Galaxy... GXY... Chart..., page-3949

Yes.
I can tell you're a bit excited about this.
The world is in a rush to find better, newer and cheaper lithium methods, but if I had a dollar for every downramper with a "gotcha" - that somehow proved that all the old school methods are redundant, well I'd have enough to pay for lunch at least.
This is all Demo plant stuff at this point.
The proof of its opex and reliability will come from its actual output figures.
The capex is massive so opex better perform or its actually a step backwards.

Same as with hard rock, where there are some competing ideas, the actual reality is there is no proof that anything other that the traditional methods can succeed at operating at scale.
If you actually read the fine print Enirgi are only planning to produce 1 ton per day at this point.

I wish them the best of luck, but to give you an idea of the resulting carbonate - the next monthly shipment from Mt Cattlin is the raw material for the creation of 2500kt of carbonate, vs 365t from Enirgi - for the whole year.

Nothing about that says "fundamentals are changing".
Not today, next week or next year.

I would really suggest being less hyperbolic about this kind of stuff.
All it says - one very nervous group of financiers are going to do their dosh if that plant doesn't perform the way the guys in white coats say it will.
And at 365 tons per year for a while its not exactly going to make any impact on world supply.

$720m USD capex. That is twice SDV. So not exactly a game changer that it might produce twice as much at twice for the investment - so could SDV - and they could go head to head all day long.
1k capex advantage doesn't put SDV out of business.
It puts another hard rock mine out of business.

Same amount of money could fund SDV, James Bay and a processor.
I know which way I'd go.

Even Galaxy's Old School approach to a demo plant could end up out-producing it by nearly 5 times at a tiny fraction of the capex.
The hare and the tortoise story comes to mind.
Some times the old methods really are the best - but its nice to have companies around like Enirgi willing to take the risk to try new things.

AT said he would be happy to license and use alternative tech, if at any stage any of these processes proved reliable, cost effective and capable of operating at scale. He remarked that the current majors, who have the most capacity to adopt and keep abreast of all developments, are still only interested in investments in Old School tech for brine and hard rock.
Why? Because it guarantees a result.

You may be new to brine research Alterego, but this kind of new brine stuff has already been around the block for years before from POSCO. Huge amounts expended on R&D.
Same in hard rock alternative tech. Still no examples at scale, and you only have to read what their competition says about them (ie LPD vs LIT) to get the picture that things may not be quite as sexy in the real world.

Read the recent interview with AT again and you get a picture of demand that is still woefully underwhelmed by the actual financing of more production.
Production takes years to come on.
New demand arrives much faster - every auto show from now on will have all the cameras pointed pretty much only at the EVs, new generations of cheaper home batteries roll out, the replacement of public transport, the beginning of automated long haul transit.

Your mission, Alterego, should you choose to accept it.
Find me a better pure play lithium investment that is effectively hedged against the future with hard rock and brine assets and diversified global supply.
I want good returns - so I'd like the strong possibilities of major growth over a period of a couple of years. Preferably they would have some money in the bank, good cash flow, good management, established clientele and experience with doing complex deals with Chinese business.
Thanking you in advance.