SKI to have final decision by end June, page-76

Hi Merlin - its quite incredible that you are the only other person on this forum with the insight to understand the critical strategic importance - to Auz' future - of these developments in Korea and China.

It's all about market positioning, networking, collaboration and competitiveness. Good to see these threats and opportunities do not 'go over tour head'.

The points you raise - that Sconi could become part of the 'bloc' and the GEM-Ecopro deal running until 2023 - are good ones.

As far as the 2023, date is concerned, it could be related to Sconi coming on stream but that of course is only speculation. It could be for a range of other reasons - e.g. hedging against change in battery tech from around that time; uncertainty of supply; optimising flexibility etc.

Much of GEM's product to Ecopro comes from recycling, but that will not cover the demand as the market takes off after price parity is achieved. Hence Sulawesi.

My point, as I have said before is that, if the Sulawesi project gets up, GEM-Ecopro will have no need for Sconi.

The following report illustrates the importance of the GEM-Ecopro partnership - and the future importance of the Sulawesi JV with CATL and the Qingshan Group.

FromNovember23to24,2018, agroup of five people from theECOPROcompany, LiDongcai,visited the GEM(Jingmen) Circular Industrial Park.The chairman of the party committee of GEM, the chairman of the board of directors, Professor Xu Kaihua, and the executive deputy general manager of the group, Wang Min, and other leaders warmly welcomed President Li Dongcai and his party, accompanied the guests of the ROK to visit the first-line production workshop and hold a project cooperation symposium. Wu Guangyuan, Group Quality Director Yu Bingzhe, the head of the related business department of Jingmen Park and the related personnel of the Group's battery materials and battery materials foreign market center attended the forum

Accompanied by Chairman Xu Kaihua, President Li Dongcai and his party visited the raw material pretreatment and high pressure leaching system, the ternary raw material supply system, the three waste control center, the high nickel precursor (NCA&NCM) manufacturing center, and the ternary raw material purification in GEM. The workshop and the cobalt sulfate crystal production line and the ultra-fine cobalt powder production line are all from the raw material end to the manufacturing end of the whole process production line and the joint venture factory workshop site.

After the visit, Chairman Xu Kaihua and President Li Dongcai held a symposium.Chairman Xu Kaihua gave a detailed introduction to the nickel resources and precursor protection system jointly established by GEM and Qingshan Group. Chairman Li Dongcai and his party listened carefully to the project introduction and expressed appreciation for GEM's strategic layout in the new energy industry.

President LiDongcaisaid thatGEMhas become a strategic partner ofECOPRO. In the past, the cooperation has achieved brilliant results and mutual trust has been improved. It is hoped thatGEM willcooperate in the expansion of precursor materials and cobalt-nickel products.ChairmanXu Kaihuaexpressed his gratitude toECOPROfor its help in the development ofGEM's precursor materials. He expressed his gratitude toECOPROand Chairman LiDongcai fortheir sincere cooperation and friendly spirit. Xu Donghighly recognized the future cooperation intentionofECOPRO; Xu Dong said thatGEMwill Do our utmost to ensurethe supply ofECOPROin the precursor; Xu Dong firmly expressed thatGEMcan guarantee the developmentofECOPRO'sraw material system in Korea interms of raw material supply system, process technology, equipment, talent exchange and system training, andcontinueaccording toECOPRO'swishes. Investing in the cooperation projects of both parties in Korea, we will try our best to promotethe core competitiveness ofECOPRO.

Through this exchange, the two sides further enhanced mutual trust and consolidated the foundation of strategic cooperation to further determine the strategic cooperation objectives of the raw material system, precursor manufacturing and ternary materials manufacturing industry chain, and cooperated closely with each other to create various resources and jointly create The globally competitive “raw material–precursor–ternary material” high-nickel ternary material industry chain enhancesthe core position ofECOPROternary materials andGEMternary precursors worldwide.

Figure1President Li Dongcai(first fromright)visits Jingmen Park

Figure2:Chairman Li Dongcai and his team discussed with Professor Xu Kaihua, Chairman of the Grimm Group

Figure3:Chairman of the ECOPROcompany, LiDongcai, speaks at the symposium

Figure4Professor Xu Kaihua, Chairman of the Grimm Group, spoke at the symposium

Figure5:President Li Dongcai (fourth from left) and his group took photos with the senior leaders of the Grimm Group