State of Play

In accordance with the Governments statement, the official announcement from the company and the various articles and expert analysis since, the following is my assessment of where we are:

The Government have not cancelled the MoU, They have called it invalid. They have taken this step because:

• It is politically motivated to save face following all the 'drum beating' before and following the election and Babis is still trying to form a Government.
• To put an end to the various misinterpretations and speculations, so that we can move on. From the translated Government transcript; 'I'm interested in what's going to happen, because lithium, if it is there, we need to start to benefit from it, so the Czech Republic can benefit from it and, of course, shareholders in the market'.
• To leave it open, so that it can be amended in the future. From EMH announcement; 'We look forward to meeting with the Minister in the near term to further these discussions'

The Government know that legally they cannot cancel the MoU. Personally, I'm not sure they would do anyway, as it includes that both parties will 'work together to maximise downstream processing options within the CR'.

The following has also been confirmed since Friday:

• Even if the Government did cancel the MoU, the CZ would leave themselves open to arbitration and anyway all company rights are derived from the legal system which is very much in our favour and not the MoU. This was also confirmed by the minister; 'the memorandum is not related to it at all'.
• From EMH announcement. 'The company continues to progress the project including discussions with potential offtakers'. I have been reliably informed that those offtakers are only interested in those legal rights.
• The company recent announcement calls the Cinovec project a 'first - in kind' project!