I'd imagine we'll have the cash to buy a project - and a new JV with GF to pay for the capex might work. Canada or Australia would be my strong preference given the resource nationalism building in South America too. They'll have seen what is happening in Africa and want to repeat that share of projects. Build more or less the same 2MTPA plant we have proven so adept at doing in partnership with GF. ITMT pay a small special divie next year when we get the second tranche to keep shareholders from leaving.
One issue is PLS are shopping too and we might need to be quick and/or get a project under their radar in terms of size. Ones with good opex potential are going to be hard to find with a for sale sign up.
Couldn't disagree more on selling the royalty. We'd get what a 20% discount on the ten year income, when the royalty goes for 20 years? That's a hell of a lot of money to leave on the table, even if the spod price is only $1200. Just keep it and have the company state it will be 100% fed into dividends every single year on July 2 starting in 2025. Sure it's small per share or holding, but regular checks coming in have something to be said for them. And obviously in a few years the new project starts building on those small divies.
Agree Simon and team being poached represents a big threat to the company. We are contracted to keep working on this project till Christmas, but you can imagine other shovel ready projects will be trying to grab them all for their own and offering enticing stock options. I'd imagine they are fielding calls from today given their record here in getting a project going. So if we are going to fund a new project, let's hope they find one in the next 3-5 months to keep our lithium team intact, especially Simon.
LLL Price at posting:
50.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
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