I attended the recent AGM and asked questions of the Board. I also carefully read the Front End Engineering Study (FEED) issued on the 30th Nov. 2023. I came away with the following information and opinions.
(1) PEK could operate profitably at the present low NdPr price of about $71/kG.
(2) I asked if they thought the NdPr price would stay low. The reply was that all the experts they had been in contact with thought it would rise.
(3) I asked if Shenghe's interest had cooled. The strong answer from the Chairman was -NO.
(4) Previously I had the impression that Shenghi was to provide a full "turn-key" and fully funded project. I now rather think that there will be a need for PEK to provide some level of funding, and that this will be with money borrowed from a financial institution. That is, not a cash raising from SH.
(5) i enquired about the long delayed results of the recent drill program in the Northern and Southern areas of the Tenement. it seems the delay is from the analytical company in Perth, which is overwhelmed with similar work from other companies. In fact, I have heard that all similar companies are overwhelmed. Nevertheless, PEK expects some results to be received before Christmas. Subsequent results will trickle out. So we must be patient.
(6) i asked other questions about the prospect of getting other stuff like phosphate, felspar, niobium, etc. and if mining this would require expensive plant. To all these questions the Chairman sort of said - "stop concerning yourself with these lesser things, that the Company was concentrating it's efforts on the main game, which was getting the NdPr mine and refinery up and running".
(7) I asked if they still thought first production would be in April 2026. An answer was given, but as I am very deaf I didn't hear the answer.
(8) I asked the purpose of having the new Tanzanian companies being owned by a new British subsidiary Company called "Ngualia Group UK Ltd". The answer was - obviously - to get the lower company tax. However, my suspicion is that this is the first step in moving the company entirely to Britain, as Pensana have done. I would have no problem with this. Australian company tax and personal taxes are just too high.
(9) there was no mention of an impending "take-over'".
It was a good AGM, and I came away with good confidence in the members of the Board, all of whom were there excepting Mr. Abdullah Mwinyi.
Some Posters on this forum think the Board is too big. I think it is the right size. One Poster thinks the Board, and in particular, My Davis (the CEO ) isn't working hard enough. But if you read the FEED study and see that both the Capex and the annual running costs have been reduced, well, I think that would have taken a lot of work. Incidentely, I think the new Capex of about $290 million is very low for a project of this size.
Also in attendance were Mr Quangen Wang, Chairman of Shenghi Resources Overseas Development, and Mr Shasha Lu, Managing Director of that same company. I think that their presence at this AGM could be very significant. in a light hearted conversation with these men ( through Miss Shasha Lu as the interpreter ) i said that I was now losing a lot of money, but not as much as Shenghi, as they had bought their 19.9% stake at 99 cents a share. The smiling response i got from Mr. Wang was - "don't worry you will make a lot of money".
My general conclusion is that the PEK is progressing slowly, but nicely. We just need to be patient for another two years. It will be very good.
I will never advise another person how to spend their money. For myself, I went home and bought more shares.
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