It sounds like they were sure Sibanye would take up the option, and so INR has been caught napping.
I can't blame them though, because the CEO of Sibanye did say they would take up the option, it was just that at the time he did not know how they were going to find the capital, though he did say not through another loan or capital raising, which means they probably had to sell one of their other projects in order to free up the funds.
It's interesting that soon after this, the long term CEO and founder of Sibanye announced he would be retiring this year. He was the one leading the company into the Lithium space. The new CEO was less enthusiastic.
I think there may have been some disagreements at Sibanye board level, and with the way the company was heading. It looks like the old long term CEO and founder may have been politely asked to retire.
If he was still in charge, I get the impression that they would have gone ahead with INR, which is probably what the INR directors were counting on. They've been hoodwinked and taken by surprise I think, by the changing of the guard at Sibanye and what it meant for INR, which turned out to be unlucky (yet again) for INR. Is this a cursed project?
Ioneer's investor relations, if you contact them, are quite open, and are now saying that there will be delays, probably substantial ones. I think it's because they were caught off-guard by the Sibanye decision.
The project has been plagued with delays.
If you look back on the company announcements you will see that initially there was going to be a FID and construction beginning some 4 to 5 years ago, before all the Greenies came in with their law suits.
This further delay will suit the Greenies well, one they were hoping to achieve by challenging the BLM decision in court, now they'll see this Sibanye pull-out as cream on top of the cake for them. Some of them have said all along, they can't stop the project, so it is all about delay and delay and delay for so long that it becomes unnecessary to even proceed with such a project. It's a proven Greenie methodology.
INR management really need to kick into gear now, again, because this is looking once more like the project that is never going to happen. It's a never ending story of delays and road blocks and legal challenges.
You have to hand it to INR management though, they've plowed on, and on. Good for them.
Gw
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