Your point was that MQG is a conflicted broker and lithium bull, and I'd say that's not the case. They were just wrong like most other analysts.
The "oversupply" has caught most analysts by surprise, but in hindsight, the Chinese play these games with every commodity from wool to iron ore and we should have all seen it coming. What has surprised me more is the credence that analysts give to the Chinese spot prices, which aren't based on aggregate pricing, just the marginal transactions. Right now those marginal transactions are in lepidolite, which distorts pricing well below the market.
I haven't followed Core closely, and have not invested for the reasons you point out. However with 30% YoY growth in EVs, albeit the % figure easing, but over a much bigger base, EV uptake is still growing to the point where there is still value in the assets. There should be enough economy of scale to reboot in a few years and bring down unit costs with expansion projects. Azure does not even have a resource yet, let alone a mine plan to determine whether it too will be a high cost producer. I mention it because you can see the sort of money being paid for lithium assets, even now, makes you think twice about selling at the bottom.
So, I think Macquarie is calling it as they see it and they are not a conflicted broker.
GLN Price at posting:
58.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)