General Discussion Topics, page-105601

You've gotta wonder though .....that on that day when FORD announced multiple lithium supply deals including Nemaska and Albemarle ....ALL on the same day virtually - Why couldn't they make a mention of a deal with Sayona. I mean why not. Is it because G.M is not ready to announce a deal ?.....

I'll tell you what I think could be a reason or reasons behind ALL this apparent cosmetic ' secrecy '.

And the theory goes something like this :-

We all should know how important by now the ' Made in Quebec ' aspirations are. We should also know how secretive they seemingly are with relevant announcements in this area. And while on the surface they don't seem to be backwards in going forwards with relevant supply chain announcements with respects to Becancour's HUB which includes it's well supported and endeared Lion Electric ....and its nearby Battery Plant location.

But ALL of that is where the promotion ends and the ' Secrecy ' seemingly begins with respects to Lion Electrics. So we know they have a twin giga factory in Joliet, Illinois ........ but did you know that they actually manufacture , assemble , and produce their own Lithium-ion batteries for their near future forecasts of 14,000 vehicles per year.

And knowing that then , try and find out where they source their lithium from....

In doing so , all you will seem to come up with is multiple articles stating that they had signed a ' non exclusive ' multi year deal with a ' Top Tier ' cell maker to supply their lithium-ion battery cells.

I mean why not just come out and say for at least the promotional benefits who your ' Top Tier ' supplier actually is ......and from their map the pathway as to where they are likely to be sourcing their lithium from.

So o.k from there , all we are left with is to pursue the simple supposition that this business ....particularly their business of Heavier and specialised vehicles like buses and emergency services vehicles.......perhaps even Military Vehicles.... is about the ' Relationships ' that these sorts of businesses gravitate to.

So here's the picture I am going to try and paint here with some speculation.

O.K so with Lion Electric , we know they gave their Vehicle Financing to Mitsubishi......

And we know that Mitsubishi Electric has been involved in the manufacture of battery cells for a long time and more recently with their partnership with Novali in Europe.

So its not really a stretch as we also know that Mitsubishi Minerals Resources Group has been eyeing off significant investment in Nickel , Lithium , and Copper projects in so far as its increased interests in the critical minerals space and has commented directly on this as recently as only 2 months ago. ( refer attached article below . )

So what's interesting then when you tie it back to Sayona's seemingly constant pushed out rhetoric of the ' OTA ' is only a matter of weeks away yadda yadda.....

is that this potential US$3.5 billion sale of its 2 Queensland coal mines with BHP was initially announced by BHP's intentions back in Jan - Feb 2023 ....which was then followed by this ' once that sale was completed ' , Mitusbishi would be on the hunt ........to what now is the current situation whereby BHP and its partner Mitsubishi now have a potential shortlisted bidder in BUMA the Indonesian Contractor which now brings this potential Auction to 4 potential bidders....with a 5th still being ' unknown ' at this stage.

So given we are now a further 1 month down the track from where they ( BHP & Mitsubishi ) were at in regards this potential sale , I would say there is still a bit of paperwork to get through given the sale involved amending a 54 year old Queensland Government Act which would be required for it to sell these 2 assets in the partnerships 8 mine stable I believe. Irrespective , this could be one of the reasons the can is being ' kicked down ' the road until Mitsubishi is ready with finance to make a multi year and potentially multi $billion dollar deal with Sayona.

Now it wouldn't be the first time that the Japanese have come into the conversation either.....and the obvious sensitivities that Quebec and Canada have spoken openly about in regards to wanting BOTH countries as strong Canadian participants having regards to their still cultural difference based on the history between these two nations.

So I can see why there might be some secrecy's and sensitivities regarding any deals along these divides. It becomes political as much as it is financial.

It wouldn't be the FIRST time either that the Japanese are heavily involved and interested in Canadian Critical minerals as we already have Sumitomo Canada invested in our other near neighbor and large tenements holder Kennorland Minerals.

So I do like this linkage of the common thread of ' Secrecy ' weaving its way through the much established in the eyes of the US Dept of Industry and DOE .... being that of Lion Electric and their connections to Quebec and Mitsubishi.

Whether a deal with either of them would be in the interests of Sayona is an interesting proposition. Because on the one hand , Quebec would want the best deal for another fellow Quebec leader in this space , but on the other hand they would want Sayona's assets in downstream to be developed to the most optimum cost ability and output for the longer term ...with a partner with very deep pockets and who would also be happy to work closely perhaps with other partnering organisation from other politically sensitive regions - ie Korea .

So in this scenario , it can be clearly seen as a real balancing act for Quebec and Sayona to navigate through. Even the thought of our FIRST deliveries going to Japan rather than say Korea may offend some of the involved negotiating parties. So there is indeed a diplomatic bent to it with ours and Canada's allies.