"those wasted years would have been greatly beneficial"and also...

"those wasted years would have been greatly beneficial"

and also MUCH more dilutive as SLX would have needed to do a capital raise in the 20c range. Recall that everything looked "rosy" up to July 2014 when GEH stopped paying for the SLX team in Wilmington and they had to be repatriated to Lucas Heights to continue laser development. During that period SLX had A$57m cash (helped by a US$15m stage payment from GEH) at EoY 2014, Cameco hanging in and sale (disposal) of assets from Translucent, (default royalty payments & IQE shares), Datalogic and solar systems. These assets allowed SLX to survive during the "wilderness" years and even add significantly to the maturity of the laser system (developed the Beam Control system) and also preserved (and developed) the test loop at Wilmington and (with pre-payments) start development of Zero spin Si

IMHO this was a significant achievement which allowed us to survive (when the SP was ~20c) to do a A$54m capital raising at A$1.27 in September 2021.

We now have an unassailable lead over the likes of LIS technology and ASP isotopes let alone the Centrifuge suppliers. The we also have a DoE tails contract and an investment grade partner (Cameco) who should provide sufficient credibility to obtain a USG supported loan for an enrichment plant at Paducah once the TRL/6 tests are complete.

I would say well done MG - you and the BoD saved the company in those "wilderness" years - we now have an unassailable lead!