Media

[Semmel]

I have just listened to the Alan Kohler interview and I have a lot of respect for Alan. However he really had no idea what Talga Group actually is and what they are doing. It helped me understand that if a finance reporter such as Alan has no idea, no wonder Talga is still very largely running under the radar.

In my exposure of Tesla, I learned that most analysts have no clue about the companies they are covering. Some do, but vast majotity doesnt. And they look into the past to draw conclusions in the future... without thinking about what changes in the future.. its idiotic but they all have a job. So I am not surprised that analysis that cover Talga dont understand anything beyond the mining process and selling of raw material. They have no idea about the anode market, what it takes to make it or even what the difference between anode and graphite might be.

 

[Coolbeans]

That interview was a script guys, how many times has mark said just enough and not too much! Mark and Alan would have had a very good chat before hand I'm sure. There's been nobody slippery enough to get mark to spill anything he's not wanted to. Good interview because we now have a clear 6 months timeframe from the man himself but there were no surprise questions for mark, he probably handed the questions to Alan on his way in. Not that I care, I love Talga.

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

I have just listened to the Alan Kohler interview and I have a lot of respect for Alan. However he really had no idea what Talga Group actually is and what they are doing. It helped me understand that if a finance reporter such as Alan has no idea, no wonder Talga is still very largely running under the radar.

Yes a decent length interview with Mark explaining a lot of what we already know. The only thing that surprised me was that he implied there were only 5 employees in Head Office Perth.

But Yep the very last question showed that Alan was a bit clueless. I mean the very last question was this ......................

But you don’t make any battery material, you just make graphite, right?

No, sorry to be negative, Alan, but no.

 

[Slymeat]

Yes a decent length interview with Mark explaining a lot of what we already know. The only thing that surprised me was that he implied there were only 5 employees in Head Office Perth.

But Yep the very last question showed that Alan was a bit clueless. I mean the very last question was this ......................

But you don’t make any battery material, you just make graphite, right?

No, sorry to be negative, Alan, but no.

Yes I thought that question was quite odd also. I also thought ‘get over the questions about revenue‘ that filled the first part of the interview. He was like a dog with a bone on that point and only showed his narrow mindedness, as probably dictated by the listeners he is catering too, of people who cannot value a company until it has revenue. MT seemed to be getting annoyed by this hounding.

Anyone who knows anything about Talga knows that making anode material is a flag MT has been flying forever. It is very much the modus-operandi of the company. What does the interviewer think all those Talnode products are if not battery material. MT nicely brought up the fact that there are many graphite mines in the world (it is not a rare commodity), a small number of these produce graphite that can be used in batteries, and then there are a handful of companies (I think he counted out 6) that on-process that material.

Mark did make a small mistake in saying Talga is the only ASX listed company that on-processes the graphite though. Not a huge point, just one that I noticed.

Magnis Energy (ASX:MNS) also mines graphite—its mine is one of those few that has battery suitable graphite—and not only turns this into battery material but actually makes batteries too. They also recycle batteries, so cover the full cycle of mine to battery to end-of-life recycling.

But as the estimates require 97 additional mines, all turning their graphite into battery material, there is little concern for competition. Plus Magnis is pretty much exclusively catering to the US market, leaving Talga to rule over Europe. It’s a good division of markets.

 

[teilenswert]

Trading halt for a capital raise just announced, as expected.

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

An "Ïnstitutional Raise"..............................a BIG name perhaps ?

I wonder who(s)

 

[ACinEur]

EIT, European Investment Bank, Automaker…Any of those will be just fine!

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

MT won't want to look stupid if delays force him to do another CR next year. I think this might be large enough to keep the lights on until end of 2023 plus prove up the resource even further.

It might be around 10%

Hello Mitsui can you hear me ?

Anyway all speculation

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

This one .............?

Listed graphite play Talga Resources in $20m placement​

Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Oct 6, 2022 – 11.25am

Listed graphite explorer Talga Resources had Euroz Hartleys and Morgan Stanley drumming up interest in a $20 million share placement on Thursday morning.

Graphite’s used in electric vehicles. Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The brokers were offering shares in Talga at $1.10 a pop, a 17per cent discount to the last close and 16.2 per cent lower than the 10-day volume weighted average price.

The term sheet sent to potential investors said Talga would use the proceeds for its European projects Vittangi (engineering, early works and long-lead items), Niska (drilling to expand resources), EVA production and trial mine costs, and for general working capital and offer costs.

It planned to run a $10 million share purchase plan later at the same offer price as the placement.

Bids into the placement were due 5pm Thursday.

Talga had a $404 million market capitalisation before the raising. It had negative cashflow of $9.09 million for the June quarter and had $13 million cash in the bank.

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

This one .............?

Listed graphite play Talga Resources in $20m placement​

Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Oct 6, 2022 – 11.25am

Listed graphite explorer Talga Resources had Euroz Hartleys and Morgan Stanley drumming up interest in a $20 million share placement on Thursday morning.

It planned to run a $10 million share purchase plan later at the same offer price as the placement.

OK so is this a $20M raise for institutions plus a $10M SPP ?

So $30M ? ....................................OK fair enough since no one is going to enter into a 60,000T binding offtake if due diligence on the supplier (TLG) sees a risk of them not being able to keep the lights on.

Since most Capex has been expended on the EVA already (except for resource expansion) this looks like it will keep TLG going until Q4 of 2023 which gives us breathing space for permit delays.

