RE:RE:Manganese Grimey, all reasonable questions/thoughts most of which I have no wisdom to offer but I always have opinions haha.
Gilbert has indicated he is no longer part of Sentient. In my dealings with him (which are limited) he has presented as an honest and principled person so I at least am comfortable with his statement. During the Vic presentation he even said one of the reasons he left Sentient was due to how CNY/MNO was treated. So short of auditing his tax records I think his statement is as good as we get on that front.
I agree that it would be great to understand what in fact Sentient found regarding the Mn. They perhaps found something or perhaps they found a difficult resource to monetize. Shipping it seems to me as well as the elusive veins were problems.
Sentient walked from almost everything in the restructure so I at least don't think there is an easy play with the Mn batteries or not (and I don't believe there is a back door open). You are right, there is obviously tons of high grade battery suitable Mn, however they never seemed to be able to figure out how to get the tons to market and make money doing it.
Finally, I think it likely is an easier path if looking to sell MNO if we package up the three different resources into three different vehicles. If I want some tin, I likely don't want Mn and visa versa. With the Cu/Au it has repeatedly been expressed that the intent is to ride this Rosie into a mid-tier if we don't get swept off our feet beforehand and I'm good with that...
Anyway just what I think and my kids are repeatedly clear that I don't know much...