re: Diving deeper on Standard Lithium?

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My guess? Albemarle and Exxon are in a huge bidding war and Standard is just trying to drive that price on up. Yeh....that's gotta be it. Definitely what this PR means.

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Standard Lithium.....Murphy Oil

Yeah that's about as unneeded (surface-wise) and unnatural a PR as I've read. I just think that if you're confident in your circumstances it's too soon to accept an acquisition offer. Any offer made at this point would have to heavily discount the value of the (pre-DFS) SWA project and (pre-PFS) East Texas work since they still need to be de-risked by those studies.

Mintak used to say, over and over, that Standard is not a mining company but a technology company. However, in the DWW interview around May he was asked in a similar vein,

"How would you define your work at Standard Lithium? Are you an integrator of these technologies? Are you one part of the technology which enhances with these other technologies?"

Mintak "The project drives the process. So, we're a project developer and, hopefully, commercial operator soon. But developing a project holistically, so we're not a sole technology developer."

I just have a hard time conceiving that a project developer would opt to be bought before developing its two biggest projects all the way. Unless Phase 1A's success is considered by a buyer to be sufficient de-risking for the other two projects.
Then again, Phase 1's success isn't expected to be proven until 2026 so even if a buyer would be satisfied with its validation of the other two projects it wouldn't be anytime soon.

My thoughts on an acquisition have changed if the East Texas goal of 100,000 tpa from the November Management Presentation is to be taken seriously. I mean, 100,000 tpa is the high-end estimate of Exxon's announced plant. Can you sell that this soon?

I'll be ecstatic once the demo product starts getting sold.

Reminder that the AOGC's order issued in September extends the demo plant's operation until the December 5 hearing, when they will also revisit the royalty discussion. Royalty decision timing is worded this way,

"Furthermore, the Commission shall hear Applicant’s request for determining
the methodology for royalty on lithium chloride and/or lithium carbonate (or other final product)
as required by Ark. Code Ann. § 15-76-315(c) in December in North Little Rock. This shall be
heard either at the regularly scheduled hearing on December 5, 2023, or at a special hearing if
scheduled by the Director"

so some possible discretion from the Director.

Hopefully Lanxess will have formalized their decision by then since they will, at the very least, have dibs on the demo product offtake. Thanks again to FeMike for pointing this out.

So Lanxess decision -> royalty decision -> sell demo product for our confidence -> profit?

I’d bet your friend will regret that no later than Q1 2024. Schwab paying 15% on my shares is enough to buy my patience.

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I’d bet your friend will regret that no later than Q1 2024

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isnt that a sign of very low confidence in SLI?

Thanks for sharing.

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $3.5 Billion to Strengthen Domestic Battery Manufacturing

"Concept papers, which are required, are due January 9, 2024. Full applications are due March 19, 2024."

FeMike, do you think "concept papers" mentioned here are the same as the "white paper" that IR told you they already submitted? For $70M I think

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old friend bailed today at a considerable loss not because he doesn't believe, but because he lost patience

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Not having patience isn’t good for trading stocks

Am I a sucker? We'll see. Just bought more.