ASX Today, page-31324

Agree. Most don't realise currently CXO is a DMS only operation and its issue is the recovery rate by and large which is less than 50%. The problem with CXO is that it has mis-forecast the mix of fines verses coarse spodumene and it is coarse spodumene that is a key to a DMS process and recovery rates.

FROM CXO's quarterly:


For those interested a while ago I posted around the reasons why companies may chose various processes for producing spodumene concentrate (WOF/DMS/DMS-floatation). From this post I go through the choice process - Post #: 54283727 Half way down in this post are these paragraphs:

""""The choice between Whole of Floatation and DMS/floatation becomes one of i.) cost and/or product quality especially if wanting a higher grade product and/or ii.) what markets you are intending to target (Chemical Grade or Technical Grade or both CG and TG like Greenbushes does) and/or iii.) whether spodumene can easily be liberated from the lattice at the DMS stage.

But if you are seeking to produce product above say 6.5% Li20 you certainly are only going to be relying on WOF btw. Greenbushes itself has installed floatation units and produces some product types well above 6.5% Li20. But again grade is also king in been able to do this IMO.

Coarseness of spodumene, crystal size and how easily spodumene is removed from the lattice, is the key to DMS and if impurities are there and cannot be separated, because they cannot be separated in the DMS stage if the impurities are in the lattice of the spodumene itself btw, well floatation then becomes the only option btw, not grade been the decider as many are assuming btw. It has nothing to do with ore grade - it is about liberation. Difference is one is coarse product (DMS) and the other is fine spodumene concentrate (WOF). It makes no difference to the initial 1080 degrees roasting aspect of the subsequent process in producing LCE btw in your downstream converters."""""""""""""

LTR is using floatation because it wants to produce a product at least 6% spodumene concentrate or greater and fundamentally can do so because of the grade of the deposit and the low deleterious elements in it. It has choice is my point Refer to the following post which provides more explanation: Post #: 66062936

What also helps recovery rates is grade of resource and low deleterious elements. The higher the grade the less tonnes required to get to 6% grade spodumene, and the lower deleterious elements in the resource the less cost to remove them to achieve spodumene concentrate specifications - refer Post #: 67888140

Price:
I still shake my head that most DFS's (including LTR in its DFS) are using spodumene prices well below current prices, despite the recent falls in spodumene prices from their peak. The market is very fickle I say, but LTR when it enters production will certainly be very very highly profitable (obviously assuming it does meet its recovery rates and costs are maintained). The irony is, if you don't meet recovery rates, it does mean higher costs generally per tonne of output (i.e. which is CXO's problem and was PLS's problem back in 2019 before it installed additional capex and IMO through the acquisition of the former AJM which had a deposit more coarser than what PLS had at the time to help incraese recovery rates gtowards feasibility study levels they initially forecast btw - refer Post #: 67810162)

Demand:
No doubt in my mind demand will continue to outstrip supply for the short to medium term, meaning those entering production in the next year will be making a killing if they achieve DFS recovery and cost targets. This table is from this post - Post #: 68480932

Alita situation:
Interesting FIRB is starting to come down on foreign - read Chinese ownership refer article Collapsed Alita Resources’ Bald Hill mine could be back on market after FIRB buyer ban | The West Australian - of lithium mines. Not surprising given China's dominance in downstream markets, so ensuring upstream - i.e. lithium mines - are not controlled by China implicitly is about providing the impetus for diversity of downstream supply chains away from China. I suspect. The following graphic is interesting in itself:

Albermale
It will be very interesting also where Albermale gets its product - now that the MIN deal is been revised - to feed into their Kemerton plant. Where is the spodumene to come from? One option is to ramp up production from Greenbushes since Albermale owns 49% of it and takes its equity share of production on that basis, but that will simply exhaust that resource quicker.

Some thoughts over a cold VB whilst contemplating life and the universe etc etc - or two. A bit of a dump, but the stubby can always be full again

All IMO