Cleantech Greenpower Energy has told a rebel shareholder group it won’t be calling a spill meeting — at the same time announcing it is moving into cobalt and vanadium.
In late June, Greenpower (ASX:GPP) received a demand from a group of shareholders to call a meeting to vote on the removal of two of the three directors.
But the company — which is developing a proces to turn coal into a fertiliser liquid — told investors this morning the request “does not comply with the relevant requirements of the Corporations Act and is therefore invalid”.
The company says this means it does not have to hold a general meeting.
The rebel shareholder group wanted executive chairman Gerard King and non-executive director Simon Peters stripped of their board seats to make way for Suleyman Balcioglu and Gangadhar Bevinakoppa.
Meanwhile, Greenpower has struck a cash and scrip deal worth just over $5 million to acquire Ion Minerals – an Australian cobalt and vanadium explorer.
If the deal goes forward Mr King will step down anyway, but Mr Peters will keep his director position.
Ion Minerals has the right to acquire an interest in two high-grade cobalt projects in Northern Queensland and Western Australia, and owns a vanadium project, also in Queensland.
Greenpower says battery minerals are “fuelling the mining industry in Australia” and global demand for cobalt and vanadium far exceeds supply.
Interest in Australian cobalt miners is ramping up, with companies like Korean technology giant LG recently striking a “major strategic partnership” with Cobalt Blue and its partner in the Thackaringa project, Broken Hill Prospecting (ASX:BPL).
LGI is interested in securing more cobalt, nickel and lithium, key components of lithium-ion batteries, and is working with LG Chem – a developer of next generation batteries for fixed storage and electric vehicles.
LG Chem is the fourth largest electric vehicle battery maker globally.
At the same time electric vehicle manufacturers continue to do deals with battery makers as they continue to ramp up production.
- Subscribe to our daily newsletter
- Bookmark this link for small cap news
- Join our small cap Facebook group
- Follow us on Facebook or Twitter
German automotive giant BMW this week struck a $US1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) deal with Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL).
Rebel shareholders back down
A group of shareholders that had been angling for control of Nigeria-focused iron ore play Kogi Iron (ASX:KFE) appears to be giving up on their attempt to spill the board.
The group’s shareholding has now dropped below the 5 per cent level that makes it a substantial shareholder.
This means the group also no longer has the ability to demand Kogi call a spill meeting.
The group previously raised its stake to 12.7 per cent after requesting the company call a general meeting to have chief Martin Wood and non-executive directors Don Carroll and Michael Tilley removed from the board.
However, at this week’s general meeting shareholders voted to keep the board intact.
The shareholder kafuffle caused a key cornerstone investor to pull out of talks to potentially provide financing to complete the studies needed to advance the Agbaja project to the point it could be debt funded.
Kogi ranked fifth in Stockhead’s 100 best performing ASX small caps for FY18 with a 639 per cent gain.
Shares added 3 per cent to trade at 17c on Friday morning.