I saw this post over the weekend and thought it a good question and something worthy of further exploration. So here's my take, using a historical context as a "rough" guide.
And apologies if I am re-hashing old news. I think it's worthy of discussion, more so than some of the other topics appearing in this thread.
Now cast yourself back to 2007.
White Energy (ASX: WEC) had (or may still have, I am not up to date with their operations of late) a coal briquette product. It was designed to upgrade low-rank coals to a higher value, higher calorific brick which could then be used as feedstock to power stations, boilers etc. You get my drift and probably think- it sounds like Coldry.
Indeed it was(is) like Coldry and the market interest in this stock back in 2007 was what put ECT on my radar for the first of my tranches of investment. The world was pre-GFC and the political will did appear to support the upgrading of low rank coals- it seemed a perfect storm even back then.
At least BHP thought the same and struck a deal with White Energy to the tune of $42M.
So what effect did this have on White Energy- the market placed a near $1B valuation on it. There's no denying the facts, the deal attracted a lot of attention and many (like myself) thought it would herald in an age of political reason in which long term environmental concerns would be balanced with economic growth and stability, something we don't quite have balanced at the current time.
The GFC hit and it all went up in smoke but the point of this post is the market can see well ahead of what you and I think determines fair value. And keeping in mind this was a deal solely to produce low rank coal turds- what might market think when it eventually realises that we are dealing with not only one technology (Coldry) but are working towards "disruptive" technology for the steel industry.
It might take time- but with financial closure we will have struck a deal with two multi-billion dollar companies to help promote two of our techs. The market will certainly take notice with the right marketing and story. What the market does with this is anyones guess but for me- even after a decade of failures and steps backwards- I'd rather hold to find out.
My 2c for a Tuesday morning. I am happy to hear rebuttals.
ECT Price at posting:
1.2¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)