Nickel/Copper Ratio Update, page-177

There weren't as many announcements prior to last year's major CR as you appear to be suggesting. Don't forget, we were in a trading suspension limbo for ~4 months in Q2. We were dead in the water from mid-March until mid-July.

What drove most of the SP activity in Q3 of last year was 1) BMM's arrival on the scene, 2) the bullish sentiment playing out in int'l Ni scene, and 3) the subsequent funding CR that POS tapped into on the back of this bullish sentiment. If you look at a daily SP chart of POS you will see a reasonably broad sideways trading pattern since late-2017 (notwithstanding our extended trading suspension).

It's also worth noting that there has been a wholesale change at senior management level (the operational side of the business). A new CEO (RD) and five months later a departed COO (MR). There has also been a material change at the board level (the governance/oversight side of the business). A new chairman (GB - existing board member elevated to the chair) and also 2 x new directors (nominees from AF and BMM, respectively) to replace DS and our outgoing chairman/acting part-time CEO (CI).

All this is to say that we have a new CEO and a re-jigged board coming to grips with being fully funded but in an environment in which the int'l NP was falling immediately following the CR. The NP bottomed out ~6 weeks ago but it's still below our target FS hurdle price for the BS project. Given this context, I don't think we should be surprised to see a pause in the initial timeline that was originally contemplated - especially when new people are finding their feet when the underlying NP was falling.

I agree with Red that the NP action since early-Jan had all the hallmarks of a short-covering rally. I don't think it was any co-incidence to see the sharp add-back to LME inventories, which coincided with the halt of this leg of the rally. What the NP does next (i.e. say, within the next 6 weeks or therabouts) will, imo, set the tone for how POS proceeds with its BS restart ambitions during H1.

I wouldn't t be too quick to dismiss the influence of the NP on POS and its restart plans, which the SP is strongly tied to. We have a very capable CEO in the form of RD, but he needs sign-off from the board to proceed.

Finally, it might be worth adding that, from my somewhat limited exposure to RD, I think it's fair to say that he is a different personality to CI and MR (i.e. the effective management team prior to RD's appointment). He strikes me as a quiet doer. That's not to say that there shouldn't be any communications to investors, but if you're fully funded and there's nothing to report, then my guess is that he's not likely to generate announcements simply for the sake of it. If you've got any specific questions, then it might be worth your while giving him a call at the office. I have found him to be quite approachable.

Z

PS. With MR's departure, I wonder if we've seen the last of Fredy...