Below is an overview of "Info about what news was expected - when it was due (when the timeline was announced)
For example Finalise Class 3 ECS Stage 1 & 2 Plant Germany 50 TPD - 30th June 2022 (Announcement per 16th May)
Finalise Class 3 ECS Stage 1 & 2 Plant Germany 50 TPD: Summary of what news/report/cost study was expected
30th June 2022: Date that the news/report/cost study was expected on
(Announcement per 16th May): The date that the timeline was announced on.
What this highlights is a consistency to miss deadlines even when the deadlines have been shifted, in some cases multiple times. So either, their team is overly ambitious and sets deadlines that just cannot be met or their team is not up to scratch and miss deadlines significantly even after adjusting them, sometimes multiple times. Its frustrating for a shareholder and i can only assume it would be frustrating for customers especially when they are trying to get in front of the line of existing customers and need recycling yesterday.
It will be interesting to see the upcoming Quarterly report and to see if any deadlines have once again been pushed back.
Before anyone makes wild suggestions I’m shorting or downplaying/bashing this stock as it seems any post that is not "this company is amazing" is labelled these days, just know that i have been a investor in this company before the majority of you when it was known as Reed Resources and they had the Meekathara Mine which was a disaster due to its grade differing from the mine plan. I am long on NMT and my average is around 0.33 cents even with the recent buys so i am happy with the progress, but in saying that, i guess i have higher expectations and higher standards from the management team and they need to fix this issue up as i believe its starting to take a toll on investor sentiment. For me, i don't care if the share price is 0.50 or $1 as i am a long term investor and care about the share price in 5 years time, but it does affect my projections of when this company will start turning profits and delivering dividends which i am not happy about. I don't post often as i prefer quality of quantity and hope other posters would do the same as hot copper is filled with 90% of rubbish that is a waste of time to sift through, possibly even 95%.
LiB Recycling
Finalise Class 3 ECS Stage 1 & 2 Plant Germany 50 TPD - 30th June 2022 (Announcement per 16th May) (Missed by 3 months and Stage 2 still pending)
Opex and Capex Study for 50TPD Spoke Pant in Germany was due in July 2022 (Announcement per 29th of July) (Missed by 2 months and Stage 2 still pending)
Opex and Capex Study for 50TPD Spoke Pant in Germany was due in August 2022 (Announcement per 2nd of August) (Missed by 1 months and Stage 2 still pending)
Engineering Cost Study for the First Stage was only delivered on September 13th 2022.
Its beyond comprehension how on the 29th of July Quarterly report they still advised that the indicative timeline was for a July Announcement when there was only 2 days left in July and it was delivered in September 13th. To report the expected announcement date as July on the 29th of July and then deliver the report in mid September is questionable at best. It is hard to believe that on the 29th of July, when the Quarterly report was published, that Neometals was not aware of the fact that they would miss the July deadline. Its either incompetence or someone was copying and pasting from previous announcements or something else...
ECS for 50 TPD Hydromet Hub in Germany - December Quarter 22 (Announcement per 13th September)
Keep in mind that the original projections above were for both Spoke plant and Hydromet Hub from my understanding.
50TPD FID & Execute Plant Supply Agreement - July 2022 (Announcement per 14th of March)
FID 50 TPD Stelco Plant - September Quarter 22 (Announcement per 16th May)
Spoke Plant Supply Agreements for MB and Stelco - December Quarter 22 (Announcement per 13th September)
Consider Investment decision to acquire up to 50% equity in Stelco Recycling SPV - March Quarter 2023 (Announcement per 13th September)
Spoke Plants Supply agreements for Stelco was advised as January in the video - March Quarter 2023 (Announcement per Crux Interview)
As you can see from above, this is our core business and it has continuously been pushed back from July 22 to now January Quarter 2023. Furthermore, Chris has said there is a number of car makers and battery producers approaching him to see how they can skip the line or get in front of it as they need access to recycling now but the way we are going, everything is constantly being pushed back even on our core project which is battery recycling and even with demand growing for our business.
Vanadium Recovery Business Unit
Class 3 Feasibility Study - 30th June 2022 (Announcement per 16th May)
Class 3 Cost Study was delivered on the 8th July.
They missed this deadline by a week or so which is fine.
