General discussion, page-8645

tend to agree with Bluesmoke oz - he must be committed to taking it all the way irrespective of a TO so you can read it either way. He has too much invested not to. This position maintains negotiating leverage with parties wanting a JV or TO - they aren't going to be doing him a favour and won't get a discounted entry price.

The take aways for me are that he takes the time to respond to an individual holder, that he invested his own super and that he remains as confident as ever. Not many MDs with as much on their plates would respond in the first instance or take the extra time to check their holders position on the register to respond in detail. They are obviously taking satisfaction from positively impacting many people along the way. Secondly, if someone has put their own super at risk for the venture then there is not much more commitment you could hope for. Lastly, his language remains as confident and consistent as ever.

I don't know what Paul's ambitions are, but I can only imagine that running this monster would be all-consuming for most people. Given the current events the next phase may be a bruising experience simply because of how much is up for grabs, and possibly why Lynas and Illuka described their own growth path as a nightmare whereas Paul has mentioned it has been a dream to date, as mentioned by Naydoe. Either way I wouldn't begrudge him and the exec team considering a healthy TO offer. I note that the Chairman, Gary Lethridge, has previous experience as the CFO of Jubilee Mines until its successful $3.1b TO by Xstrata in 2008. I'm sure they will consider all reasonable TO offers for the benefit of the collective holders.

I did a bit of research this morning on Gustavo. He approached WA1 for the role (rather than the other way around) in late 2022 according to Paul's statement at the time (http://www.mining.com.au/wa1-resources-employs-expert-marketing-advisor-gustavo-macedo-to-deliver-niobium-industry). His linkedin profile states that he remains as a full-time Commercial Director of Boston Metal do Brasil, along with an ongoing Contract role for WA1, first as a 'Consultant' from Feb 2023 to July 2023, and then as 'Niobium Marketing Advisor' from Aug 2023 to current. From his profile, his background is sales and marketing rather than processing. Either way there is no question that his knowledge from a 19-year career at CBMM and roles in Europe, Singapore and Brazil would be invaluable to Paul and the team. It seems sensible that this is a part-time gig for the present time to minimise ongoing costs and also considering the current phase of quantifying the resource. They may also be mindful of his extensive past connections within CBMM, but perhaps this has as many opportunities as risks. Whether he comes on full-time and whether relocation to Australia makes any sense remains to be seen but he will certainly be central to the feasibility and connections with other partners.

All will be revealed in the next 6 months either way. Either they will get an offer that is too good to refuse, or they will go foot to the floor on moving into the next phase of definition/feasibility in preparation to mine. My money is on a TO or JV given that the attraction of the resource to any of the big miners or international downstream partners would seem too good to ignore, and their larger scale or value-add potential may only further enhance returns.