Hi S4Simon,
Your ponds find started few very interesting posts, so I thought I may do alittle research in thehistory for the lithium brine evaporation ponds and I came across some otherinteresting points,
16/09/2016, RINCON LITHIUM PROJECT- Farm-in and Joint Venture Agreement confirmed
24/10/2016, Project withultimate target for the first stage to produce a laboratory scale quantitytargeting 100–150t LCE,
18/11/2016, First mentionof ponds I could find, Pond construction and associated works, includingcontractor tendering, no mention of size.
4/05/17, Rincon landholdingincreased by 97%, Additional 635Ha tenement secured for Stage 2 & 3development works 06/09/17, From the Asian Road show presentation
06/09/17, From the Asian Road show presentation
Recently announcedtransformational deal with Qingdao Qianyun High-tech New Material Co. Ltd.
Stage 1 to produce up to500tpa LCE product – first product scheduled for March 2018 Quarter.
Looking back on this timeframe, I am very happy that this association was terminated but it does alsoshows the time frame delay for the production as to date we have never reachedthe 500 tpa.
30/10/17, Additional tenements comprising~1,057Ha secured by Puna Mining S.A. for future Stage 3
6/12/17, Refer to the fully constructedinitial Stage 2 evaporation ponds cover an area of ~10 hectares
29/05/2018, Argosy completes outrightpurchase of Rincon Lithium Project mining tenements previously under option;Rincon Project comprises a total of up to 2,572 hectares of significant lithiumand associated infrastructure services, and mining easement right landholdings
29/08/2018, Refer to the fully constructedinitial Stage 2 evaporation ponds cover an area of ~10 hectares, currently, atotal of ~19ha of Stage 2 evaporation ponds now operational and concentratinglithium brine via natural solar evaporation
10/12/2018, Argosy has now completed a totalof ~38 hectares of lithium brine evaporation ponds
29/01/2019, Strategic and highly prospectivetenements comprising 209.5Ha secured to increase Rincon Lithium Projectlandholding
27/06/2019, Continuous pilot plant trial-runoperations have commenced
5/12/19, Preliminary trial cargo of ~5 tonnesof high quality lithium carbonate product from industrial scale pilot plantplanned for first shipment during early Q1, 2020 delivering into SalesAgreement executed in March 2019
12/05/2020, Five tonne preliminary trialcargo of high-quality >99.5% lithium carbonate product from industrial scalepilot plant delivered to port and ready for shipment
24/12/2020, 20 metric tonne >99.5% lithiumcarbonate product cargo from Argosy’s industrial scale pilot plant, scheduledfor delivery to Buenos Aires port this coming week
April 2021, AGM Presentation, Produced +25tof battery quality lithium carbonate at >99.5% Li2CO3,
I seem to remember backthen due to the price of Lithium it was not financially viable and Argosyadvised that they reduced the output of the experimental plant and would use itas a training plant for the 2000t plant, please correct me if I am wrong.
In conclusion, IMO theynever advised what is the area of ponds required for a certain tonnage of LCE.I believe they created the original ponds for the 100-150t based on Pablo’spast experience, then took a ball park figure for the 2000t plant but there is nomention I could find with regards to the initial planed increase for the upgrade to 500tplant. I would not be surprised if they require the extra pounds for theinitial 500t they no plan to use for Argentina local requirement and the 2000tplant together. Another aspect could be the change of weather which is global or even a small difference in the evaporation criteria from one location to the next?