Many of you would have seen the posts yesterday about the AGM, and probably would have a good grasp on what's going on.
I have covered a lot of the info, but wanted to fill in the gaps, with other pieces of information I picked up on.
Overall, it answered a lot of concern I had around a few issues, and I left in a very positive frame of mind, excited about the future.
I just wanted to cover off on a few more points.
Q4 2022 summary-
Final NAL permit- verbally approved, waiting for the formal sign off in next few weeks, so could be this quarterFinal piece of equipment-filter press on route from Vancouver, probably installed this quarter
Q1 2023 SUMMARY-
Its going to be a big quarter for announcements and milestones.
- Further Moblan drilling and assays
- Moblan PFS.Talked about going BIG at the northern hub. REALLY BIG..... FAST and BIG and mentioned-you aint seen nothing yet...
- WA assays - Didn't seem too focussed on this and is happy to let it tick along in the background.
- NAL Production commencement
- NAL/Authier DFS-waiting to incorporate Authiers BAPE (possible) requirements....maybe none.
Offtakes-
- PLL 113k to be honoured from startup Q1 2023. Great relationship with Keith and Patrick. Asked him what Keith was like to work with. said great, but they were 2 very different people from different backgrounds-mining, wall street. Didnt seem worried about revenue in 2023 and that it would be determined as we entered production.
- Multiple parties engaging with them for lithium. Brett said' I could walk out into the street with a board and sell all our lithium, its not a problem' Mentioned Ford, GM,(and their requirements 100k+ each hydroxide) the Koreans and chemical manufacturers, even US department of defence which considers Canada us domestic supply.(cant recall if he mentioned stellantis, tesla) Wanted to ask about the Cleveland refernece??? No time.
- Weighing up short term spot v long term strategic partnership.
RELATIONSHIPS-
- Excellent relationship and trust with the Quebec government.
- Local engagement in Abitibi going well and big push for local engagement up North, with an office being set up
- PLL -excellent relationship. Anthony did mention the uncle Keith line after the meeting. He must have read it on HC and mentioned we needed them, but now they need us, more than ever., as their projects are struggling.... I said in jest , yeah it was uncle Keith, now its nephew Keith.....he agreed.
FUNDING-
I asked the question about money being thrown around by the US government and DOD and whether they had applied for any.
The answer sort of morphed from what I had asked to private funding offers from various un named parties. Talked about Canada being part of the us domestic supply and all the initiatives this affords. First time I have heard Brett mention the US department of defense.
US listing maybe in the future, which could open up more channels of liquidity
ADMINISTRATION
Moving to new offices in December, in the CBD.
New finance manager and office staff to assist Paul
Should improve comms and reduce errors to ASX
STAFFING
Having great staff, with all these labour shortages, has been invaluable.
Particularly when 50% of the staff employed have worked at NAL before. Sayona Quebec had fast become the employer of choice and they have been able to cherry pick the best candidates.
100 staff currently full time, moving to 180 in a few months once we hit production. The culture at the plant has been very positive, as people embrace the EV revolution, and a sense that they are part of a change for the better....for their kids and for the planet. ( I just had a vision of Wallaby rolling his eyes at me!
)
We spoke about Moblan as well, and as we train staff at NAL, we will eventually be able to move people around for the start up at Moblan and on train the permanent staff there. He kept mentioning '
no-one has what we have', in North America, in reference to facilities and people.
I touched on Whabouchi ....but he countered and mentioned they had struggled are continually struggling to get staff.
MOBLAN
4 drills round the clock for 36000mAssays pending.
Another drilling campaign to start in December.
Going really BIG...think greenbushes of the North
Environmentals already started
PFS in March, with DFS to follow quickly in September
Local engagement already started
Up to 3 mines/concentrators, feeding a refining plant
100,000 tonnes hydroxide, at least 600,000 tonnes sc6
And today....massive land acquisition, on strike...and strategic JV
Staff from NAL to assist , then on train
NAL
All about the speed and tonnage
Production on track, 226 nameplate confirmed.
Staff in place and still ramping, can be used to help Moblan start up.
Offtake talks continuing
POSSIBLE ADDITIONAL CONCENTRATOR and infrastructure, to cater for output from 4 properties- Authier, Valee, NAL, Tansim
It makes you wonder...we have all been thinking the additional tailings and waste rock facilities were for Authier, the increased LOM and throughput. Jourdan has probably been on our radar for quite some time.
SO DID OUR INCREASED TAILINGS/WASTE ROCK PLAN ALWAYS INCLUDE AND CATER FOR ADDITIONAL ORE/CONCENTRATOR FROM VALEE???
To some extent, maybe. It certainly would have been in the back of their minds,
Or maybe they will just cross that bridge when they quantify a joint mine plan NAL/Valee, and design everything when the plan starts coming to fruition.
REFINING
In words and body language, Brett/SYA is extremely committed to fulfilling the obligations set out by Quebec.
He said- '
we are committed to refining in Quebec in 2025' He felt very strongly about this and left zero doubt in my mind, that this will be our path forward, both at NAL and the northern hub....period.
