Ann: Response to ASX Aware Query, page-239

Lithium stocks rallied after China's CATL put their high cost lepidolite at Jianxiawo on care and maintenance. They have been flooding the market with cheap, heavily-subsidied lithium product for a while now. Obviously the company has decided it is losing too much money even with subsidies and/or the govt there can't afford to increase its subsidies. So the market is now speculating the current spot is at or near the bottom as it is destroying all the high cost supply. The recent Wood Mac research (which put Liontown into a spin as banks pulled their funding package based on this report) is premised on continuing supply contribution from lepidolite. So CATL's decision may have turned the supply/demand forecast on its head.

Whether this is premature or not remains to be seen. Shorters appears unmoved for the time being at least.

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