Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Snowking,
I believe that if GR meets the schedule the share price will increase to approximately 0.85p (£200m market cap divided by 23.7billion shares. Whereas completion of the DFS and a sale would provide a multiple of this without the risk.
I have a question which you may be able to answer. On the subject of PREM owning 100% of Zulu, if Suzhou were to increase their stake from 13% to 30% before their pre-emption agreement ends (02 September) would PREM still own 100% of Zulu?
Bickmaster
Wolf,
I hope GR's focus will be solely on Zulu, but until we have confirmation he isn't progressing any further interest in MNH or looking for more magic beans we cannot assume this will be the case. Long time holders here will know of the 10-15 interests he has got involved in down the years and Zulu is the only one with the potential of providing any payback to shareholders.
Bickmaster
I'm not sure I buy into the premise of Suzhou acquiring the shares at a premium. Suzhou paid 0.4p per share for 3b shares. Shares were trading at ~0.32p at the time. There are two ways to look at this, recognising Suzhou got a lot more than just 3b shares through the deal.
(1). Suzhou paid 25% above the odds (0.4p v 0.32p available in the market, resulting in a premium of £2.4m) for the 3b shares but they got all of the rights listed below for free.
i. Exclusive offtake rights on commercial terms to the marketing and sale of 50 per cent of all spodumene produced at Zulu ("Offtake Rights");
ii. An irrevocable right of first refusal for 180 days from the date of the Subscription to match any further equity or loan related funding that is contemplated by Premier, in particular any deal relating to Zulu, on terms no worse than those offered by another potential investor;
iii. A right of participation in any future funding so as to maintain Suzhou TA&A's shareholding of 13.38 per cent in Premier at all times; and
iv. A right to appoint one director to serve on the boards of Premier, Zulu Lithium Mauritius Limited, and Zulu Lithium (Private) Limited ("Board Appointment")
or (2), Suzhou paid market value for the 3b shares and managed to get all of the other rights listed above for £2.4m.
I would have thought the offtake rights to 50% of production at Zulu would be worth more than £2.4m on its own. Indeed I would have thought it would be worth many multiples of £2.4m.
We need more news. And proper news at that. I am fearful we will get a lot of news we don't want tomorrow (MNH and new acquisitions).
Bickmaster
Snowking
You say 'This month is all about getting the detail to build a mine , starting now , after that I am sure the drills can be moved to build up the inferred'.
I would have thought that information was already available and it would have been sensible to have it prior to entering the Marketing and Prepayment agreement to build the pilot mine? Is that not the case?
Bickmaster
Snowking
Point 4 in your list below says 'No debt'. Prem will have $35m of debt and the lender will have a charge over Zulu if Aquind default.
So you are entirely incorrect on that one and this is the biggest risk PREM are facing over the next 12 months.
Bickmaster
Everyone should take note of what has happened over at DDDD. They took a loan for $30m and provided their entire asset base as security, very similar to what PREM have done with Zulu. Suzhou are not miners, neither are PREM. if GR doesn’t deliver on the pilot plant there is a significant risk Suzhou pick up Zulu for a song.
This is the main reason I was in favour of focussing on DFS and getting Zulu sold asap, a low risk and predictable outcome!!
Bickmaster
Morning folks,
Overall a decent RNS.
Positives
- Focus is entirely on SC6 for now rather than overcomplicating matters and going after tantalum and rubidium etc.
- $35m Interest free provided first shipment occurs by 31 March 2023 (a challenging timescale - PREM will need to hit the ground running on this one. Otherwise interest will kick in at a reasonable rate.
- The mineralisation for the pilot plant is near surface which reduces costs and time to get to it.
Risks
- Zulu Lithium Private Limited ("Zulu") and Zulu Lithium Mauritius Limited ("Zulu Lithium") will provide Suzhou TA&A with security over ALL EXISTING ASSETS including all the mining claims, and all other assets, company shares and inventory including SC6 - so effectively if PREM is unable to deliver and cannot repay Suzhou get PREM for nothing unless PREM can find the money to repay them (risk of huge dilution at best or losing the company at worst - I have posted about the security of dent risk here before).
- The deal is at 'binding Heads of Terms' stage so there is still legal work left to complete it and PREM only gets the balance of $31.2m once the transaction documents are completed. The completion of these documents must not be delayed or it will impact programme.
- If the transaction is not completed in one month Suzhou have a right to make PREM repay the $3,450,000 upfront funding. This is simply a mechanism to keep PREM focussed on getting the deal done.
- The take-off for target production is committed to Suzhou TA&A - this will reduce competition from other market players and effectively means PREM is putting all its eggs in one basket.
- Mine development projects are inherently risky and what happens if the $35m doesn't fully fund the pilot plant construction? Further Dilution?
- If there is no production on or before 30 May 2023, then Suzhou TA&A may terminate and seek repayment of the Pre-Payment Amount.
- No assay results.
