I doubt very much that Glencore is providing funding. At most...

I doubt very much that Glencore is providing funding. At most maybe they tip in circa $20m USD as a prepayment as per some other deals they have done:

I don't think the announcement would have been worded the way it was if their original intention was to provide the funding. I assume they are really only interested in the offtake and they may provide some level of funding, if they have to, to help support the project. Though, Glencore are probably in a position where they need to show a good level of support if they hope to get hold of the real prize which is the subsequent phases. Phase 1 is quite small compared to what's on the table.

I don't agree with a lot of comments on here that make out like Glencore are holding all the cards. There are plenty of companies that want and need all the lithium they can get if we are going to continue on this EV transition at the rate that we have been moving (not to mention ESS). These companies will be thinking long term, and are unlikely to be overly influenced by the cycle lows of the current spot price.