Banter and general comments, page-16688

Core has an interesting problem:

• If Core expands capacity to circa 350kt it will lower the life of mine. Given the lead time on building Hydroxide, the residual life of mine at the time a Hydroxide could be commissioned is shorter again. Capacity expansion would increase profits.
• If Core decides to do Hydroxide, the likelihood of a capacity expansion to circa 350kt decreases because you would want to ensure you had a stable, long-term known feed for a plant that could potentially cost A$500m to A$1,000+ depending on capacity (PLL's Tennessee plant is US$600m for 30Kt capacity). Hydroxide would increase profits.

The only real way to resolve this and do both is to find more ore, a lot more ore. The DFS noted 1,100kt processing capacity. If Core where to shift to >300kt then 2Mt/yr of ore is needed. A Hydroxide plant is a multi-year project so completion by 2026 is the earliest that would even be sensible to target. Core probably needs to be around 35-40Mt+ of resource (including anything mined) if both an upgraded capacity and Hydroxide are to be considered. Core is still some distance away from this volume.