recovery of lithium from ore and waste materials (including spent LIBs).
As of 31 March 2021, Company cash reserves were $13.3 million (31 December 2020: $8.25 million) and it has no debt.
During the quarter, a total of $5,840,000 was raised by the issue of fully paid shares. Of this total, $3,463,000 was raised by LITCF shareholders fully paying up their LITCF partly-paid shares and option holders converting options. The balance of $2,377,000 was raised by way of a share placement at $0.1584 per share, pursuant to the Controlled Placement Agreement.
The Company received $804,000 from research and development ('R&D') rebates during the quarter. At the date of this report, the Company could source a further $9.9 million in funding from in-the-money options and partly-paid shares.
Having farmed out the majority of its interests in exploration assets, the Company has now significantly reduced its exposure to high-risk exploration.
Sector performance
There has been a significant strengthening in the price of battery commodities during the quarter. In particular the lithium carbonate price in China rose by 73% (see graph below).
Further supply pressure has seen the price rise a further 10% from the end of the quarter to the time of this report.
Board structure
Mr Bryan Dixon resigned as a non-executive director during the quarter and Ms Kristie Young was appointed as an independent non-executive director in December 2020, to ensure an orderly transition. The board now has two independent non-executive directors in addition to the managing director.
Ms Young has more than 20 years' experience across engineering, project evaluation, strategy, business development, growth, marketing, commercial, client management, governance and human resources. She sits on the board of both Wesley College, and the Energy Club of WA. Most recently, Ms Young held the role of non-executive director with Primero Group, and senior growth/business development executive roles with leading professional services firms PwC and Ernst & Young. Ms Young holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) Hons from the University of Queensland, a Postgraduate Diploma of Education (Mathematics & IT) from the University of Western Australia, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a Cert IV HR from the Australian HR Institute.
Mr Dixon will continue to provide consulting services to the Company while serving as non-executive chairman of Envirostream Australia Pty Ltd ('Envirostream') and as a director of another Company subsidiary, Envirostream UK Ltd (100% Company-owned).
