Member Info for Lithiuminvestors

Robert* Woolridge

I was the guy behind you. Yes, the aircon was a nice break from the oppressive London heat.

I dont understand that people will invest money in a stock- then spend all their time here arguing and speculating but cant make an effort to come to an AGM to see what is going on first hand.

Lets see if my post-AGM discussion with Charles (NED) bears some fruit and BA changes his ways regarding PR

Hainan have actually re-affirmed the updated JORC

Hainan > Kodal

Some investors here are **really** naive.

Castle is not some random company as they tried to portray in the AGM- SZ was the MD of it.

the BOD explanation- they 'tried' to renew Nielle permit but decided it was not financially worth it to 'bid' for it. So a current BOD member picked picked it up for his other company a few days after it had expired? This was already pre-determined.

Well the transaction has been reported to both FCA and ASIC so lets see what the outcome is

LSE AIM regulation are useless. I now have a named contact in FCA who I need to respond back to this week. I don’t want to detract too much from my specific concerns regarding Kodal but if anyone has other AIM examples- drop me an email.

And I had promised not to rant….

3) His answer regarding the drilling/mres update was entirely unsatisfactory- 2 years late and he refuses to say why and he stated he wont even give a timeframe. Hainan have already re-confirmed their assertion about the upgraded size. One of the two parties is misleading us- and I think we know who it is. NB- His foot tapping peaked when answering this question.

The question is- what else are they hiding from us? And more importantly-WHY?

4) I hope my two questions at the end were not cut-out from the stream. I asked about PR/engagement and if there is plan to change things. The answer from BA was even more unsatisfactory- ‘we don’t need to push PR and only release news when we NEED to’. My view is this attitude does not cut it in AIM which is very volatile and has short-attention span investors. Neither do I believe the stockprice is low because of the geopolitical situation Mali as BA claims- were this true, the only antidote to this would be aggressive PR to show things are okay, right? What better to engage potential investors with videos of production and goods leaving the site (and no, I don’t think this is not done because of the security issues).

So at the end of the meeting- Charlie (NED) comes immediately over- a) they are trying to improve PR b) the SP will get better once the cashflow becomes regular and people see it in the balance sheets of KMUK.

I told him I was not convinced of either- investors can already see how much money we are making- but the story has not been sold by BA. I told him that Im not convinced about what BA told us about the mres update and it needs to be released. I really don’t see how the cashflow on balance sheet will change anything materially.

We cant simply just pushing back the time when we expect the SP does well again- ‘it will happen when we get the license’….’it will happen when we start exporting’….it will happen when the spod price recovers’…...it will happen when we receive the first monies from Hainan…..’it will happen with the second monies from Hainan’. All these things have passed and gone and look at where we are. I am seeing some people say that ‘it will happen when we start Phase 2’. Will people here be writing the same things in 2030?

You have an AIM company which is generating cash from the first time- whose operating profit has gone from $150-200 per tonne to almost 10 times that amount, in 6 months. We could make as much as $200 million turnover this year.

Our time should be NOW- spod price is already almost 25% down from its peak a few weeks ago- which was another wasted moment to push PR. There was window from December to May that the drums should have been banging, but instead- BA has been found missing-in-action, and we got updates about tree planting at Bougouni.

I would have loved to stay to finally speak with BA face-to-face but had an impromptu email during the AGM which meant I had to get back home to attend to something urgently.

I will as much as I can not to rant

So an update of the AGM as promised

1) For those far away I understand, but anyone who is within day trip distance of London should really have come, seeing as there are obvious problems with the company (or more accurately- Bernard Aylward). It is more worthwhile than posting/speculating/arguing on LSE.

Apparently there has been a gradual decline of attendees over the past 4 years- a clear reflection that we have ‘fallen off the radar’- due to lack of PR.

2) I deliberately came in just before it started, BA and Ian Woolridge looked like they had seen a ghost. BA didn’t approach me but sent Ian over, to presumably confirm who I was- he then mumbled something about me not being able to vote directly at the AGM because I bought via a broker (clearly worried I would make an embarrassing public [token] vote against their re-appointment). A good idea for us all to attend next year if the stock price is still in the doldrums.

3) The whole presentation- BA, is more nervous than you would have seen in the stream. Under the table his foot is tapping nervously through the whole presentation, when asked questions- he picks up the pace of the tapping.

