Ann: Anson Significantly Increases Paradox Exploration Target, page-34

ASN have a long way to go until production. All very well having an increase in the exploration target, but that doesnt mean its economic. Over the last 3-4 years they have only re-entered 4 wells. This announcement appears to restart the clock on the proposed re-entries, which according to previous announcements takes between 4-6 months. There will be no update to the reserves until they get the drilling. So in that case do not expect any offtake arrangements for lithium anytime soon. In terms of bromine, different story as they already have significant quantities. However you cant discount the fact that Laxness already produces a crap load of this stuff. Can ASN come up with a binding offtake for bromine with someone in China? Maybe but its not like the US and Chinese relations are going great at the moment. ASN are way behind. I wouldnt be expecting much from them this year. Maybe next year but i doubt they will be producing anything until 2024/25 at the earliest (lets hope im wrong). The other key indicator to look for is the cost of re-injection. It is not clear yet how much this will be. Remember, they will be bringing up hundreds of thousands of liters of brine. After processing this needs to go back into the ground. That is energy intensive. They will need to raise capital. Time equals money and paying Bruce to live in the US isnt cheap. As for the Bull project, perhaps there is a big upside. But how do you undertake exploration activities on Bull when you need money for Paradox? The other option is that they consider separating Bull and Ajana into a separate ASX listed company. But the JORC for Ajana is small with only 390kt of graphite at a grade of 6.5% so not much value. Perhaps Bull but without the exploration you just dont know. It seems like ASN have a bit of everything but not enough of one thing to really move the dial. That is, not enough yet.