We should all be grateful for the work GP is doing!George Putnam is a man with vision, focusing on strategy and long term welth, not a typical manager who focusses on short term issue only. Right now, he trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together, establishing an offtake suite with 5 - 7 customers.
Here’s the evidence I found (** with my comments like this **)
June 11, 2019 (InvestorInel)
We have 2 key LOIs with customers, and they are deep in technical evaluation of scandium in their products. We’re looking to turn the corner with both of these potential customers, I believe in the next 1 or 2 quarters. And with that there will be a clear value proposition for scandium and for each of them. …
- We are looking to have, as I mentioned, a full technical success with a couple of our LOI partners.
July 2, 2019 (Webcast)
- Sign as many offtakes as we can in 2019 as our top priority.
- We believe we are first to market – we get to shape this market.
- Market cap / Project NPV = 14%. Those are pretty low numbers for projects, full feasibility with the flowsheet design, doing the final work to gain offtakes. (** I think this statement should give us lots of confidence **).
- If 7 of the 9 of those LOI partners signed up for what we thought they are capable of purchasing from us, we don’t have enough scandium.
- We are looking for this LOI portfolio to sell us out on the first 15 in year one. And other people behind the scenes that we don’t have LOIs with, who are significant potential users but don’t want to sign an LOI.
- Now that we have got enough LOIs to show the market and shareholders in what we are doing, the need for more of them is not as intense as it once was.
- I would like to see this portfolio (of LOI's) take small amounts in 2021, and larger amounts in 2022 and then stay with us up to nameplate capacity in 2023 (** This is evidence of business planning! **)
- And there is a nice pattern to that, it leaves multiple purchasers for us. I really want more than a couple of customers. I think that is save for shareholders and save for the business, I think that’s just good business strategy. But it also helps us tremendously in year 3, 4 and 5, when we want to expand this project, and meet a rising market from a variety of customers who can each continue to step up. (** A sign of confidence! Note that people - CEO's - who in trouble and can't meet business objectives, are always short-term oriented! **)
- … and got it up to nameplate capacity in 6 months. Remember Chris Berry asked me what that ramp looked like, and I said we are going to take 25 months to hit nameplate capacity, and they did it in 6 months, on a scale 10 times the size that we are doing. (** Optimistically, Nyngan could reach nameplate capacity much sooner, before the 25th month of operation **)
- I do not want to go out and shop for 100 million dollars to build this project until I have a full offtake suite to show the investors. … We want to do this in the right step order so that we preserve the value for everybody who is in. (** I think he really means what he is saying **)
- We have no fear of raising 80 - 100 million dollars to build this project, non-whatsoever, it is offtakes first and then we will get that other piece done. (** now he's talking **)
- It would be better to have a portfolio of 5 - 7 customers than 1 or 2. (** We already have 1 offtake, maybe 2-3 offtakes from partners we don't know about, and 2 LOI partners **)
And the Evensens? They will be called upon soon (Q1 2020), to do what they are experts in: raising that 100-million-dollar CAPEX.
Please stop asking irrelevant questions about people's whereabouts, it makes us shareholders look like silly, ignorant people IMO.
GLTA