so many lithium companies have signed offtakes 5 years out from...

so many lithium companies have signed offtakes 5 years out from first delivery. that is because lithium is hot and in demand and there is lithium all over the world. whether these offtakes get consummated or are canceled close to first production (like CXO and Tesla) is yet to be seen, but there are cases where the offtakes have been signed prior to full development approval (eg INR is about 95% offtake secured and waiting on final approval for the mine, has secured 50% equity partner). gotta ask ourselves why are RE projects to hard to get off the ground when everyone agrees we need more of them for a clean energy future/critical minerals strategy?

it's just a case of china being in control of the RE market and supply chain. why bother signing an offtake with some upstart australian company with no track record? governments in AUS, SK, US, JP can talk all they like about moving away from chinese critical minerals/supply chain but they can't effectively direct companies to do so, because companies will act in their own economic interest even if it deviates from the national strategy. that is why we need government support from anywhere we can take it. SK was the first to give it to us with some grant money for KMP. SK national government has done bugger all apart from signing some agreements. ASM has NOTHING binding with the major chaebols at this stage. that is because the chaebols all still rely on chinese RE supply chain. if AU/US is serious about diversifying the RE supply chain they need to stump up hard cash to get this project off the ground. unfortunately dubbo financials are a mess so instead we have the US govt pumping cash for LYC to set up in the US, and the ILUKA rare earths refinery in WA. AU govmt doesnt have the cash to go balls to the wall on greenfield RE projects and would get libs all up in arms about the budget deficit (that the libs created while in govt). the dubbo project is stuck until governments get serious about RE diversification or until China closes the gate to allied nations for RE products.