Banter and General Comments, page-14019

Fair enough regarding their lack of willingness to "sell us out". At this point though it's very difficult to know whether that was a good or bad decision. I'm sure it was the right decision at the time with the information at hand, but hindsight shows that it may have been a better option to lower expectations. If GXY had capitulated and entered a JV arrangement for less than what management considered fair value, it is still likely that they could have achieved a high enough sale price to fully fund the originally planned 25ktpa operation. Even at 50% ownership, 12.5ktpa of battery grade carbonate is preferable to the ~8-10ktpa of primary grade carbonate that will be funded by SDV stage 1.

IMO we'll eventually be looking for a JV partner regardless of whether we manage to progress stage 1 without one. SDV stage 1 and Mt Cattlin will not be sufficiently profitable to fund SDV stage 2 and 3 (let alone JB); therefore, a JV moving forward is a must. I'm confident that the offers that were previously put forward for a SDV JV would have been more competitive than the offers that we a likely to receive from this point forward.