Responding to your comments:Well the fact is LPI holds the...

Responding to your comments:

Well the fact is LPI holds the dominant position at Maricunga because:

• LPI has a government approved EIA - the only company at Maricunga to possess such an approval
• LPI has been granted an exploitation and export licence from CCHEN for its old code concessions and been given authorisation to apply for a CEOL over its Litio concessions - SIMCO has indicated that it also possesses a CCHEN quota and Codelco has its CEOL
• LPI has developed a social responsibility compact with local indigenous and regional communities - I am unaware of any other company at Maricunga that has done the same.
• LPI has purchased a large area of development land off--salar at Maricunga - both Codelco and SQM are boxed in by the National Park and both companies do not own such an asset at Maricunga
• LPI has purchased water rights to enable a nearly eight time increase in the level of its forecast annual stage 1 production - both Codelco and SQM do not own such an asset
• LPI is employing innovation and technology to produce a carbon neutral footprint - Codelco and SQM have no plant design and SIMCO is still piloting its DLE process
• LPI has negotiated access to the electricity grid to secure its required power supply - both Codelco and SQM are not in this position.

Taking into consideration what I have just listed, I would say that LPI holds THE dominant position at Maricunga because of the strategic decisions it made over the last seven years and that in particular was the purchase of the old code concessions, the 1900 hectares of development land off-salar and the water rights. You just have to look at the outcome of Codelco's 2017 lithium tender at Maricunga - when LPI decided to withdraw from the second stage of the tender process, the tender collapsed - and that tender involved the likes of Albemarle and POSCO.

I don't understand your comment about money ultimately deciding who the government's preferred partner will be. The Maricunga salar is different to Atacama, Pendernales and other salars in Chile because there are private companies that possess mining and property rights. The government has no control over LPI's old code concessions and LPI has the option to JV with Codelco / NLC to exploit its Litio concessions and Codelco's concessions at Maricunga - see 2019 MOU between Codelco and LPI. Codelco currently has nowhere at Maricunga to develop a project because there is no development allowed on the Maricunga salar proper.

You mentioned that LPI offers nothing to the government because it does not have experience, billions in cash or any real value. It doesn't need to offer the government anything. It only needs to offer financiers, investors and end-users significant potential that it can produce BGLCE. The government through Enami and Codelco will be involved at Atacama because it owns the mining concessions there and it will lead future lithium tenders at Pendernales and other salars, but that is NOT how its going to work at Maricunga.

LPI does not have a patent over its compact with the local and regional communities. It decided off its own bat in 2016 to involve these groups at every stage of the project and to include them in a revenue-sharing arrangement. The difference being, unlike many resources companies, LPI made the effort to engage and involve these peoples. It was under no regulatory obligation to do so at the time.

You write - at best, LPI has a future at Maricunga. The way matters currently stand at that salar, LPI IS the future of the salar for the reasons listed above. The value of stage 1 is US$1.425 billion and LPI's role will be owner and operator of stage 1 and joint owner and sole operator of stage 2.

You refer to other regions. LPI does not need to go outside Maricunga because of the size and quality of the resource and other assets it holds there. You make out that LPI has no lithium industry experience. It has a LOT more experience than the Chilean Government and Codelco. Applying your thesis, no start ups would ever succeed and the resources sector would be ruled by established companies. How many lithium start ups around the world were explorer/developers only a few years ago, and are now multi-billion dollar lithium producers - A LOT.

Chile fully nationalised its copper industry in 1971. The Chile Government now owns only 28% of that industry. Obviously the Chile Government was not a world-class copper miner and that is why it hasn't nationalised its lithium industry. Also, end users from all around the world will look past the ownership structure to get access to quality raw materials. They always have and they always will. The private sector will continue to dominate the lithium industry in Chile.

SQM currently has a stranded lithium brine asset at Maricunga (probably the richest and deepest on the entire salar) and because of the ideological dislike between Codelco/state and SQM, its future at Maricunga is very doubtful unless its largest shareholder (Tianqi) steps in and starts dealing.

Perversely, LPI's position at Maricunga has been strengthened by Codelco's old code stunt that delayed financial closure in 2022. It allowed many other parties from around the world to access the data room, visit the salar and crunch their numbers. The more competition the better. It also provided LPI with an opportunity to provide significant input to the design of the new lithium policy. Cristobal's stakeholder engagement in 2023 has been nothing short of masterful.

I don't know what tea leaves you are reading because they are very different to mine. You best change your brand of tea.