This is not a mining play.This is a chemical engineering play. The company is run by miners who are not chemical engineers. This is not a criticism, just the way it turned out.
The problem is simply: Can we scoop this stuff with end loaders and run it through a chemical process that will produce high grade LiOH in large quantities at a low cost?
That is strictly a chemical engineering problem, and way beyond the expertise of the typical mining professional.
So they do the best they can, with lots of learning and delay bumps in the road while relying on outside chemical engineers, who are in turn entering a whole new chemical engineering territory, and are also facing learning and delay bumps in their road.
We can just be patient and hope that the engineers can find a way.