They have said all they can re the efforts to put into place...

They have said all they can re the efforts to put into place financing:

Australian Mines is seeking to move swiftly to finalise agreements with a range of project financiers including various export credit agencies (both Australian and international), green energy funds, commercial banks, mezzanine financiers, and international banks (for both debt and equity capital).These negotiations will be the subject of Non-Disclosure (NDA) or Confidentiality Agreements (CA) as is normal practice. Australia Mines will provide updates to the ASX regarding the project financing, in accordance with the Company’s continuous disclosure obligations and its commercial confidentiality restrictions.I note the "will be" which could imply that they are not in detailed negotiations at this stage with anyone which

if that interpretation is correct is a little disappointing and means nothing much is likely to be announced this year unless they announce some in principle commitment to a funding package subject to documentation/due diligence etc.

The other updates are welcome i.e.:

• The Queensland Government’s Prescribed Project status for Sconi is still in force and project-related assistance is continuing,
• The Queensland Government’s conditional financial package for Sconi through the Jobs and Regional Growth Fund (subject to certain conditions) is still active
• Due diligence discussions with the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) for potential Sconi project financing are also active and continuing. Australian Mines remains committed to providing the required project information to complete NAIF’s due diligence.

Some other interesting matters:

Consolidation

Following the September 2021 quarter, the Board initiated a review of Australian Mines’ capital and corporate structure to ensure they will support securing the financing to bring Sconi to full production and maximise shareholder value. As a result of this review, the Board intends to seek shareholder approval at the 2021 Annual General Meeting, for a consolidation of the issued share capital in the Company through the conversion of every ten existing shares on issue into one new share.

This is not unexpected IMHO and could point to a capital injection as part of any finance package.

Demerging Assets

The Board also intends to seek shareholder approval in early 2022 to demerge the Company’s non-core exploration assets into a new copper-gold-nickel (sulphide) exploration-focused company. It should be noted that the Board proposes to retain the laterite-hosted cobalt, nickel, scandium mineral rights of the Flemington Project (including the existing cobalt-scandium Mineral Resource15) within Australian Mines.Similarly, the Board also intends to seek shareholder approval in early 2022 to demerge the Company’s non-core research and development (R&D) assets into a new battery/hydrogen R&D company.Existing Australian Mines shareholders would hold the same percentage ownership in both proposed demerged companies (being the exploration-focused company and the separate battery/hydrogen R&D company) as they presently do in Australian Mines.Interested in others thoughts on this - it could be a positive as the other resource projects do have potential value and are probably not being recognised in the AUZ SP at present. Not really sure what value there is in the "Battery/hydrogen R & D company.