Quite a few of us on HC have been saying that for months. I gave...

Quite a few of us on HC have been saying that for months. I gave my view on that crap GS report with the lepidolite numbers back in late December 2023 - refer Post #:71667622

If lepidolite mines grade 0.5% Li20 (and most mines in China don't even grade that) then you need 15 tonnes of ore to produce 1 tonne 6% grade concentrate at an 80% recovery rate. And that is been generous because lepidolite has greater deleterious elements and so the recovery rate is going to be much lower than that IMO (meaning you need more tonnes of ore to produce 1 tonne 6% grade concentrate).

In terms of spodumene based mines, in production or about to enter production, grades are greater than 1% Li20 in the ore. Take LTR, its grades in the underground sections are quite high - for example at 1.5% Li20 in the ore would require only 5 tonnes of ore to produce 1 tonne 6% concentrate at a 80% recovery rate.

I am therefore not surprised lepidolite mines in China are running at a loss (and probably require subsidies to keep them producing, IMO probably as a short term measure by the Chinese to try to influence lithium prices downwards which has worked, but is not a sustainable long term goal if you have to seriously be subsidising lepidolite mines to keep them open). And that is before we yabber the ESG issues associated with lepidolite mines when assessed against spodumene mines

This is before we talk about the fact Chinese converters of late were refusing to accept some lepidolite concentrate btw, and you don't hear Chinese converters refusing spodumene concentrate. Again refer to Post #:71667622 for more info on this.

All IMO