General Discussion Banter GLN, page-14069

Fundamentally, GLN seems to be going well. It's secured a binding offtake with a reputable global business. It has experienced ex-SQM talent. The DFS appears credible - not relying on any untested approaches to make the numbers work. It is making good progress in construction. Argentina is under business-friendly leadership.

There might not be any mention of Glencore in the cap raise announcement but duty of disclosure means if it has fallen through, GLN would have had to say that, especially before raising money. I don't know if no news is good news, but no news is certainly not bad news.

The risk is from the capital market and lithium price.

In the capital market, it is a big discount when you include the options just to get $18m. If Glencore falls through, raising $100m in equity would be challenging right now.

In the lithium market, a number of ASX lithium plays that were very optimistic not too long ago have undertaken strategic reviews. Whilst there will be Glencore representatives who are very keen on this project, I've worked with large organisations and you are never safe from some senior executive, layers removed, with a red pen. And the "binding offtake" ASX announcement is very clear about "Glencore's absolute discretion".

I hope to mitigate that risk, GLN directors are keeping alternative partners, the runners up from the earlier conversations they would have had, warm via informal channels.

What I would observe is that directors have put up another $1.5m of their own money. That is a big vote of confidence. If things with Glencore were on the verge of falling over, then this would be a strange thing to do. They're confident they can close this deal. I hope they're right!