TESLA Battery Day Sep 22 - PATENTS & LEAKS, page-508

The crux of the issue is that AUZ used this day as an excuse for missing a deadline.
The missed deadline was purely to line up their ducks with the hopes of Tesla being a consumer of their product.

" Australian Mines anticipates information presented at this event will be critical to determining the quantum, nature and timing of future global demand for EV battery materials. In particular, Tesla have indicated they will use this event to showcase their battery technology development roadmap. The Tesla roadmap is expected to influence the development of battery technology across the broader EV sector and may, therefore, have implications for the volume and composition of the battery materials that Australian Mines would potentially produce"

They have burnt their bridge with SKI.
CATL, LG Chem, and samsung provide batteries to tesla currently. So that bridge is also gone.

AUZ have not only not been able to deliver on finding and off-take partner, they have effectively driven the nail through their own coffin. This goes beyond the SKI affair in my opinion. They have built themselves out of a market, and narrated their own demise.