Good News & Bad News, page-31124

The reality of starting up and commissioning a new plant has again been shown in CXO's quarterly. It just ain't that easy. PLS are light years ahead of the newbie's in IP. Have all the analysts subtracted reality from their spreadsheets? 49%. Lab/test results don't = real world plant recoveries. CXO still have much work ahead to get up to 70% and I doubt they will with the current plant. More $s will be required IMO.

When will CXO hit nameplate? Maybe in a year.

• The plant had its second quarter in operation following construction
completion and first concentrate produced in February 2023 and remains in
the ramp up phase
• Given reduced ore availability following the mining interruption in Q3 FY23,
the plant was run largely on a campaign basis when ore was available
• Spodumene concentrate produced was on specification and ranged in grade
between 5.4% and 5.6%
− However, as is not uncommon during the start-up phase, recoveries have
been lower than the original test work predicted, averaging 49% for the
quarter
− Work is underway to determine why recoveries are lower than expected,
it appears to be a result of a greater proportion of fines than anticipated
− Peers in the lithium space have demonstrated an ability to improve plant
recoveries over time