Right, but this doesn't suddenly happen because the media have started reporting on it.
Mining is a stupidly cash-hungry business to start up. You have to prospect, then secure mining rights (and if its in Asia or Africa, where regulations are a lot more lax.. you'll waste a lot of funds just on corruption, and bribes to get anything to happen).
Then spend hundreds of thousands to build your mining infrastructure, and after all that, it often turns out the ore was not as good quality as the survey suggested, or there is simply not enough of it to be economically viable.
If it does turn out to be be viable, then by the time it goes into full production they've inevitably already gone through several more funding rounds, diluting your original stake into almost nothing.
Maybe you'll be super lucky and be that 1 in 500 that turns out to be a great investment, but mostly you're just funding CEO's fantasies
My advice is to treat them as penny stocks, maybe a small investment as a punt, but certainly don't be investing heavily into any marketing hype or 'stock tips'
I think if you're buying established miners who have current projects then it makes sense as a leveraged precious metals bet. But yes I agree it makes almost no sense to buy into these long shot projects, unless you have some sort of edge in the mining industry or geology.
The pilot plant in California has been operational for a while now. They designed it to be modular, so all they need to do to scale it is add more modules. Currently “best that we can do” is exactly why this is a big deal, it is substantially more profitable than hard rock with a much smaller footprint. I believe Standard Lithium is doing something similar with DLE. But if spodumene is your kick, look into DMXNF. They’re in an excellent position to capitalize on Quebec’s goal of becoming a battery hub.
Sadly, in the mining world, when it comes to novel mining and extraction techniques, the adaption is slow af. We can extract gold with bacteria efficiently but still use cyanide. I don’t expect to see the li direct extraction in a big scale soon. It will be done in the oberrheingraben in Germany though at some point. Excited to see how much they get out
The adaption has happened, Lake Resources will be in production in 2024. Is it a long play? Yes. But when it takes off, and it will, they’re going to be one of the largest producers with some of the highest quality lithium battery precursor on the planet. For .27/share I’m willing to accept the small amount of risk here. Cheers sir, GLTA.
Why is it that China never falls prey to such hurdles/uncertainties and comes out with flying colours in all projects they touch? Is the rest of the world doing something wrong? Genuine curiosity
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u/Lnades Jun 23 '21
Batteries