Yeah
@SplitFusion , the body language and posturing does seem to have a certain ' uncomfortableness ' about it when fielding the questions regarding Hydroxide conversion v Carbonate , so you can definitely feel a little bit of the competing tensions driven by the perhaps separate agendas and Corporate strategies.
So I agree with your comment about Piedmont like I said being more o a sales pitch and ' Promoting ' Piedmont's strengths and personnel ' Line-up '. However , and at the same time , you would expect this to a certain degree due purely on the fact that it is indeed a ' Partnership ' ....or at least in the eyes of Quebec it is meant to be one which shares the common agenda of producing spodumene chemicals in Quebec by year 6 in 2027.
So I personally don't necessarily see KP being taken kicking and screaming to the Carbonate strategy because he does say that they will be having a good look at this in the next 3 months.
And why not I say - Because after all , when it comes to ' pitching ' to investors and raising the necessary capital to advance the plans , when you have 2 separate Companies virtually pursuing the SAME goals from virtually the same resources , it does really becomes a ' staging ' event of ' Leveraging ' the chronological steps in raising the necessary capital , obtaining the desired level of Government support and funding etc.....
And this point becomes increasingly evident in a fast and ever changing Market dynamic for your products. In other words , it would be more difficult for BOTH Sayona and Piedmont going to the Markets for capital for the exact same reasons at exactly the same time for the exact same project. Equally , Piedmont has just undertaken a $100 million plus capital raise , so it is unlikely they would go immediately back to the Market for more capital for a project which has just all of a sudden become enlarged and ' fast-tracked ' - ie LIOH ' 2 ' which he claims will be announced and can be built in 2 years.
So on this point , it does make sense to FIRST leverage Piedmont's balance sheet and BFS....promote the strengths of it , .....and then turn around and announce the Sayona Finance and Funding and DFS ......including some scenarios regarding the early conversion of Lithium Carbonates at their Abitibi Lithium HUB.
And if we refer back to KP's podcast where he states COH at 22 March of $ 223 million ........ and near term cashflow in 2023 and 2024 via their SC6 projects in Quebec and Ghana , the overall agenda and plans start to make a little bit more sense.
More specifically he states he will have ' Excess ' spodumene production .......namely due to the fact that he says they will be producing spodumene concentrate in Quebec for around 2 years and Ghana another year after that before the LIOH ' 2 ' PLAN.
So that's really 2025 for Quebec spodumene before it can even be processed at their proposed 2 year build LIOH ' 2 ' plant , and then another year after that before they can introduce Ghana spodumene ....so 2026.
So then it makes sense to me that this ' excess ' spodumene concentrate ( 2 years worth ) from Quebec will be in part used to ' Leverage ' the added value from Carbonate sales to launch that ' THIRD ' hydroxide plant he speaks about being ' Probably in Quebec ' ...... or simply sold on market at the spot price to increase and ' leverage ' the early ' Economics of BOTH Piedmonts base case as well as Sayona's.
However , the only way Piedmont can really gain from those ' Early ' cashflows as KP states is if Sayona Quebec and Sayona were to payout a cash dividend. Because how else can you obtain the cash and leverage that cash flow from an operation which is still using its net cashflows in advancing its project(s). So that would mean a dividend at the earliest by 2025 .....but certainly NOT 2023 when he raves on about benefiting from the early spodumene production from Quebec but without being able to receive a ' Distribution ' from the venture without other shareholders receiving this cash payout as well.
And he speaks of their ' Flagship ' project in Carolina as most likely being their ' FOURTH ' coming into production mainly due to the additional permitting etc... So what's that then :- Quebec FIRST , Ghana SECOND , LIOH ' 2 ' THIRD .....and Carolina ' FOURTH ' ......or / Quebec FIRST , Ghana SECOND , LIOH ' 2 ' THIRD , and Quebec LIOH ' 3 ' ' FOURTH ' .....?........
So I think that is more the timeline we are looking at , and which means a helluva lot of ' Growth ' yet to be factored into the Sayona SP as we get the trickle down news of the Carbonate plans which again he spoke about in the ' Joint ' conference as being within the next few months.
What I also find interesting with my Buffalo LIOH ' 2 ' site selection is the very close proximity to the famous ' Welland Canal ' which provides ocean going vessel and shipping access ( except in peak winter ) right around through Ford's 2 Windsor engine plants and right around through to Thunder Bay and Ontario where he speaks of there also being high spodumene potential. And we all know how important Thunder Bay is shaping as an Ontario Hydroxide producing lithium HUB.
And so this is an interesting point as well in the context of Piedmont clearly NOT chasing any nearer term ' locally ' sourced spodumene from similar acquisition and off-take agreements from the Ontario players.
So this in my view .....the fact that he ( KP ) is not doing this is a good thing for the ' Partnership ' with Sayona and Quebec . Imagine if he were to do this now and what sort of impact this may or may not have on Sayona's current negotiating and Quebec acquisition strategies.
But make no mistake , the location of Buffalo NY via Lockport is clearly advantageous for further expansion and lower cost logistics and transport input cost as well as obviously NY states government concessional lower cost hydro energy costs. And especially as you believe that these locations and proximity to Quebec and Ontario are where all the North American spodumene resources are.
(20min delay)