Hi all.
Perhaps I might shed a few more thoughts on the subject I introduced.
We are looking for a partner, a conglomerate that can finance the nickel, cobalt and perhaps scandium plant build. Hopefully this large conglomerate will also have desires of being the customer as well.
This partnership deal may even have direct links with a German, Japanese or American EV manufacturer.
We shall have to wait for KPMG to produce an outcome on the battery materials strategic partnership.
I look forward to the announcement whenever that happens.
Our likely strategic financing and offtake partner will be very interested in our battery materials and resources, of that I am absolutely sure.
I am not so sure if our battery materials strategic partner will have appetite to go gold mining and have a bulk tonnage mining operation or 2, with upside to other unrelated EV metals as well.
Perhaps we might think about this a little.
Does the partnership agreement for battery materials include or exclude other resources like bulk tonnage gold resources and whatever else is owned within the ARDEA asset base
Does this new EV (nickel, cobalt) partnership get those gold assets for free as a part of the deal.
So again hypothetically.
If the EV financing offtake deal includes our other metals and resources, would our partner be willing to fund and develop the other resources short term, or could they end up on the backburner.
Our gold and other related metal assets are non strategic in relation to EV.
Is a spin-out of the WA non EV related resources smart, and in the interests of investors, would it extract maximum value.
I feel these questions are very legitimate and are very important considerations.
RED
AUZ has a similar situation.
AUZ for example gave SKI the opportunity to buy 19.9% stake in the AUZ as an incentive for their offtake deal on the Sconi project in QLD.
This also gives SKI ownership and a position on the board with an influencing vote in AUZ as a whole.
This also allows SKI to have a very big say on development timing of the Flemmington and Thackaranga resources which are EV metals related.
SKI could also influence who those resources are developed for, or not.
SKI were very smart, they signed a deal to secure the Sconi offtake, and by default got substantial control over Flemmington and Thackaranga as well. Was that a great deal ?.
The opportunity to exercise the 19.9% option is still open at this stage.
SKI in my opinion would be foolish to not throw some petty cash at the options to secure the battery metals of the future from 3 significant resources. IMHO
