Potential Unreported Material Changes and/or Misrepresentations made by Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd.

The report argues that Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (ReconAfrica) shifted its public narrative from targeting unconventional shale resources to conventional ones after the Namibian government clarified that no fracking licenses had been granted. The authors claim that ReconAfrica removed references to 'shale' and 'unconventional' from its website, investor presentations, and personnel biographies while continuing to rely on resource estimates and a technical team specialized in unconventional plays, potentially violating Canadian securities laws on material disclosure.

• Prior to September 18, 2020, ReconAfrica explicitly marketed its operations as targeting unconventional shale resources, analogizing the Kavango Basin to the Permian Basin in Texas and the Karoo Basin in South Africa.
• On September 18, 2020, the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy and Reconnaissance Energy Namibia (REN) issued a release stating that ReconAfrica's license was for exploring hydrocarbons and conventional reservoirs, and that no license for unconventional resources or fracking had ever been granted in Namibia.
• Following the government's announcement, ReconAfrica shifted its public communications to state it is targeting conventional oil and gas and is not fracking.
• ReconAfrica systematically removed or altered terms such as 'unconventional' and 'shale' in its website content, investor presentations, and technical briefs, often replacing them with the more generic term 'source rock'.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2021). Potential Unreported Material Changes and/or Misrepresentations made by Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2109015-AG-CIEL-GLA-TSXV-Submission.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Potential Unreported Material Changes and/or Misrepresentations made by Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. 2021. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2109015-AG-CIEL-GLA-TSXV-Submission.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Potential Unreported Material Changes and/or Misrepresentations made by Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. |date=15 September 2021 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2109015-AG-CIEL-GLA-TSXV-Submission.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2021potential, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Potential Unreported Material Changes and/or Misrepresentations made by Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd.}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2109015-AG-CIEL-GLA-TSXV-Submission.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }