So here I was, minding my own business and just checking in...

So here I was, minding my own business and just checking in occasionally to see whether the SP has moved (indicating some financing progress),
only to discover that I overlooked some ... rather strange ... news on the take-off front.

My first reaction: what the hell happened to our deal with Shin Etsu? And who the hell is VTRE?

Then, while waiting for an interview with I.C. to explain these things (and it seamed a freaking shame that management has stayed silent),  I started to to some research on my own.
First, I remembered that Vietnam has reasons to be pissed with China, and a strong interest to develop it's own REE industry. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...unds-wake-up-call-for-vietnam-s-manufacturers (Vietnam also is a primary way of smuggling REEs to Japan, btw ...)

Second, I googled VTRE and found this: http://vn1010076272.fm.alibaba.com/
which makes it look rather small and unimportant at first glance.

Third, I remembered that Shin Etsu had made noise about its own REE plant in Vietnam. So I googled some and found this:
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo, President: Shunzo Mori) has established its first two Shin-Etsu Group companies in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam:
Shin-Etsu Electronics Materials Vietnam Co., Ltd. for the manufacturing of silicone-based materials for high-brightness LED packaging and Shin-Etsu Magnetic Materials Vietnam Co., Ltd.
for the separation and refinement of rare earths, which are the main raw materials of rare earth magnets.
The total investment amount for setting up both companies is ¥5 billion (¥3 billion for materials of high-brightness LED packaging and ¥2 billion for the separating and refining of rare earths). The former company is scheduled to start operations in March 2013 and the latter company in February 2013.
https://www.shinetsu.co.jp/en/news/archive.php?id=301

"in 2012 Shin-Etsu Chemical established Shin-Etsu Magnetic Materials Vietnam, a Group company that carries out the separation and refinement of rare earths,
which are the main raw materials for rare earth magnets. Its plant began operations in 2013."
"Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo, President, Shunzo Mori) has decided to establish a new rare earth magnet manufacturing plant in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The manufacturing capacity of the new plant will be 2,000 tons/year and the investment amount is about ¥12 billion.
The new plant will be built in two phases on land that Shin-Etsu Chemical’s Group company in Vietnam, Shin-Etsu Magnetic Materials Vietnam, owns in Hai Phong Province.
The construction work will start in October 2014. The first-phase portion of the plant construction work is scheduled to be completed in September 2015 with a production capacity
of 1,000 tons/year and the second-phase portion to be completed in September 2016 with another 1,000 tons/year of capacity.
http://www.shinetsu.co.jp/en/news/archive.php?id=365

Still with me? Now have another look at the map on https://www.shinetsu.co.jp/en/news/archive.php?id=301
and consider the locations of the above mentioned ShinEtsu projects and the fact that one city marked closebye is Phu Ly.

Where have we heard that name before? Right:
"VTRE’s rare earths processing facility is located near Phu Ly, Ha Nam Province, south of Hanoi"
http://www.alkane.com.au/images/pdf/asx/2016/20160407.pdf
Doesn't that look like a neat little triangle with one point based on a harbor?

By then I was already half convinced, but the last puzzle piece fell into place with this:
http://www.vir.com.vn/japan-owned-firm-begins-rare-earth-exploitation.html

I can't be sure, of course, but I really think what we are seeing is a broad based cooperation between Vietnam on the one hand, and Japanese industrial conglomerates otoh,  providing Vietnam with Japanese technology to build up a modern REE industry, with Shin Etsu being a critical player and Japan as the ultimate buyer.

Again, I'm not sure, but I'd guess that VTRE is owned at least in part by Shin-Etsu ... If anyone has access to Vietnamese company registers it would be great if you could take a look ...

As a result, if I'm right, while we have a MoU with a Vietnamese co now, we are still really dealing with Shin Etsu in a way. Which would explain while none of the parties feel any need to explain the rupture between Alk and Shin Estu - as there wasn't any ...

Could be all wrong of course. But feeling a lot better than I did when I first read the news ...

P.S. Can they be as cheap as China? Maybe. If so, sending big amounts of REE concentrate from Australia Could help to reduce the problems Vietnam has with its own domestic illegal REE mining:
http://www.dtinews.vn/en/news/024/23044/rare-earth-minerals-illegally-stripped-in-lai-chau.html

P.P.S. As for the share price, I think we are still feeling the results of being thrown out of the last index 2 months ago ...