SK Innovation Offtake/Funding Agreement, page-151

Vintage, I offer my opinion on the comparative off-takes.

CLQ..The 20% offtake was Easpring was a foundational deal with a large high-techbattery maker. It is sort of like a base. But Friedland has been of the opinion that he is better off maintaining a larger uncommitted production, so his off-take agreements in battery materials are likely to be less radical than others. He has already rebuffed Tesla and one or two of the Germans. He is not worried about selling his production and he is not desperate to raise cash for Sunrise...he has 4 international bank syndicates and likely will do debt financing.Friedland is a great high-stakes poker player, and he has a very strong hand.
Other mines might fall over themselves for BMW and Daimler; but Friedland is not.

AUZ..AUZ was in a much different position. They have a great deposit but the financing was murky.
SK fit the bill perfectly, because they could agree to 100% of the production. This off-take helps AUZ immeasurably to get financing, which they need. They can go to the banks with a DFS and SK's off-take and get construction financing, the financiers know that the production they fund will result in sales.
So AUZ jumps up to near-parity with Clean Teq on the financing, in terms of time, whereas before they were behind. When we see the details, it may be a very fair deal on the offtake, depending on how the prices are calculated.

AUZ was in a weaker position than CLQ and had to offer an option on equity in the company. This is a great option for SK, but is meaningless as a mine finance factor because it is only for $65 million and is at the discretion of SK as to when it will be exercised. I see it mostly as a valuable asset that had to be surendered to get the off-take and hence the financing. It is a call option on 19.9% of the company.
Couldn't be helped.

One comment about the deal, as reported. SK does not have a lot of stake, they are not taking much of a risk. There may be some cash going to AUZ but this is uncertain until they tell us the details.
Like I say, I don't think BB can be flogged too badly, he needed this deal and SK is a great company.
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But calling the relationship a "partnership" is a metaphor, fully expressed on AUZ's website. Usually a partner puts in equity, or engages in a JV. There is no JV announced, there is no equity that we know of COMMITTED to AUZ, though there is an option.

So we have a strong off-take customer for 100% of the production, and an holder of an option on 19.9% of AUZ equity, which they can exercise on terms and time to be determined. How much help they are going to give AUZ before contruction remains to be seen, no matter how much we "Ooh" and "Ahhh" about SK's power.

One other thing. Those clamoring for market cap parity should remember that Clean Teq has a number of other businesses and resources that are in a different league from other developers. I think it is insane to compare the two market caps, it is ignorance. The market will decide how much the SK deal is worth to AUZ without reference to Clean Teq.

Best wishes and good luck.