Member Info for BorderBob

Dee’s naivete is showing with his suggestion that BCN would have any chance of being listed on NASDAQ. For those who are interested, here is a good summary of the requirements. As it explains,

“Major stock exchanges, like the Nasdaq, are exclusive clubs—their reputations rest on the companies they trade. As such, the Nasdaq won't allow just any company to be traded on its exchange. Only companies with a solid history and top-notch management behind them are considered.”

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/nasdaq-listing-requirements/

@mrcautious “Where do you get the 35% annual rate of return figure from dare I ask !”

Current price 56p. Ganfeng pays 67.5p in six months. That’s a 20.5% return, annualized to 41%. How do you get anything different?

Gaslighting is a danger to those who can’t think for themselves and are easily manipulated, like those who supported Donald Trump or Boris Johnson. If that’s what I’m doing, whom are you worried about? Yourself or your followers?

What we know is that there is enough clay to produce 35,000 tons of battery-grade lithium a year for about 20 years. So figure 700,000 tons, but half belongs to jv partner Ganfeng, so Bacanora shareholders are left with 350,000 tons. That’s 35,000,000 kilos, or about one kilo per share of BCN stock. Assuming no production costs and the market rising to £15,000 per ton, that works out to about £1.50 per share, as you suggest. Discounted to present value and figuring in some production costs, taxes and royalties, your estimate may be high. Of course, then there is the intangible value of fantasizing about further profits from the lower-grade clay in the 12% not included in the Sonora Feasibility Study.

In southern Mexico there is a coffee cooperative that allows investors to plant a coffee bush now and in return receive the first several harvests of beans once it matures. I think the best plan for Bacanora is to allow each investor to collect a kilo of lithium per share, if any is ever produced. If the supply has not run out after 20 years, then a second kilo could be earned.

My agenda is about as hidden as your predilection for cheerleading. I am here to learn from other’s mistakes, and to be amused by their foibles. At every moment I consider whether to sell what I have, or buy more. A 35% annual rate of return, assuming a deal closes in December, looks too good to be true – and therefore is likely not to happen. Your opinion may differ, but it is unfortunate that dissent is not tolerated here.

Thank you. And it appears to me that Court is closed in August and September, so if an offer is made it will not go anywhere fast.

Interesting strategy, attempting to discredit me by insinuating I should not want anonymity when insulted by the group of nameless trolls you have assembled. I asked mick88 a question, he has no answers so he reverts to the “gaslighting” meme. Meanwhile, you want to answer only on your terms. I prefer to continue asking on my terms, especially when you ignore or forget what I have posted several times, that I am a shareholder. Why did you feel compelled to misstate that fact? One must be careful with misstatements, before starting to believe them.
And speaking of solar, Ganfeng is doing just that in Argentina.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ganfeng-lithium-argentina/chinas-ganfeng-to-invest-in-solar-powered-lithium-project-in-argentina-idUSKCN2DU1XC

There are references in the Takeover Code to “the Court,” “Court hearing,” “Court approval” and so forth. What Court has jurisdiction? One with a real judge wearing a real wig? It’s not the takeover panel. I admit my ignorance of British law, but it looks to me that if an offer is made and accepted by the Board, then they must go to some court and ask for permission to hold a shareholder meeting for approval. Then if that succeeds, they must return to the same court and ask it to “sanction” the arrangement. No indication that shareholders are allowed to appear or intervene at either step, but apparently that has been the case in other contested takeovers.

So I found Section 899 of the Companies Act, which provides:

“If a majority in number representing 75% in value of the creditors or class of creditors or members or class of members (as the case may be), present and voting either in person or by proxy at the meeting summoned under section 896, agree a compromise or arrangement, the court may, on an application under this section, sanction the compromise or arrangement.”

To me this sounds like both a head count and a share count. First you need holders of 75% of the shares to show up and vote. But then you need “a majority” – of what? People, or shares? Let’s say there are 150 shareholders, 100 of them with 10 shares each and 50 with 1,000 shares each. They all show up, all the little people vote no, and all the fatcats vote yes. So the 75% requirement is met, but only 33% of the shareholders are in favor. Can that be? If all that is required is 75% of shares, what is the purpose of the word “majority” in the statute?

If it’s a head count, all the dithering about voting “No” should be replaced with a campaign to bring in friends and neighbors as small shareholders.

I also found that whatever court is involved, it is closed during summer holidays, so the process takes longer.

Two rural Sonoran communities have been hit by what authorities are calling an explosive COVID-19 outbreak. Fewer than 2,000 people live in the neighboring municipalities of Huásabas and Granados, but 22 confirmed cases and another dozen suspected cases there have alarmed state health officials.

https://fronterasdesk.org/content/1692771/rural-sonoran-communities-hit-explosive-covid-19-outbreak

These towns are about 12 miles from Bacadehuachi, the closest town to the Bacanora site where the plan is to house workers. But since there are mountains between them with no road, it’s a 30-mile drive.

It doesn’t bother me that Dee is swallowing his words at what sounds like the end of a long tunnel. Style and technology don’t matter. What bothers me is the imperial “We,” not when referring to the loose network formed but just to himself.

Several myths are perpetuated. No, it is not the largest mine in the world. It has a 19-year projected life at 35,000 tpa. Yes, there are more hectares, but the current project accounts for 88% of the reserves. No, there is no evidence that it can be upscaled to 100,000 tpa, and even if it could be that would just mean the available resources would play out much faster.

