Just to give context, my posting in relation to Indonesia is...

Just to give context, my posting in relation to Indonesia is purely from an ARL investment perspective.

It’s not that I am ignorant or lack empathy or am drawing comparisons in a broader context it’s just about ARL.

Indonesia’s ability to overcome ESG and geopolitical issues in relation to nickel has a direct impact on ARL. If the world was to accept their nickel unconditionally ARL is screwed, we can’t compete.

Fortunately that’s not the case and the things that give them an advantage such as poor work conditions, environmental factors in relation to mining and coal fired refineries to produce low cost nickel are finally being called out and indeed working against them.

They have been totally played by China who control the majority of their nickel industry which is gradually going to exclude them from the other major markets and see them exhaust their resources rapidly at a low return. They are now totally dependent on China.

Meanwhile we are already with in weeks of the US treasury IRA announcement seeing investment in compliant nickel mines, as Aginco a massive global gold miner goes off script and takes a large position in the Canadian nickel company which has just released its DFS.

With confirmation in place the billions of dollars that have been sitting on the sidelines will now be released to secure production and supply of compliant battery minerals. Unlike lithium which has massive reserves in compliant countries, nickel reserves in compliant countries are minimal Ardea is in a great position.

The PFS numbers offer further opportunities to improve the numbers in many areas and most likely we will see interest rates reduced, this offers us a buffer against the usual other increases that come from a DFS.

As for nickel prices we are still seeing commentary in relation to global supply and demand that doesn’t factor in EU and IRA compliance.

All commentary from Ardea feels like a binding agreement is a formality.

I would be surprised if they have been talking so confidently without good reason one could argue it’s disingenuous which has never been the case with management.

Happy New Year everyone.