Ramp up of next PLS shipment..., page-3114

I agree with you. I do worry that if the current situation devolves into a real trade war, Xi makes a phone call and this plant suddenly goes down for emergency repairs, but I agree that any refining capacity outside Chine is a good thing.

I still think Oz is a natural for ex-China refining. I am aware of the issues that ALB, MIN and their Chinese partners are having with getting their refineries up and running in Oz, but I firmly believe that has more to do with the Chinese restricting the amount of technology transfer they are willing to undertake for an industry that they dominate combined with the inexperience and incompetence of their Western partners. I’d like to see PLS, with their IP from the POSCO JV, have a go at building a refinery in WA, even if it is a JV with POSCO. Australian labor may be expensive, but as someone who managed Australian environmental scientists and auditors for two years, I found them to be AT LEAST as competent as my American colleagues. I don’t believe that Australian workers are incapable of building or running a lithium refinery. They just need experience, and in PLS, you finally have an entity with the IP and SOME experience.

As a final related comment which I touched on a day or two ago, I’d like to see the Ganfeng FS turn into a Carbonate refinery, preferably in Australia. Even if it’s outside Australia, the experience and IP from such a JV could be taken home to Oz at a later date.

Best regards!