To be clear, this scoping study is for the award winning...

To be clear, this scoping study is for the award winning Springdale Graphite mining Project but not for the overall production project.

From the ASX announcement of 11 December last year: "The Scoping Study for Springdale is nearing completion with the full report to be completed over theChristmas and New Year break and results planned for release to the ASX in January 2024."

From the Q2FY24 quarterly released on the 15th of this month: "The Springdale Graphite Project ScopingStudy is nearing completion.The Company’s intention is to developSpringdale as the main source of graphiteconcentrate feed for its downstreamprocessing facilities to be established in Collie,located 450km away by road.The results of the Springdale Scoping Study willalso be used to update the Collie BAM FacilityStudy that was released in April 2023".

My impression is that the Chinese are doing what they typically do and that is monster competitors and the market, in this case the graphite market. By hook or by crook the Chinese seem to have crashed the graphite market (I think as a way of killing off competitors). Aussie operators stand at least a decent chance of competing upstream with the Chinese - as in finding and digging up the material - so I am really hoping that this scoping study for mining Springdale is positive. However at the back on my mind I recall Andrew Worland saying a couple of years ago that it would be cheaper for them to use imported untreated graphite than stuff they could get from Springdale. Here's hoping that in the interim they've managed to turn the figures for Springdale around.