Management were confident that the PEA was going to be ready by the end of March and the text of the announcement was probably completed by then.
One reason for the delay could have been waiting for lithium sentiment to change as it was very negative late March. If GT1 put out the PEA with perhaps US$30k/t or higher as a Hydroxide price, that may have been questioned by the market as being overly optimistic while lithium sentiment was still tanking. If investors don't accept the price input then all other numbers are effectively dismissed irrespective of how strong they are. If GT1 were to put out the PEA late March and copy PLL's then current hydroxide estimate of US$22/t it would prevent the numbers being quite so rosy and over a 10 year period remove US$2.4b of revenue and EBITDA relative to using US$30/t on a 30ktpa operation. That will impact the NPV.
On 21 April PLL updated their PEA on Tennessee to DFS and in the process upgraded the long-run average price being used to US$26k/t. The delay already provides another higher reference point than what existed at the end of March. With Hydroxide and Carbonate typically closely aligned, SYA's carbonate scoping study due this quarter is another known study that will provide long-run price estimates from an ASX listed company. GT1 may want to see the pricing SYA use before releasing its PEA.
A second possible reason for the delay is that North Seymour is using an open pit price constrained JORC. With the pricing dynamics in play at the end of March, GT1 may have needed to lower the pricing assumption which would have partly offset any gain from increased resources to the NE. With pricing looking to have improved, maintenance of existing pricing is again going to look practical meaning the mineral resource could be a larger upgrade. Alternatively GT1 may have taken the time since March to modify the North Seymour JORC to a multi-year open pit then underground model (similar to Grants at Core). Drill holes like GT-DD-0128 and GT-DD-0320 extend known mineralisation at North Seymour but given their depth and that they aren't super-thick they may be marginal or just below marginal for open pit mining. They may however have acceptable economics for underground mining using the earlier pit the first 150-200m of the decline. If the Seymour resource is flipped to include underground mining it may then grow in size. The bigger JORC feeds into a longer operating life in the Hydroxide modelling and stronger financials. This is however 2030's ore that is being modelled and by then GT1 plans to have a wider range of ore choices around how to feed Hydroxide. Its just they haven't yet found and defined them yet, there is however still time to do this over the 2020's. GT1 could have released the PEA with a shorter hydroxide life and its a strategic decision to delay the PEA until more resource is defined and therefore a longer Hydroxide life can be modelled.
A wild-card is that GT1 got enough information from its Morrison / Root Bay drilling that an inferred maiden JORC is being worked on and this along with McCombe can get GT1 to the JORC ore volumes it wants for the Hydroxide element of the integrated scoping study.
A fairly long answer for possible strategic reasons for the PEA delay. All speculation of course.
@malibu_tan, my personal reading of the Whitesand First Nation issue is that GT1 is consulting with them and the engagement with them is strong. GT1 could have continued drilling given they were meeting consultation criteria that provided an exemption to no drilling. During the discussions Whitesand said something along the lines of "If you could stop for a few months that would assist our case." GT1 thought, given the ground conditions during May/June that shouldn't be a problem and confirmed an end of drilling for this campaign. GT1 may however be looking to conclude a more detailed agreement with Whitesand before releasing the PEA. Before Whitesand issued their open letter, GT1 had a plan to conclude this agreement after the PEA was released. It wouldn't assist good relations with Whitesand to put in writing that they assisted in delaying the PEA.
