ASX Today, page-39646

Yeah as i've said previously, if i had to bet on M&A activity in the lithium space, my bet is on LTR being the target.

If there's any major player that's bullish about lithium and is interested in owning another world class mine, they must have their eyes on KV. Particularly if they're confident about lithium prices in the future.

The reasons being:

- KV is a world class project in a tier-1 jurisdiction
- Forecasted to be a low cost producer on par with PLS by 2026* (according to a Citi analyst)
- Quickest to production (starting soon)
- Lithium sentiment and prices are currently low - a perfect opportunity to low ball LTR
- LTR may have issues on start up, and the market knows that - a perfect opportunity to low ball LTR
- imo, if they wait until LTR is successful and everything is perfect, by that time, LTR will be too expensive. The same way PLS isn't a M&A target because they're worth too much

Hopefully, there will be some kind of offer from some party soon. We just dont really know when 'soon' is. It could potentially happen within the next few months, or it could potentially happen later if the company experiences some issues on start up. Its also entirely possible that nobody makes an offer and LTR has to ride it out and become an actual producer.

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SQM attempted to buy AZS and Gina forced herself into the deal (similarly to how she attempted to do the same with LTR/ALB). I believe its a misconception where people thought she was trying to block the ALB/LTR deal - she was actually wanting to partner with them (forcefully). There were even articles at the time that mentioned her stating she was interested to work with ALB.

The difference is SQM didn't pull out and instead they partnered with her (50-50) and they've purchased AZS together (AZS owns 60% of the Andover lithium project).

"Rinehart has made it clear Hancock is seeking partnerships in lithium that could bring project development and mining expertise to the table as well as capital."

That is the reason why she hasn't taken over LTR on her own - she prefers to partner with someone (which is also the reason why she only pounced on both companies after they received offers).

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When SQM recently opened up the Mount Holland lithium mine (owned in a 50–50 partnership with Wesfarmers)

SQM chief executive Ricardo Ramos said: Australia was “the next bowl of lithium production” at the opening on Thursday.

“We want to invest more, we think it's a great project, I would love to have 10 different Mount Hollands in Australia, one is not enough,” he said.

“Australia is a great place to produce lithium, low cost, and we’re going to have really good competition in terms of cost, safety and environmental, community relations. That’s why we’re expecting very aggressive investment.”


Now that Gina & SQM are working together on AZS - i wonder if there would be any interest or talks for another partnership between the 2 on LTR. It would make sense, i'm just not sure if SQM is in a position to make another big purchase.