Now my thoughts about the actual substance of the AGM:

1) I didn’t see beforehand in the news that SZ resigned- I think he had to after we had raised the issue with them directly about conflict of interest. Ian attempted to explain it was an ‘unrelated company’ that bought Nielle when we all know it was SZ’s company. There are actual financial legal ethical codes about transactions like these and I doubt Kodal thought to pass it in front of their legal counsel before this blatant asset-strip was completed. I’ve reported it to both the FCA and its equivalent in Australia (where Castle is based)

2) BA is rehashing the same mantra- ‘fully funded’, ‘progress made from nothing to mining etc’, he had is role the company but I think that time has passed and, quite frankly, I am disappointed he didn’t stepdown along with his friend. This was the first time he has given a direct response about the floor price- it was simply removed from the Kodal website a while back. I think the ‘spod price is higher so we don’t need a floor price anymore’ is another example of him not admitted his failure and Hainan probably feel they can run rings round him- which they do. Ditto with the Mali government fee. I don’t rate him as a CEO/businessman- he is the guy who you want heading operations and a more savvy, sharp, charismatic CEO handling the business end.

So I have a response from BA, via PR, that him and his family own a lot of shares in Kodal so it would not be in his/their interest for the SP to be low.

Yet Nielle was given away free to his friend (and our NED)- Steven Zaninovich. We did 6000m drilling back in 2021 if I recall- that amounted to nothing- now belonging to Castle Minerals.

CIV is really focused on developing gold and rivalling Ghana- we dont even have the excuse of politics in this case. Now we have all our eggs in the basketcase that is Mali while Stevey (still an NED in Kodal) gets the stable more developed project next door.

We have no idea what is going on in the background behind close doors- clearly it is more financially worthwhile for BA to give Nielle to his friend/colleague than to build up the SP and thus his holdings in Kodal. The latter must pale in significance to whatever deal he has made with Zaninovich.

I think investors need to wake up with all what is going in- you dont have to be a genius investor like Warren Buffet to figure out there is something not right here. Every lithium company has been pumping on the back of the higher spod price- except one....

Then there is the opaque pricing deal with Hainan.

Finally, ofc, 2 years wait for the upgraded resource- almost nil assay results in that time period- the scant results they produced were under duress by myself and otyhers.

I encourage you all to continue to email AIM/FCA/Bernie etc and keep the pressure up

PS- Anyone who can, should absolutely attend the AGM

6. As per previous emails, we continue to be kept in the dark about a revised mineral resource which is now 2 years late with NO REASONABLE EXPLANATION given for this inexorable delay.

It is unfortunate I have to keep on sending these emails and reminding the AIM regulator (if it really exists beyond an anonymous email account) of its job. To repeat, price-sensitive information must be announced to the market as soon as it happens. a) If there is an issue with the drilling/results for the revised mineral resource- we need to be informed- 2 years is not a small margin. b) Likewise, if there are results- we need to be informed of them *IN FULL*- so far, I have managed to force the hand of Kodal to release a 'tiny' amount of the results last year- but it is only a fraction of what SHOULD have been released by now.

Regards

Kodal Investors Club

Latest email to the regulator:

have added the FCA market abuse address to this conversation for good measure.

Just a recap of what has happened in the last few months with Kodal Minerals, listed on the AIM of LSE.

1. Many of us bought into Kodal because we were lead to believe that it would be a diversified company developing gold as well as its core lithium concessions.

The company spent [our] shareholders money in 2021- drilling at a gold concession called Nielle in northern Cote D'Ivoire.

2. In February this year, Mr Steven Zaninovich, stepped down from the board of Kodal Minerals- but still retains a *paid role* as a Non-executive director of the firm.

3. In March this year,Mr Zaninovich became Managing Director of Castle Minerals, based in Australia

4. Presumably because Kodal had done nothing (contrary to what we had been lead to believe) with the concession, it was not renewed by the Ivorian authorities- and expired 5th of May 2026. The concession was immediately picked up by none other than Castle Minerals. Essentially, we [shareholders] have funded the early exploration of a lucrative concession- which is now 'owned' by a company headed up by a current colleague (and presumably friend) of our own CEO- Mr Bernard Aylward- Kodal shareholders have received absolutely nothing from what looks like, quite frankly, a free asset-transfer.

