I attended the Resource Rising Stars conference today. The third...

I attended the Resource Rising Stars conference today. The third time I’ve heard Ken speak there. It’s always worthwhile - particularly as Ken and PLS staff (John Holmes the Exploration Manager and Linda who manages Corporate Affairs) were so generous with their time and pleasant when you speak to them at the PLS booth. Very professional and way too discreet for my liking so I haven’t come away with any great new insider’s insights - my efforts unfortunately were futile :-( - but I got a good sense, as always that they are very VERY positive about the future of the lithium story in general and PLS in particular. They really seemed very happy with POSCO and how this transaction is progressing. They were unconcerned about oversupply story and thought demand is there and peak demand would be in a few years. In his presentation, Ken focussed on providing a feel for the shape of the industry. He said that as of today, PLS is at 80% plant capacity and will be at 100% later this year. They are looking to leverage the amazing scale of Pilgangoora and are certain of growing reserve and mine scale. Will be (when stage 3 operational) one of “the largest if not the largest globally”. They need a partner to achieve this scale. Ken said it’s critical to be vertically integrated (the industry is moving in this direction) as (1) it supports mine growth and (2) supports quality in the supply train. He confirmed that PLS is well underway in process of securing such a partner, he is “happy with level of interest” and “looking forward to what might unfold in the coming months”. Encouragingly he said there was another wave for lithium coming and “it’s going to be huge”. He reminded us that PLS spodumene concentrate going to Ganfeng ends up in Panasonic batteries which end up in Teslas - ie the big end of town need high quality, low cost, long life producers like PLS and that they are producing an industrial mineral rather than a commodity - and industrial minerals are bought for a very specific purpose. PLS has the right stuff and lots of it - 20 years worth.