The company's narrative on this now is a full focus on refining...
I wanted to ask about the Moblan PFS not including refining, but ran out of time. Read the take over paragraph for more info.
ESG
Everybody who speaks to them, has a greater and greater focus on ESG, which is becoming a key point required for a quality partner.
They have proved their green credentials and low carbon footprint for both NAL and Moblan.
Brett said these operations use a lot of power...'
then we show them our green hydropower rates', which are the cheapest in Nth America.
So they now understand, we basically have the cheapest greenest power available in Nth America.....and , unlimited water...
It has gotten to the point, when prospective off-takers call and start discussing this aspect, they now just ask
'You are in Quebec, right?'
and Brett says 'Yes, we are in Quebec' and the prospective buyer says'OK, lets move on' It was one of the main reasons Brett pushed for Quebec.
In this regard the province of Quebec has an ESG reputation which proceeds itself, and is now recognised and understood,worldwide.
TAKEOVERS-
We spoke about this a little, after the meeting.
Obviously I wasn't privvy to the Troilus deal at this stage, but we had touched on Jourdan.
I mentioned -It looks like will be the ACQUIRER, NOT THE ACQUIRED. and Paul and Brett both nodded.
Paul mentioned there were sharks circling, and as we got bigger, it just attracted bigger sharks.
I said- 'yes these big boys can be very aggressive and he agreed.'
So, as we have witnessed just today, we have acquired more land.....much more.
We have strategically protected our borders and resource at NAL, by acquiring/JV'ing with Jourdan, because these old miners are smart enough to know that resources don't end at a property fence. They know that our resource continues along strike to next door, and have secured that resource.
And as I touched on yesterday, Brett KNOWS what he has at Moblan.
He knows the scale and knows the possibility.
Lac Albert is 15 times the size of Moblan, but this Troilus deal blows even that away. The amount of land we now have access to up north is staggering.
And look at the map. Troilus' property , continues on strike from the proven Moblan.
This is where he was going with when he mentioned- Multiple mines, multiple concentrators, and going BIG at Moblan. Because at this stage, only the BOD knew about Troilus.This would be staged. Mine conentartor, mine concentartor, mine conentrator....all feeding at least 1 refinery....
How big???
Well, Brett did mention 100,000 tonnes/year of hydroxide big
Current spot price, revenues of US$8 billion/year...just the Northern hub
Now, would you want MR.Market to know all this while your MC is sub AU$2 billion???
Honest question-
If you all got offered $1 per share in an aggresive takeover, would you take it?Some would, some would'nt.
Instos may, PLL possibly(PLL could be fully funded for their own projects, particularly if they could negotiate to keep the offtake in place, in some form anyway).......probably more than enough would sell, and we could lose control of this company, which has the controlling interest in NAL and Moblan.
So, there is definitely a strategic game being played here.
They are building the value of the company to point where a takeover would be expensive....maybe too expensive to try????
It is also part of the consideration of having a JV partner onboard, with deep pockets
They know what the possibilities are at Moblan and the northern hub, they are just keeping it close to their chest....nothing formal, yet. And although we will see some assay results from Moblan, most will be revealed in the PFS.
Whether the PFS will state these grand plans for the North, I am not sure.
This is a quickly evolving company and there are some grand plans being formulated.
What is the master plan??
I think we saw a glimpse of it yesterday.
TONNAGE, as SB says, it all about the tonnage. We already have 35% of the resource in Nth America with a northbound trajectory...
CONCENTRATING- Multiple plants at both NAL and Moblan/Northern hub
REFINING- Multiple properties hydroxide and carbonate and possible by products
SPEED- First producer in Nth America on track, with refining by mid/late 2024 with first production 2025.
STAFF- Trained/experienced/local/cherry picked/engaged, with a possibility to service both hubs
FUNDING- Fully funded, with possible future options to JV/fund/ government support. CR's, thought we wouldn't see one for a while...not sure now with these future expansion plans...hopefully future revenue will assist.
EXPANSION- Get big, fast. Be an acquirer, not the acquired. I am sure there is other properties on the hit list...stay tuned...
ESG- Environmentals, cheap hydropower, plentiful supply of water
SOVEREIGN RISK- Little to none. As a matter of fact, as seen in Ontario with the Chinese, we will be protected,promoted and supported within our own province
IRA- considered US domestic supply . Brett mentioned the DOD, he has never done that before. And there was an article posted a few days ago, that the Canadian government had given them a list of some 70 projects in Canada of strategic importance. there ws another article today about it.
COMMUNITY- Building relationships, Locals engaged, listening to concerns both at NAL and Moblan.
And its not just delusions of grandeur...its happening, and happening fast.
So, if you can, hold on fellow Sayona brothers and sisters.
I see the shorters are working us over again today, normally it would vex me, but after the AGM, I have never been surer of my investment.
Let them have their fun. They may win a few battles, but we will win the war....
And, In the immortal words of Brett Lynch,
'You aint seen nothing yet'
Good luck everyone....
(20min delay)