Hi @MuppetPastor. Glencore don’t gain anything by pushing Galan...

Hi @MuppetPastor. Glencore don’t gain anything by pushing Galan to the wall except to press for a punitive interest rate. I suspect either a) the finance DD just takes an extraordinary amount of time and it’ll be finalised eventually, or b) they’ve decided they will not or cannot proceed, but for unknown reasons won’t confirm this to Galan. Both theories have holes but I can’t think of anything else that really makes sense.

If Glencore really wanted to own the asset the best way would be to offer finance with the assets as security - then wait for any wobbles… the old “loan to own” strategy. However Nagle is on the record as saying Glencore don’t want to mine lithium, just trade it. Sort of rules that theory out (for now).

I agree with you that I doubt Galan will be offering phase 2 offtake to them in a hurry. Certainly should be better partners out there, with an export license seemingly now a formality.