1. I don't see not acquiring other businesses as a failure. We have one of/the richest rare earth ore body in the world. Every ore requires a different refining mix so there is no automatic economy of scale from acquiring other mines. Yeah, I suppose they might have vertically integrated - valid option. Personally I think they've had their hands full handling a series of challenges in a complex business and I'd have voted for them sticking to what they know and doing it well, as they have.
2. Prefer investing for growth over dividends at this point. Re: Kalgoorlie. My recollection is they were waiting for court challenges and/or 'negotiations' with the Malaysian government to remove those idiotic alterations to the licence conditions. It made sense to exhaust all those options before committing ~$500mill to Plan B (Kalgoorlie) - yeah they cut it fine, they used up all the contingency in the plan and some. Hindsight...
3. I think you'll find they have had a clear growth strategy outlined all alone. Eg: target ramp up of supply to meet demand (not exceed it).
Re Cash: Investing for growth, that's why. (Also not sure I'd say $250mill. cash is 'low').
Look, no diss to you - agree there might have been other ways to go about things. But I'm personally a fan of Ms Lacaze (let's show some respect people) and the team.
LYC Price at posting:
$9.13 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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