It's been a testing year, not just for KNL but Energy Metals in general, KNL and African miners having the extra benefit of the GOT incapability of laying the proper foundation that will allow both, Tanzania and foreign investors to prosper...however on this I remain very confident that a solution is imminent and once that happens, KNL is still in the prime spot to capitalise.
EcoGraf
Good update today and we can now safely assume that Germany/ Europe is out of the race for the 1st EcoGraf Plant. The big question now is will it be China, SK or JAP... a year ago I would have said, hope it's not China, but today I don't really mind...China is on a mission to show their ROW customers that they are doing something to clean up their sustainability situation throughout their complete supply chain, also more and more scrutiny is FINALLY (thanks to Trump on this one) being placed on IP's...still a lot of work but some movement at least and ROW is pulling their heads out of the sand at least.
Some very impressive figures:
* The total estimated cost to construct the initial 5,500 tonne facility (including a 7.5% contingency) is US$19.9m which represents a 23% reduction on the GR Engineering estimate of US$25.9m in December 2017.
* operating costs for the updated flowsheet are 10% lower than previously estimated in 2017, principally due to reduced power, reagent and labour costs.
$20 mil investment for the likes of CATL, SK, LG, Panasonic and even Sojitz into a project like EcoGraaf should not be a problem at all, considering we can safely say that the EV and Storage transition is no longer an "IF" ...plenty of G will be needed and if all is true what we know about EcoGraf to date, especially the Successful application to 10 existing sources of natural flake graphite feedstocks from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas...this will represent such a big advantage to whoever will end up investing as a partner in EcoGraf, mainly having the flexibility of different sources for G concentrate supply, will be a very big competitive advantage...the environmentally friendly advantage goes without saying.
There is much more to say, but I feel it's a bit pointless as I see KNL ultimately being controlled by the top 20 and the next 2-3 large investors which will stake controlling holdings in both EcoGraf and Epanko.
It's all evident in the trading of KNL shares and it's share registry.
Good luck to everyone investments.
All IMO
2018 2019 The Year Of The KNL
KNL Price at posting:
13.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
