So Folks - with the outcome of the Provincial Elections looming rather large in the background of SYA's mining expectations and intentions. I personally believe we can expect a lot of pivotal news over the next 2 quarters and much of what may even be sooner than most expect. Lets have a look at what we might expect on the near term announcement horizon :-
- The time clock is ticking down for a decision to be made on the prospective Tansim tenements. Comparison's From the Annual Report and against the Half Year Accounts under Liabilitiy headings (b) Exploration Commitments reveal that the Tansim option has not been factored into the liabilities category of ' Between 1 year and 5 years ' when the agreement was in fact potentially up to 2 years from inception. This can only mean that they are reserving their decision's on these tenements until access can be granted and initial drilling can commence to confirm proceeding further with further signing. Remembering the terms of the original Acquisition are as follows:-
Property Acquisition Terms
The staged acquisition strategy enables Sayona to obtain an initial 50% interest in the property through the expenditure of CAD$105k for claim renewal costs of the property, as required by the Quebec department of natural energy and resources. This expenditure amount is reduced by the exploration amount (up to CAD$65k) completed on the property prior to 31 January 2018. Sayona can then earn 100% interest in the property by completing the milestones in the timeframes outlined below: • Investing CAD$200k in exploration and pay CAD$100k in cash to Matamec within the first 12 months; and • Investing CAD$350k in exploration and pay CAD$250k in cash to Matamec within 12 and 24 months of signing. Sayona will be the operator of a joint venture to be signed between both parties to manage the property. Once Sayona earns 100%, Matamec receives a 2% Net Smelter Return Royalty (“NSR”
from the payable metals extracted from the property. The NSR can be bought back for an amount of CAD$1.0M per royalty percentage. Sayona will have the choice to buy back 1.0% or 2.0% NSR for an amount of CAD$1.0M or CAD$2.0M, respectively. If Sayona earns 50% but doesn’t proceed any further with the purchase option, Matamec can buy the 50% back property interest for CAD$1 and Sayona will receive a 2% NSR.
- High Grade Lithium results strongly expected from initial drilling campaign at Mallina. Many have said for us not to get to excited about the potential in this area due to it only being a 2,500 meter initial campaign. However let not forget that since 2010 , the combined drilling efforts of both AJM and PLS are in the order of close to 80,000 meters of drilling. And this of course goes a long way to confirming the vast and likely potential from this highly regarded lithium province. And I'm sure our geologists have ' Targeted ' these drilling targets with precise accuracy.
- Our corporate structure is starting to take shape when compared to our peers. The latest appointment could have on the one hand been argued much earlier , however you may also argue that it is just in time. This top level quintessential ' Salesman will be a key person in the many public and corporate negotiations to occur in obvious link to obtaining and selling the merits of potential financing / streaming and off-take partners - but moreover the likely near term TSE listing of SAYONA QUEBEC.
- A streaming deal with Quebec Lithium ( more likely- IMO ) and or Nemaska Lithium ( less likely IMO ) for say $45 million based on the sound economics of the recently released DFS could easily preempt any public listing of securities or convertible notes and be made conditional on both Mining Lease and / or environmental approvals coming in hot later. It may also be conditional on additional finance being obtained and so fits the current projected timelines being put forward. This is normally how these deals are constructed and so would expect none of the perceived environmental negatives being able to derail a potential deal or stop this process unfolding in SYA's favor ATM. It's all about securing supply now folks - for future demand in the near term - so this is why a deal is likely to happen sooner IMO rather than later.
- Following a tightly contested election and considering the possibilities of a minority CAQ party forming Govenrment and considering the obvious competing environmental issues in this area vis-a vis the Water Bottling operations and the overall preservation's to the Esker , I would expect upon review of all the research and facts that a Ministerial Project Approval would be forthcoming within 4 - 6 weeks from next week and definitely before Christmas.
All of these points highlight the significant ' BIG ' news issues which will be driving the SP over the ensuing weeks - and most of them have the potential to drive the SP forward like we haven't seen before. And we all know what that will mean......
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