5. People have grown weary of the level of competency in leadership and have been openly querying the salary of our CEO- to add insult to injury, rather conveniently, the most recent RNS from the company, issued 1st of June 2026, states,

'Despite the best efforts of all parties, further time is required to complete the audit of the consolidated accounts of the Company's associated undertaking, Kodal Mining UK Limited, including its Malian subsidiary Les Mines de Lithium de Bougouni SA, the owner and operator of the Bougouni Lithium Project. Accordingly, the Group's audited accounts for the nine months ended 31 December 2025 have not yet been finalised. Therefore, the resolutions to receive the annual report and accounts as well as to put the Company's remuneration report to an advisory vote will not be put to shareholders at the AGM'

Its incredible- spod has almost tripled from the low point- BA is nowhere to be found. Maybe if the spod price goes low again he will pop up again. He should have been ramping the hell out of Kodal when we were close to $3k....but nothing.

This is not an overlook, it is a strategy.

I had a response back from Bernie saying that he and family members have shares so it is in their interest too- but perhaps there is something else that is bigger going on which makes it worthwhile to keep it down- who is benefitting from it?

I ADVISE ALL, WHO CAN, TO ATTEND

Make it as uncomfortable for him as possible.

6) In the the recent African Mining conference in Cape Town- while other companies were busying themselves leveraging the event for PR, we had little from Kodal. It raises questions about why Bernard Aylward has time to go to [presumably] all-expensed trip to South Africa- but cant find the time to engage in more PR for a firm with an ailing stock price. It is also unclear what the purpose of this all-expensed trip is considering we already have a financial backer and project partner in Hainan and the Mali government. There seems to be no added-value for stockholders from this vacation. It seemed to be yet another example of the CEO fiddling while Rome burns.

7) During, what appeared to be a hastily arranged damage-control interview, on 3rd of March- it was announced that just under 20,000 tonnes of spodumene had been sold for $24 million. Even allowing for the extra 5% on delivery and the slightly lower purity of our spodumene- there appears to be a *significant* discrepancy between the market price and what we are receiving. Spodumene prices have broadly been above $2000/tonne since the middle of January. Moreover- there was no RNS to announce the shipment and the money received (which, of course, made it impossible for investors to scrutinise the figures). We need immediate and clear details of how and when the pricing the decided.

8) Finally, we now find ourselves in an arbitrage with our partner, who are also a multibillion dollar company. As we have stated before, we are of the opinion that this should have never reached this stage and potential liabilities should have been part of due diligence carried out by Bernard Aylward and Kodal Minerals. We feel the blame for this oversight should also lie firmly with our CEO.

Several years ago- the SP hit a high of 0.96, it now stands circa 0.4. We are grateful for Bernard Aylward for taking us so far but it is now more clear than ever that he is not suitable as a CEO and his continued leadership of the firm with the associated stymied PR, is directly correlated with our low and undervalued SP.

The technology sector in particular has taught as that people buy into companies for the leadership- as much as the inherent value. The eccentric genius of Steve Jobs or the overambitious visionary that is Elon Musk. With Kodal- I am sure we have all seen the clumsy, lacklustre interviews which give confused messages and doe not garner the sort of confidence in a CEO that make a company an attractive investment proposition for potential retail and institutional investors. Normally this could be compensated for by having active and regular social media PR engagement- stockholders deserve more for someone who is on a £285,000 salary (as well as millions of shares at preferential prices).

04/03/2026

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It is evident that Kodal Minerals is currently arguably the most undervalued mining stock on the AIM- not because of the company itself- but because of the poor PR under the leadership of the CEO- Mr Bernard Aylward. We have seen the heads of other lithium producers rise to the occasion with the current bull price while Kodal has been shrouded in near silence with the result that our stock price (SP) has risen less considerably than many other lithium producers over the last few months.

This vacuum of silence has proven fertile ground for rumours and conspiracy theories about the price being purposefully kept low by poor PR (and who may benefit as a result)- because people find it hard to believe why such an easily remedied issue has been ignored, despite perennial complaints, by Bernard Aylward, over the years. These conspiracy theories adversely affect our stock price. There are several issues we have with the way the business is being currently ran.

1) Stockmarket disclosure rules state that RNS must be clear and unambiguous. Hidden somewhere within an RNS from August the 6th 2025- were two sentences that the DMS plant would be shut down for some maintenance and improvements- what was impossible to glean from this was that the plant would be shut down for several months without production and the subsequent loss of tens of millions of potential earnings.

2) The company claims it has managed to overstate circa 3000 tonnes of spod (which would amount to over $6 million at todays prices)- something we can not check the veracity of. Irrespectively, it is a significant loss of income for a producer of our size. The optics of the subsequent reshuffle (or demotion) of Mr Steven Zaninovich (Head of Operations) from the board of directors seems to suggest that he has been made the fall-guy for whatever was supposed to have happened. We feel that the CEO should have assumed full responsibility and apologised to shareholders rather than treat the loss of millions to investors as a routine footnote.

