CLQ have had a very strong Chinese presence for quite a while...

CLQ have had a very strong Chinese presence for quite a while prior to this EPC ann., Zhaobai Jiang has a 16% holding in CLQ and is Co Chair of the CLQ board, Binghan Li is a non Executive Director.

Robert Friedland has deep Chinese connections and was instrumental in getting Jiang Z on board, RF was one of the reasons I initially invested in CLQ 4 years ago, and I am clear and firm in my view that having RF on board is a major positive asset for CLQ, and I don't think I will be changing my mind on that matter unless I see some really compelling information to the contrary (and so far I have seen none). It would seem according to some of the posts I have seen here recently that having RF on board is some kind of liability, or that, he is regarded by CLQ investors as some kind saviour to an otherwise doomed madcap mining fantasy.

The simple fact is RF is one of the most successful mining magnates on earth, Sam Riggall has worked with RF on some of the biggest mining projects out there, and over the last 15 years or so they have raised over 15 billion dollars of mining project finance, and some of those mines have been very successful. I am not going to bang on about this, their resumes' are out there DYOR.

These guys know how to go about building successful mining projects and I don't think they have lost their marbles just yet, as I understand it they are very serious about building something special at Sunrise. They also know this is a high stakes business, so there are risks here, and there has never been any doubt about that. It should also be understood these people most likely take a good deal of pride in what they have achieved and would not be interested in seeing their reputations tarnished on a project that went belly up because they are "dreamers" or have lost the ability to do the due diligence necessary to be a continuing success.

CLQ have recruited Tim Kindred (Sunrise Project and Start-Up Director) and Steven Grocott to their engineering team, they are 2 of the most experienced laterite process engineers in the business, there are also other experienced laterites engineers on board (for the DFS CLQ had over 80 engineers working in Perth). One of the major investment themes that embodies the CLQ investment idea is that CLQ is (and always has been) a technology play.

This technology is what drew RF to take up 18% of CLQ and then become Chairman in the first place, so RF's vision was to employ CLQ technology to process Ni, Co and Sc at very low cost to provide some of the metals which would transform the transport industry. Also at the same time, introducing new mining technology, which would transform the mining industry. That is the play here, and if you are invested in CLQ this needs to be understood - it is not just a Ni Co and Sc project, it is a bold vision no doubt, but according to CLQ the CIF IX will work and CLQ will then sell the technology to mines all around the world .

There have been many posters here in recent times (including some who have experience in the industry) who have called the Sunrise project into question because CLQ are using their CIF IX technology instead of what has always been done before. It has even been claimed that CLQ don't even own the IP any longer - as if someone who is globally recognized by their mining peers would make a blunder of this magnitude - RF and the CLQ board have put together a very strong team with the view to be very successful here - they are very focussed on making this thing work and they are confident in their ownership of their IP. This doesn't mean there won't be any problems, but these people (RF, SR) have a very good record (and they have both been buying shares lately).

According to Richard Glass at CLQ IR , they are very excited to sign off on the EPC with MCC and they have spent 2 months since releasing the DFS considering and working through the pros and cons, CLQ believe this is the best way for them to proceed. The notion that management of this calibre would not have done due diligence on such an important deal is just simply ridiculous (but this is what some detractors will try to throw around, so that they can play with share price volatility to make money at your expense), MCC also built, and are partners in the Ramu mine which is one of the largest Ni Co laterite plants outside of DRC. The fact is from an investment point of view this is an important milestone because we now have certainty about how the mine build will be done; and now CLQ can focus more on completing off-takes and the financing to get Sunrise going and they are going hard at it.

Which brings me back to China (I don't regard myself as either a Sinophobe or a big China fan, however they are our biggest trading partner and they are getting bigger), CLQ has a signed 20% offtake agreement with Beijing Easpring for Ni and Co, then there is the International Commercial Bank of China who are in the MLA group appointed to raise capital for Sunrise. There is a strong Chinese connection, but when you look at it from the point of view that China is going to be putting more EV's on the road than anywhere else on earth, a strong Chinese connection makes sense; I would also say, that at no point have I heard CLQ say they wouldn't deal with anyone who wasn't Chinese.

This year has been a stark contrast to 2017 if you have been invested here that long, and the same goes for virtually all of the cobalt hopefuls (and lithiums), but price levels that were reached last year were unsustainable and as a result there has been lots of hands letting go or taking profit, lots of shorting, the instos and their bots accumulating at ever cheaper prices and the day traders taking advantage of the volatlity and liquidity particularly here at CLQ. Another scenario that has developed here is the sniping that has unfortunately become a regular feature here, there is a poster who regularly downramps here (doesn't hold and says sell) - this same person holds another Co stock and he recently got very annoyed with a number serial downrampers over at that forum, but simply doesn't see the double standard he runs being a serial downramping pest here, go figure.

CLQ has been somewhat of a bell-weather or tall poppy (with our high powered management and big market cap) in this sector, so it's no surprise there are going to be some out there who want to cut CLQ and its' holders down to size and take some joy from doing so. I notice this stuff, but on the whole I don't have much energy or time (being quite time poor at the moment) to give them myself, but having said that I do rate some of the posters here who fly the flag, still this forum was a more amenable place before the DFS and I believe there will be more of that to come, anyway I'm rambling time to go to bed.

Off-takes will come and so will the finance, thats my bet anyway. GLTAH