Hi
@tobyjack just interested to know what your thoughts are regarding Knl. You seem to be pretty scientific and market based in your views and as such was wondering why Kibaren has not reached your radar?Of all the asx graphite companies Kibaren seems to be ticking all of the boxes re current and future demand whilst maintaining a balanced and well reasoned approach to scaling of the project.
Sure Syr are building , but very unclear as to whether they can sell enough every year on year to be profitable. MNS seem to have sexy graphite but in reality it is yet to be tested on a commercial scale. They have no sales agreements that they are willing to accept ( even they have disowned the Chinese agreements) and no finance discussions even commenced let alone at due diligence stage from all announcements. Only the standard negotiation phase phrases we all get used to.
So what gives TJ?Does Knls 3 western offtakes to end users at different ends of the engineering spectrum thus ensuring sales for all grades of they're graphite not register?Or does the advanced stage of project financing from German and African banks with a German government loan guarantee for the former ,with due diligence complete , awaiting a relocation action plan to finalise ,not intrigue?If not these than what about the major institutional investors coming on board with positions totalling 10% ,largely taken on market , not just peak your interest?
The economics of this project just keep getting better. Low strip ratio, first 5 years opex looks like it could decrease dramatically(see Euroz report) , all production output sold already with an increase of 50% being studied now for an increase of starting production to 60ktpa IMO. These figures just can't be ignored unless you have a belief that they are all bogus and management cannot be believed , even if 3 major western customers have this belief as well as one of this countries largest institutional investors CBA.
So please TJ what gives?Are we just not sexy enough?
As a side note re offtakes agreements. It is not in the interests of these new customers who are looking at new supply lines for they're graphite to do so lightly. Once supply has been terminated from Chinese sources they are committed. It is not in they're interests to not negotiate basket pricing in good faith once that commitment has been made. It is in our interests and in they'res to have a pricing structure that benefits all companies involved and hence further enhance partnerships that have been cultivated.
Looking forward to your reasoned response.
Lectro.
