This report was actually very good news.
As others have noted, we did NOT take a loss, even in the worst pricing environment we've seen in years. CAPEX is what you spend AFTER the profit/loss is figured. The spot price of SC6 is already up over U$200 from the low, so we can expect this quarter to see higher average sales.
The biggest takeaway for me is that we are producing well ahead of our rating. The new ore crusher and sorter for the P680 upgrade haven't even been commissioned, yet, and we produced 179 kmt of concentrate in the quarter. If we can keep-up that pace, we'd be producing 716 kmt, and again, that's BEFORE the additional new crusher and sorter are commissioned.
It also bears noting that we are now actually selling LiOH from the POSCO JV, with an ETA of 6-12 months before we're certified for battery maker sales.
I know they've declared we're on time and budget on the Calix JV, but I'd like to see a little more detail on that.
For all the whinging and downramping, we have nearly completed P680, P1000 and the Calix JV are both well along and the POSCO JV has one train completed and producing, with Train 2 to commission by the end of the year, all through the worst lithium pricing environment in years, and we STILL have $1.8B in the bank.
Finally, our average realized price in the past quarter was U$804/tonne (for SC5.3). On Friday, the spot price for SC6 was U$1,133, which would be U$1,001 for SC5.3. That U$197 difference, multiplied by approximately 170 kmt, next quarter, should represent U$33.5M, or approximately A$52.4M of additional profit, and that's assuming the price of SC6 doesn't go up more.
Have a nice weekend!
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