If I could answer your question properly it'd be a very long...

If I could answer your question properly it'd be a very long post. I can't give a financial advise either. I can only give my opinions about the lithium sector in general and very briefly. All my opinion of course.

There are two options in terms of deposit type. Hard rock and brine. Just forget about the other types because they are going to be very costly, so their projects can't be realised. They are; geothermal brine, hectorite (lithium in clays), Jadarite (RIO's Jadar project), etc.

Hard rock;

First of all you are holding LTR like me. I'm all in only in LTR as I can't see any other project close to it which complies with my criteria. There are different risks with all of the current producers and high potential explorers.

My first criteria is the management. Let's keep it at the top.

Then the location of resource. I prefer Australia and Canada.

Then a high grade resource. It must be over ave grade of 1.2% L2O. The grade may increase in linear way like 1.20%, 1.30%, 1.40%, 1.50% as you can imagine. However the higher grade won't decrease the cost of production in linear way but it decreases the cost exponentially. The higher the grade the much lower the cost.

Anything less than 1.20% will be a problem in hard times like today. The minimum lithium grade of current producing projects in Australia is 1%. The two companies went into administration in 2019 lithium downturn had were A40 (0.96%) (now MIN's Bald Hill) and AJM (1%) (Now OLS owns it) ave. grades. PLS and Min's Wodgina has around 1.15% ave. ore grades.

Then the resource size. It must be at least 30mt if it is over ave. high grade of 1.2%.

Then the thickness, strike length and shape of the pegmatites. For example why I didn't like CXO's first project; because the pegmatite was quite thick but going down in 90 degree. It actually needed to be mined by underground mining technique but an open pit was suggested. That needed a huge strip ratio. Also if you have many pegmatites far from each other and dipping down at 45 degree kind of angles that'd also create a lot of waste. PLS has that kind of many pegmatites. It's hard to get clean ore from those type of pegmatites. For example old AVZ's Monona project was a very good (High grade and very thick pegs) one except it's location is the hardest in the world.

IMO, there is nothing left in Australia in terms of being a Tier-1 project candidate.

There are good ones in James Bay region in Canada but I'm always hesitating to buy anything from there because it's very cold even frozen country in most of the months. The cost would be quite high there even for a good lithium resource like Patriot's. I still like their project and I acknowledge Ken Brinsden as one of the most experienced director in the lithium market (not admire him though) but James bay is very risky for me now although it's very close to the US and EU markets.

When it comes to the brine resources;

Firstly just forget about the geothermal brine. That kind of projects will never be realised in this world.

The other salt lake brines are also very tricky. Only Atacama projects (SQM and ALB) are far better than the others because the credit from the by-product (especially potash) in the Atacama brine saves the operation there. The other projects in Argentina are all high in impurities, mainly magnesium, but poor in by-products. So they are always in danger with market conditions. The production process in one pond is 18 months. If it rains there, you are messed up. So those projects are all depended on the weather which we can't control.

I am also very suspicious that China will increase its grip on the developing and the undeveloped countries, especially in South America and Africa, and of course in Asia, so it'll be dangerous to invest in the countries of those zones.

Also the brine is a secondary resource of lithium. Primary resource is hard rock. I think majority of the good lithium hard rock and brine resources have already been discovered all around the world (except Siberia of Russia). It's going to be very hard to find a good new one. New explorations must target the undercover, non-outcropping, underground pegmatites. It's not easy too. It's going to be hard like oil exploration.

Yes the lithium demand will be very big in the future. But we don't know what is going to happen to lithium supply chain in terms of geopolitical issues. So I prefer to keep my project investment in Australia, in the western side of the geopolitics and its supply chain.

I would also never underestimate the industrial and financial power of the western countries. Never underestimate the power of USA-EU-JP-Korea.

I believe the west will increase its investment in the lithium-battery-EV supply chain and auto industries. I don't beleive Chinese brands will get all market share of western brands. A well know brand is very valuable thing. The west has many of them. It's not easy to create a brand. China will get a lot of trouble with that.

LG is now making big progress in making batteries. Samsung will do that too.

Also the battery chemistry types will play a big role in the future of lithium supply chain. I believe Solid State Batteries will be the mainstream. Because a SS battery has a lithium metal anode other than lithium in its electrolyte, more lithium will be needed in the world market.

LFP battery is a very poor thing. Very low energy density. Only 150W/kg. It's now coming to its max. technical capacity. No more room to develop LFPs. That's why sodium-ion-battery has no chance either.

A 65kW Tesla Y LFP battery is around 430kg. It can go 400-450km. That's not very long for the western buyers.

A SS battery at same 430kg weight will go over 1000km easily. It will initially have around 350W/kg energy density.

A SS battery with 350W/kg energy density at 430kg weight will have 150kW capacit,y but not 65kW like LFP.

China is making a lot BS about batteries they make. For example I saw on the news yesterday, Nio made Semi-Solid-State battery with 150kW power, and it goes over 1000km it said.

Total BS. What is semi-solid state battery?
Yeah it's Chinese type semi solid. Actually fake Solid state.

No mention of battery chemistry type. They say "it's semi-SS, the anode and cathode are same in standard battery but its electrolyte is solid". I can see it's actually a LFP battery.

LOL. Total BS. They should have say "LFP battery with solid electrolyte. CATL is doing the same battery I think.

The weight of that 150kW LFP "Semi-SS" battery should be around 1 tonne. Ridiculous.

Anyways, the battery type is important. I strongly believe that the west will invest on SS batteries which requires lithium hydroxide. And lithium hydroxide can be produced from hard rock lithium than it can be produced from brine.

So we are coming back to the main source of lithium; hard rock.

There is one point there; the lithium metal can be produced cheaply from the initial form of lithium which is produced in the salty brine ponds. It's lithium chloride. They first evaporate the brine in the lithium ponds then separate the salts of all minerals in chloride forms; lithium chloride, magnesium chloride (unwanted and hard to remove), potash chloride valuable by product), sodium chloride (table salt), etc. So they can produce lithium metal from that lithium chloride. Now there is a lot of work and research being done for making lithium metal from hard rock spodumene. I am also watching that space.