Permitting/Environmental Permits from Finland - September 2022 (Announcement per 29th July)
Environmental permits have missed the deadline. My understanding is that Critical Metals is in charge of permitting approvals andit is one of the milestones they need to enter into a 50/50 JV with Neometals. Deadline is already missed by over 1.5 months and no news on when it will be received.
FID - End of 2022 (Announcement per 16th May)
ELi
Purification Trials - June Quarter (Announcement per 29th July)
Big miss on the purification trials unless i have missed an announcement. I have taken care to make this as accurate as possible, but do your own research and no guarantee that all of these dates are absolutely correct as its easy to mistype etc.
Completion Class 3 ECS by Primero - December Quarter 22 (Announcement per 29th July)
Electrolysis Trials - 2H 2022 (Announcement per 14th of March)
Electrolysis Trials - 1H 23 (Announcement per 29th July)
Big jump in timeline above. It would be fine if our core project is hitting timelines but when our battery recycling times lines are being missed and the supporting projects (not as close to producing revenue) are also missing, then this is an issue for me.
AACE CI.2 FEED Study - June Quarter 23 (Announcement per 14th of March)
AACE CI.2 FEED Study - December Quarter 23 (Announcement per 29th July)
Once again, another huge alteration of the deadline.
Barrambie
Completion of Jiuxing Plant Trials - February 2022 (Announcement per 28th of October 2021)
Completion of Jiuxing Plant Trials - May 2022 (Announcement per 14th of March)
Completion of Jiuxing Plant Trials - June Quarter 2022 (Announcement per 16th May)
Completion of Jiuxing Plant Trials - August 2022 (Announcement per 29th July)
As you can see above, from the 28th of October 2021 announcement, the goalposts have been shifted from February to August by approx 7 months and still havent been released from my understanding.
AACE Class 4 PFS - Quarter 1 22 (Announcement per 28th of October 2021)
AACE Class 4 PFS - September Quarter 22 (Announcement per 16th May)
AACE Class 4 PFS - December Quarter 22 (Annual Report 22)
Timeline shifted by approximately 9 months which just isnt good enough.
Execution of Formal Offtake Agreement with Jiuxing - Q2 2022 (Announcement per 28th of October 2021)
Execution of Formal Offtake Agreement with Jiuxing - October 2022 (Announcement per 16th May)
Execution of Formal Offtake Agreement with Jiuxing - Q1 23 (Announcement per 29th July)
Once again, shifted by approx 9 months.
Execution of Barrambie BOO/T Contract - Q2 2022 (Announcement per 28th of October 2021)
Execution of Barrambie BOO/T Contract - December 2022 (Announcement per 16th May)
Execution of Barrambie BOO/T Contract - Q2 2023 (Announcement per 29th July)
Once again, shifted by approx 1 year which is mind blowing.
Each project has a dedicated team, so there is no room for excuses why timelines are not being met. Yes, some external factors might've influenced some of them but its not good enough. Each project manager needs to step up and deliver. They have approx $60 million in cash, they can hire more staff to meet timelines as right now, i don't have any faith in Neometals keeping timelines.
In regards to Europe and the energy crisis, i definitely do believe discussion about Europe and its politics and energy crisis should be allowed to be discussed here as our core projects are all in Europe: EV recycling, Vanadium, eLi etc. So yes, when there is reports of big industrial giants needing to reduce capacity or close down due to the cost of energy, then it could have important impact in costs.
Furthermore, it is interesting that MIN hasn't taken a strategic stake in NMT as they have worked together on Mt Marion and are working on eLi together and CE usually has an eye for good value based investments like he has done with PLS and GL1. Furthermore to note on this, CE is wanting to establish a battery manufacturing plant in AUS with an experienced EV producer as MIN produces Lithium hydroxide so could potentially open doors for recycling here in AUS for NMT.
Hopefully, NMT can sort itself out and start meeting timelines and restore some lost confidence in management to be able to do that as it has the technology and is high growth commodities, has the cash to minimise equity dilution and has projects like Barrambie that are valued at close to $0 at the moment and they will hopefully spin that off like WIN which is doing well. I see a big future for NMT but they need to start delivering on current customers like MB, Stelco and hopefully Itochu and then start gaining market share quicky.
