Ann: Presentation - RIU Fremantle, page-106

"I would rather they dilute further and raise the funds to complete pond 1 with the goal of producing in the next 12 months"

They can't do this. Now that they've started filling Pond 1 they have to keep going with the whole construction if they want to produce LiCL.

Look at the DFS P1 map. What they've half-completed and started to fill (thanks to a buffer wall a third of the way in) is Pond 1-1. They're also around 30% through the earthworks for Pond 1-2. See below:


But the important thing to note is that in order to produce they need to progress all the way through Ponds 1-1 to 1-7, whereupon the brine then goes into the Reagent and Filter Plant (called "Process Plant" on the map above). Then after that, it gets pumped into the two Sylvinite ponds (called "Post Liming Concentration Ponds" on the map above). These are the two smaller ponds labelled 1-8 and 1-9. You can compare the map above with the flowsheet below:

Based on the photos in the latest quarterly and RIU presentation, they've still got a long way to go (understandably). Look below and match this up with the DFS P1 map shown above - Ponds 1-2 through 1-7 haven't got earthworks complete, there's no Process Plant, and although you can't see it from the angle of this photo, they haven't started earthworks on Ponds 1-8 and 1-9 which are the final stage of evaporation before they can produce LiCL concentrate:


So in a nutshell, in my opinion they either:

a) get full funded via debt, or
b) have to raise more via equity, or
c) elect to pause entirely and run the risk of wasting whatever they've started pumping into the first third of Pond 1-1.