I think KDR needs to produce before it can talk about costs....

I think KDR needs to produce before it can talk about costs. It's like putting the cart before the horse so to speak. The reality is that most of the projected lithium costs, will initially be much higher than initial projections, and KDR is not immune to this, even with SQM expertise (they have never mined hard rock before FYI). That and they will only share 50% of the revenues in the long term. But hey, I don't mind being proven wrong, however, every existing producing miner have faced higher costs and have taken years to reach steady state production, before realising lower cost production that managements love to project.

GXY will be adding an optical sorter next year to further increase efficiency which will allow to reduce its projection costs even further. The technical saavy of mining for lithium, is a bit more complex than the management makes it seem. However, they have to appeal to the investors in order to get funding, so it makes sense.

As for valuations, as long as the price of lithium keeps rising, which it will at least for the next 12-18 months as per Simon Moores and other leading experts, than the higher valuations will be justified. The entire sector will get the boost. Wouldn't be surprised if some of these P/E eventually reach to 50-100 or so, as some of the major producers have currently reached.