This view seems to hold up with the conversation I had with Dougal on Monday. He said they would not be disclosing the purchase price or purchaser due to commercial sensitivity and he said that we were able to sell at market prices. And that we would see these figures wrapped up together with the PLL offtake revenue. I don't really think there is a need to 'hide' the sh#tty deal, we all are aware of it.
On the call I pushed about the downstream conversion at NAL and it was Brett's vision to go straight to carbonate and he and the board all agreed that is the way to proceed. (Take this next part however you'd like) He said due to the large investment in both downstream options, he said the further study is being completed at the request of NAL partners. I hope I am projecting this correctly as I was in the car at this time, but I clearly gave my view of that seems fitting considering the intentions of a certain partner wanting their sweet deal to run as long as possible. Given Keith's recently presented views on downstream at NAL it would seem to me its more likely coming from PLL rather than IQ but that's just my view. They are well aware of moving the downstream as quickly as possible to ditch the PLL offtake and as there are financial penalties if we are not producing by end of year 2026 (I believe financial year ending June).
I also pushed for information on the 'offtake coming in week's' fiasco. Turns out it was locked and loaded, and put on the table for the board who shot it down. It was turned down due to the overall vision to go downstream was not part of the agreement, it was only a short term 2-3 year agreement. They have gone back into negotiations regarding downstream processing as part of an offtake and believed that they should sell at market prices until that is locked in, rather than taking a short-term agreement at below market prices (we already have one of those
)...Wow, if only they would have put a comms together to tell shareholders that we hold the power in a big way when it comes to the negotiating table.
In addition he said the board is well aware of the lack of communication and is taking that on. I took away that they are all finding their feet as the company has grown rapidly in the last 2 years. And as much as I want to believe Brett was sacked for this and that, apparently the resignation came as a complete shock to all. Dougal was told on Sunday before it being announced on the Monday. What to believe, I don't know, BL could have lined up his own 10M retirement shares knowing he was about to bounce, no one knows but BL I guess.
I thought to mention this all yesterday but didn't see the need, yet given the recent pushback from this announcement I thought this might be some valuable insight for the rest of you and I didn't see any issue with sharing this info as I'm sure it would have been the same message from the company if they were to have called you. (I received the call in response to an email I had written last week).
Hope everyone stays well and that we can start moving in the direction we all see this going soon...boy can it be frustrating but my view is that we should hang in there.
(20min delay)