Member Info for steward1

Another frustrating week so let's see what next week holds.
I thought that we would fall further by now but what would I know!
I do wonder if GR really does take the huff and stops communicating. It's accepted that he reads this board and, of course, I'm sure that SK fills him in. He must have had a dossier to give to Suzhou and some sort of plan to explain how he was going to use the £12m... just can't understand why he doesn't share more. It is in no-one's interest for the sp to languish. If I was to be optimistic, I think Suzhou may have said "let's have a look at your plan, George, before we say anymore... we might want to make a few tweaks!"
I don't accept that Suzhou will want to slow anything down... they have big, big customers who will want their batteries delivered and I don't think we've seen anything yet with regards to energy strategies to move us all of fossil fuel... (things are going to accelerate at pace when gov'ts can turn their attention away from the Ukrainian war).
Have a good weekend folks... we'll all be millionaires this time next year!

Acker - my thoughts and expectations were aligned with yours (and Johnny's). Despite my criticism of GR, I'm holding and waiting for the eventual re-rate - trading is too risky from my point of view. There is some downside risk but I do expect the sp to be a multiple of where it's currently at later in the year. It all depends on what order news comes... it's within GR's gift, as I've said many times, to give more clarity and detail and to turn around the drift in the sp.

Profitbags - I think I said last weekend that it is in GR's gift to sort the comms... didn't he employ a comms person? I reckon if he just came clean about the current situation and what his plans are then sentiment would change massively and we'd head back to the deal price... even if there is some not so good news mixed in. If he doesn't, he's going to get a massive shock when the Suzhou guy turns up. We want to have some confidence and trust... values that the Chinese hold very highly!

Lucky - you've got a lot to catch up on! I've been here 5 years, some have been here longer.
One example - since last April, there should have been a lot of drilling and assay results published... have a look to see how much has been done! We discovered last month that the DFS was running 6 months behind despite assurances from GR to the contrary.
Most of us are still here because the assets are potentially huge BUT we're taking very small steps forward to get it out of the ground.
Have a look at the history of RHA - £20m spent and nothing out of the ground.
MNH - a very, very dubious project... check it out.
This week's disappointment was Monday's interview on Stockbox!

SK and company seem to have disappeared... have to say that him letting slip that GR had given him info (but not the rest of us) could be worrying. The last thing we need is an insider dealing investigation. SK also claimed that he had convinced GR about keeping 100% of Zulu... one has to wonder how much influence they have and what info is being passed to them... and crucially what actions they are then taking with that info.
So... has the price dropped because they know that an announcement on RHA and/or MNH is on its way?
It's quite ridiculous that I've written the above but I'm afraid that's where we're at!

Lucky (I hope you are!) - ALL doesn't have quite the execution risk that Prem has and it has quite a few big organisations backing it, not just Piedmont. The market doesn't trust GR given his previous decision-making and lack of progress. He has more money than he needs to do the DFS (apparently) and rather than spend it on the EPO area, there is a major worry that he'll use the money for a couple of his dubious, pet projects... he's got form! I could go on but the market doesn't like what he's done!

Acker - with the assay results, I think that it's as simple as he doesn't have them... for whatever reason. He may have had an issue with the lab/the lab may have had an issue with him... these things tend to boil down to money... did he pay them on time... did he have the cash to pay them before the funds arrived last week (I doubt it!). Until there is evidence to the contrary, I think the deal was selected because he could get cash up front and, crucially, he was convinced by the Pandora group to keep control of 100% of Zulu. I think that there were other deals on the table but he's now tied himself up in knots... can he retain control until the 6 months are up and then the DFS is complete so that we can attract other offers? I really hope that his other board members are life long friends who won't sell him down the river!!!!
For me, he should just come clean on where everything is at.
Unfortunately, despite April being the big month for comms, I think that his interview was so bad that he might be taking the huff and not be willing to give us much more.

johnny/acker/jenkoo - I'm concerned that the next news will be on RHA/MNH. I just don't think the market will respond well to that whatever the supposed merits of the deals are. The only exception would be that we're going to get the £20m back... that is highly unlikely.
If GR is not going to provide a plan with regular updates and if he's not going to release assay results regularly then I agree that the "Prem drift" is back on (0.25-0.3 is reasonable). With any poor news then we'll be in the 0.2-0.25 range.
I'm very nervous that GR will do a premature deal on funding for the Zulu mine, i.e. before the DFS is anywhere near complete.
I had some confidence that GR would get a good deal(s) on our prize assets but that's not proved to be the case and Suzhou must be rubbing their hands with glee.
BTW, when it comes to it, I think GR should sell a majority stake in Zulu - keep 20% to 40% to get some regular income.

Jenkoo - I don't think he has any more results. He was off meeting with them the week before last, I believe (again - a little snipett of info released on here). Given that the labs were back up and running at the end of December, you're right to pose the question!
I think that he either wouldn't or couldn't pay them then.
The bottom line is that there is no good reason to keep good results hidden from the market.

These guys are really hard workers though, Jenkoo - I don't doubt that he's already spending time on Prem.

