Exactly! Especially when that backyard is in a second-world...

Exactly! Especially when that backyard is in a second-world jurisdiction.

If you thought international diplomacy wasn’t a real thing then here’s a prime example. See Rio Tinto's lithium licence revoked by Serbia.

Geopolitics will keep rearing its ugly head over and over again in many places. It may not immediately be apparent but sooner or later as Rio Tinto has found, it doesn’t take much for a ‘second or third world’ jurisdiction to feel either intimidated, threatened or inferior for whatever reason. Rightly or wrongly they remain states of high risk investments.

Everyone would dearly love for these countries to prosper in the short, medium to long term. However, as per this example, a blue chip company like Rio Tinto which may have thought that they were close to finalising years of substantial work and negations only to find that the government of the day (predominately made up of low socioeconomic politicians) decide for whatever reason to revoked their licences.

Ultimately, they are pissing in their own pool because the ‘supply chain’ is networked in such a way that it relies on the global community for confidence to further invest and secure contracts that will ultimately benefit everyone. But in fact the burden to secure demand is turning in favour of sovereign-trusted countries like Australia to deliver for precisely that reason. A kind of insurance policy against petty short mindedness and regrettable thinking.

So you are so right – you can try to move your operation but you can’t move your resource.

In response to this, I think, Australian projects who have in-country raw resources like RNU are set to prosper from various federal government initiatives sooner rather than later. Either, through the Clean Energy Financial Corporation (CECF), Export Finance Australia (EFA) or the Critical Minerals road map, RNU is poised to benefit. And, I personally wouldn't be surprised if this happens as a clear message to our existing MOU agreements as an incentive to cement and build relationships.

Furthermore, we are so fortuitous to have an MD with exceptionally high diplomacy and negotiation skills (ex MD from Heathgate Resources) to guide us through these times.

DYOR, GLTAH