Good News & Bad News, page-4195

PLS advised recoveries were poor on multiple occasions, and anyone that can read knew there was a problem with the plant, and that was after the fact.

How many Li companies have had cost overruns over the past 2 or so years and due to ramp up issues. I can only think of 1 that has had a relative smooth ramp (AJM), and have they turned a profit yet. ORE, started production in Dec 2015 with a nameplate of 17.5ktpa, 4.25 years on and they still haven't achieved nameplate, in fact still ~20% below, which is why many state to only expect 80% of DFS nameplate. Tianqi, who have been at it for 20 odd years have had massive cost blowouts, some $300 mill last year (not to mention spending US$4.2 billion on 24% (yes only 24%) of SQM, of which US$3 bill was debt, great leadership from Tianqi management........

As many say, Lithium is not easy, and therefore expecting PLS to be somehow different to 99% of their peers is naive IMO. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure the 5 new Oz producers who made the decisions to come on line in early 2018 were not banking on global economic slowdown and the US/China trade war, particularly the latter. If that mess was avoided, it's reasonable to assume the supply chain would have continued to charge ahead, making the ramp up phase for those new producers a whole lot easier (not perfection) but a little smoother, just saying......

With regards to Simon, why didn't he foresee MIN needing to go into C&M, as everyone knew the supply/demand balances were shite, but once again, are MIN somehow immune from the rest of the supply chain. I guess once MIN come out of C&M, it will be interesting to see if they have a smooth ramp up phase, that's yet to bee seen.

So, IMO, you are being a little harsh on PLS management, as its easy to point the finger after the event.