You still apparently do not understand the process of progression from lab to commercial production.
Rincon brine was processed in the lab many years ago, proving that BG chemicals could indeed be made from it.
AGY via Puna Mining set out to build an industrial-scale pilot plant to demonstrate the chemical process at a scale that could provide:
1/ more confidence in the capex and opex requirements of a subsequent commercial operation
2/ confidence in the various key processing inputs including reagents and energy
3/ condfidence that the processing was viable with plant and equipment that was relatively representative of - or in some instances equivalent to - what would be used in a subsequent commercial plant
They made over 30t of BG product with this pilot plant, providing many samples and selling over 25t to potential future end-user customers for testing and qualification.
Recent chatter about the plant being a “failure” simply because they planned to produce more from it, is nonsense, as has been spoon-fed to you, and evidenced by the company’s announcements during 2019 & 2020 that clearly state a change of plans due to factors including a prolonged downturn in “Li prices”, and the need to preserve capital during this period, which was further complicated by the Covid response debacle.
“Li prices” did NOT go “to multiples” until the company was well into construction of the 2ktpa plant, well into 2021. You simply assume that it was in the company’s best interests to produce more from the pilot plant at that time…. Well, clearly it wasn’t, or else it would have been abundantly clear to them and they would have done so.
Was it a relatively clunky and manual plant? Absolutely; we’ve been through all this, pay attention.
You still do not understand the primary purpose of the pilot plant, either. Wow. …Or perhaps you just pretend not to, as it supports your “failure” narrative.
You carry on with this narrative that essentially there has been no progress for 4 years; when in FACT, there has been production of dozens of tonnes of BG product from the upscaled (NEW) plant, which has DEMONSTRATED that the
core chemical process that was refined and shown to work via the smaller pilot plant, actually
WORKS with the equipment configured for the upscaled plant.
This was a critical and fantastic milestone, and absolutely demonstrates key progress towards getting the 2ktpa plant running; it also absolutely demonstrates key progress beyond that achieved with the smaller pilot plant.
Simplistically counting “progress” in tonnes, as it appears you are, is amateur hour, imo.
That’s like saying the plant is a failure and sh!t if it’s not running, and magically becomes a success and great when it’s running, as if it is some sort of binary progression.
You are nonsensibly and disingenuously using the fact that there is a primary filtration circuit issue, which has led to delays in getting the plant to produce continuously, as some sort of evidence that “nothing” has been demonstrated, and therefore “nothing” has been achieved “since over half a decade ago”.
Wow.
Imo, your losses/failure here after bailing from your investment are clearly hindering your ability to rationally assess the progress that absolutely HAS been made. It is becoming pointless to continue to spoon-feed you information that clearly illustrates your claims are baseless and incorrect.
The simple FACT that you refuse to acknowledge dozens of tonnes of BG product being produced by the upscaled plant as
indeed being tangible, demonstrable proof of progress towards this plant advancing to continuous production, says it all.
You’ll seemingly claim it’s “nothing new” since tonnes were also produced with the pilot plant.
The 2ktpa plant is NOT the pilot plant.
There are key differences which make production from the 2ktpa plant a critical achievement and another critical derisking step.
Anyone with ANY real experience with any similar project would understand and recognise that there are a multitude of differences between the pilot plant and the 2ktpa plant. We don’t know all the detail, but we don’t need to in order to understand this basic fact. Getting the new plant to produce dozens of tonnes of BG product was great progress and no doubt the team encountered and dealt with a raft of technical issues along the way, be it during construction or commissioning. Same goes for basically EVERY S1 commercial plant that is built.
You want specifics about technical issues:
https://punamining.com.ar/en/contacto/
Is it all running smoothly yet?
No; we all know that.
Is it accurate to claim that “there has been zero tangible technical progress”?
Absolutely not; that is utterly disingenuous and blatant rubbish.
Also, carrying on like the filtration rectification works are a complete failure, like you have been, simply because it is not completely finished and dialled in yet, is likewise utterly disingenuous, and clearly contradicted by clear statements from the company.
But, then again, it appears your default position is to assume that the company is lying.
That’s YOUR problem, btw.
Good luck in your new investments; perhaps you’ll invest in a company that you think is not lying to the market.
>>insert facepalm emoji<
(20min delay)
