Thinking about what some of the big issues that Merge Co will...

Thinking about what some of the big issues that Merge Co will face going forward this year and next.

I'll say from the start that the idea of a SYA PLL merger sounded to me like a natural progression and was probably, in the end, accelerated by market condition over last 18 months.

Looking ahead - what ?- abandon ambition of going downstrean to chemical conversion (carbobate )? I doubt it. When the market picks up it will be spod and processed hydroxide at Tennessee and I think carbonate in Canada as well.

Seems a real possibility to me that Merge Co might get a stake in a Canadian production facility. I look around and see Lithium Universe (LU7) has done their DFS (looks promising, skilled experienced operators and is needed) for their proposed Becancour lithuim refinery. They claim to have a JV with someone and and will be looking later on for a couple of 25% equity partners. They apparently are currently searching for finance partners and claim to have the support of the government in Quebec.

SYA have put their downstream processing on the backburner. BTW where is that crystallizer? - been over 20 months now, and never mentioned again. Looks like that order was cancelled when Brett left.

So, Merge Co with the only operating lithium mine in Canada will be in a prime position to take a position further down the supply chain in Canada and potentially benefit from better markets for spod and carbonate.Question, to me, is will the Merge Co board go the next step to get a stake with skilled downstream operators (LU7) if/when LU7 gets finance and pull the trigger for go on their carbonate plant? Or will MergeCo end up another source spod mine for that operation? Just how far will they go along the risk/reward line?