Thank you for this paper
@EDTD. It is indeed an interesting read, especially given that it comes from PricewaterhouseCoopers. A quick flip through the report reveals PwC seem to be up to speed on both the urgency of meeting the growing lithium demand and the importance of ESG factors. ESG is given 7 entire pages of the report's 39 and is mentioned from page one. As you say
@EDTD, Lepidico are not mentioned by name, but LPD could tick all 4 boxes of the first page you posted, as well as the second paragraph on page 2.
Adding to the conversation above, yes I agree Lepidico have chosen wisely in selecting Abu Dhabi as the location for our Phase 1 plant, Karibib as our resource and Toronto as our corporate office. Management have their hands very full getting Phase 1 off the ground atm. However, and not at all intending to create a storm in a teacup, but in the space between our website's first page which today still states:
and PLP's 1 February 2016 announcement "Exclusive Agreement with Global Lithium Focused Lepidico Ltd," our chairman and metallurgist Gary Johnson, has always made clear that his eye is on global opportunities presented by "the largely overlooked lithium-bearing micas such as lepidolite and zinnwaldite." I would love to mark up all 3 pages, but won't, to avoid this post being more tedious and lengthy than it already is (sorry
@Logzy), but I reckon every LPD holder should read this, as this was Lepidico's starting point as a listed company. My trading platform doesn't extend back to Platypus Minerals (PLP) days, but HotCopper does, for any who are searching for early documents.
https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/ann-exclusive-agreement-with-global-lithium-focused-lepidico-ltd.2690961/
Discounting LIT, how are the team going executing their strategy?
So my point is: the plan has always been a global one and once our Phase 1 plant proves up our tech at scale, further doors will may very well open for Lepidico. The world will need plenty of lithium, with all industry experts forecasting a growing deficit across this decade, as the world adopts EVs and battery storage.
Yesterday, LTR's announcement included in its title "the development of a new world-class lithium processing hub in Western Australia." Many of us have held out hope that Holden's closed factory in South Australia would be repurposed to manufacture electric vehicles. A few days ago our Prime Minister was in the news reassuring Australians that he doesn't intend to dissuade them from driving whatever car they want. He was deflecting criticism on the lack of federal incentives to uptake EVs, in comparison to leading economies globally. This was front and centre news post Cop26. As the PwC paper above indicates, private enterprise may very well assist with a national transport transition, as will individuals' wallets. Even if it's kicking and screaming, one day Australia will have to catch up with both the world-wide energy revolution and ESG importance.
I intended to post much of this last weekend on a thread
@lloydray started, entitled "Additional Sources of Development Finance." You posed several possibilities
@lloydray and whilst Lepidico presently have only an office and a pilot plant in WA, there's no reason why one day, further down the track, we wouldn't have a JV with one or more of the many Australian companies holding mica tenements, or spodumene for that matter. We would therefore then be eligible for the governmental development finance you mentioned in your first post (
Post #:57528717). With additional partnerships, we could also perhaps receive assistance from the 2 export credit agencies you reference later in the thread (in Canada and the UK). Since our DFS, ECAs are always mentioned in our announcements whenever the subject of finance comes up. Of course, we'll find out more on this soon.
Here are mapped occurrences of lepidolite and zinnwaldite in Australia. With demand only growing, why would anyone just leave it all sit there in the ground? There are a total of 68 lepidolite locations and 20 zinnwaldite.
https://www.mindat.org/min-2380.htmlhttps://www.mindat.org/min-4419.htmlBtw, one last thing, something I have mentioned once before: if anyone has seen otherwise, please point it out to me, but I haven't once seen Phase 2 plans referred to as "the" P2P. Our Phase 1 plant is always referred to as "the" or "our" P1P. It's always singular. We will have one Phase 1 plant. In contrast, when Phase 2 is mentioned in announcements, management use the indefinite article "a" or without any article at all. On page 15 of our Annual Report, after discussing "identifying locations in the United States for a chemical plant:"
Walvis Bay in Namibia and Abu Dhabi will continue to be evaluated as prospective locations for a Phase 2 plant along with a possible location in Europe.To my mind, this implies a plural intention. Imo we (shareholders) became accustomed to thinking small after years of our share price being smashed, but I don't believe our management have ever thought small or had modest ambitions. It's just taking a bit longer to play out than punters would have hoped. It didn't help that anyone with vision here was accused by "contrarians" of upramping. I think this is nonsense. In both macro terms and micro, the writing has been on the wall for a long time and I for one am not going anywhere.
In saying all this, I mean no offence to any who hold different views. It's all just in my honest opinion and has always been. Serendipitously, I bought my first parcel 2 weeks before the 1 February 2016 announcement above, a month prior PLP having announced they were switching their focus to lithium. Our Tom Dukovcic was Managing Director then. He and Gary go back years. Our website gives his appointment date as 22 April 1999.
As for so many of us here, the premise upon which I based my first purchase has always been what is now playing out. To discuss the possibility of JVs and third-party licenses in Australia and globally is not a wild and crazy idea. It has always been Gary's plan. One step at a time.
Have a good weekend all. Cheers and GLTAH
(20min delay)