focusIR May 2024 Investor Webinar: Blue Whale, Kavango, Taseko Mines & CQS Natural Resources. Catch up with the webinar here.
So on the timeline given in the presentation this was 'plant mobilisation' which was planned to happen in May.
Nice and early in May too. The whole team are doing well.
Lets all hope that the wet season does not arrive early and we 'get out of the ground' as Steve described it as per the plan.
Rory, I think everything is quite straightforward. I read three mining code releases and all of the explanations around them and thought their rules and purpose was extremely well laid out and made perfect sense. After reading the rules and explanations it is down to individual companies how they move forward. With the gold companies some were arrogant and that has created so much work with this latest 2023 mining code and its practical application. It seems they have modelled some of their mines on the workaround fiddle of taxes and it is costly to undo what they have done.
With Lithium's mining code of 2012 it was a good time if you wanted to start mining lithium the tax breaks offered to encourage new mines were amazing. Furthermore in Mali providing you don't trigger change, normally the old mining code rules remain, each mine does not have to apply the changes, unless it is to close a loophole - for example the movement of (gold) ore. Leo Lithium could simply have just continued with their original plans with no issues and retained all of the tax breaks.
The notion that someone at the mining office said everything was ok, so they just continued with a changed plan with no official documentation covered in an RNS is beyond belief.
Who here would ask your planning officer if an extension on your house would be ok, describe it, then if they think the design is ok just build it, only the occasional lunatic does that and often they are bulldozed. Mining is very similar, submit and approve - officially.
So to get involved with ore at the time that the Mali government and many other governments had a problem was high risk, especially when the audit in Mali raised it as a way mining companies were avoiding taxation.
Then the Morila mine. For the CEO of Leo Lithium to be wanting it to go to global court is ridiculous. The Mali companies are constructed so companies cannot leave a mess and evade responsibility as best as this can be covered in company law. Clearly because of the escrow account there remains a connection between FFX and Leo Lithium - therefore any government would persue an investigation and would look at the details of the release of the escrow account and any other conditions which may create a legal connection. It just appeared a little bit smart and unnecessarily complicated which always gives legal experts the possibility of finding a weakness in the legal armour.
Everything I see points to a company pushing their luck far too much. I have worked in regulated environments of one type or another, you look at the rules, you look at what they are trying to achieve and a common phrase in these environments is take the rules in the spirit they were intended and apply change in the business. The only time to tip into risk is if the entire business survival dictates you go into a grey area. They were doing so well it was a stupid space to step into.
The first RNS yesterday still displays arrogance in m
Bridgedog, I agree what Leo Lithium did and how some of the goldmines did to try and bypass the rules was not positive, a bit insulting to a country with a well established and global mining industry.
Fortunately though we have Mali experienced people on our board who respect the rules and don't try to cut corners or be smart.
As other so called brilliant investment opportunities fall by the wayside one by one, Bernard and his conservative team are looking better by the minute.
Bridgedog, your shares have mainly taken large dives today.
I would work on your own maths and your own research a little before suggesting what others should or should not do.
You could write to Hainan and explain the error of their arithmetic if you are convinced the figures are incorrect.
Plus I would be interested to know how you calculated the total of all of our Goldfields.
Bridgedog, no police here.
Just pointing out one of your investments has similar, possibly even closer ties to Wagner group.
It definitely does as one regular poster here made the same error.
Never checked all of your investments, there could be more.
Bridgedog, so in conclusion would you tell anyone investing in a country with any connection to the Wagner group that they are stupid should not invest and if they hold shares there cash them in at once? Just for clarity?
Rory, you are correct, so I think from memory that affects some more tax breaks during production. I would have to look back under the old code.
The fine is actually quite soft, like I said it is close to 50m dollars in duty that they did not have to pay under the tax breaks now being repaid because they broke the agreement and just 12m effectively in a fine which is light - all things considered.
The question is, with all those tax breaks already under your belt, why take the chance? Just continue as per the submission.
Rory, no I think the fine keeps them under the old code. But effectively it is the duty benefits repaid (they got massive tax breaks under the old code)and a further 12m dollar fine. So in some ways - yes.
It is worth stepping back and looking to see what FFX did with the Morila mine. Then:
The escrow account and 15.9% of Leo lithium shares this year 2024. So there is a connection - is anything to do with those share conditions connected to the Morila mine? You would have to go through historic detail. But the two companies are connected.
Look back prior to Leo doing DSO ore sales and see the lack of submissions, approvals or permits. Nothing formal on record in RNS form from the government for direct ore selling.
In contrast look at the time and effort our team put into ensuring everything was perfect just to add a DMS plant on site.
After all of this has been through the wash I think you will find a catalogue of errors - the dangers of using some consultancy services.
It is the same here, some unproven systems being used that one day will be tested either in an event or court of law and they will either stand up or they won't.
The rule is when you have a lot to lose don't push your luck/the envelope.
Onlyking, ours may take a leap up before he gets a chance but if they get a chance I think a lot will come here.
Reading their chat board over the last 8 months I reckon at least 75% acknowledge it was their boards error if not more.
Only a small number, same as in the UK, blame the government for everything.
So if they get the chance we may see a good few of them.
George, West Bougouni? I think so.
Gangeng will want that cleared up fast as they need government permissions to continue, I am not sure how much longer they can work under their existing permissions. Just normal processes no drama.
Daz what concerns me if I had been a leo lithium investor is even when they have managed to salvage money for shareholders is the tone of the way that is written. In my opinion it was all board incompetence and had it been a democracy I don't think they could have negotiated such a settlement.
Around early 2023 I posted on this board asking about their updates regarding direct sale of ore to see what the process was in case we did the same, I could find no asx announcements and nothing in the presentations. For a board to think permissions for storing ore to put into a plant is the same as storing ore then transporting directly out of the mine site is unbelievable in my opinion. Anyone who has worked in this space will be aware of all permissions needed to do anything, it is a headache.
Plus the Morila mine payment trail was simply pushing their luck to the absolute limit.
In the end they have got off very light, the 60m payment is only 12m above the tax breaks they got under the old code which they were about to break, shipping ore
The Morila gold mine shares are not worth much.
The shareholders have got out with a much higher percentage of their money than I expected. But so sad that a greedy board tried to push the limits that far. The old days of using slick consultants and exploiting loopholes have long gone.
I will be amazed if that CEO continues as a CEO.
What a mess.
From our point of view our deal will progress. It also shows the mining office is working.
Leo Lithium 60m dollars settlement and sell out to Ganfeng, that was a good result out of a terrible position they put themselves in. But our sale will complete with Ganfeng it appears.
https://www.leolithium.com/investor-centre/asx-announcements/
Panthera increases holdings in Mali and decreases in Nigeria.
https://m.miningweekly.com/article/panthera-restructures-ownership-of-mali-nigeria-projects-2024-05-07