors including Plastics Energy Itero & Quantafuel

Aduro also recently announced a collaboration with Switch Energy a business involved in the collection and processing of agricultural waste plastics and films.  This is an example of feedstock that can be collected and returned to the circular economy rather than ending up in landfill or polluting farmers’ fields.  We think this is the right size to scale up and prove the commerciality of the technology.  Again they have moved toward identifying and engaging industry partners despite not having published the results of the first Milestone.  A testament of the validity of the technology and its advantages over existing approaches.


JV cooperations and licensing agreements


Long term (9-18 months) we are looking forward to seeing Aduro sign larger licensing and joint venture agreements across all three markets. Most likely we are anticipating that the plastics and bitumen market will be the first markets targeted by the company.

Risks associated with an investment in  Aduro Clean Technologies

This risk section addresses some of the most obvious risk with an investment in this company. We do not claim to have addressed all risks associated with this investment case.

Technology risk


I
f Aduro’s technology does not prove to be able to deliver results as good as previously presented or if the technology for some reason does not work as intended on one or all verticals it could pose a significant risk for the company’s existence. What speaks against this risk is the fact that the technology has been developed during 10 years, has been patented and has been proven to work at lab stage level and now also has third party validation. Still this is a risk investors need to consider.


Financing risk


Currently Aduro is funded for the next 10-12 months. The company currently has a low burn rate of about 150 000 CAD per month . The company will surely need additional financing within 12 months which may cause dilution for shareholders. However thanks to their business model of primarily going after licensing revenues and joint Ventures this should prove not to cause as big of a dilution effect as if the company was pursuing a business model where they aimed to own all operating facilities.

Competitors copying technolog


There is a risk that competitors may try and reverse engineer or simply copy Aduro’s unique technology. The company have successfully secured 7 patents (3 owned, 3 pending and one acquired) prior to going public yet this is a risk investors need to be aware of. It could also pose as a litigation risk if expensive legal processes take place when Aduro defends their patents from intrusion.

Management risk

Aduro is by any measurements a small company with a close circle of leading management members. The risk of losing one of several members of management and thereby valuable knowledge has to be addressed.  Current management have significant insider ownership therefore it’s unlikely they would be headhunted to a competitor but it’s not an impossible scenario.

Market adoption

As with all new technology there may be resistance from users in adoption. If Aduro has a difficult time finding early adopters for their technology it could pose a significant risk in their ability to generate near and long term revenues. Aduro’s success will be dependent on their ability to find early adopters and to bring these onboard as customers.

Management overview

The management team of Aduro is very experienced in the aspects of chemical engineering , renewable energy and business development. The team have diverse experiences that should benefit the company’s development. One aspect investors definitely should consider is that no one at management level earns an average salary more than $45 000 CAD salary per year. In fact, both the CEO and CTO did not pull any salary historically in and had to record a salary as part of being a public company. It’s not unusual to see management in public companies raise their salaries enormously once the company goes public and therefore its quite intriguing to see that Aduro had chosen a very different approach with lower base salaries and a milestone system that aligns very well with all shareholders’ interests.

Source: Aduro corporate presentation


Price Target estimation for 2027 (5 year target)

We must stress that this price target simulation is highly hypothetical and is only made to show the potential of the share price development. This should not be viewed as any form of guaranteed share price development.

Estimating a price target for a company of Aduro’s nature that has revolutionary technology is close to impossible. First of all because we do not yet have all the financial aspects of their business model on all three vertical markets and we do not have financial guidance.Therefore it’s not possible to apply a traditional price to earnings ratio (P/E) which is the most common valuation metrics used by investors.

