Was reflecting on this point;
"The spodumene concentrate product samples have been produced for supply to, and potential qualification with, strategic groups across Japan, China and Europe."
Whom might have that been? refer to Post #:
54265536 about the groups that attended our pilot plant ceremony.
Japan
Japanese strategic group (unknown)It might be
Mitsui & Co. Ltd. They are partners of two lithium projects in Brasil and Chile, and of a natural gas project in Mozambique.
All of them have to wait till we end the qualification processes for our spodumene and petalite probes.
Our updatet and improved DFS will be ready in 1-2 months time.
With at least those six groups in the meanwhile worldwide heated lithium race for our stage 2 - 2.4 Mtpa left spodumene capacity and investment flowing into African lithium mining juniors (Gangfeng in Mali and Piedmont in Ghana) I am very confident that we will have very favourable funding negotiation conditions.
Europe- Sibelco N.V. (unlikely at petalite offtake only - but maybe they will take SC6)
Sibelco is a global minerals solutions company and they serve industries like the glass and ceramics.
For these industires they need our ultra low impurities petalite and have signed the world largest lithium petalite offtake agreement with Prospect Resources.
ChinaOne of their subsidiaries, Afrochine Smelting PLC - ferrochrome project, is operating in Zimbabwe since 2012.
Tsingshan is a giant nickel and stainles steel producers and they would be pretty confident investing in Zimbabwe and wanting our lithium for their battery division, Ruipu Energy Co. Ltd.
"China-based nickel and stainless steel producer Tsingshan Holding Group will invest 10.3 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) to build a lithium-ion battery plant in the southern China province of Guangdong, it said on April 1 2021.
The project will be led by Ruipu Energy, the company's battery division, and will have an estimated annual production capacity of 30GWh.
The first phase of the project will start construction in mid-2021 and target an annual output of 15GWh by 2023. The expansion works for the second phase will start in 2022 with production targeted for 2024.
The new battery plant aims to meet demand for new energy in Southern China in light of the need for shorter supply chains, the company said."https://www.fastmarkets.com/article...-invest-1-57-bln-in-lithium-ion-battery-plant- Sinomine Resource Group Co. Ltd
Sinomine is our third largest shareholder, one of our two offtake-partners and we have a funding pre-payment commitment from them of US$ 10 Mio. which is triggered when the ball mill has been delivered and bolt installed.
They are operating in Zimbabwe as well with one of their subsidiaries, Sinononferrous Metals Resources.
We also have our russian counterparts but technically Asia not Europe.
Uranium One is a subsidiary of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom Group with projects in Russia, USA and Afrika (Tanzania).
Uranium One is still interested in being a major shareholder of Prospect Resources, an offtake-partner and/or acquiring our Arcadia project or Prospect Resources.
"We are considering the acquisition of mining assets in Africa," Polgorodnik said. "There are all the conditions for a quick start: high-quality raw materials, long-term licenses and an existing portfolio of off-take contracts."
"We plan to conclude a number of contracts by the end of next year (this year - 2021)
," Polgorodnik added."https://www.spglobal.com/marketinte...-10-of-global-lithium-market-by-2030-60338014Alrosa is the leader of the world diamond mining industry, a Russian partially state-owned diamond mining company.
They are operating in ten countries, like Zimbabwe and Angola and have a strategic partnership with the government of Zimbabwe.
So who are the japanese group/s, who are the european group/s requesting our product. Noting that petalite is already over 100% offtake signed. and most of the SC6 is taken as well. Not much product left - and in high demand it would seem.
Good times.
SF2TH
(20min delay)