I can see that apart from the obvious need for Piedmont to secure supply in relatively a short and finite time period that it makes sense to look for the most Beneficial ' low cost ' , low carbon ' footprint ' Greenfield's hard rock projects in the closest possible logistical ' reach ' that they possibly can.
And frankly there are not that many of these types of ' Quality ' hard rock projects left to cherry pick really. Sigma has pretty much locked up it's future output with Mitsui for BOTH it's stage 1 & 2 production from it's Brazilian XUXA twin pit Lithium mine development.
So a lot of it is about logistics when you consider that Sigmas production is around 7,000 kilm's to various locations in the US including Piedmont North Carolina Lithium HUB and almost 10,000 kilometres to Mitsui's facilities in California. This compares to obviously Sigma's off-take partners location in Japan should they elect to ship that far of almost 18,000 kilometres to Tokyo. And this is a significant point when you look at say Australia's logistical location of its Lithium production being roughly 6,500 kilometres to China , 7,100 to South Korea and 7,300 to Japan. And this all compares to the 8,400 and change from Ghana to North Carolina which then compares and is significantly lower to the just over 18,000 kilometres from La Corne to North Carolina. Interesting that it is around 13,600 kilometres from Western Australia to Ghana.which is significantly less than the 18,000 odd from Sigma's Brazilian projects to that of Japan.
So a lot of of it has to do with the Quality of the deposits , the LOW cost and the Logistical location which feeds back into the low cost. So my understanding with Iron Bridges Ghana Lithium projects is that it meets ALL the criteria and ticks all the boxes. It is one of the lowest cost hard rock proposed spodumene projects mainly due the conversion of its' now 50% agreed sales in USD$ to that of the local currency which is some 80% less on conversion ( or in some 600% more bang for each USD$ of sold product ) in terms of its local content and operating costs including wages. The quality of their spodumene seams seem to be very high in grades as well as being similar in thickness including very low iron content of less than 1% which is what Brett spoke of as well in relation to the Authier Deposit and pit features.
The Ghana project also has significant lower costs of power as a result of its access to Solar and is significantly positioned to the highly strategic logistical proximity to the Ivory Coast Ports which is very very important to Africa in general. As a result of these strategic advantages of Location , low cost of power , and a significantly lower sovereign currency they are able to achieve quiet stellar Lower overall costs as reflected in its 125% project IRR off a significantly lower LOM of what I understand to be only 8 years. ( happy to be corrected on that ) .
On top of all that , I don't think you can dismiss the United States's Strategic Interest here with respects to the Chinese belt and road initiatives going on in Africa more generally so essentially , through Piedmont who is now a US domiciled Company , this strategy of securing access to this important Port on the Ivory Coast with it's aim of ' Pumping ' in US dollars and investments has a significant advantage there as well. Everyone want's US $Dollars ......even the Chinese. When was the last time if ever any of you have seen a minerals contract or any other significant global commercial contract be priced in anything else but US dollars. Nobody prices them in Renminbi's or Yuan right ?.....
So this project meets BOTH the requirements of Piedmont ensuring it can secure it's supply and subsequently satisfying its back to back agreements with Tesla as well as at the same time being a significantly Geo Political and strategic move which fits nicely with US strategic metals foreign policy which in turn may even assist Piedmont in securing further available US Federal funding for it's own projects including it's 25% interest in Quebec.
So with BOTH Ghana and Quebec now secured , it would seem that Piedmont now has locked in perhaps TWO of the ONLY remaining significant high quality , lowest cost , and lowest Carbon footprint hard rock spodumene producers which is more readily available in the nearer term.
So these TWO remaining available HUB's l seem to be the best strategy for them ( Piedmont ) left which can produce the most Optimum mix to its end product offering to its US based Customers.
Very clever move in my Opinion because it BOTH recognizes and realizes multiple strategic objectives while at the same time ' pulls ' in it strongest trading Alliance of US - Canada - Australia for the longer term. Keith should perhaps think of a longer term career in Politics after he leads and assists in the build up up these 3 mining companies whilst at the same time strengthening the Diplomatic ' Foot Print ' and tie ups along the way.
So very smart moves and yet at the same time very obvious as well.
(20min delay)