Off-take agreement will be with Geomet because its the operating company - typical corporate structure
Why 3-6 months? Long-term partnerships don't happen over night. Potential off-takers have to test the material, among many other requirements. And I don't think it matters who's ultimately "calling the shots", as long as their incentives are aligned, which they are.
EMH did not sell 51% for $0, it was actually $29M (funds them up to FID) + a partnership with a major state-owned energy/renewables/EV company, which is great move from a strategic standpoint for numerous reasons. Most importantly they now have the Czech gov backing them.
Yes, Geomet will receive project funding once they get to that point, because that's the operating company. Nothing unusual with that.
I don't think I understand your basis for saying EMH won't receive anything. They own 49% of Geomet, the operating company that owns the Cinovec asset. They will receive 49% of operating cash flows.
EMH wouldn't even consider selling to CEZ until the operations are up and running and they can receive a fair price based on actual cash flows. So years away and at a much higher price. I honestly don't think CEZ would want to buy them because CEZ is not a mining/materials company. They need an operator (EMH in this case) to manage the asset. EMH will take this project through construction into production and collect 49% of cash flows. Whatever happens after that is fine by me, as long as they receive a fair offer.
And if 49% doesn't sound like a lot, the math would say otherwise: $1.108B NPV x 49% = $543M NPV vs. current market cap of $86M = 630% upside until hitting full NPV - I'm not saying we get there near-term, but even 50% of that is still huge upside. And that's only assuming a $12K/t lithium hydroxide price, which most experts would say is conservative for the medium term price. The industry is going to need much more lithium over the coming years which will require a much higher price to incentivize investment/production.
Hope that helps.
EMH Price at posting:
80.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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