So this is actually a very good day for TLG. There were 4 things ( I had 3 before as one covered finance in general) hanging over TLG they being

1) Likely Working Capital Raise (Tick)
2) Offtakes ( half a Tick but should be full Tick for 12K pa by end November)
3) Permits (No Tick yet)
4) Project Financing ( With 1,2 and 3 sorted this wont be a problem)

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

It's interesting to read the frustrations as to why now over at Hot Crapper.

The ACC announcement clearly stated that due diligence would be carried out before a binding agreement could be signed. There is no way ACC would sign if TLG was underfunded.

Why sign a legally enforceable document which is a couple of years into the future if there was any chance that TLG would no longer be the permit holder if it went kaput ? You'd be crazy.

We knew this CR was coming eventually and the ACC announcement possibly brought it forward. There was no other source of funds without a permit.

So do others here agree that the AFR article implies it is a $20M institutional raise plus a $10M SPP for a total of $30M or am I reading it wrong ?

 

[ACinEur]

Correct, that’s how I read it too

 

[Semmel]

It's interesting to read the frustrations as to why now over at Hot Crapper.

The ACC announcement clearly stated that due diligence would be carried out before a binding agreement could be signed. There is no way ACC would sign if TLG was underfunded.

Why sign a legally enforceable document which is a couple of years into the future if there was any chance that TLG would no longer be the permit holder if it went kaput ? You'd be crazy.

We knew this CR was coming eventually and the ACC announcement possibly brought it forward. There was no other source of funds without a permit.

So do others here agree that the AFR article implies it is a $20M institutional raise plus a $10M SPP for a total of $30M or am I reading it wrong ?

I also read it as $30M total offer. And quite frankly, we knew it would come one way or another. I however would have hoped that ACC would cough up some dollars up front for keeping Talga alive in exchange for a ~5% stake without an institutional offering being necessary. I dont know what to think of it. I mean all the car companies take huge stakes in these battery manufacturers. There are huge grants flying around in Europe for battery manufacturers. But not for the raw materials/Talga? Despite all the talk? No Bank is willing to give us a loan? If analysed carefully, there is quite a bit of tell in this offering. Not sure I can figure it all out though.

 

[teilenswert]

Lots of interesting questions and thoughts we can send to Talga before the next webinar, which they can then, as usual, move into their email trash, unread and unanswered. I find the following narrative from hotcrapper about MT's communication and management style very appropriate:

"You're probably technically right - but he has been queried on Talga's cash runway and liquidity both at S/H meetings and via interviews in the past few months - and in my opinion he was bullish and swiped the topic away as if it were a non-issue. He may have not said it outright but he certainly implied it.Why woudn't he have just said (as we all expected) another bridging raise would be necessary.

There's a book called "The Transparent Leader".... this ain't Mark's style.. He keeps things close to his chest and is very selective about his positioning.

It leaves me with a few question marks.. (scuse the pun)

Bringing back memories of the timing of the DFS... again, no one would have held him over the coals for being transparent here... but he chose to say everything was peachy right up until it was delayed... and then he chose to release the DFS at the 11th hour on the final day.Bit of a controlling / my way of the highway personality.. it's not a bad trait for success but there are plenty of ways to skin the cat/ operate"

 

[SoundandtheFury]

Maybe ACC won't contribute until the permits - what if they were delayed due to Mushroom boogie men (half-joking) - so Talga thought, let's raise asap so we can still sign the deal by end of Nov.

 

[ACinEur]

Agree with most comments here. I’m disappointed at the lack of transparency from MT more than the need for a cap raise…. Raises questions as to why no European Banks, Instos, OEM’s wouldn’t ‘help out’. Anyway be interesting to see the details, I still strongly believe in this project and will use any SP weakness to top up my holdings.
AC

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

CEO’s need to be evasive sometimes just like politicians always are.

MT had to be so as saying we are going to need more money soon needs to be communicated to the ASX not at a shareholder meeting or webinar.

I stand to be corrected but I don’t recall any ASX announcement saying……

“We will need more money soon but not sure when otherwise we are f&&ked”

Anyone else recall such an announcement?

 

[WheresTheMonkey]

I also read it as $30M total offer. And quite frankly, we knew it would come one way or another. I however would have hoped that ACC would cough up some dollars up front for keeping Talga alive in exchange for a ~5% stake without an institutional offering being necessary. I dont know what to think of it. I mean all the car companies take huge stakes in these battery manufacturers. There are huge grants flying around in Europe for battery manufacturers. But not for the raw materials/Talga? Despite all the talk? No Bank is willing to give us a loan? If analysed carefully, there is quite a bit of tell in this offering. Not sure I can figure it all out though.

In my previous life Banks will lend against assets or fairly guaranteed cashflow.

We have neither until we have permits

Don’t fret this was predictable except for the timing

 

[Coolbeans]

That is complete nonsense. There were multiple occasions where Talga released some of the top holders including Marks position. Also, if any of the insiders would have sold shares at any point, they would have to file documentation about it. Same goes for buying the shares back. So there was no insider selling and re-buying.

I remember when I thought everything was black and white.. there's gray around Semmel

 

[Semmel]

I remember when I thought everything was black and white.. there's gray around Semmel

Is there a comma missing before my name? Anyway, how is there a gray area? Either they sold or they didnt.