Thanks for your post
@Egeria - O.K for me that's an easy one to get my head around. For starters , the whole Court proceedings surrounding NAL is an open and transparent process with the public interest being very much at the forefront with the Quebec Government's investment of 5% on the line through Investment Resources Quebec (
Investissement Québec )
So the Data room being in the ' Public Domain ' is provided for anyone who is interested in participating , compiling , and submitting a final Bid. As indicated, these Bids are due to be received no later than 21st January 2020. Letters like the one which went out to Sayona Quebec would also be very much in the Public Domain - especially for those Listed Companies who have to comply with continuous disclosure rules of both TSX , ASX and perhaps other exchanges around the Globe. At the present moment , I know of no other potential ' Listed ' participants having currently expressed interest in the NAL assets. I believe there are good reason's for this which I will get to shortly.
In the meantime , ALL interested participants having requested terms of reference would then have access to the realms of information, legal documents and disclosures contained within the Data Room for inspection by any of the Bidding consortium's. The Bids themselves of course in terms of final ' Binding Offers ' would be confidential until submitted , assessed , and announced by the Court and perhaps other Government Ministerial members requiring approval's which no doubt will be necessary when the time comes in announcing the successful bidder publicly. Like for instance the clear fact of how and when the winning Bidder will inevitably be required to ' stump up ' the MERN mine site rehabilitation and restoration amount of $23.607 million ....which I presume will be ' non negotiable '. Perhaps in SYA's case this restoration bond will be able to be used as the provision for both Authier and the NAL mine sites. And this is where you may get the benefits of some very significant ' synergies '
I would imagine the data room will also include the comprehensive Federal Government study which was completed in February 2018 from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency which over viewed the complete project from a concerns , project development , as well as approval standpoint . Some of the main highlights for me where the status of the major components of the project which had been completed or in progress at that time. Remembering that this report was in fact completed just prior to CATL's takeover of the investment from Jilin Jien Nickel Industry in March 2018 with an approximate total investment of over $100 million , and at the same time leaving the Quebec Government still with accumulated Investment exposures of circa $20 million .
So I find it as no surprise in perhaps some of the inherent reasons why CATL was driven to it's recent progressive strategic investment of $55 million in PLS. Funny you are not hearing much about their potential loss of circa $100 million plus that they invested in NAL.
So when considering all this , SYA is not really putting a ' Bullseye ' as you say on the ' potential cheapness of NAL, as there are some significant hurdles to overcome in presenting if not winning a successful bid. I would think it's more about staking it's significant advantages of Logistical , Financial , and most importantly IMO - it's proposed methods of Quality of processing and supply of end product. So when you say the list isn't formidable and / or potentially not ' intimidating ' toward others who may be in the race ......I disagree , and would think this more an err in investor judgement and interpretation.
So IMO , there are deeper reasons why CATL made it's recent investment in PLS. With respect to say Nemaska potentially coming with it's own bid - I would think this highly unlikely as Resources Quebec already has a significant exposure to the Nemaska operation . There is also the fact that Nemaska has itself a myriad of unresolved financial strife's ,construction over runs , and commercial production delays , not to mention It's own Legal issues concerning the release of it's $40 million security deposit associated with it's Bondholders.
So although nothing is certain in this game , it would be much better to come out with a more ' assertive ' attitude and approach to stamping you intentions than trying to fly under the radar. It's a small world in the Quebec mining jurisdiction , and SYA will most certainly know who and where the potential competitor bids will be coming from. After TWO attempted failed attempts at operating this mine by direct Chinese companies , I find it unlikely that a winning bid will be from this market segment either. So IMO , I would have though it standard procedure , and far better to flex your muscles up front on matters like this , than to not........
(20min delay)