Member Info for Ideas

Haven’t seen any news. Is this being talked about on another forum (meme or otherwise)?

Yes, I agree you last point, and the comment below that the dispute is now with the government and not the CRUI - just wanted to understand the earlier comment, as that seemed to be saying that this was never for the CRUI to decide and should have been taken by the government initially, which is new to me.

The law underpinning the CRUI was, ironically, about decentralising decisions to speed investment.

When I read the ESIA decision making process it was my reading that the decision rests locally. I wrote that out on 28 July on the link below, in case it’s helpful to anyone:

https://www.lse.co.uk/profiles/ideas/?page=12

What’s the national law you’re referring to and can you summarise how that works so that we can compare, pls?

So positive, you could have been a great cheerleader Matador! Ha ha ; )

My pref would be to settle with:

- an ESIA (with no or *deliverable* water reqs),

- to save all appearances, 20% Gov. Share ‘bought’ for enough money to be non diluting and make good for the 3+ years of delay and overheads (i.e., compensation), and

- a corner stone debt funding commitment so that investors can take faith to move forward and the kingdom can further share in the profits.

This would be very private with very little ground being given, so it can be put down to misunderstanding.

I wonder if one of the big gaps was that the national and business interests weren’t aligned because there was no investment.

Instead we took on a supplier that could have been a Trojan horse. The outcome may have been predetermined years ago!

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Thank you for sharing. LeDesk article seems factual, without opinion. It doesn't mention OCP, which would be helpful (translation by deepl):

"In a press release issued on Friday, potash company Emmerson announced that it had notified the Moroccan government of the existence of an investment dispute. The company has engaged the law firm Boes Schiller Flexner to examine remedies to assert Emmerson's rights. For Emmerson, the dispute stems from various breaches by the government and its agents of the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and Morocco on the Promotion and Protection of Investments, which was signed on October 30, 1990 and came into force on February 14, 2002.

On October 14, Emmerson received an unfavorable recommendation for its potash project in Khemisset. This was the verdict of the Unified Regional Investment Commission, which examined the environmental and social assessment of the potash project.

For Emmerson, based on the agreement signed between the two countries, it is thus possible to have recourse to arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The agreement "does not require that Morocco be informed of Emmerson's intention to submit a claim to arbitration and, consequently, the company is under no obligation to wait for a specific period of time before commencing arbitration", we are informed.

"Nevertheless, before proceeding to arbitration, Emmerson has, in good faith and in a spirit of cooperation, invited Morocco to enter into discussions regarding cash compensation for damages suffered as a result of Morocco's breaches of the BIT, with a view to reaching an amicable resolution of the dispute," it continues.

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"If these discussions with Morocco fail, Emmerson intends to submit a request for arbitration, seeking damages for the harm described above, plus interest, costs and such other relief as the Tribunal may deem appropriate in the circumstances. The communication states that Emmerson remains hopeful that its dispute with the government can be resolved amicably. The Company will consider any other action necessary to ensure the preservation of his rights," it reads.

As a reminder, last March the Ministerial Steering Committee invited the company to update its ESIA to incorporate optimizations arising from the KMP process changes, which include a significant reduction in water consumption and the elimination of the need to dispose of used brine, and to resubmit it to the CRUI for review. The following month Emmerson finalized these updates and resubmitted what it hopes will be the latest version of the ESIA.

In June, the company entered into a non-binding, non-exclusive Memorandum of Understanding with Hexagon Group AG for the supply of some of the new fertilizer products from KMP. Under these terms, Hexagon would accept up to 300,000 metric tons of struvite-based products and 50,000 tons per year of vivianite-based products, deliverable from the ports of Casablanca, Jorf Lasfar or Safi. Following the filing of a patent application for the new KMP processes in the UK in September 2023, Emmerson has also filed an application in Morocco in the second quarter of 2024.

As the company continued to rack up losses due to the delayed start-up of its potash project at Khemisset, obtaining government approval remained the priority for Emmerson, who hoped to secure the necessary permits before the end of the year."

What this brings is transparency - hopefully flushing out whether everything to date is bureaucracy, corrupt or by intent, and an ESIA in the first two cases.

Could be BOD disagreement on next steps.

Some appointments and a new regional Governor for Khemisset yesterday. Has been a local Council corruption scandal in that area also in the news.

https://en.hespress.com/93955-king-appoints-14-new-ministers-prefects-and-governors-to-local-and-central-administrations.html

I want to hear that it was a genius and daredevil idea to flush out CRUI panel dissenters, so that lots of noise could be made before a vote, including bringing any UK gov pressure.

I understood the Chairman had credibility and the investors’ board seat is probably now helpful also.

Any necessary deck chair rearranging is hopefully in progress as we speak.

2022:” Kawak Aviation has developed a bucket to enable a large firefighting helicopter to transport and drop 2,600 gallons of water.”

Must be cheaper and faster than a pipeline to get started and requires no land acquisition. Whatever, the business just needs to find a way.

The investors are not British and they may not wish to lose face. The more they are genuinely blindsided, the more likely we will see a response, I would think.

A proactive option would be to put in an application requiring no water and then source that separately as a commercial concern. May be too simplistic.

Whatever the block, they should torpedo that and move the challenge to the financial markets, which are more predictable.

Could you add the source, BTS?

Very frustrating that it’s an economically viable project on land sold to be used for mining - will be confusing to many UK investors who assume that’s enough.

I think it’s been a lapse of active regulatory influence - can’t see someone like Musk allowing the situation to reach this position.

Yes and no. You could say the same for any business until the first income lands, but the day before the income arrives is different to the day after incorporation.

The company does need this permit but has a stack already and is further along the line than a newly incorporated company seeking its first permit.

Where all that sits on value is separate and for each to decide.

I think it’s more euphemism than ambiguous as to meaning - e.g., decision update by phone and waiting for the letter. Last time we heard only after the Appeal was lodged, suggesting that they may have felt no wiggle room to withhold the news here.

A new an better ESIA application may be faster and cheaper than legal action.

Disappointing to see such a failure of regulatory influence with an ex-ambassador on the board for several years now and a state linked advisory-consultant.

Time was there to read the tea leaves and do any necessary deals, save only if any prejudice is against it being a UK company, of itself, though that too might have been in an Ambassador’s understanding and experience.

On what basis has Graham been ‘confident’, if this is the situation?