The only ones late to the party in acknowledging winter has been lithium hodlers who continue to find every other angle to justify keeping the faith, from (1) lower price will force supply cuts which will then address the low price issue to 2) lithium price is bottoming.
Ah I forgot 3) that Gina R will come to the rescue to buy them out via a takeover.
Yes, Gina will buy a controlling stake in your lithium company, provide an exit to the management who knows how to run operations and be left with a spanky mine she has no idea how to run. If she wanted that, she would have taken a majority control of VUL or LTR when she participated.
And even if she does or for that matter anyone, they would be just opportunistic bids that would not be taken seriously by management. LRS and other explorers with good mines but unable to secure financing may be able to agree to an opportunistic takeover, but not companies like LTR which is already on the cusp of production. What- to accept a $1.40 bid now at 80% premium after de-risked when TG rejected ALB's earlier $2 bid even before de-risked? Management will feel stupid, right? And a betrayal of LT faithfuls who still believe that maybe by holding for another 3 years, their stock can reclaim $3.
In 3-5 years, the future of lithium could be facing a different landscape. But one thing I know- there won't be a short of supply of it. By then, the largest in world, LAC would be in full force- the Americans will try to reclaim the glory they lost to the Chinese. USA will buy USA, China will buy China/SA/Africa, EU will have their own e.g Rio, and Australia?? - looking for buyers from everywhere else.