Jenkoo - I think GR will be ousted or will voluntarily step aside some time later this year. Suzhou will need the support of other board members or the Pandora group, JG and a few others to push him out.
I think the new board member will need some time to make his mind up so I don't see that happening for a couple of months.

Redandy59 - it's all a bit murky and shady. SK being fed info by GR - disgraceful!

Snowking has claimed that the remainder of the DFS will cost roughly half of the £12m (he's got a hotline to GR so he's probably right).
GR confirmed on Monday that the spend on the EPO are will be "nominal" so what is he going to spend the rest of the money on?
Looks like we're going to hear about spending on RHA and MNH - two dead cert money makers... to avoid any doubt, that was a sarcastic comment. £20m has been spent on RHA to date and we don't have a producing mine... and it's been mothballed for years. MNH??? Does anyone know anything positive about MNH??? Has anyone ever run it profitably?

I'm sure like me, you ask yourself "will the market respond well to news on spending money on RHA and/or MNH?" What do you think?

For Snowking's benefit, this is what I said earlier yesterday -

"kspine - I can't see the DFS being completed this year. I think it's more likely that it will be Q1 23. There is therefore a risk that GR will be looking for more DFS cash later in the year (remember, he has a track record!). I think the only chance of the mine being started this year is with Suzhou but I'm worried about what they will extract to give the funding. Otherwise, the mine won't start until after the DFS and after GR has got funding.. Q2/3 23. Given the progress on drilling and assay results, I'd be very surprised if we get the RUS before September. Short-term, I'm concerned that there will be a deal on RHA and/or MNH so I think the sp could have a bottom of 0.2-0.25p in the next few weeks before starting a very slow recovery. I think that the range at the end of the year is 0.5-1p.
The big unknown is whether a 3rd party will want to spoil Suzhou's party - I guess that wouldn't happen until after the 6 months is up."

One has to remember that GR has not delivered anything on time - when the funding deal was announced, we discovered that the DFS progress had been very poor and was well behind, and it appears that he hasn't had any assay results for weeks. In Monday's interview, he said that the original DFS was a bare minimum and now he's adding more work in to it. He now expects to turn all this around and deliver the completed DFS by the end of September (or earlier, if you believe some on here). "Acceleration" is required to complete by end of September so one can assume that we were not going to get the DFS until Q4 or later without the acceleration. So... the original timescale was Q2 22... when the deal was announced the timescale was Q4 22... so he was going to be 6 months late and we're being asked to believe that he's going to make up at least 3 months to deliver in Q3 22 whilst adding work to the plan! He's dreaming!!

I'm rather flattered that you've singled me out, Snowking, I don't know what to say... is this a bromance (assuming you're a guy)? I really do hope that GR hasn't put you up to this attack!
You really need to read my posts more carefully and you'll find that I've said that I think the sp will be higher at the end of the year. April is not off to a good start but... please... don't blame me... it's the market that didn't receive the deal well and it's the market that didn't like GR's interview and it will be the market that judges GR's performance and whatever he decides to do next or not to do.
If you think my comments or Bicks or Ackers or yours influence people more than their own view of GR's actions and decisions then I'm really surprised at you.
Rather than attack me and Bick or anyone else, you really should use your influence to address the real problem.

They can sell too, remember, without dropping the price!

M_Night - there is too much drilling still to be done and too much testing still to be done to have a DFS in Q3. BTW, GR has already conceded that the DFS might slip from Q3!!

Bick,
like others I was much more bullish a couple of months ago - I actually thought that we would be hitting a market cap of between £0.5b and £1b by the end of the year with the right progress on both Zulu and the EPO area, and the right deal. GR unfortunately let slip that the DFS was well-delayed and the deal was simply the wrong one... double-whammy. I wouldn't be surprised if your scenario plays out.
Surely the Pandora group and JG won't stand by and leave GR to his own devices?

kspine - I can't see the DFS being completed this year. I think it's more likely that it will be Q1 23. There is therefore a risk that GR will be looking for more DFS cash later in the year (remember, he has a track record!). I think the only chance of the mine being started this year is with Suzhou but I'm worried about what they will extract to give the funding. Otherwise, the mine won't start until after the DFS and after GR has got funding.. Q2/3 23. Given the progress on drilling and assay results, I'd be very surprised if we get the RUS before September. Short-term, I'm concerned that there will be a deal on RHA and/or MNH so I think the sp could have a bottom of 0.2-0.25p in the next few weeks before starting a very slow recovery. I think that the range at the end of the year is 0.5-1p.
The big unknown is whether a 3rd party will want to spoil Suzhou's party - I guess that wouldn't happen until after the 6 months is up.

Acker - my preference would be to retain a minority holding in Zulu but I'd be happy with selling it all too.

One of the most disappointing comments from GR's interview was that the spend on the EPO was going to be "nominal"... that suggests to me that either there isn't a lot of spare cash in the deal due to a doubling of the DFS estimate or that the spare cash is being spent on something else (RHA and/or MNH)... either way, it is disappointing!

And, at this stage, we really shouldn't be left to guessing what GR is doing!!!