I don't get it. Largo will invest 350m in Brazil titanium project.
Yet they won't invest 10m to 20m on a conversion plant for (V2O5 to electrolyte)
and (V2O5 to Ferrovanadium). Instead, they would rather pay for another plant to carry out the conversions for them.
In 2020 they were considering building a conversion plant, but it now looks as though they gave up the idea.
Q2-20 - The Company is evaluating the timing for the construction of the FeV conversion plant.
Q3-20 - The Company is evaluating the timing for the construction of the FeV conversion plant.
Q4-20 - The Company is evaluating the timing for the construction of the FeV conversion plant.
2021 the new FeV plant was not even mentioned. (as far as I know).
Q4-20-conversion costs $1.98m. (to convert V2O5 to FeV)
Q1+Q2+Q3-2021 - 9 months total conversion cost was $6.66m.
$6,66m + $1.98m
Total cost $8.64m spent in the 4 most recent quarters to convert (V2O5 to FeV).
Not to mention the cost of transporting the V2O5 to the conversion plant,
and then shipping the Fev throughout the globe.
.
Then there's this from the Q2-21 financial report:
The Company has maintained its 2021 guidance for cash operating costs excluding royalties, but due to higher than expected product acquisition costs and conversion costs to date, as well as an expected increase in these costs for the remainder of the year, the Company will no longer be providing guidance for its total cash costs1.
The impact of these cost increases to total cash costs could create a misleading view of the performance of the Company as it does not capture any corresponding improvements to the Company's revenues.
and this from yesterdays Q3 Financial Report.
Other operating costs
Note 20
716 tonnes of FeV sold, compared with 900 tonnes in Q2 2021. Unit
conversion costs are increasing due to aluminium price increases.
Q1-21
Conversion costs relate to the costs incurred in
converting quantities of V2O5 into FeV for delivery to customers and distribution costs relate to the costs incurred in delivering products to customers. In Q1 2020, the Company only sold V2O5 and was not responsible for shipping products to its customer at that time.
I can understand that they want to build a customer base for the sale of FeV, but if that's true, then why don't they build a conversion plant/plants on the Largo property and ship their own electrolyte to the US battery assembly plant, and the Fev can be shipped right from the Largo property???????