One of the few ways to value an innovative clean technology company like Aduro is to look at price to sales multiples. If an investor takes the  average price to sales (p/s) multiple of four main peers to Aduro on their financial projections concerning 2022 ( Quantafuel, 16 ,Purecycle 94, Agilyx 10,5, MEG energy 1,26) the average price to sales multiple would be as high as 30. However we do not find this number to be a realistic measurement for our scenario. However a Price to sales (p/s) number of 10 would according to ESGFIRE be reasonable  for a company of Aduro’s potential short term. Stretching this into an even more conservative angle we could assume that in 5 years the size of Aduro would make a price to sales multiple of 5 more relevant since the most explosive growth can be presumed to be behind them. If we therefore assume that Aduro in 5 years would be able to take a market share of just 1 % of their Canadian domestic market valued at 95 billion dollars the revenue number would equate to a staggering $950 million CAD. With a price to sales multiple of 5 this would imply a market cap of $4750 MCAD. This number is mind boggling but not unrealistic comparing to the valuation of similar companies. Assuming today’s share count of 75 million and also by adding a 50 % dilution premium to take into account additional need of funding this would put the total share count in 5 years at 112 million shares. Applying our hypothetical 5 year projected market cap $4750 MCAD with a price to sales multiple of 5 would give a price per share of $42,5 CAD or $34 USD. It should be highlighted that the domestic Canadian market for all three market verticals is valued at $95 billion USD but the global market for all three market verticals is valued at over $437 billion dollars.


Conclusion

Aduro is sitting at valuation of just $26 MCAD or $20MUSD
with three different markets that all have multibillion dollar potential. Investing early in cleantech is always a big risk but we view this risk as one we are confident in taking in the case of Aduro . Comparing valuation wise with for example plastics recycling competitor Purecycle that only handles one type of plastics and stands at a valuation of 34 times higher than Aduro’s and which currently have very low revenues makes a potential increase of 10 X valuation for Aduro’s market cap to $320 MCAD or $260 MUSD seem quite small in comparison.

Legal Disclaimer

We own shares of this company personally.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advise or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this blog.







Why we are participating in the current private placement for Envirometal!

Company: Envirometal Technologies Inc
Listings : Canadian Securities Exchange, Frankfurt, US OTCQX
Tickers: ETI, FSE: N72, EVLLF
Market cap at time of publication: $25 MCAD
Stock price at time of publication: $0.265 CAD
Business: Environmentally friendly and socially responsible gold extraction
Market Size: US$180bn 
Website:https://envirometal.com/

ESGFIRE is adding Envirometal to our portfolio and what better way to enter a new investment than with a discount on the current share price and additional warrants? The current private placement offers investors one common share priced at 0.25 CAD and one full warrant valid for 2 years at 0,50 CAD. There will also be an extensive analysis of Envirometal posted within the coming month.

So why are we adding Envirometal to the ESGFIRE portfolio? The answer is simple: Envirometal has developed an own patented gold recovery technology that’s cost-effective, environmentally friendly and a superior alternative to cyanide, mercury, and smelting. This patented solution is a sustainable solution to precious metals extraction that could truly make a great enviromental impact! The solution also has very low water consumption and will be a very welcomed tool for gold miners to meet ever increasing ESG goals worldwide.

Envirometal has a high-margin licensing revenue model for the gold Mining industry and a blended revenue model for E-Waste
which include both licensing and Company owned PCBA processing facilities. This mixed business model will allow Envirometal to expand fast with low CAPEX requirements. Envirometal has invested over $30 million CAD developing their technology during the latest 4 years and considering the company is valued at just $25 MCAD we find the risk reward extremely attractive at current levels. As Envirometal state themselves “During development, thousands of lab-scale tests, and numerous bulkscale tests were conducted on a variety of materials including, hundreds of gold ore samples, gold concentrates and PCBAs. Thousands of ounces of “green” gold were produced during testing conducted for some of the largest players in the gold mining industry.”

Looking at the projected financials Envirometal expects revenues of approximately $4-$6 MCAD for 2022 and $27 MCAD for 2023. For 2024 and 2025 the expectations are $95 MCAD and $100 MCAD. This is a very agressive growth plan which we will be sure to closely follow the progress of! Stay tuned for our upcoming extensive analysis of this new ESGFIRE addition.

Legal Disclaimer

We plan to subscribe for shares of this company personally in the current private placement.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this blog.







HydrogenPro signs MoU with L&T for Manufacturing Hydrogen Electrolysers in India

Company: Hydrogenpro
Ticker: HYPRO
Listings: Norway
Industry: Green Hydrogen and electrolyzer
Share price: 12 NOK at time of publication
Market cap:  694 MNOK
Comparable peers: Green hydrogen systems, Next hydrogen, Aker Clean hydrogen

ESGFIRE comment: We are pleased to see that our top pick in the hydrogen sector is advancing their global presence , this time in india which has a great market potential ! Green Hydrogen demand in India is estimated to grow up to 2 MMTPA by 2030 in line with the nation’s Green Hydrogen Mission, which would call for investments upward of $60 billion. We are fully aware that the stock performance for Hydrogenpro has been very rough lately, and the same goes for it’s other hydrogen peers. We have taken every chance to average down on Hydrogenpro stock lately since we think it has great long term potential. Out of the market cap of ~700 MNOK approximately 400 MNOK is cash. Therefore the actual enterprise value of Hydrogenpro is extremely low at the moment which gives an even bigger upside if they can meet their financial goals.

