Ekeko S.A. and Dr.Carlos Sorentino, page-30

zinvestor, to be honest I must recognize my mistake. After working part of my life in Uyuni Bolivia I confused when I said Mg:Li ratio 20. In reality this is for Uyuni.

But one thing is true that the Mg:Li ratio is high in Rincon; it is very known that is 8 when the rest of salars in the area has a ratio of 2.5 to 3 (Hombre Muerto, Cauchari, Salinas Grandes, Olaroz, etc)

About the lime let me remark that will be a critical consumable considering that the consumption is roughly 4 ton of lime per 1 ton of CO3Li2 when the ratio Mg:Li is 3; as you know the lime is used to remove the Mg precipitating Mg hydroxide.

The only lime producer in the region has a limited capacity. Today is in the limit supplying to Olaroz project and keeping the previous customers. I guess Olaroz is consuming 50k ton year (and the full production of the lime Factory is less than 100k ton year).
If you assume that in the near future cauchari project will be consuming more than Olaroz it will be impossible to have this huge amount of lime in the area.
The cost of lime in the site is around usd150 per ton but if you get the lime from other areas the price goes up to usd200 or more due to the transport cost.
Also considering in Rincon the ratio Mg:Li 8 the consumption of lime would be around 10 tons lime per each 1 ton of lithium carbonate produced. So if Rincon would be (I don’t know yet) 20k ton year as output of LiC the lime consumption will be 200k ton year. Impossible to find this in the area. Solution?? Probably to change the process with some new technology but who knows this??

Last, about Alurralde you are right. He is chemical engineer with a great expertise from years in FMC but remember that the FMC process is totally different that the process to apply in Rincon (if we suppose that the plan is to go with the classical process like Atacama – SQM)

In summary a lot of uncertainties and a lot of years to discover who will have the truth in this. For that reason I insist here that the best is to make money these first years and not waiting until the final. I say this mainly in Rincon but my advice can be similar for other projects that now are in the first stages. Long way until get this Project in comercial production probably 5 years or more.
And take into account that I don't talk about other logistics like energy and water. Nothing in the area and this will increase so much the Capex of the Project. And the financing?? who will invest usd500m or more??