3) Other companies have been able to negotiate floor prices, in the context of rising lithium prices- which is a significant derisks operations- Bernard Aylward has repeatedly failed to do so at Kodal, despite repeatedly alluding to them over several years.

4) We have not been given any explanation why the mineral resource upgrade is almost 2 years late and Bernard Aylward has refused to answer our questions regarding this. Assay results have been inexplicably delayed and extremely sparse in details when published.

5) Failure to advance our gold prospects in safe jurisdictions- namely Ivory Coast- which have left us to the mercy of a single project and a volatile anti-business government [and jihadists] in Mali.

FYI, there is an almost perfect correlation between when I start pushing buttons at Kodal and newsflow. I wonder how much else is being sat on?

They release news under duress

As mentioned before- I have escalated the 'issue' of newsflow beyond AIM regulation because I felt they were not doing anything. They seem to be panicking now and are scrambling to act now they see they are under the microscope. Obviously they are limited in what they can tell me but we have exchanged several emails from them. We all know that AIM is poorly regulated and companies get away with things they would not in the main market.

As for BA- 2 weeks ago I gave him an ultimatum that if we dont see a significantly increased level of engagement and improved SP- I would be escalating the issue to the directors of Hainan Mining (I have been able to obtain the contact details of every director, with the help of AI). It has long been postulated here (including myself) that Hainan is somewhat involved in the 'restriction' of newsflow- perhaps to obtain a cheaper BO- but im no longer convinced this is the case. The fact is- Hainan have taken Kodal to arbitration AND have been better in news releases and social media.

The most recent 'dispute' regarding MRES upgrade is classic Kodal. BA has not been able to explain why we are almost 2 years late and if you look at how few assay results we have been given over the last 2 years- you know there is something not quite right.

He still has not been able to explain/clarify what price he is selling spod to Hainan for- the last shipment seemed like a giveaway.

I added that as a resort- I would be contacting various members of the Mali government- both central and local (Bougouni). If there is one party who would NOT be happy with a Western company 'undervaluing' Bougouni- it will be the Malian 'revolutionary' government- who dont trust Western companies and feel hard done by them (i actually disagree with this). But they have the power to act- as we have seen.

Of course it is a risky game to play and I fully understand this could go quickly wrong. But I feel at this stage of the game- we have nothing to lose. To have a SP of 0.32 at this stage of the game- is frankly, quite unacceptable and the blame is purely down to BA not convincing the market and sporadic social media updates. He has killed the SP in the midst of a lithium bull- which is a pretty impressive task. We all recall the tree planting social media post when we were actually producing a decent amount of lithium- we were at 0.6 not so long ago- this was the time that other lithium miners were falling over their feet to push out PR and BA was missing in action.

There should be no jam tomorrow as far as this stock is concerned- for those pinning their hopes on Stage 2 etc- nothing will change with BA and PR. If we cant be flying high with the current very healthy lithium spod price (which noone can guarantee to last) and name-plate production- then we wont ever.

Great post I saw on another company (which I have redacted) which sums up what I am saying. I think people need to be a bit more conscious about what is happening and their investment:

"I've watched CEOs of some of the biggest corps get roasted and then consequently fired by shareholders because they couldn't evidence their value.

I'm not talking down the business, I think they've doing very well and that they will realise what they're setting out to do. What I'm doing is asking X and X to evidence the value of the CEO. We want a high performing team, not lifestyle coasters. I want them to apply pressure if it's needed, or evidence if it's not. That's all good for shareholders.

If a stranger comes up to you and asks you for £1000 and they promise they'll give it back and then don't hear from them, what do you do? Do just go "ahh I trust them, whoever they are", or do you ring them up and go "how's the money returning going?".

If you don't get this, and think this is just me being "emotional", then you're not really understanding what I'm saying. You're just balking at any apparent negativity you think I'm saying. On the contrary, I'm trying to put a fire under their butt at the most consequential time in the business' history.

If X has been doing a good job, and can prove it to the Chairs, then fine, but as a retail investor I don't see any evidence of that value. I see value in the operations, but that is being taken care of. I just want to see more. That's not negative, that's positive. That's due diligence"

When a plant shuts down a few months after production, for such a long period- safe to say this isnt something 'routine'.

The RNS on the 6th of August was deliberately misleading. Not a single one of us thought it meant being down for several months.

The only party who I see would gain from a low price is Hainan for when they make a buyout offer (which I feel is almost inevitable).