HydrogenPro AS (OSE: HYPRO) today announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Larsen & Toubro (L&T), an Indian multinational engaged in EPC Projects, Hi-Tech Manufacturing and Services, for a partnership to tap the emerging Green Hydrogen market.

Under this agreement, L&T and HydrogenPro will jointly work towards setting up of a joint venture in India for Gigawatt-scale manufacturing of Alkaline Water Electrolysers based on HydrogenPro technology for Indian market and other select geographies. The proposed joint venture in India is in line with L&T’s strategic vision to be present across the green energy value chain and HydrogenPro’s strategy of establishing a global manufacturing footprint to maintain cost leadership and ensure local presence.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. S N Subrahmanyan, CEO & MD, L&T said, “The energy industry is undergoing a tectonic shift with Green Hydrogen emerging as a key fuel in the future energy basket. We are delighted to have signed this MoUwith HydrogenPro. This will be a win-win partnership given our extensive relationship across the energy industry, deep EPC experience in this sector and successful ongoing collaborations with many MNCs and HydrogenPro’s focus to stay ahead of the curve as far as technology leadership is concerned”.

“We’re extremely pleased to enter this Memorandum of Understanding with L&T, an E&C powerhouse which is the perfect partner to establish HydrogenPro in the Indian market, a huge and growing energy market with tremendous potential for hydrogen-based solutions,” said Mr. Elling Nygaard, CEO of HydrogenPro.

“We are looking forward to this exciting journey and make this partnership work for creating sustainable infrastructure for the future. The Green Hydrogen industry is at a nascent stage with an immense potential to offer great opportunities. This partnership is a right step in creating clean, green and sustainable future,” said Mr. Subramanian Sarma, Whole Time Director (Energy), L&T. India has made the world’s largest expansion plan for renewable energy transition, with a target of 175GW of renewables by 2022 and 500 GW by 2030.

India is well suited for Green Hydrogen production due to the low generation costs of renewable electricity from abundantly available solar PV and wind power sources. The country aims to be among the world’s largest Green Hydrogen hubs and has plan for using the same across the sectors. It can also provide India the energy security by reducing the ever-increasing energy import bill and a pathway to green alternative for “hard-to-abate” industries, like refineries, fertilisers, steel, and transport.

Green Hydrogen demand in India is estimated to grow up to 2 MMTPA by 2030 in line with the nation’s Green Hydrogen Mission, which would call for investments upward of $60 billion.

About HydrogenPro:
HydrogenPro designs and supplies customized hydrogen plants in cooperation with global partners and suppliers, all ISO 9001, ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 certified.
The Company was founded in 2013 by individuals with background from the electrolysis industry, which was established in Telemark, Norway by Norsk Hydro in 1927. We are an experienced engineering team of leading industry experts, drawing upon unparalleled experience and expertise in the hydrogen and renewable energy industry.
Our core product is the alkaline high-pressure electrolyser. With the new electrode technology, they are able to increase the efficiency of each unit by 14% to reach 93% of the theoretical maximum. This is a significant step forward as the cost of electric power, depending on market prices, amounts to 70-90% of the cost of producing hydrogen, the value of such increased efficiency equals approximately the investment cost for the entire plant in a Total Cost of Operation perspective. The Company is targeting a production cost for green hydrogen of USD 1.2 per kg in 2022.

Legal Disclaimer

We own shares of this company personally.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this blog.

ESGFIRE portfolio company Char Technologies announces New Biocarbon & Renewable Natural Gas Project

Company: Char Technologies Ltd
Listing: TSX Venture, US OTC
Tickers: $YES.V / $CTRNF
Market cap: 42 MCAD at time of publication
Share price: 0.60 CAD at time of publication
Website: https://www.chartechnologies.com/
Comparable peers:
Xebec, $XBC Market cap $297 MCAD
Greenlane renewables, $GRN, Mcap $165 MCAD

ESGFIRE comment: We are delighted to see this new facility being announced by Char Technologies. We estimate the revenue output once fully operational to be $7,5 MCAD per year and the OPEX based on previous information to be around $15 MCAD in total.

