Simply put. I no longer trust the company. I find they are disingenuous, I don’t believe they respect shareholders and the situation many are in and I believe they are out of their depth just trying to figure out this situation one day at a time.
They still don’t communicate directly with shareholders in a transparent manner. I can’t count the number of times I’ve contacted the company during the suspension, alongside focca, stressing the importance for them to do so keeping shareholders informed about the situation at hand due to sentiment reasons. It actually resulted in them making an announcement or two, which I was surprised about since I thought this would be common sense.
To my point, you’re saying we need to read between the lines of what Rick was saying in the webinar in order to understand something materially about the situation and as a result vote in a certain manner. That puts me off.
To my point about not respecting shareholders and the situation many are in, they won't elaborate on what "other remaining strategic options" means and the company won't commit to returning all remaining capital by a specific date (if the M&A process is unsuccessful) and proceed with a wind-up of Leo Lithium even after receiving tranche 2 payment. There's no reason why they can't at this point in time. Rather, they are leaving the door wide open for themselves. If you read between the lines, this behavior suggests they are more incentivized to protect their own jobs and extract as much as they possibly can out of this company for their own means. The analysts I've spoken with are shocked, but understand.
As mentioned in my earlier post, the decision to sell the Goulamina project wasn't decided in the eleventh hour. They would have considered this scenario well in advance noting the government's stance and worsening political situation months ahead. Yet, they haven't even resolved the fundamental aspects that shareholders are asking, which reflects poor due diligence and them being out of their depth. Now all of a sudden we are being asked to vote on remuneration benefits, etc. while still being kept in the dark about a number of things.
Yet some individuals who speak with the company are finding pretty important information out through telephone calls (e.g. rationale for voting for resolution 4, Ganfeng's negotiation issues with Mali Government, company in data rooms with Ganfeng for M&A, Canada ruled out as a M&A jurisdiction, brine is an open option, etc.). While a lot of these questions have been asked openly through official channels. This suggests there is still an element of wanting to keep shareholders in the dark, especially ahead of the vote. Evidenced by the fact that information is always being leaked at convenient times. That shouldn't be the behavior of a company whatsoever, especially one of this size and one that is aware of how strained their relationship is with shareholders.
Oh and don’t get me started about that censored webinar. There were a number of shareholders asking questions about Firefinch in the context of Leo Lithium and on other important Leo Lithium specific matters, which went unanswered. It’s strange, to say the least, that the company refuses to address something (even in a political manner) that resulted in so much wealth destruction for shareholders. Not to mention, continues to be a risk for us. It would be better optics if they leaned into it rather than avoid. All analysts were calling this risk out 2+ years ago saying that Firefinch's actions didn’t pass the pub test and it would come back to haunt Leo Lithium.
(20min delay)