Chris Ellison's lithium fantasy exposed at Mineral Resources

A skewering of Ellison by the AFR

https://www.copyright link/brand/re...-exposed-at-mineral-resources-20180618-h11j06

In February, Wodgina shipped just 220,000 tonnes of DSO. After March, MinRes had another 1.86 million tonnes left to sell, or a ludicrous 621,497 tonnes for three consecutive months.

Finally, on April 11, Ellison downgraded guidance to "approximately 10 per cent less than the 4.5 million export tonnes … previously guided to the markets" (no mention of the 4.75 million tonnes at the top end) but that – never fear! – he'd sell 5.5 million tonnes of DSO in FY19.

The market was already distracted by Ellison's latest (all-scrip) takeover offer of two days previously, this time of low-grade iron ore producer Atlas. Again, what happened to focusing on the "core" mining services business? Thankfully for MinRes shareholders (who would've been diluted by 20 per cent for an asset which, at current prices, loses $7 per tonne), Andrew Forrest's Fortescue and Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting swooped in and soaked up 40 per cent of the register, killing the deal stone dead (on Monday, Rinehart bid for the lot).