TORONTO, Jan. 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CHAR Technologies Ltd. (“CHAR” or “Company”) (YES – TSXV) announces that CHAR will deploy, own and operate a high temperature pyrolysis system (“HTP”) located adjacent to a biomass power plant on land that has been reserved for CHAR by the City of Saint-Félicien, Quebec. The facility will produce approximately 5,000 tonnes per year of biocarbon and 250,000 GJ/yr of renewable natural gas (“RNG”), for which CHAR has received a letter of interest from the local natural gas utility. The project will be phased, producing biocarbon for metallurgical and carbon credit generation first, to allow for a more rapid deployment and shorter time to initial revenue.

The CHAR facility will leverage the existing biomass handling and processing equipment operated for the “Centre de Valorisation de la Biomasse du Domaine-du-Roy” (“CVB”) in Saint-Félicien, Québec, which allows for significant overall project capital savings. The CVB is a public-private consortium between the local municipality (the MRC du Domaine-du-Roy), the Société de Cogénération de Saint-Félicien (SCSF, owned by Greenleaf Power) and CharTech Solutions (CHAR’s 100% wholly-owned subsidiary). The CVB has been identified by regional political and economic stakeholders as a priority for the development of the forest sector in the region and in Québec. This circular economy project is part of the development orientations of the Government of Québec aimed, among other things, at reducing greenhouse gases and recovering thermal waste.

Andrew White, CEO of CHAR states; “We are excited to join the collaborative and forward-looking MRC du Domaine-du-Roy through the CVB to deploy CharTech Solutions’ leading HTP system in Québec and help position the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region as a leader in advanced biomass processes.”

“We are very enthusiastic about the arrival of CharTech Solutions in Saint-Félicien, since this allows us to take an important step in the development of the biomass recovery project,” mentions Mr. Dino Mili of the SCSF.

“The expertise of CharTech Solutions gives an additional path to the project, in addition to consolidating our desire to become pioneers in the development of this sector in Quebec,” adds the prefect of the MRC du Domaine-du-Roy, Mr. Yanick Baillargeon.

About CHAR

CHAR Technologies Ltd. is a cleantech development and services company, specializing in organic waste pyrolysis and biocarbon development, custom equipment for industrial air and water treatment, and providing services in environmental management, site investigation and remediation, engineering, environmental compliance and resource efficiency.

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Vicinity Motor Corp. Appoints MarketSmart Communications to Provide Canadian Investor Relations Services

Company: Vicinity Motor Corp(formerly Grande West Transportation )
Listings :TSXV , NASDAQ
Ticker: VMC.V & VEV
Market cap at time of publication: $137 MCAD
Stock price at time of publication: $3.90 CAD
Business: Leading supplier of electric, CNG, gas and clean-diesel buses for
both public and commercial enterprise use in the U.S and Canada
Comparable peer : Greenpower Motor , Market cap $144 MCAD
Website: https://vicinitymotorcorp.com/

VANCOUVER, BC – January 26, 2022 – Vicinity Motor Corp. (NASDAQ:VEV) (TSXV:VMC) (FRA:6LGA) (“Vicinity” or the “Company”), a North American supplier of commercial electric vehicles, today announced it has entered into an investor relations agreement with MarketSmart Communications Inc. pursuant to which MarketSmart will provide Canadian investor relations (IR) services to Vicinity.

“Our 2022 near-term commercial electric vehicle sales momentum is accelerating, and we are looking forward to working with MarketSmart to help share our progress with forward-thinking investors throughout Canada,” said William Trainer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vicinity Motor Corp. “MarketSmart is a leading Canadian IR firm specializing in results-driven corporate communication services and outreach, and we look forward to working with the MarketSmart team to inform and engage with our Canadian shareholders and prospective investors.”

Adrian Sydenham, President and a Director of MarketSmart Communications, stated: “Vicinity is the dominant Canadian supplier in the mid-sized heavy duty bus market – having received numerous awards and accolades for its products. Over the last year, the Company has transitioned its strong product development and marketing platform to collaborate with world-class partners to expand its EV product lines into exciting new market segments.

