I honestly do not rate Joe Lowry, his articles always lack any...

I honestly do not rate Joe Lowry, his articles always lack any depth and thorough analysis/research, he is constantly alluding to some secret information (unsubstantiated) that probably doesn't exist anywhere but in his imagination. He could very well have some contacts with lithium consumers however he thinks he can extrapolate those to appear as he knows the entire industry. I perplexed how he can be considered one of the worlds leading lithium experts, just goes to show how obscure lithium was until recently.

Anyways here is a fairly ordinary piece on Orocobre: (he frames this as positive but it is clearly another slate at ORE)

"Over the past few months I have received a lot of criticism for “being too hard” on Orocobre. It is my hope that in the future I can be more positive on the company.

They don’t make it easy.

I get no pleasure out of criticizing ORE or any other lithium company. On the other hand, if a company lists shares in the public markets, they have an obligation to clear and honest disclosure according to the rules of the market they list on.

Developing a brine based lithium asset is a challenge under any circumstances. Orocobre had a significant challenge developing the Olaroz project especially under the former government in Argentina. I understand the challenges of developing a project in a remote area at high altitude from my experience at FMC when they were developing Hombre Muerto twenty years ago. Fortunately FMC had the good fortune to be working with a supportive government at the time.

The recently departed chairman of ORE spent a lot of time “telling the company story” to investors, customers and others interested in the lithium business. In many cases, the same people asked for my opinion on the company. Unfortunately, in most cases I had to say that while I could not speak to the motivation of any executive or director of the company, I could say that the facts as I knew them were quite different from what was being presented to the public.

Many who are considering investing in other lithium projects look at Orocobre’s execution as an indicator of what to expect from other emerging brine producers. Unfortunately, the extended start-up and continued delays on the Olaroz project have done a great disservice to other juniors seeking funding by amplifying the difficulty of executing a lithium project. Yes, bringing a brine asset online is a challenge but Orocobre has made it look like brain surgery which it is not. All brine projects are different and have unique challenges but ORE should not be looked at as a barometer of what others who assemble experienced, competent teams will do. I expect much better from Galaxy and LAC/SQM.

Many of Orocobre’s Australian shareholders have expressed their frustration with my comments on public social media forums. It doesn’t really bother me as I always try to consider the source. Many of these people are short term traders who don’t care about facts or lithium – just the stock price. However, I found it ironic that some posters wondered aloud “why quality matters if customers are willing to pay a high price?”. To a long term investor, product quality is considered to be a baseline, not an option.

No lithium company has ever had the tailwind scenario for entering the lithium market that Orocobre has had. The lithium market is short of supply enabling off-spec product that has to be reprocessed by a third party to be sold at a premium. I applaud Toyota Tsusho (who sells the Olaroz product) for getting a higher price for low quality material than Albemarle gets for their true battery quality product. Anomalies abound in this market.

Now that there has been a “change at the top” in Orocobre’s management, I hope there will more candor from ORE in their public communication.

I have no doubt that most of the team who make their living on the Olaroz lithium project are good, hardworking people who want to make the best lithium product possible. Jujuy is a poor province that will greatly benefit from success of the project. As a fan of Argentina, I want to see Olaroz, Cauchari and Sal de Vida succeed.

The lithium world continues to watch what happens in Jujuy. I am watching and talking to the customers buying the product. I wish you the best ORE and hope your future communications square with reality."

(https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/orocobre-matters-joe-lowry)