I was not going to bite, but glad you picked that up too. This poster is deep in Mali and while pretending to be in a full range of LIT stocks he defends the Mali investment by LLL with ultimately 40% ownership for all it is worth. Its one of the most corrupt nations on the planet, not ranked that much higher than the once loved AVZ in DRC, and deeply manipulated by China and Russia's Wagner group. Not to mention the Muslim terrorism in part of the country.
Any supply from there also has a massive trip on the high seas to get to China, as the West wont touch it.
What many forget is that LIT does not stop with digging out dirt only but a set of special skills are required to get the consistency that the conversion plants require. This require specialised and highly skilled staff. Are they going to settle with their families in Africa and get their kids to local schools? hardly. No they go to WA or other safe destinations. If Africa is such a great source of LIT than why is barely a spoon coming out of the continent? I guess we all know the answer to that.
With regards to OPEX and CAPEX that the down rampers love to talk about regarding LTR, its nothing more than a scare technique and clutching to straws. The Western buyers of LTR's spod are not concerned to pay a premium price for LTR's products. 1) they want safety in supply, 2) ESG credentials and 3) Participate in the IRA and get the subsidies for their cars. Something Africa/China supply lines can not deliver.
Currently, there is no mine on the planet that is not dealing with increased costs, its inflation! Any increased costs for LTR , being it CAPEX or OPEX, is mopped up quickly with the huge increases in spod prices. 3-4 X the DFS. Is the OPEX increased 3-4 X from the DFS? No, so NPV has jumped to well over $12b if an updated DFS was to be delivered. The increased CAPEX can be funded from many sources as Tony has said and that can be DSO, prepayments, a new loan from an offtake client, or banks. We can pick as we are tier 1. Not like, for example, SYA, that has to go cap in hand to shareholders to get an extra $200m and dilute the crap out of everyone there. We are in a good place with LTR.
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