2023 AGM discussion and comments, page-500

I'm not exactly certain why we're arguing about CXO on an SYA thread, but since I hold both, I have my own opinion.

I am NO fan of Gareth (GM), and would prefer to see him replaced by someone that is more like Dale Henderson or the LTR team. He's done some things well, but there has been too little communication and too many mistakes, many of them big. In addition, since the world is generally not black and white, but shades of grey, I can give GM credit for getting the CR over the line and putting that $200M in the bank, but I have crucified him several times for the price ($0.40) of the CR, which was a TREMENDOUS discount from where the SP was when the CR process started.

The slowdown in CXO operations makes total sense, for a number of reasons. To begin with, mining an open pit and trying to work the tunnel shafts for the (still uncovered) BP33 underground mine during the NT's wet season is much more expensive than normal operations. CXO has telegraphed for months that they would build-up their ROM during good weather and then process the ROM when mining operations would be difficult during the wet season. In the annual, they indicated that they had built-up a ROM of 240 kt of ore, and as per the Strategic Review update on 5 January, the ROM is up to around 280 kt of ore, as of 31 December.

For the remainder of the FY (Q3, which just started, and Q4), CXO will save the costs of expensive construction and mining operations (again, it's much more expensive and less effective trying to run operations during NT's wet season). In a perfect world, El Nino keeps the potential wet season damage to a minimum, and, if we can get our miners/contractors back, we re-start BP33 development, drilling operations and mining Grant's Pit early in Q4. The whole time, we will be processing ore from the ROM and sending out a full shipment of SC, every month.

Thanks to the CR, which I think was priced ridiculously low, but is now a done deal, and leaves CXO with more than $200M in the bank, coupled with the fact that they have approximately five months of ore on the ROM pad to process and sell, without the attendant mining costs, which have already been borne, by the time we hit May/June, we should have well North of $200M in the bank.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't blind faith. If spodumene prices don't get into the "CXO is profitable" range by May, CXO could be in a world of hurt, but I honestly believe it will, by then. How profitable, and at what timeframe are the big questions.

All that said, I am currently more interested in how SYA becomes profitable, and remains that way. Much like many posters, I am not a fan of JB, either, and it is not lost on me that the two Lithium mining investments I hold that are underperforming are the two that are run by dodgy management. My bottom line take on JB is, you can blame him for Altura, or say it was a different situation, you can blame him for MC1's current predicament, or make excuses for him (and to me, those are already two big strikes against him), but whatever you think about his experience or his apparent "good job" at the AGM, recently, there are two more strikes against JB that are indefensible. First, there is the ridiculous conflict of interest associated with the fact that not only is he the CEO of both MC1 and SYA, the two firms actually have a JV, and it's the most basic conflict of interests! Secondly, SYA has been proven to be woefully out of compliance with basic ASX and corporate governance guide, which are supposed to be the basic cost of doing business.

There are so many SYA balls in the air, and there are so many balls that, well, we don't know where the heck they are, mainly due to poor communication by SYA, it doesn't make sense to make any guesses about SYA's direction until we see the quarterly, which is only a few weeks away.

Best regards, and have a nice evening