General Discussion Topics, page-38359

Hi arfbarf

Not to allow my bush lawyering to take us too far off topic, here is a write-up by a law firm about the type of insolvency treatment Old Nemaska went through. Very much like Chapter 11 in the US where the primary purpose is to keep the business running: in this case the assets were transferred to a new entity and the hulk of the old company is all that is left for its old shareholders. From the description in the article it does look like the Whabouchi project has already been transferred to New Namaska. This action was challenged through the Quebec court system but by the end of 2020 the action had conclusively failed. The section about Nemaska is down towards the end of the article.

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=03295f07-65d9-4441-b2ee-8dbdf2bb088c

From this second and more recent article, it seems that the appeal was taken up to the Supreme Court of Canada (similar to our High Court?) but again the appeal failed. That decision was in April 2021 and I can find nothing about any subsequent legal action. I suspect the matter has been settled. And that timing would also line up with Nemaska signing up to acquire a block of land to build its downstream processing plant on. That deal was announced in June 2021.

https://insolvencyinsider.ca/legitimacy-of-reverse-vesting-orders-under-the-ccaa-confirmed/

So I think IQ and Pallinghurst have clearance to get on with the Whabouchi project. And any class action would be against the old Nemaska which of course has no assets.

What is also becoming clearer to me is how much damage was done to the Quebec lithium sector during the lithium price crash in 2018 to 2020. Also how the government agency, IQ, has been trying to defibrillate a number of projects that were caught out in the storm, NAL, Moblan, Nemaska. Sayona (and Pallinghurst) have been savvy in buying these assets at firesale prices. I think I heard Brett Lynch say that Sayona and Piedmont picked up NAL at about half price. It would be a fair assumption that Pallinghurst, as well, got a bargain on their half of the Whabouchi project.

Also, as an aside, I could not access satellite photos of the Whabouchi mine site - either that area is not covered or I botched my attempts. A bit of a shame as sat photos are a great source of info: the guys on the AKE threads use satellite photos to keep track on how the company's mine site developments are progressing.