I think you might be a little confused. Yes AKE produces approximately half of their total output as battery grade. That can't then be compared to AGY's BG product quality average of 99.79%, which relates solely to product purity, not output.
A point that is frequently overlooked here is that a portion of AGY's output will be technical grade, despite what some here would like to believe. Every current brine operator has technical grade output, and this is not by choice. It turns out that lithium extraction from brine is bloody hard, and nothing operates at 100%. Not that it matters a great deal, as technical grade still fetches a great price. The point is though, anyone expecting AGY to produce solely battery grade product is going to be sorely disappointed.
Unfortunately at this stage we have no idea what portion of current output has been technical grade, as AGY have chosen to withhold that info for now. And before anyone jumps down my throat and says "Drop an email to JZ and ask him", no he doesn't have to disclose it, and why would he highlight a perceived negative (even though it's not in my view) while courting offers from battery manufacturers?
Personally I would be very impressed if AGY can achieve over 50% battery grade product in the first 12 months of steady state operations. With ramp up sliding from Q2 to H2 (which is up to a six month delay), I'm more hopeful than optimistic.
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