PART 8
We talked about Sylvain's recruitment, a little I have touched on earlier.
He came from IAMGOLD with a lot of operational and development experience, a prominent position and a promising future there. So why did you leave mate...to come here?
Well, this is a new challenge....Lithium..... where I can apply a lot of the principles in strategy and development we used in gold. I came onboard and as we grew, picked my best people to come on board and start filling the required positions here at NAL.
So how many of these key staff have you brought?
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You convinced 35 key operational personnel, to leave established careers, to come to an old lithium mine which has previously failed 2 or 3 times?
I mean why take the chance, why risk it?
Well, they have worked for me before and have been part of my teams....
Righto, I am starting to understand why they call you Golden Boy now....
So yeah, these guys have taken a risk to come to NAL, and I guess they are determined to make it work.
As for Sylvain, the true reason he came across, had not yet been revealed, but was to come light, later in the day
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So, the conversation flowed from resource and its mining, to the carbonate plant.
He talked of the hydroxide trade off study and the reasoning behind it
They wanted to make sure that every scenario and possibility had been factored in before committing funds and finding out halfway through the fit out that they had made a mistake.
He had been involved with projects before where big issues had come up halfway through a build.
Issues that could have been avoided if they had taken their time and methodically studied the proposed design.
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Now, just the mention of this study makes my blood boil.
We ALL know the reason for this delay....
It had all been quite cordial to this point, but the talk of this study on the way over in the truck, and him sticking to the narrative now.... I could not take it anymore. I mean who does he think he is dealing with here, a couple of schmucks who don't know what's going on, who didn’t know the truth?
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‘Sorry Sylvain, excuse me, sorry to interrupt.’,as I bust in mid-sentence.
We have an almost complete carbonate plant, requiring little to complete (more on this later)
Carbonate chemistries are back in Favour and are the way forward.
Our competitors can build greenfield chemical plants in 2 years, and you're telling me this, will all this take us 3 years?
And now, you want to do another study to see if hydroxide is more viable, to rip the plant to pieces and start again.
Is this study to ascertain the carbonate plant viability or to see if we will go the hydroxide route?
Mate, because if I am not mistaken, the PTS was clear, it is a no brainer to upgrade and complete the plant, quicker and cheaper than anyone else.
And now you want to put hydroxide on the table and start again???
The cards were dealt at NAL, that is why we bought it!
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NAL already has the carbonate plant, so if it's economic, which is now proven, you run with it and make it happen.
If we were a greenfield site, I get it, but it is just insane to be considering hydroxide, after realising what we have here and after a PTS was done, basically to PFS level, showing the economics, showing the NPV and the benefits....and NOW you want to study hydroxide. That's farked mate.....farking insane. (expletives starting to fly now)
Our inability the day before to vent our frustration in the Montreal office, were now all coming to a head...and Sylvain was to bear the full brunt of this.
The flood gates were starting to open up now.
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And we all know the reason for the delay, and for our JV partner. One who was here a few weeks ago with M&A guys and and an LG rep???
We are worried of a takeover, and you know what will happen??
Might not be straight away, but he'll bring in Patrick (Brindle) and you are finished.
By the way, how often does his little spy Patrick come to NAL?
Sylv answers- Once every 1-2 months...
Yeah, I thought so.......
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I will give Sylvain credit though. he looked me straight in the eye and listened.
He Didn't interrupt, didn't interject, took his time to listen and understood.
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By this time, the boys were starting to fire.
The dude spelled out what we have at stake here and echoed our sentiment.
Funds allocated, hundreds of hours upon hours invested, share price in the toilet.
The market cap so depressed its ripe for a takeoverand a JV partner who is self-serving in their best interest, not in the interests of the JV.
Split, in his usual calm way said he's peace as well, and I think by this stage Sylvain was working out we weren't just your average investors, and we weren't just invested with money.
But what was coming to light was that our minority 25% JV partner was more like a 50/50 partner, when it comes to decisions at NAL. However, it's a little more complicated, with protective clauses for both parties.
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Sylvain countered by saying we called it a tradeoff study, but for him, it's not.
It's to make sure we have not missed anything with the carbonate plant. That's the way he is viewing it.
The way it was being explained, is to satisfy Piedmont, so he can say- I have ticked this box, no more objections, all bases covered.....now show me the money and let's get on with it....
He wants to see this carbonate plant completed, and in his mind, it will happen.
(20min delay)