****UPDATE*****
Hey guys, this is what I can share with you for now. This has been confirmed with at least 2 senior people at XKEM.
Nigerian bank guarantees for UPS funding of $9.3M + Nexim loan ($4M to $6M) have been delayed by the banks the past few weeks. ONLY reason is that they wanted to meet with the NEW Managing Director fist. This NEW guy is very important to the banks, as he will be calling all the shots in Nigeria. From what I gather, Pandey will not have much involvement there anymore. The new guy will be there contact, and the banks have held the fundings until after they meet with him. Deals themselves have been signed. Fundings have not yet been required, so XKEM has not pushed the banks.
The NEW guy is moving to Nigeria officially tomorrow. He has been there on short visits a couple of times the past month, but will officially move there tomorrow. It has been confirmed to me that he is MEETING with all three banks on Monday. There is NOTHING to hold back the loans following these meetings. Now, I suspect he will perform well at these meetings, as he is a former Wells Fargo exec.
I was also told that things will begin to move very quickly following his move to Nigeria. Once the bank loans are funded, construction will move very quickly. They have not slowed down, and are progressing as if loan funds have already been received. Contractors in Nigeria are working on credit now.
His next order of business is to meet with government officials regarding the pre-purchase negotiations. The pre-purchase agreement WILL be in place before the NEXT major phase of construction (this is still a bit of a political mess). This window is closing quickly as well.
5-HMF patent is expected any day now. Toxicity studies have begun and are now in progress.
I HAVE BEEN TOLD TO SIT BACK RELAX, AND LOOK OUT FOR NEWS. All I can say, is XKEM Senior Management is expecting a VERY big week for the company next week.
Lets see what happens folks. I am not predicting any PR's, just sitting back and waiting.
More to come soon. I am trying to get a better handle on this Blech deal stuff. I have not gotten the level of comfort I am looking for yet.
AI
