Ann: ESR Strategic Partnership Agreement, page-21

Be careful as Mincor will be riding on ERS's coat tails IMO and until the assays confirm the grade we are not sure how long our coat tails are. Mincor have a lot of cash and they come from a mining culture so that might effect their views when it comes to courting the Chinese. They may not have the urgency and the drive ESR are showing in bringing forward a project. Their corporate culture could struggle with the legacy issues from nickel and gold. How committed are they to pursue their lithium prospects? The ground they have looks like a good set up as thunder54 has shown but their prospects are less advanced. Whoever is to win in the short term in this region are the players who can prove a viable deposit first IMO. I personally don't believe in the land grab theory. These guys are more interested in the resource grab and ESR is showing signs of soon owning one.

I could be wrong but until MRC becomes significantly undervalued compared to ESR I'm cautious about spreading my bets. I know the cash Mincor has makes the EV look good compared to the MC but in some sort of strange way I think having the cash could hold them back unless they really commit to pursuing the pure lithium play. There will be pressure on the board IMO to be conservative with the money, hedge their bets towards their other commodity projects and preserve the cash. In ESR's case I think they won't hold back should those assays come back with high grades. They'll probably get fast track capital raisings through the Chinese and hit the ground hard with the cash. I know it's a little out of the box thinking about corporate culture but a company's culture has to match its ambition when it comes to winning with resources and there is a chance Mincor are little too conservative.

Also there is no better way to get the markets attention than being a pure lithium play. Investors want 100% leverage in that commodity and don't want a board that might be in two minds or too conservative. If you have the basis for a good resource, press the button on the exploration and don't look back until you have spodumene being loaded onto trucks, anything less and you'll be left behind IMO. Esh