To be fair, I'm being a bit glib, I like PLS - I think they will...

To be fair, I'm being a bit glib, I like PLS - I think they will do well.

What I meant to say was that PLS are tied into contracts with Chinese spodumene processing, Great Wall etc, with POSCO being the non-Chinese offtaker.

Just in Dec last year,
GANGFENG:

• SAYS UNIT PLANS TO INVEST A$50.0 MILLION ($35.31 million) IN AUSTRALIA'S PILBARA MINERALS LIMITED
• SAYS UNIT WILL OWN UP TO 9.3 PERCENT STAKE IN PILBARA MINERALS AFTER TRANSACTION FROM 4.3 PERCENT STAKE

I'd suggest PLS fair value (long term) is a lot higher than the $0.57c or so, at which Ganfeng just raided 5% of PLS.

Yes, you could argue the money is being used to fund Stage 2, but if you bought much higher, you've basically been diluted. And surely if PLS was in a position of strength, they could raise money at more than $0.57? Gangfeng wins every way you look at it.

And since PLS is a spod price taker from its Chinese buyers, a sustained low spod price will lock PLS into lower margin, long term contracts from which they will have limited opportunity to set pricing.

If you think those deals were made from a position of strength for PLS, think again - it's not dissimilar to Anthony Tse trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat in SdV right now. Its a game of patience.

To Whiskey's point, there is a floor price. But dont ever assume someone from a position of strength cant just tear up the contract and start again - what would PLS do if the spot price fell and their offtakers said they wanted a lower price?