Hi @EDTD. I agree. Catching up on the threads last night, I too was surprised so many were surprised. We were always going to have this capital raise. Not only is the need for additional funds financially obvious to progress to implementation, but Joe flagged it numerous times. We're a non-revenue producing start-up. We need money to proceed and our management have always respectfully given shareholders the opportunity to participate in raisings.
The attendant negativity I also find surprising. Except for an adjusted timeline, there is no bad news. No loss of key personnel, no contractors going bust, no hurricanes or cyclones, no disappointing drill results, no glitches in our tech. Other than Covid related supply chain constraints, one contaminated batch of reagent was our only recent complication. They cleaned the equipment, up and over, more the wiser- resolved.
Holders who are still on board, but because of our low share price are seeking clarity, confidence or a renewed vision could reread our last quarterly report or listen to the 30 September Crux interview. Our tech is unique on planet earth, gang. Lepidico is reinventing the wheel at a time of rapidly increasing demand for new green wheels.
For months now Gary Johnson and Strategic Metallurgy's inimitable tech has been favourably tweaked by Lycopodium and by the US government's International Development Finance Corp's independent engineer Behre Dolbear Australia. (I read much into the latter's significant influence.) Financed and guided by Lepidico, our experienced and excellent recent hires Hans Daniels and Roly Wells are continuing to value add and polish our tech's capability and potential.
Are some holders not seeing the forest for the trees? Our timeline may be stretched, but it is not out of reach. It is closer and more achievable than it's ever been, as we march steadily towards production. Green hydrogen in the UAE, locally sourced construction components, a larger, higher grade resource, Cornish Lithium investing $1.6M.... How long would the list of positive aspects be after a read through of the last several years of quarterlies and announcements? Battery grade lithium to an additional decimal point, uncontested resources, our tech working on every lithium mica tested, critical mineral by-products, zero waste- I won't be pedantic and continue on, but to my mind our story has only gotten better and frankly it is surprising to see holders of many years bail because of why?
Will the DFC care about a slight slippage in the timeline for a more efficient, lower risk, lower cost plant? Will the strategic investors Jefferies is assisting us with? Arguably, the DFC's involvement has been responsible for much of the delay, resulting advantageously however in lower cost finance, our process' enhanced performance (using plate and frame filters) and the incalculable prestige factor and security of having US government backing.
At a very basic level, when things are rushed, whether that's getting dinner on the table, renovating a house or building a novel processing plant, the outcome is far less reliable. I sleep well at night knowing that our management and the parties they've chosen to partner with are thorough, exacting, patient, persistent, experienced, intelligent and ambitious. I trust them, both with the myriad decisions across our journey, but also ultimately to get the job done. As Joe said in the Crux interview, this has never been done before. They are doing their best to get it right before it's locked into a 3D form.
None of the above is what I intended to say this evening. I'll get off my soap box now and get to the point: every capital raise I've seen is from a low base, at a sharp discount to recent levels. The underwriters and large financial institutions demand their pound of flesh. However, they won't want the share price to stay at this level for long. They drove it down and have been accumulating for months. We have multiple announcements due in the near term. Joe mentioned in the recent Crux interview (at 21:00 minutes) "later on in October" for the new MRE, so this should drop before the closing date of the capital raise.
Our annual report will also be released before the end of October. During our 6 years listed, it's come out on Monday or Tuesday of the 3rd or 4th week in October, therefore also before the raise closes. Seeing the changed position sizes of our institutional shareholders will make for interesting viewing. Watching the trading action these past 6 months, my guess is they'll be larger, not smaller. Who is on our register may also be revealing.
Lastly, for bigger picture perspective, which helps to not take our share price persecution personally, CXO recently completed an institutional placement. Their 13 September share price high of $1.688 was driven down across 2 weeks to $1.09. The raise was done at $1.03, a 60% value to a fortnight prior. LPD's 1.8 cent raise is 60% of our trading channel's median price of 3 cents. Surprise, surprise. IMO we will have our day in the sun. In the UAE it never rains anyway, so we'll have years and years.
(20min delay)