My email and reply from paul ( in other thread)
Good Evening Paul,
I hope you are well.
I am an AZL investor for a few years now, And I deeply believe in our resources and to become an industry leader within the North American Market. However, I am greatly concerned with the latest resolution proposed for 3,4,5. I believe this is an insensitive decision and deeply demeaning for many retail investors like myself. Last year was quite disappointing and regardless, a resolution to increase the remuneration in Last year went through. that is okay I can understand that, but the proposed 3,4,5 seem excessive and demeaning to too many Shareholders including myself. To me, it doesn't send the right message to investors as I personally believe the bar for some of these performance rights is set way too low and the quantity of shares is extremely high. After A dismal 22 in regards to SP, I can not see this going down well with many other shareholders. I trust that at the end of the day, you are doing what you are entitled to do, But I strongly believe this is not in the best interests of Shareholders. At the end of the day, it is my expectation that Management delivers these objectives as part of your duty to the Company and shareholders, these milestones do not warrant excessive performance rights in my opinion.
While I can also understand the frustration around BLM approval taking its time, I just want to know why you perceived it to be 'Imminent' and whether anything has changed within that period with relations to BLM? I can understand this could be confidential but I believe Shareholders should be entitled to know why or what has caused the hold up from its previous 'Imminent' approval.
I am writing this email to you in good faith and respect, I hope you take it that way as well. just wanted to share my opinion and hope you can get back to me, and take some of this onboard.
Eagerly awaiting to hear back from you.
Kind Regards,
Mehtaab Singh
Hello Mehtaab
Thank you for your email and I always welcome shareholder communication. There seems to be some discomfort with the performance rights, and I would like to explain.
Since day one of AZL coming to life as a listed entity with the Big Sandy Project management has been focused on the success of the company and growth in shareholder value. We have taken the company from a valuation of $7 million in 2018 to a valuation today of $170 million and a high market valuation of $580 million in 2022.
While the company waited for BLM approval for its second drilling program, we have begun several important processes focused on the future.
• We have committed to a Lithium Research Centre in Tempe Arizona. This facility will in effect act as the pilot plant for the Big Sandy project and expedite the processing aspect of the project dramatically once we have obtained a bulk sample from the project. The facility has also allowed us to perform Due Diligence on other lithium projects, something no other company in the US can currently do. This allows AZL a competitive advantage in its growth strategy. Our ability to analyse a brine, clay or spodumene project in as little as a week is of immense value to the company.
• The acquisition of Prairie Lithium was not an overnight deal. Management of AZL worked solidly for nine months to get to a point of agreement with Prairie. The company has spent many weeks analysing the lithium markets and technology surrounding it and acquiring both a brine resource along with proprietary technology to extract lithium from that resource could unlock incredible shareholder value at Big Sandy. There are very few, if any, other companies that own both the Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology along with a massive resource (4.1 million tonnes of LCE). We feel that once we have our first DLE module in operation and producing Lithium we potentially become a target for a multitude of larger corporations from auto to battery makers and beyond. The Prairie DLE technology will also form a vital and valuable part of the Big Sandy Project processing. This DLE technology can sit at the final stage of stripping/extraction of Li from Big Sandy ore. This acquisition is a strategic and intelligent action by the company and positions AZL at the forefront of potential producers in the next five years. Your Directors have sourced this transaction from industry contacts and taken the deal to shareholder approval stage, without engaging an extremely expensive investment banking firm. This is outside normal business practise in the USA and has saved significant shareholder funds.
• As Lithium demand and supply are both in a hypergrowth phase, it is very hard to attract top Lithium talent as you are competing with major mining corporations and battery manufacturers for the talent. We have hired Brett Rabe (previously head of engineering at Lithium Americas, focused on Thacker Pass and built the pilot plant). He has put in place a team including a senior engineer from Albemarle. The Prairie acquisition will provide four professional executives with significant Lithium technical experience and knowledge, all to be part of the senior leadership team. We will manage the integration of the two teams in order to drive forward both projects.
• Our investment in Mid-West Lithium is a strategic investment in a high growth company with a large landholding in an underexplored Lithium region of the USA. We believe significant shareholder value can be created by AZL’s early investment in this company with its similarities to the early days of the Big Sandy exploration programs. Other ASX listed companies operating in the same area have created significant market capitalisations.
Now, to your issue of the director incentives, it is imperative for the board and management to be aligned with shareholders. If the performance hurdles detailed in the NOM are met over the next three years, the value of your company you would reasonably expect would be greatly enhanced. None of the hurdles are easy to meet and all require significant time and commitment of the board and management team to achieve. Prairie is a company that has huge potential but requires motivated, driven, and experienced managers to deliver on its potential. The performance rights are designed to ensure that the board has a significant benefit if there is success , a success that would see all shareholders benefit significantly. If you have read the NOM and think that the directors just whipped up an idea overnight and are now taking advantage of shareholders, we think you are mistaken. The AZL team have spent hundreds of days and nights on this transaction and believe that it will add significant shareholder value to all shareholders. The performance hurdles are (in our opinion) better than issuing options or cash bonuses because we are 100% aligned with the project. When the project succeeds, the management team succeeds.
Your Directors are currently remunerated below industry standard and significantly less than the senior executive management team, these performance rights will go a long way to bridging this gap. It is very common (in all industries) for the Managing Director and other Executives to get paid more than employees. For AZL this is not the case. We have put in place large option packages for the executive management team, must pay competitive salaries and we consider that the Directors should also share in the value creation that will come as the very promising AZL future starts to become a reality.
I am currently in Arizona and will update shareholders on the BLM approvals before I return to Australia at the end of the month.
Regards.
Paul Lloyd
Managing Director
Arizona Lithium Limited
P: +61 (0) 8 6313 3936 M: +61 (0) 419 945 395
A: Second Floor, 10 Outram Street, West Perth WA 6005
W: www.arizonalithium.com
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