Greetings to everyone and hope you enjoyed your holidays away from HC. May 2024 bring all of us prosperity in our investment decisions, after all, we are responsible for our actions, not Pablo or Jerko nor the good ‘ole donkey lol. Let me make it clear that I am a fan of AGY and normally posts positive things and am not into long-running arguments with anyone, as I do not see this as the essence of my presence here. We have our opinions and we do our own research. As the godfather says, it’s business, not personal.
IMO, some have judged AGY or Jerko or even Pablo too harshly. 2023 has not been bereft of milestones as some have concluded. In Feb 2023, at the height of the lithium price increase, AGY reached an all-time high of 80c together with most in the sector. This was at about the same time as the 2000t plant construction was nearing completion and commissioning of machines had started. In April 2023, Puna Mining had a simple inauguration visit from the Mining Secretary where they bear-witnessed the finished over 99% lithium carbonate test- produced by that time.
https://www.salta.gob.ar/prensa/noticias/la-autoridad-minera-recorrio-instalaciones-de-puna-mining-en-salar-de-rincon-89213Yes, part of the inauguration was the famous bakery lol, but setting aside the funny side of it, this was an important ingredient in satisfying the underlying principles embodied in the Salta Government’s granting of the 2k plant permit, to care for the employees and community, among others.
The point is the 2000t plant construction completed in 2023 with the verification and validation of Puna Mining being able to produce almost 100% battery quality lithium carbonate sets us aside from other small caps being a producer.
Yes, we had machinery issues that still is being addressed but we did produce a month at one stage 10t while commissioning. If one considers that in Sept 2023, LKE was happy to announce that they had successfully test-produced 2500kg lithium carbonate at a third party facility from their extracted lithium chloride, go figure.
Yes, the AGY SP has gone down considerably from its high of 80 to 14 currently and it struggles to go up despite the reported lithium price rebound. Arguably, we are punished by the market for missed dates though majority of the decline was due to the lithium price debacle and this hit everyone in the sector.
AGY price went down 82% approx. but is not too far away from others like CXO at 80%, LKE 85%, SYA 76%, GLN 79% at one stage.
Amount-wise, AGY went down 66c but it did not save others with figures like $1.45 for WR1, 97c for CXO, $1.78 for GLN.
Thus, while AGY was punished for specific reasons, it can only be an effect of the lithium price which, when things start to evolve, can only mean a bigger boom for AGY.
Finally, SH sentiment plays a big part in a companies SP evolution. When this is splashed on HC through SH comments, innocently or otherwise, this is ammunition for shorters to do their work. And this affected AGY during much of 2023. Even now, it fails to boom simply because SH sentiment as shown in HC comments continues. A clear example of positive sentiment affecting SP in a positive manner is GLN. And I will tell you why in another post. Basically, AGY is a much better company than GLN IMO but there is a huge disparity in SP. Till next time. I am being called for lunch. AIMO and DYOR.
