I try to be an optimist at the best of times. Unfortunately for SYA that optimism has now had to be met with the harsh reality that we now face.
The list of achievements from our current BoD isnt really much and definitely not worth the salary/share bonuses they are being paid.
After the AGM last year we have had little to no improvement in communications from the board, an given the market downturn, the call for it has unfortunately been amplified as investors seek clarity, certainty/stability and evidence of focus from management on their investment. An while the spod price has certainly impacted our share price its also been impacted by poor communication from our management.
The continued ramp up was, as I have pointed out previously, supported by 3 main points: 1) Keeping our current workforce 2) Lagging capital cost items not fully operational or integrated into the flowsheet to allow for lower cost opex. 3) The anticipation of lithium price rebounds.
The first 2 points in my honest opinion have the least relevance with regards to looking at SYA from an investment viewpoint in terms of return on investment, risk and viability of operations assessment. It also highlights to me investors are not the number 1 priority on the list as evident by this operational review. Staff are being placed first, cost cutting 2nd and anticipation of spod price rebound (investors return and lowering of risk) 3rd.
An so only a few months on from this review point 1 is satisified as it always would be based on continued operations. Point 2 is yet to be seen, supposedly this Q4 of 2024 is meant to be where we see unit costs come down. So from that end, they have failed in reducing opex/unit cost per ton up until now. An point 3, well..... spod price has a small period of improvement before it has began a slow decent again. So perhaps living up to Goldman Sachs short covering the commodity price as to why the uptick on market.
We have a director whos focus is not just on SYA but also on 1MC as he is the CEO of both, so how does he have enough focus for SYA? I believe him to be stated as an interim CEO for SYA as well ie Temporary or in the short term. So how long is he to remain CEO before we get a permanent full timer?
As many others on here have stated, the lack of governance that has consistently flowed even after JB has taken the reins and also even with reshuffles in the current BoD and granted the appointment of a more than likely independent director. We still have a lot of the BoD here in good, long standing arms length relations with one another. Any ASX should, ultimately no allow such relations. Its a conflict of interest between the board and company objectives. The less independent a board is, the less accountable the company can be to both shareholders, partners, suppliers etc. As the relationships are put as a priority over company objectives. Without diving further into it, its a basic ideology of not mixing friends and business and being objective, independent and professional to ensure the company remains on target.
Part of this conflict lies in with our supposed "relations" with PLL.
Are we relying on them in the longer term to secure us and offtake over our unallocated share of spod? Is this the reason we are pushing on to produce anyway? If its not for the PLL deal and their own remuneration, why else would we be operating atm? given that 1) we are producing at a loss, 2) PP&E depreciation from use, 3) feeding more supply into an already saturated market, 4) operating risk fully on SYA in regards to any major breakdown and what could be a rather large cost should anything major happen. 5) Supplying quality lithium reserves to buyers at a fraction of its worth ie undervaluing our own assets and giving them away in desperation and in an attempt to try and get operations below cost.6) Failing to assess the overall macro market in terms of when a potential lithium demand reversal will occur.7) Micro market assessment has not been highlighted to investors as the reason that our BoD think spod prices will " anticipatedly" be rebounding. Again, what source of information have they used. This is a MASSIVE ball drop.
An the fact they didnt even include some sort of emergency provision if spod prices falls of a cliff. Talk about clear, concise and visible negligence of investor funds. But hey, its ultimately not their money so why would you care anyway?
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