i like the presentation although i think the label of price sensitive is an attempt by the company to upramp/ drum up some interest in the market to their bullish lithium market analysis, suggesting the analysis will increase the sp.
the issue of the layout i think is a result of the long-term thinking embedded in the design. phase 1 was designed with phse 2 and 3 already in mind, which i love. to see what i meanc , here is an excerpt from the company website which is from when phase 1 was developed:
“Salar de Olaroz is a long life and high quality resource which is capable of sustaining continuous production for forty-plus years with only 15% of the defined resource extracted. The original design of the Olaroz Lithium Facility allows for future developments and/or expansion plans to occur in line with market demand. A second phase lithium carbonate expansion at Olaroz can occur at a substantial discount per tonne of capacity when compared to the original capital cost.”
so they designed the facility to enabke future expansion.
regarding the FID question, i think every mining company i have ever invested in has had the same drawn out process whereby any new development is announced and then financing is announced via some combination of JVs, offtakes, equity raises, debt (bank loan) financing etc, but then the FID always takes several months more while the potential financiers ensure the project is fully funded and that due diligence is complete before they actually hand over the money.
think of this as being similar to announcing that you want to buy a particular house and making an offer which is accepted (announcing expansion of olaroz and doing the dfs for phase 2), then sorting out pre approval of a mortgage and having an offer accepted , (toyota partnering and bank loan provisional approval), then finalising the loan after bank valuation/ due diligence and doing the contract settlement (FID).
so this is really routine process if you have been through mine development before... ive recently watched it in the past 12mo with ATC in alumina, SYR in graphite and ORE, GXY and PLS in lithium.
i really think ORE is in the box seat here out of all the australian lithium producers as the lowest cost producer, the only well established brine operation, the ability to triple production over the next 3 years, strongly cash flow positive, a huge resource with a long mine life >40 years, and a liOH plant which is a certainty with a great project partner in a perfect location (cheap to run, close to battery producers). i like gxy as sdv will be announced soon but its a long way off commissioning let alone full production. i like pls but its hrd roxk at the end of the day. so ore is the jewel in the crown for the next few years in my opionion, even though it is under estimated and thus undervalued by the market right now.
hope that helps.
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