If you've ever wondered why the KNL RAP (and subsequently the ESIA and updated BFS) is superior to projects that have not precisely incorporated the International Finance Corporation Equator Principles into their projects then here is a great summary.
To my knowledge no other ASX listed Tanzanian graphite company has publicly released a Resettlement Policy Framework which is a requirement of the process.
So, here's a handy list of differences between actual Equator Principles standards and the usual requirements under Tanzanian legislation and regulation. Some quite notable differences. It's difficult to get funding from reputable institutions these days and expense has to be incurred (particularly when your original 2016 ESIA was meant to be compliant to begin with, paragraph 4 page xxii). Seems to me it would be difficult to pin this on management given they relied on the expertise of the report writers at the time (I know that another Tanzanian graphite explorer also got MTL to prepare their ESIA too, yet I haven't seen any other publicly disclosed RPF).
Anyway, KNL is nearly finished this enormous process and this is a good thing - notwithstanding the views of laypersons who have not familiarised themselves with the legal and practical aspects of the process.
But hey - even if it doesn't work out perhaps we can approach a funder who is not a bank or a signatory of the IFC Equator Principles like some other companies, but that does make me wonder - wouldn't that tarnish the end product because the product did not follow the highest social and environment standards?
KNL graphite - socially and environmentally clean graphite to the highest standards set down by the IFC.