Most significant? Perhaps the word “Mexico” was not heard once. A casual listener may never know that this involves a company with few British employees trying to exploit a mineral deposit owned by a sovereign country that has chosen to license its development in return for royalties and taxes.

Amusing, that the show calls itself a “Roast” and participants “Roasters.” Ganfeng is a roaster, when it comes to processing lithium. They don’t have the technology to work with clay deposits. (I’m sure they are working on it, following the lead of others and trying to duplicate the technology one way or another.)

What is a strategic material? China is the UK’s sixth largest trading partner – more is exported to China than to Switzerland, Italy, or Spain. China buys petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, scientific instruments and power generating equipment, among other goods. Would you restrict ownership of companies that sell those items? Or are they not as strategic as a mineral found on five continents? Meanwhile, Britain buys more than £7 billion of “telecomms & sound recording equipment” from China each year. Where was your smartphone made, and how strategic is it for you?

No, I did not mention any details about the offtake contract. I asked mrcautious if he had a copy because he seemed to know more about it than I do. My belief is that offtakes have common terms that are easily understood, and they don't include his assertion that BCN would control the price. I haven't found an offtake agreement that leaves the price open for negotiation. The sample I posted allows for negotiation in later years, and reference to a third-party arbitrator if that is not successful. He seemed to think the price could be set by BCN, which led me to ask for details. Please, no more personal attacks and twisting words today.

@steve “please show us your source for the off take agreement details you mention here.”

You can find samples with a Google search. Here’s one:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1556766/000119312512436698/d400066dex1032.htm

Seems simple to me. “Seller will sell and Buyer will purchase all of Seller’s Products.” That seems to have boosted BCN’s value before shareholders decided that sharing a bed with a Chinese company, inexperienced in clay mining, was not to their advantage. I’m open to the idea that even with Ganfeng being both Seller and Buyer, the contract was written to BCN’s advantage. Just show me where and how.

@mrcautious “Even given Ganfengs offtake agreement WHY should shareholders allow them to takeover the company so cheap.”

“Cheap” is your opinion, not shared by the market or possible other bidders. If there were any intelligent discussion here, someone might have asked when a competitor would make a higher bid: Before the Ganfeng offer is made, or after it is on the table? I would expect next month, but it would be a strange mating ritual. “I’m going to outbid you because I want to be your partner.”

“Western economies do not want Chinese dominance of strategic resources to happen.”

Western economies have been perfectly happy with that situation for years. Why did the American rare-earth mine close and sell its equipment to China? Why did the G7 not encourage Australia to process its own rocks instead of loading them on a slow boat to China?

Lithium is not a strategic resource, any more than American soybeans are a strategic resource for Chinese buyers. For the next few years, lithium refining is a strategic manufacturing process.

@mrcautious “ even if Ganfeng did have first shout on Lithium produced, if we still controlled the resource we would control the price and other factors,”

You are changing the subject. Ganfeng DOES have first shout, and the jv DOES have to sell everything to them (except for what the Japanese get). As a reminder, the topic is how the takeover affects British access to a Mexican resource. Simple answer: It doesn’t. But do you have a copy of the contract? You seem to know what it contains. Where can I find one?

@jam2morrow “I think they're underway drilling well bore-holes”

Wouldn’t you think that’s one of the first steps to take, rather than waiting until construction is about to begin based on some guess as to water availability?

I demand an unreserved apology for referring to the elder statesman as "Lord Leet"

Enough what?
Facts?
Sorry, I must keep in mind how inconvenient they are to people who invest based on emotion.

Solar panels produce maximum efficiency between 59°F and 95°F. As the temperature rises, the efficiency will drop and the solar panel will produce less energy. Perhaps that is why current ownership has not explored the possibility -- maybe someone should ask them about it. But the major problem is lack of water, not lack of energy.

Since all production has already been promised either to Ganfeng or to a Japanese investor, how could it possibly restrict the UK’s access to lithium supplies? It doesn’t help the small investors’ case to ask stupid questions that demonstrate lithium illiteracy.

Maybe all you need is water and salt, but if there's not enough water "Bacanora" also means the local tequila.

"Mexican officials are calling on residents of the state of Sonora to conserve water as the region continues to experience severe drought conditions. Some parts of the state are already struggling to keep water flowing to residents as water levels continue to fall in Sonora’s dams. Hermosillo is renting private wells and reactivating some in disuse to boost water access. And the federal government may also begin cloud seeding — a procedure that uses chemicals to increase the probability of rain."

https://fronterasdesk.org/content/1692193/officials-call-sonorans-conserve-water-drought-continues

Just returned from a brief visit to Sonora, although far from any lithium deposits. I noticed the high temperature in Bacanora was 46 degrees, or 114 degrees if you prefer it that way. I keep imagining Mexican miners roasting dirt in that environment. For12-hour shifts. (The nightly low is 28C/82F.)

Not that the latest lithium processing methods require heat. Even the Chinese have probably figured that out, and it may be one reason they want to throw out the Hermosillo lab reports and start over. Anyone else following the stories about clay deposits in the appropriately-named Clayton Valley of Nevada, USA? Elon Musk says the lithium can be extracted using only water and salt, but what does he know?