Are they going to change their name to Mali Gold now ?
Chris was always talking about Lithium boom Mark II, so will it ever happen now, because there are a lot of new battery technologies being developed, and only some of them involve Lithium, and at smaller volumes.
Kodal only has a small market cap, so they won't takeover MLL, I think it'll just be a merger, which makes sense in the current environment. I'd say that Borg and Cowden are looking likely to be the MLL representatives on the merged board.
MLL will probably spin the merger as a win for shareholders of course, probably saying that it still gives them exposure to Lithium and Gold in Mali via their original investment in MLL, which is true.
They will also say that it gives them exposure to a Chinese partner, which is true. Kodal have a Chinese director who completed his PhD at the University of Western Australia. They have 25% of their company owned by Singapore based Suay Chin who have corporate agreements with Shandong Mingrui Chemical Co Ltd of China.
And they will also say that it gives them exposure to greater capital investment options, because Kodal also has a partnership and investment from SP Angel (London corporate/global financiers), and an SP Angel director on their board. So this is also true.
All of these arguments, are very strong endorsements for a merger, and with a bit of luck, the merged company will be listed both on the LSE and the ASX (probably via CDI's on the ASX).
I wonder what the Mining minister in Mali is thinking, because she repeatedly used to mention Mali Lithium in all of her presentations, she never mentioned Kodal though. Bernard, the leader of Kodal is a West Australian.
I'd say that a merger is the only thing that makes sense now, given COVID-19, and the resignations and capitulation by the MLL board.
I think that for the MLL board to try and wrap this up as a cost cutting exercise, and present it to shareholders as such, is an insult to shareholders intelligence.
Anyway, the more I think about it, the more sense it makes to merge with Kodal, otherwise this company could now drift into oblivion.
Of course there is the other option, they could sell it to someone else, one of the larger global Lithium companies who are using the downturn to pick up good projects, but who would that be ? The premise here would be that they have already spoken with someone, and that Chris no sees a place for himself now that the company is about to be swallowed up. It's a shame for him, because he had such great plans to correct all the mistakes made by PLS in the Pilbara and build a world leading Lithium plant.
As they sometimes say, " ..... the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry ...".
No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it.
The saying is adapted from a line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns.
Anyway, for what it's worth, here is a December 2019 short interview with Bernard.
Gw
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