I'll take a stab at why the market suggests the halt was a bad idea.
Investors love revenue streams. Plain and simple.
Galaxy reported in May, a 'sale, which is valued in excess of A$5.5 million, represents the first significant lithium revenue stream for Mt Cattlin.' -in the article it didn't report how many tonnes of spodumene was sold.
The Cattlin project is producing 137,000 tpa. *That's roughly 11,400 per month of spodumene, if it's consistent. Correction *(Cattlin achieved record production of 10,784 tonnes of spodumene during May 2012) _____________________________ If the sale of 10,784tonnes of spodumene is higher than 4million(operating costs) per month, then the market sees halting the plant, as a bad idea.
I don't have Galaxy's spodumene spot price, otherwise I could give you. However, Glen eagle's spot price is reported as - (Jan 12) Current market price range (per tonne): spodumene ($450/550)
550(tonnes) x 10,784 = 5,931,200million. Almost 2 million over operating costs at Cattlin. _____________________________
If Galaxy is using the same spot price as Glen eagle, then yes. The halt was a bad F***ing idea...
What the market wanted to hear was, we're selling excess spodumene, until our carbonate plant is completely ramped up.
(Then again, I'm only speculating ;)
GXY Price at posting:
17.8¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held