Ann: Positive Zero Carbon Lithium Project Bridging Study Results, page-26

FW used the term "safe harbor" when discussing the Bridging Study on "The Watchlist" (on bottom right of screen for most of us) wrt to low OPEX

"We've also kept our very low cost of operation. In a volatile world with Lithium prices going up and down, its a very safe harbor - the Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium project - because we have such a low cost of production and therefore we have high margins."

Make no mistake, while producing LHM is a chemical process and not the mining of an ore, our product is still a "commodity" (in a small but rapidly growing market for Lithium). And in the world of commodities - they are priced at the margins. I'm using the term "commodity" strictly in the economic sense - full substitution (market treats all LHM as equivalent regardless of who/where it was produced). This is the world of low cost producer is last man standing ... and its never good to have China as your competitor on price.

As a consumer I/we don't really care (but perhaps I/we should care (more)) where the minerals come from ... I paid attention to where the car came from (Japan and not China), so I'm not exactly driven only by price (there is no price (even free) for me to accept a BYD for example).

In VUL's world, FW is trying very hard to inject "differentiation" between the sources of LHM supply to his advantage and one hopes perhaps even extract a premium price. Is for Stellantis willing to pay more for "Zero Carbon Lithium" in the cathode of the battery. What about the anode ... without sourcing "green graphite" seems a bit of a mute point. And more to the point would a consumer of a Stellantis EV pay more for the exact same EV from Stellantis if it came with a ZC (or close to it) battery? That makes our LHM no longer a commodity and we have pricing power (as well as low cost of production).

Got till the end of the decade I suspect.