Your POSCO prediction could be correct, but don't forget about...

Your POSCO prediction could be correct, but don't forget about the joint study with Sumitomo that was announced last August (already almost a year has passed and it seems like yesterday; it's weird, being the same age as old people!).

If you look at the POSCO/PLS JV for guidance, they're at 43 ktpa LiOH, requiring 315 ktpa SC5.2. A little back-of-the-napkin math indicates that a 32 ktpa LiOH plant being fed SC6 (I'm being conservative; still hoping for SC6.3) will require just North of 200 ktpa of SC6. That would account for the "extra" 100 ktpa plus the planned expansion to 4 mtpa of ore processing.

My prediction is is that once the plant is up and running and some sense of normalcy returns to the KV, LTR will start going "PLS" on people, and announce that they will begin studying their next expansion.

With the EU and US adding more than two terrawatt hours of battery production capacity in the next 6-7 years (I posted about that yesterday), half of which will need to be IRA-compliant and half of which will need an EU ESG passport, LTR is in an excellent position to increase their supply. The expansion of Western, and especially US/EU, demand is going to create a two-tier Lithium industry, and LTR should have plenty of opportunity in the new tier being created.

Best regards, all