@vigilante3 because everybody outside of those companies and...

@vigilante3 because everybody outside of those companies and their customers don't know the grades. It might well be the case that they exceed it, but we don't know that for certain. They may all produce 56.5% every time or they may exceed it. They may create batches at different levels and blend it together to get 56.5% for everyone, they may not.

LPD can't support the statement that those companies' products are greater than 56.5%. All they can say is that is the guaranteed minimum those companies provide from their websites. Here is Livent's spec sheet as an example:

https://livent.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/QS-PDS-1021-r5.pdf

Livent may well have a product that is sometimes higher grade than that, but 56.5% is the minimum they are willing to commit to, same as Albermarle and Tianqi, which were in the announcement. Same as Ganfeng as well, which you can see below.

56.5% is what the industry is currently using as a benchmark for hydroxide, just like 99.5% for carbonate. After meeting that hurdle, the next is to confirm that the impurities aren't the problematic elements, which was also confirmed in the announcement.

That's about as good as we can expect until someone puts the material into some cathodes and sees if they work. And then puts the cathodes into some batteries.

Cheers