You are correct about refill from beyond our tenement...

You are correct about refill from beyond our tenement boundaries, afaik.
Rob’s generalisations have some merit, but he fails to address OUR specific salar and tenements.
Details matter.

I quote from the announcement:
“The brine acquifer is bounded by colluvial and alluvial deposits in the east and south and continuous with the broader salar to the west and north.”

DYOR on the Rincon salar geology, layout of AGY’s tenements, and location of our wells.

Drawing brine will indeed stimulate flow from adjacent areas to our tenements (from the west and north), however, it is also important to note that:
…our delineated resource is limited to that which is modelled to sit within our tenement boundaries; and permitting for extraction will be related to those estimates and associated recovery expectations. So, whilst we will have permission to extract x litres of brine based on the modelling related to what resides in our tenements, in reality there will be inflow that will alter (increase) the amount of brine that is ultimately recoverable.

AFAIK that does not mean that we can simply extract whatever our pumps encounter over the longer term, since the permits (and probably watchful neighbours) will prevent this. The recharge should make our pumping “easier”, however, and somewhat “reduce” what is available to our neighbour, depending on the timing.

btw:
Technically, I suppose, Rio could play dirty and aggressively drawdown close to our boundaries, effectively “draining” some of our brine, since we are essentially along the edge of the salar, but that would probably be a rather obvious tactic if employed.


imo
Dyor