Hello,
My name is José and I´me a portuguese investor in mining companies.
I took a look in NL at ASX and hotcopper and found your email.
Hope you don´t mind my contact.
I became interested in Novo Litio, because this company is investing in my country; and i have investments in mining companies in UK, Canadá and USA.
I´ve read all the announcements and notices in portuguese media, done some research and find myself with doubts either invest or no; hope you can in light me in some points:
1. NL says they are drilling in sepeda, but according to portuguese media the company that is drilling in this moment is Lusorecursos; I live in Lisbon, far away from Sepeda, but called a friend that lives near and he confirmed me that Lusorecursos is drilling and that NL was forbidden by portuguese authorities to drill in the place; i asked my lawyer how prospection works in Portugal and he said that only who has a contract with the State can drill; otherwise you can be charged with high fines (millions of euros); the law is pretty clear he said; so, this is the reality but NL declares the opposite; what do you know?
2. Why sepeda? the best place in lithium in Portugal is near a city called Guarda; there´s a mine exploration there and government granted two more licenses this week; so, what could possibly be found in Sepeda better than in Guarda? Does NL knows my country for real?
3. NL announced it is expected a court decision by november; courts in portugal are very slow, i find this hard to believe; talked to my lawyer and he said that a procedure like this will take between 6 to 12 months, only to get (or no) an injunction; you can appeal two times, that´s why it takes so much time - and you can only have a non definitive decision; after the injunction you have to present another procedure (this one definitive), that will take 4,5 years; so, it seems impossible to me that NL gets the exploration license; what explanations did the board gave you?
4. A portuguese media talked about the fact NL has changed 4 times of name, have no office in Australia and Portugal, so it´s like a ghost company, which isn´t good; and another one revealed that NL´s CEO had been in a mine in Congo, where happened rapes, homicides and child work; if portuguese authorities look at this it can be a problem; according to my lawyer portuguese mine laws require managing directors have a clean past; do you heard something about this in your country? and NL didn´t get well in last notice I´ve seen (Publico) because it was there said that Lusorecursos had to call police and NL had hired private securities, something that in portugal is not tolerated in society; did you know this?
5. Why NL selled PLS shares? something i can´t understand, because everyone in this area knows that PLS´s shares will increase next months; is NL broke?
6. Sweden: in this country usually mine exploration is done by the state; how come NL can do it? have you guys seen documents of this?
Hope you can help in these doubts.
Anything i can help please shoot.
Thanks,
Expand
(20min delay)