You're correct @djm3001, the strength of the application for the...

You're correct @djm3001, the strength of the application for the grant would need to be underpinned by Bunyu funding secured and the project moving into development/production. It will need to happen before H1 of this year IMO.

And yes, it has dragged on for years without result. But there's no longer any value in focusing on what was said and done/not done under the past administration, it's pretty obvious many commitments were spoken about and not delivered on and the strategy changed frequently.

Whilst the term "promise" isn't accurate, PC did provide a forecast/commitment to the market that they'd have Bunyu funding secured in Q3 last year and didn't achieve this. Equally at the subsequent shareholder update he was prepared to own that miss, which counts for something.

What we do know, is that they mined an additional 113 tonnes of ore in Nov 23' specifically to provide a large sample to a customer for qualification. They are in the process of negotiating commercial terms. Additionally there is more than one party showing interest in the project. This information has been formally released to the market and we have to take it on face value.

Any progress on the downstream side, benefits the upstream and strengthens the case for securing Bunyu funding. Binding offtakes with battery manufacturers are key. Offtakes for natural graphite for US DOD (via M2i Global) would also help. It's been discussed here before, there's been no easy path for ASX graphite companies to get financing done, SYR funded the Balama project via a $116m capital raising. WKT has had it's challenges with loans for construction of their Lindi project. The landscape is changing and the need to invest in graphite projects is inevitable if alternatives to Chinese supply are to be established.

Benchmark Minerals have forecast the world will need 97 new graphite mines by 2035. Bunyu is one of the few large scale projects that can deliver 20-30years of graphite supply. Hopefully it all comes together this year.

GLTAH