Sorry to jump in and respond before UndR8ed Cat, but you have introduced a concept that I have also considered. I am always trying think up a solution that might be a win-win for both SYA & PLL, or at least a solution that will interest PLL enough to want to play ball. One thought I did have was similar to what you have just suggested, but I still haven't refined it enough to be a working solution.
Firstly, to determine if I have understood your thoughts correctly I will use some numbers as an example. Let's say SYAQ is at full name plate of 226,000t/y, so PLL still get their 113,000t/y as they currently are and SYQ makes very little, if at all, from that. The other 113,000t/y goes into the 50/50 owned (Sya & let's say LGES) carbonate plant to produce around 14,000t LC. Using a profit margin of $10,000USD/t would give $140M per year, equating to $70M for SYA, which is much better than the current situation of selling spod. So all good there, but what is your thinking in regards to PLL's 25% ownership in NAL? Are you perceiving they get 25% of the $140M, or would a new contract need to drawn up because PLL have opted out of the carbonate production?
PLL would love 25% of $140M, because they wouldn't get near that under current spod prices, so they wouldn't oppose the idea. So do you have any thoughts on what would need to be done in regards to PLL and their 25% share? To get 25% share of income from carbonate that they chose to opt out of would heavily favour them, but I can't see them choosing to give up the entire 25% share as they would argue that they would get 25% share if it was just spod sales only, all-be-it much less. Would you go to the negotiating table and offer them say 5%-10% of the carbonate income, or do you anticipate that maybe contractually they are excluded of anything by opting out?
I certainly like your idea as I see it has merit, and I think it is worth looking further into. Obviously, like all ideas there will be hurdles to clear along the way, none more so than ensuring NAL can reach and maintain a nameplate of 226,000t/y, but there are also huge benefits if those hurdles can be cleared. For one, SYA would only need to find 50% of the capex as opposed to 75% and we wouldn't be held up waiting for PLL to cough up their 25%, meaning carbonate by 2026 would still be possible. Not meaning to try and tell you what to do, but maybe flip JB another email, if you haven't already done so, in regards to this idea, just to get his thoughts on the matter.
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