@riseabove @FreeflyerNZ great conversation, thank you both. You have both discussed points that have been of concern for me including that graphite is a relatively abundant material and relatively cheap. PSG is produced primarily from fines but can be produced from course flake as long as the graphite is not crystalline (AFAIK). The disadvantage of course flake is that it takes further processing (milling) which introduces higher costs to get to fines to produce PSG.
My last concerns are that we are not planning on producing coated PSG but this could be due to the work RNU has done with silicon coating (see Sicona). Artificial graphite is not a concern due higher costs both financially and environmentally.
In a previous post I mentioned a risk to RNU is companies like Syrah increasing production and flooding the market, I also mentioned they would be shooting themselves in the foot if they did, this is countered by customers' needs exceeding what is being produced globally so relatively low risk in my books.
RNU's advantages over other suppliers of PSG is that it supplies its own raw materials from a mine relatively close to intended production facilities, is in a tier 1 jurisdiction, has a large resource with high graphitic content requiring less manipulation to get our final product - PSG.
China does not concern me as a producer due to the high environmental impact of their current processes and the wests' reducing reliance on them, I think they could become less relevant in the long term for this material or the final anode component as long as the west can make "stuff" economically viable.
The lack of offtake is a concern for me too but keep in mind that these agreements generally feed into FID which should be happening this year. If we had FID and no offtakes, then I'd be worried. Similarly, my faith in RNU would be diminished if we don't have these in 2023. PLS seems to have proven that if you have product, customers will come, offtake agreements or not.
DC has steered the ship reasonably well so far and I think he's been caught out by the extended approval times as most of us here have. RNU now has what it needs to start moving forward; finance, approvals, product etc. The company must start moving forward with vigor to realize those advantages and I believe team RNU fully understand this.
A reminder of other materials we might produce in future:
- Copper
- REE
- Kaolin/Halloysite
- Gold
- Cobalt
The world seems to finally understand we are in a recession, like all things, it will come to pass.
C
