Keep digging.."Fact is their product has not been satisfactory...

Keep digging..

"Fact is their product has not been satisfactory to customers requirements as yet"

NOT necessarily true.  How do you know this?  Just because they are working though a customisation phase DOES NOT necessarily mean that the customer couldn't use product "as-is".  Ever considered that some fine tuning and tweaking of composition provides a win-win for both parties...?  Point VOID.

"nor has there been anywhere near name plate capacity produced"

One step at a time. There is NO CURRENT INTENT to be producing NOW at the capacity of the S1 pilot plant.  Point VOID.

"Perhaps an O/T for IG first would help"

There is NO INTENT to supply IG product.  We are working towards a specialty battery quality product, tailored to best suit a customer's requirements.  Point VOID.

"Only a small percentage of raw Lce made so far has acheived over 99.5% purity."

So what? They have been working through a range of processing variables and settings to determine what is required to achieve a high grade product from our brine.  There is NO CURRENT INTENT to produce as much +99.5% LCE as possible; the focus is on tailoring the product to suit specific customer requirements, providing a win-win outcome for us and the customer.  Point VOID.

"Of which is STILL not verified"

Still on about this one hey?  Independent verification means SFA when the customer(s) are assessing the suitability of the product for their needs.  Having a third party lab confirm +99.5% grade is meaningless -  what will it do, convince potential customers to buy/consider our product?  They ALREADY ARE interested and we are seeing if we can tailor to BETTER SUIT their needs/processes.  Point VOID.

"If there is a decent margin to be made in what they can presently provide, why not just ramp that up and off load it"  

Because they are better off securing a longer-term arrangement that can enable rapid scaling/expansion through some type of funding deal in return for future supply of quality/consistent/tailored product.  We need $200mil to ramp up to decent commercial volumes; perhaps a more strategic approach to the future is better for all stakeholders...?   

Keep digging....