I have been in contact and trying to piece together what happened, from Brett and other sources, but the info coming out is very skinny, Brett not disclosing anything substantial, as you would expect from an outgoing CEO.
I have had a good think about this and let this news sink in...
I am angry, I feel cheated... and its no secret, like many of us here, shared in Brett's vision.
I will be very frank in this email and speak my mind...I need to get it off my chest.
I am invested, because of what we are, the potential we have , and what we can become...
Something that may now be in jeopardy with Brett's departure.
Buckler and JB???? I don't know???
What sort of board is this???
Where have they been all this time....missing....in the wilderness....
I could have this all wrong, but Brett seemed to do all the heavy lifting....
Buckler was no-where to be seen.....and JB, he is good ops man. He know how to operate a lithium mine
and maximise the concentrator output....but he is no deal making businessman...
I have always thought, the PR, The road shows, investor conferences, media, meetings, offtake negotiations, were probably all started 12 months too late.
These company building exercises should have been rolled out and executed as soon as we won NAL.
And the burden of this load should have been shared by Brown and Buckler from the start.
A media company with more weight then Anthony Fensom's Republic PR should have been employed to spread the word....
The Piedmont PR train was always ahead of us, and investor perception, both corporate and retail was always playing catch up to PLL.
So whoever the new BOD is, they need to be awake to this Banker's ways, whose purpose is only self fulfilling for himself and his shareholders. The JV is just a stepping stone, a building block of his own empire.
It would not surprise me in the least if he was now plotting our demise and hatching a plan to with his offtakers and Wall street mates to attempt a takeover.
He doesn't have the cash, but could potentially get LG or Tesla on board and broker a deal.
Keith needs to do something.
His cashburn is huge for a non revenue/early revenue company.
NC will never get up...no, I should not say never...but it will be a long and painful road for him.
We have people on the ground in NC, and they a vehemently oppossed to PLL's proposed operations there.
Generational farmers who will never sell.
Price is not the issue...its family pride, and these guys will not be forced from their land on their watch.
Land that has been in their families for generations.
Would you let them?
Would I?
No way!!!
On top of that Ghana is a basket case.
Corruption, rampant inflation child labour, and recent government mandates to improve ESG and tie up mining licenses will be their undoing there. They may nationalise, or push their cut to uneconomical levels for PLL, as well as the IRA compliance..
At least the refinery in Tennessee is looking good....but that is a looooong road, with massive capex and requiring a chemical refining expertise that just does not exist outside of China...ask MINRES. Building it is one thing, then operating it successfully is an entirely different and more difficult proposition.
So good luck there champ.
The walls are certainly closing in on Keith and his other ventures....but NAL?
NAL is the beacon of hope, the one gamble he got right...NAL is the money maker........ and the lifeline.
As investors, are we miners? I am not....
Are these other knuckleheads awake to this?
JB is good friends with Howard Klein.
Howard Klein has been on the teat of Keith's bossom forever...he is on Keith's payroll.
Where will this relationship steer Sayona?
Will they whisper sweet lies in his ears and seduce him with Ambrosia??
Is he awake to their charms and promises of gold, Frankincense and myrrh?
I don't want to judge a book by its cover, and he may be a good operator, but is he sharp?
Is he street smart? ?
Will he be out manoeuvred?
He was at Altura, with the rug well and truely pulled from beneath his feet.
And the market remembers......it remembers his track record and although is understanding of the climate that happened in, affords minimal optimism to his stewardship going forward.
Can he look Keith in the eye and tell him he is full of it and filter the spin from the truth?
I may be wrong, but I don't think so....
So many uncertainties....
And what news from the BOD....nothing....silence......
A professional company would have had the interim CEO thank the outgoing CEO and explain the path forward.
Direct From JB....an ASX announcement...
Letter to shareholders...
Nothing from JB or this board of 2.5...nothing....
Oh thats right JB is busy with all his Morella work....
Sorry mate, didn't mean to bother you and load you up.....
It is as reprehensible, as it is disgusting.
No CEO transition, no succession plan other than a start from scratch corporate search...
And, the person who is possibly the best candidate in my view has bad blood with JB....
Will he put his personal feelings aside for the betterment of the company?....Probably not....
Its too personal...
They should be pulling out all stops now to steady the ship.
Retail is still at least 50%.
These fXXXXs better start preforming after pulling a stunt like this.
We have a good chunk of votes, and if they don't get their crap together, I am with you mate....they are gone...
Or at least, we will give them a good scare and wake up call.
It will be very unsettled going into the AGM, SP in the toilet, expulsion from the 200, no offtake, CEO sacked....still crap comms....
I reckon I will be part of the angry mob this time...
Can you imagine where we would be if we didn't have NAL????.....if all we had was Authier, the brainwave that the old guard had put together in 2017...before BL came along......
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