Dan, Hindenburg report killed this company in my mind. I have contacted their investor's relation's folks and asked why they have not sued Hindenburg. Response, "they don't discuss ongoing litigation." When I asked Hindenburg if they were being sued, they said, "No, but there are class action suits in motion because of their piece on SLI."
Link for report:
https://hindenburgresearch.com/standard-lithium/
I know you are trusting about the involvement of Koch (see last bullet point below for Koch involvement). A lot of smart folks were fooled by FTX recently. These issues need to be addressed by SLI:
Standard Lithium is a zero-revenue mining company that uplisted to the NYSE in July 2021 with a fantastic-sounding story of being a first mover in direct-lithium-extraction (DLE), a technology that aims to revolutionize lithium mining.
Standard’s CEO Robert Mintak has been involved with at least 9 publicly traded companies. On average, shares of these companies have fallen ~97%. Of the 9 companies, 5 have been delisted, several have faced regulatory scrutiny, none operate profitably, and at least 8 used paid stock promotion.
Cliff Norman; Statistics, 8 fails in a row, would be 3 chances in a 1000 of not being a real signal. This one bothers more than the rest.
Robert Mintak’s role immediately prior to Standard Lithium was as CEO of Pure Energy Minerals, another lithium company that, like Standard Lithium, touted proprietary DLE technology. Pure Energy used extensive stock promotion but failed to commercialize DLE. Its stock crashed ~98%, with executives moving on to Standard Lithium.
Standard Lithium’s CEO, COO, Chairman, and VP of Exploration all came from Pure Energy Minerals. We show that Standard’s executives and board also have ties to companies whose stocks spiked on the back of paid stock promotion before ultimately plummeting.
Mintak previously worked at a 3-person stock promotion firm based out of a Regus rental office. His partner at the firm is currently facing a B.C. Securities Commission investigation into allegations of undisclosed stock promotion at a different failed lithium mining company.
Standard Lithium appears to us to be a regurgitation of Mintak’s prior company, Pure Energy Minerals, using the same Vancouver stock playbook as Mintak’s numerous other failed ventures.
Standard Lithium has used a vast network of 15+ stock promotion outfits. Since going public, the company has spent over C$5 million on “advertising and investor relations” compared to about C$1.7 million on R&D. In fiscal 2021, its R&D budget dropped to zero.
Around the time of the Standard Lithium’s reverse merger to go public in 2016, it executed 2 opaque land deals resulting in almost 21 million shares (worth ~$152 million today) going to unnamed beneficiaries.
Both land deals appear to have been undisclosed related party transactions. The first was with a newly formed entity based at the same address as Standard’s merger partner. The former President of Standard’s merger partner, associated with the deal, was later charged by the SEC over allegations of helping insiders secretly dump large quantities of stock in at least 45 companies through the use of opaque entities.
The second land deal was with a newly formed entity incorporated by the law firm of a then-Standard Lithium director. The now-former director was later suspended from practicing law for 2 months for misappropriating client funds and is reportedly subject to a “broad” B.C. Law Society investigation into “entities and individuals who were apparently involved in market manipulations”.
Robert Mintak’s prior company, Pure Energy Minerals, also executed a questionable land option deal through the same firm that vended the questionable land option deal to Standard Lithium.
Standard claims its proprietary “LiSTR” technology differentiates it from other lithium hopefuls. LiSTR is based on three patent applications it purchased in 2018 from an apparent one-man engineering shop. Two of the applications have already been rejected as “unpatentable” by the USPTO.
Cliff Norman edit: This has been corrected recently, SLI has been awarded two patents with the 3rd in works.
Standard’s flagship project has been delayed by nearly 18 months with key partner Lanxess recently admitting that Standard’s extraction technology has still not demonstrated “proof of concept”. Lanxess says it has “no timeline” for development and is no longer mentioning Standard Lithium on its earnings calls.
Even now, the pilot plant appears to be operating at a fraction of its boilerplate capacity, according to data we reviewed through FOIA. Standard’s technology solution seems to be struggling out of the gate.
Another Standard partner and shareholder, TETRA Technologies, has sold ~90% of its stock.
A subsidiary of Koch Industries, which starting last year has been aggressively investing in SPACs, PIPEs, and ESG-oriented “growth equity” investments recently stepped in as a partner with a $100 million investment. We think Koch missed red flags and failed in its due diligence in its haste to deploy capital.