AVL Funding?

I thought I’d make a forum topic to discuss potential  (in case anyone wants )
Starting with what we’re waiting on.

WHY THE WAIT?

I am assuming the EPA approval on AVL land is an (unpublished)  ‘given’.
So next - now merger is done and dusted, we’re  waiting on Wood to confirm and detail AVL estimates of the best way forward.
Why will the funders respect an external report coming from Wood?
Because as one of the world’s leading engineering consultants, what it says is trusted by financiers;

https://www.woodplc.com/




I may be wrong but I do not believe the managers and large backers of this company intend AVL  to stay in the mire of ‘penny dreadfulness’.

Many in the  new team of leaders and directors are people who are trusted by equity groups (including governments) due to their Tier One experience.

In an unofficial online chat with @Jayden2000 (shared on 02/02/24 [link to post] AVL’s Sam (Samantha McGahan!) wrote Wood’s study was crucial:

“We need to get the results of the first phase of the study to get the best project development pathway from a financial, time and approvals perspective which will be within the June quarter…” ​

And she posted that, as well as punters on HC eagerly awaiting these results, finance groups were too and that several had attended the official opening of AVL’s Wangara Electrolyte Facility on 17/91/24

(see some  media coverage on that here; https://www.australianmining.com.au/avl-vanadium-facility-opens-its-doors/)​

“In addition to the CEFC we also had NAIF and Export Finance Australia at the facility opening.
Other potential funders too. “


She also wrote potential lenders AVL was already involved with  had different criteria and she inferred discussion with downstream customers -(who naturally also want to see the results of the Wood study) were underway as AVL assessed interest.

(eg TMT came into the merge with an interest from the Danish Government up to the value of $150 if Danish company FLT Smidt was employed)​

(eg a long term TMT MOU with Chinese company CNMC which may have fallen over as it has not been mentioned for almost a year was for offtake specific to one of its chemical divisions?) ​

(Eg Indian company TATA steel had an MOU with TMT for vanadium as of October 2022 [ref] which may or may not have been carried over into AVL post-merge)​

​

It “ really depends if we can secure a battery offtake or whether we have a steel offtake or a mixture.” sam said
“The lenders we have spoken to have asked us to discuss any offtake deal with them before signing, so it's a real lining up all the ducks' to secure both.
As an example, some agencies (eg CEFC- Clean Energy Finance Corporation) will only provide funding if the offtake is linked to batteries, some export finance agencies will only provide funding if there's a strong element of content in their country.”


So here we are?

cheers