(Not sure what happened above with the link being in the quote.
Backed up by
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/lithium-prices-bounce-after-big-plunge-surpluses-loom-2023-04-28/
@Arcpro the article states
"Battery-grade lithium carbonate prices in China rose 10.6% from a week earlier to 182,500 yuan ($26,380) a tonne, the first weekly increase since November 2022, data by Fastmarkets on Refinitiv Eikon showed."
The 10.6% for battery grade is better than the 6% for 99% grade.
All prices in USD.
The cost to produce is less than, but let's just use $4000 per tonne. And we know this is some of the lowest production costs on the cost curve.
And let's use $31k instead of $31,827.
There's still $27k per tonne in profit, or $405m on 15,000t production, per year.
For Mitsui, buying party of all of this project would simply mean increased profits, and having the Japanese government pick up half the tab makes this super sexy.
(Apologies for the size of the screenshot)
