The prospect of a $A60m CR annoys me. I would imagine Macquarie felt out prospective Fundies, one of which in turn told AFR's Street Talk. Its in their best interests to get as low a price as possible, by hook or by crook.
The TH request says PLS will make an ASX Announcement to address said article. Its most likely true as it wasn't immediately dismissed. However, I think I'll reserve my opinion until KB speaketh.
I invested solely in PLS because of its size, quality and low cost for LiOH. I felt when the supply/demand pendulum swung, we'd survive.
Several years ago, I took Pierpont's advice when BHP fell to under $20. I then watched it fall to $14. They were nervous times. There were so many know it alls shouting how IO would fall to under $10 and BHP would fall to single digits. This is the mining game baby, it even happens to the biggest and the best.
The current phenomenon of Lithium oversupply and falling prices juxtaposed against rising EV Battery prices, underlines the fact that Lithium is just the salt on the salad, as Elon said. When the supply/demand pendulum swings back in upstream miners favour, we'll see some SP fireworks then.
http://www.asianmetal.com/LithiumPrice/Lithium.html
No doubt the trade war has had an impact. A 25% tariff on EV Batteries slows Chinese plans to reduce costs by scaling. It further impacts on the already strained Chinese finance sector and businesses ability to expand/refinance. Factory retooling for subsidised long range EV batteries has been encouraged but has slowed accordingly. Although CATL started NCM811 production in Mar19. That must have impacted on LiOH demand and in turn Spod.
It seems to me price discrimination is a dominant marketing consideration in Asia whereas its moreso about quality or product discrimination in the West. I think the Europeans will force the change, especially the elite OEMs who will see EV Battery costs as secondary.
Its my understanding, that the Pilgangoora plant was designed by Greenbushes venerable Dr Wang. I recall a couple of years ago, a spokesperson for Greenbushes remarking on the great difficulty in achieving Spod raw material specifications for the EV Battery market. I really felt confident in the plant design and its ability to reach projected recovery, despite the myriad of problems any mining startup faces. Its not as if we didn't know the high risk nature of our investment to begin with.
It would seem we have been let down somewhat by RCR. Our management has bitten the bullet and undertaken rectification work.
You can be sure that when we achieve projected recovery, the new plant components installed will again elevate Iron levels and the return of the BS provocateurs.
If you invest in mining and don't expect a rollercoaster ride, then you probably shouldn't be investing in mining. Buckle up.
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