Hey Butch, I reckon Lake's Cauchari and Olaroz projects have...

Hey Butch, I reckon Lake's Cauchari and Olaroz projects have come into play. I understand the Kachi resource is pretty average but I would imagine that Lake's ground at Cauchari and Olaroz would be of similar quality to what Allkem already has there. No doubt Ganfeng would be a keen bidder and I know Allkem already has more than 200 years of resources in what they have at Cauchari and Olaroz but still at the right price, I think Allkem should at least kick the tyres. No one told the Saudis to go easy with the Ghawar oilfield and spread their risk.

The other angle is that now that the Toyota mothership has decided to pull its finger out with regards pure-bred EVs maybe Toyota Tsusho would be on the bit for more exposure to upstream lithium (remembering that TT has no equity in either James Bay or Sal de Vida) and would request Allkem's participation.

Unfortunately for Lake shareholders I would think Allkem and Ganfeng would see Lake's Cauchari and Olaroz as carrion and would price any offer accordingly. On the other hand maybe this is the opening that Rio has been waiting for and a bit of competition will help the price. Twiggy and MinRes and Gina are going crazy for relatively crappy opportunities in WA while a big brine operation in South America can run for decades.