Conclusion
- A good deal but not without its risks, especially as all of the risk sits on PREM delivering an operational pilot plant - something they have proved themselves to be incapable of in the past. PREM is up 10% which is a little underwhelming but this may be a reflection on the current state of the markets rather also. I've sold 3m of my 15m holding to take some profit. Will likely continue to hold the other 12m unless we see another spike.
Good luck all.
Bickmaster
Wolf,
I agree the MNH investment was a big mistake, as was Circum, and I am hopeful PREM won't sink any more money into either venture as Zulu us where the near term payoff is and must be prioritised. What I really struggled to get my head around with Neil Herbert is that he is very successful with his other Lithium ventures and this never seemed to show through with PREM. Perhaps the PREM ship only has one captain and the first mates are not allowed any input and that's why he left? Perhaps there was a conflict of interest with one or more of this other ventures?
10% down for the week, whilst far from ideal, isn't too bad considering the poor RNS and the general state of the markets. Let's hope we get some actual news in the not too distant future rather than providing a RNS for the sake of providing a RNS. That is of course if PREM can afford to issue a RNS with them being so expensive as pointed out by TopGains last night.
Bickmaster
Watcher,
I would only take over if I had the ability to pay myself a huge salary and grant myself millions of shares for free via option agreements... Oh wait...
Bickmaster
Snowking,
Show me an RNS saying 'Prem will receive $20 m a month in early 2023' and I'd be delighted. The fact of the matter is we are not going to get this RNS and PREM has only produced approx. $250k in revenue in the last 9 years, from a few shipments of tungsten from RHA. Hence why the information provided via RNS needs to be treated with a lot of care. There is a reason a disclaimer is made on forward looking statements in RNSs. If RNSs were gospel I would be a millionaire by now and retired in my mid 30s.
There was nothing which stood out to me in yesterday's RNS apart from the 18,000m drilled. That is fantastic but I'd massively prefer to know what meterage has been tested and results received back and how more metres have been processed and sent to the lab. The Q3 2022 DFS you preached about isn't looking too promising. Shame PREM didn't get the drilling rigs mobilised a few months earlier.
On the development of the 'mini large' mine, PREM is running the risk of not knowing whether it want's to develop a small pilot mine to test the product for flowsheets etc. or develop a larger (but still relatively small) mine which costs a lot more money but still won't provide anywhere near the output a large scale mine would and would have much higher marginal costs than a large mine. They should go with one or the other and not get caught in an halfway house.
The other elephant in the room is securitisation of debt. If Suzhou or anyone else provide a few hundred $m for mine development, or even just for development of the mini-large mine then they will need security against their debt. Anyone who thinks they will provide that kind of money without any security has no idea how finance works.
Also, I have no doubt you have many more shares than I do. I have 15m. That is down to timing and personal circumstances but in no way points towards you having greater powers of clairvoyancy than anyone else who posts here.
I've said this before and I'll say this again, don't confuse realism with pessimism. The potential here is huge, we all know that, but it comes with a massive amount of risk, especially with someone like GR running the show. I like to get into the detail of what the risks are as that it a huge part of what I do in my day job. I know some on here, the majority of which are from the Telegram Group don't like realism but its the way I work. The realism and lack of understanding of some basic economic principles was too much for some in the group and hence I was booted from it a long time ago. Probably the best thing that happened to me given the lack of objectivity.
I'll repeat, the potential here is huge. But not without a massive amount of risk, especially with GR at the helm.
Bickmaster
Degrasse
You say Suzhou "paid £12m for 50% of the off-take alone". They didnt. They paid £12m for 3b shares (worth £9.6m) and;
i. Exclusive offtake rights on commercial terms to the marketing and sale of 50 per cent of all spodumene produced at Zulu ("Offtake Rights");
ii. An irrevocable right of first refusal for 180 days from the date of the Subscription to match any further equity or loan related funding that is contemplated by Premier, in particular any deal relating to Zulu, on terms no worse than those offered by another potential investor;
iii. A right of participation in any future funding so as to maintain Suzhou TA&A's shareholding of 13.38 per cent in Premier at all times; and
iv. A right to appoint one director to serve on the boards of Premier, Zulu Lithium Mauritius Limited, and Zulu Lithium (Private) Limited ("Board Appointment")
So at very most the 'Exclusive offtake rights on commercial terms to the marketing and sale of 50 per cent of all spodumene produced at Zulu' could be valued at £2.4m, applying the assuming no value is placed on the other rights they secured through the deal.
Bickmaster
Snowking,
I have no issues getting out of bed in the morning. On the other hand, I imagine you get up, throw on the rose tinted glasses and put Shiny Happy People by REM on repeat for the full day.
With regards to your email below.
We have £12 m cash in the bank - No we don't, unless the drilling contractors have been working for free.
Drilled 18,000 m of 20,000 - We dont know if 20,000 is the target as it has not been communicated. It wasn't long ago you were suggesting PREM would get away with 10,000m or less.
