Thanks for that pointer Bob - an interesting situation for...

Thanks for that pointer Bob - an interesting situation for sure.
The Americans (Austroid Corp) trying to grab it (announced on 7 Dec 2020) invest $60m in upgrade equipment and get it up and running in a few months to supply North America's plant in Nevada as well as third parties.
Then on top of that, they'll assume a $70m loan facility which had been provided by guess who - The Chinese. The loan facility has also been reported to be $40m but that might be USD without delving into it much. Anyway, whatever amount it is/was, the interest rate on it at 15% (yes, fifteen) wouldn't have been sustainable by the looks of it considering the Li prices being low last year.
Looks like a battle being waged there for ownership considering current relationships between Australia/China and USA/China. I would think that the American offer will be accepted.