“Commercial EV adoption is set to increase as manufacturers offer increasingly competitive products and governments implement stricter policies, increase charging infrastructure and offer incentives. Vicinity’s C$140 million 2022 revenue guidance and expanding lineup of commercial EVs, combined with growing manufacturing capacity and distribution, is an exciting story to share with the investment community,” concluded Sydenham.

The IR agreement is for an initial term of twelve months commencing on January 25, 2022, with an option for renewal. Either party may terminate the agreement for any reason, with or without cause, on 30-days written notice to the other. Pursuant to the IR agreement, MarketSmart will be paid a fee of $7,000 per month, plus applicable taxes. The IR agreement is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Vicinity Motor Corp.

Vicinity Motor Corp. (NASDAQ:VEV) (TSXV:VMC) (FRA:6LGA) is a North American supplier of electric vehicles for both public and commercial enterprise use. The Company leverages a dealer network and close relationships with world-class manufacturing partners to supply its flagship electric, CNG and clean-diesel Vicinity buses, the VMC 1200 electric truck and a VMC Optimal-EV shuttle bus. In addition, the Company sells its proprietary electric chassis alongside J.B. Poindexter business unit EAVX, the Company’s strategic partner, for upfitting into next-generation delivery vehicles. For more information, please visit www.vicinitymotorcorp.com.

Legal Disclaimer

We own shares of these companies personally.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this website.

ESGFIRE portfolio company Earthrenew reports $15,1 MCAD revenues for 2021 and projects $25 MCAD revenues for 2022!

Company: Earthrenew
Listings: CSE Canada , Frankfurt and US OTC
Tickers: ERTH / VVIVF / WIMN
Market cap at time of publication: $17MCAD
Stock price at time of publication: $0.18 CAD
Business: Regenerative agriculture
Website: https://www.earthrenew.ca/

ESGFIRE comment: We are very impressed with the development of revenues for Earthrenew that shows a tripple digit growth during 2021. We are also very encouraged to see that the company projects a growth of 71 % to over 25 MCAD in revenues for 2022. This remains one of our biggest holdings and trading at a P/S multiple of 0,6 for 2022 guidance we think there is a big upside for Earthrenew.

CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EarthRenew Inc. (CSE: ERTH; OTCQB: VVIVF; Frankfurt:WIMN) (“EarthRenew” or the “Company”), along with its wholly owned subsidiary, Replenish Nutrients Ltd. (“Replenish”), is reporting revenue for January to December 2021 of $14 million, up 106% or $7.2 million from the same period in 2020. Since the closing of the acquisition on May 1, 2021, Replenish Nutrients reports $11.1 million in revenue. EarthRenew is also reporting 2021 revenue from power generation of $1.1 million surpassing 2020 power revenue of $0.4 million.

On a consolidated basis, the total combined revenue of EarthRenew and Replenish for period of January to December 2021 was $15.1 million. Consolidated results since closing of the acquisition of Replenish on May 1, 2021 is $12.2 million in revenue. On this basis, EarthRenew is anticipating positive earnings from operations results for Q4, 2021.

With the revenue leap coming almost exclusively from Replenish sales, the Company is focused on driving uptake within the regenerative fertilizer market, leaning into the Replenish business. CEO Keith Driver commented, “We are pleased to see the year-over-year growth in revenue from the sale of regenerative fertilizer on track, as predicted.  At the same time, we are close to commissioning Replenish’s expanded Beiseker facility, growing our granulated production capacity to 20,000 tonnes from 4,000 tonnes.”  

With the commissioning, EarthRenew is forecasting growth in revenues from fertilizer to be in excess of $24 million for 2022 (71% growth). This growth in sales will largely be a result of the additional production capacity for granulated fertilizers coming online at the production facility in Beiseker, Alberta, as well as some efficiencies in the blended fertilizer business.

Legal Disclaimer

We own shares of these companies personally.

Investing in stocks is combined with certain risks and it is possible to lose your entire investment. Our posts are made for Educational purposes only and are not to be interpreted as tips , financial advice or recommendations of any kind to either buy or sell any stocks.

Companies may or may not be paying us for content posted on this website.