To address a big myth about merging with PLL:
We aren't "merging resources" whatsoever.
A lot has been said about Gaston County not coming online anytime soon, it’s been beaten into the ground enough (still haven’t broken ground there). Barring a federal intervention, it just won’t happen.
PLL, via Atlantic, have yet to break ground in Ghana as well. Atlantic still haven’t even been issued a mining license which must be granted by the Ghana parliamentary (good luck with that). Apparently the bribes aren’t big enough, and yes it is a matter of bribery. That’s how things work in Africa on the political level, period, whether it’s to the son of General Mosquito or someone else, whether it’s Ghana, or any of the other dozens of suspect countries in Africa. Bribery is a rampant problem in Africa and has been ever since the dawn of the post-colonial era. There is plenty of information on the internet should you want to research this further.
AND, it is standard practice to delay granting license to elicit more bribery to “grease the wheels.”
But let’s say ALL gets this mining license and maintains this (it can be revoked at any time without warning). PLL must put up the first $70m on a project they have at most, a 50% stake, which is not a controlling stake that can be removed at any time. Not being granted majority stake is why the Chinese pulled out. Even the Chinese aren’t that stupid.
PLL has no contingency plan in place if anything happens with Ghana. There is no backup plan, no alternative to obtain enough spod to feed Tennessee in order to meet the 30ktpa output it’s supposedly going to have. Unless PLL makes a grab for Moblan.
Without timely arrival of spod from Ghana, the hydroxide refinery in Tennessee is dead, dead, and dead. The DOE will not fund their share ($140m) without adequate proof of supply and OTA. That’s the standard the DOE applies to the funding it gives out, no matter the company. Oh, by the way, the DOE is required to revoke or claw back funding if there’s evidence of corruption.
How will PLL fund the $800m (what a joke, as we all know it will be well north of $1b when all is said and done) price tag of the hydroxide refinery without enormous debt financing? They can’t CR enough to cover that kind of price tag. We’ve been very risk-adverse towards incurring any debt, but we’re going to merge with a company that MUST incur huge debt financing to start construction on a problematic refinery? Right….
Even if they somehow obtain funding, there is no way in hell that the hydroxide refinery in Tennessee will be finished much less generate output by 2025.
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