General Discussion Topics, page-104160

I am all in favour of SYA becoming a downstream processor, the only question I have is how far do they need to go?

To illustrate my point it is worth considering what it took to get a lithium hydroxide plant up and running in Australia.

The Kwinana Lithium Hydroxide plant is a joint venture between Chinese mining and manufacturing company Tianqi and Australian miner IGO.

The plant took five years to build and cost $AUD1 billion for the first of two stages.

One has to ask, how long would it take to build now and at what cost?

Could it have been built without Chinese expertise and support given that China was the only country with that expertise at the time?

Have the improvements in LFP, LMFP and blade battery technology reduced the imperative to go as far downstream as hydroxide?

I would say it has.

Were we a $15 billion company, my outlook might be different.

PS NAL was within a whisker of being a lithium carbonate producer before Sayona acquired it.

https://www.miningnews.net/site-visits/news/1436898/tianqis-usd1b-kwinana-lithium-refinery-world-first