The fact that the facility agreement has been signed is evidence...

The fact that the facility agreement has been signed is evidence imo that the banking syndicate is totally satisfied as to the finance preconditions for the $550m facility and it may indeed have already been drawn down to the extent necessary to repay Ford, which (including capitalised interest) would probably constitute around $325m of the amount. There is a possibility that due to the preferential pricing of the Ford facility (1.5%pa margin), the company may have agreed with the lenders a future commencement date(settlement) that will apply to the transfer of securities etc.

My recollection is that this new facility was intended to span out to around late 2025 or early 2026 and would provide ramp up working capital as well as the repayment of Ford which as I mentioned in earlier posts is necessary to allow release of Ford's security over (Kathleen Valley) to the banking syndicate. This finance is sufficient to fund the 3m tpa production case that LTR refined during the period when the dramatic price reductions did not support the expansion phase to 4m tpa for which parts of our plant have been rated.

Once prices of lithium chemicals recover sufficiently, start of which appears to be in evidence, then and only then, will the long term higher operational run rate of 4m tpa project be advanced, possibly requiring additional debt financing. Obviously that would be with agreement of lenders.

regards
DF