Ann: Rincon Lithium Project - Progress Update, page-52

It sounds like the driller's competence was lower than we might expect in Australia. That's out of our control - we used who we could from Argentina. Hopefully the driller learned a few things which may hold us in good stead should we need to drill again in the future.

The delay in environmental approvals is due to hydrogeological questions from the Salta government. We won't sign an offtake agreement without these approvals. I speculate that the company prioritised these questions over the resource upgrade, so that we can sign the offtake and get started on the 10k expansion ASAP. Assuming they used the same hydrogeologist for the approvals and upgrade, the upgrade report would therefore be delayed.

It's frustrating that the timings have been pushed out, and I agree we are well behind on multiple fronts when compared to company guidance. But, these things happen, they are happening worldwide, yet the sun is still rising and falling and the world is still spinning. I'm confident that we'll hit all of our key targets, albeit later than we hoped.