Accelerated plan to produce spodumene in 8 months - Accelerated plans are great. Delivery is another matter. I don't think this is in any way realistic.
A big partner prepared to give a big loan interest free to build a mini large mine - What will the capacity of the 'mini large' mine be and what will it cost. The 'interest-free' concept is entirely a red herring. What price will they pay for the spodumene - the interest rate will be baked into the price? What security will they required for non-performance? Zulu itself is the only asset of any value on PREM's books.
Facing sales $20 m a month in 9 months - entirely unrealistic.
Come on who cares what happened 2-5 yrs ago , what matters is now in 2022. Given your targets set out above require delivery, I would say the failure to deliver anything over the past 7-8 years is absolutely of relevance.
Prem is about to become a producer and hold 100% zulu - 'about to'... indeed.
Bickmaster
Redtrade,
The reason I say most of the deals GR does are terrible is because most clearly have proven to be terrible and have not provided a penny of shareholder value. Circum? MNH? RHA? TCT Limestone? Hunting Lodge & Estate? Darwin? KDNC? CASA? The XTR? LIBS? Lenigas? KME Holdings? EAS Appointment?
The only decent piece of business he appears to have done in the past 10 years is to buy Zulu. And then when he raised money do progress the DFS at Zulu a few years ago he spent it on funding his buddies venture at Circum so they wouldn't have to cough up the $$$ themselves.
Let's look at the Suzhou deal in more detail. I have broken it down below so you and others can look at it from a different perspective.
Suzhou paid 0.4p per share for 3b shares. Shares were trading at ~0.32p at the time and all the happy clappers were singing GR's praises about how great a result it was. There are two ways to look at this, recognising Suzhou got a lot more than just 3b shares through the deal.
(1). Suzhou paid 25% above the odds (0.4p v 0.32p available in the market, resulting in a premium of £2.4m) for the 3b shares but they got all of the rights listed below for free.
i. Exclusive offtake rights on commercial terms to the marketing and sale of 50 per cent of all spodumene produced at Zulu ("Offtake Rights");
ii. An irrevocable right of first refusal for 180 days from the date of the Subscription to match any further equity or loan related funding that is contemplated by Premier, in particular any deal relating to Zulu, on terms no worse than those offered by another potential investor;
iii. A right of participation in any future funding so as to maintain Suzhou TA&A's shareholding of 13.38 per cent in Premier at all times; and
iv. A right to appoint one director to serve on the boards of Premier, Zulu Lithium Mauritius Limited, and Zulu Lithium (Private) Limited ("Board Appointment"
or (2), Suzhou paid market value for the 3b shares and managed to get all of the other rights listed above for £2.4m.
I would have thought the offtake rights to 50% of production at Zulu would be worth more than £2.4m on its own. Indeed I would have thought it would be worth many multiples of £2.4m.
Do you still think it is a great deal? I don't think so and the market doesn't think so and the market has also shown today's RNS wasn't well received. The 12,000m drilled since march was a big positive though.
Still holding my 15m in the hope the market economics outweight the inability to deliver anything.
Bickmaster
Raymondo
You refer to the brilliant news with somebody footing the bill to take Zulu into production in Q1 2023 on an interest free basis accepting payment lithium offtake ( at a 50% of the volume mined). And you ask what is there not to get excited about with this deal?
I think you need to re-read the RNS, especially the sentence below.
"Shareholders should note that no funding has yet been arranged for this possible pilot plant and amongst many aspects of this whole concept still under scrutiny, this will still require completion."
Bickmaster
Johnny,
Hard to know what was intended. I had expected we would receive a details summary of assay results received since the last update in February. It was a nothing RNS and the market has viewed it negatively.
Bickmaster
Johnny
In response to your 13.51 post. I was scratching my head as much as anyone else when I read the RNS this morning. It is another 'nothing' RNS full of 'potentials' and 'possibles' and there was no reason it couldn't have been released a few weeks ago. I would question whether there was any value in releasing the RNS at all. It was too general with very little useful info for shareholders apart from the confirmation of 18,000m drilled. No information about how many samples have been submitted to the lab and no info about what results have been received to date. This is what is needed.
No information on MNH - this was a positive, though confirmation MNH has been dropped would have been great.
Do I think the pilot plant will be operational by Q1 2023. Not a hope with GR at the helm.
We are lucky SP only fell 10%. Am opaque shambles.
Bickmaster
Bagpipes,
There is no place for such clarity on here.
Wressmycash, you need to up your game son. Your posting quality over the past few days has been as poor as I've seen on any bb.
Bickmaster
Roman
That is the most accurate thing anyone has said on there in a very long time (myself excluded of course).
Bickmaster
Jenkoo,
Yes he said he would update us in two weeks. That was 6 weeks ago.
Bickmaster
Peter777
Thanks for taking the time to write your first post on the board and well done for making it such an informative one.
You are just what we need more of on here. Best of luck with your future posting.
Bickmaster