Mike Barman: Sure. Thank you, Robert. So yes, I mean, I would just echo a lot of what Robert said. So in the partner search, financial technical capability brought to bear as well as discussions around how we can utilize those, to best de-risk and execute the project. I think is really what we are in discussions with and what the frameworks are that we’re trying to develop here.
Noel Parks: Great. Thanks a lot. And I just wanted to sort of follow-up with what I had. Maybe sort of premature, but as you look out into your larger projects, is there any interest by partners maybe in investing specifically, or just in sort of the processing business? It’s, of course not as disparate as it is in mining where you have a parallel scandal in operation, which is going to be more integrated. But I just wonder if people are even thinking about that granular level of the value chain?
Mike Barman: Robert, I’m happy to jump in.
Robert Mintak: Oh, sure. Go ahead, Mike.
Mike Barman: But I think really at this point, the discussions are at the project level. We’re not looking at segmenting out portions of the business quite yet, although there are discussions are pretty fluid. And so, I wouldn’t completely rule it out as long as it was in the best interest of the project and value.
Noel Parks: Great. Thanks a lot.
Robert Mintak: Yes, I’ll also add to that that the key to unlocking the resource is direct lithium extraction. We’re the only ones who’ve been active in this space for the last seven years and the only ones with an operating demonstration scale plant that extracts lithium basically on a 24-7 basis. So that aspect is extremely important on the dialogues, and the conversations we’re having and that it’s one thing to hold the land position, but it’s another to have a position and a process that you will have high confidence – that can get the lithium out, because there’s only one process, DLE, to unlock the resource. And we are the most advanced at that.
Noel Parks: Great. Thanks for the clarification.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Joseph Reagor from ROTH MKM. Please go ahead.
Joseph Reagor: Hi, Robert. Just kind of a follow-up thing. As you think about pricing, some of the other lithium companies out there, have either announced a delay in an expansion, or cancelling an additional project, et cetera, because of pricing. Is there a long-term price you guys need to get in an offtake agreement as a floor, or a prevailing market price that you’d like to see before you guys would go forward, assuming you complete all the tasks necessary and then fund the project? Is there something you would there is a price point at which you would continue to wait for economic reasons?
Robert Mintak: Hey, Joe. Thanks for the question. Well lithium pricing, volatility in the lithium pricing will come down significantly from where we were a year ago, which is, in retrospect, we’re significantly higher than where we were in 2017, when – we started Standard Lithium. At this current attention, particularly on China’s spot pricing, has impacted the entire industry, producers and developers alike. But spot pricing alone doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s – indicative of long-term outlooks, or reflective of what we see as stable pricing and long-term contracts. Our projects are positioned, to be extremely economic under long-term pricing assumptions that, we believe in. Additionally, being located in the United States, offers another distinct advantage, because we’re in a region that not only benefits from a high-grade resource.
But also from new policies that are coming in – and bipartisan policies, I’ll highlight as well, aimed at encouraging domestic lithium production. So, that significantly enhances our strategic position and makes the projects particularly appealing to off-date partners. And I just want to also highlight that even in these challenging market conditions, the results from our preliminary feasibility study on South West Arkansas position it in the first quartile on the cost curve. And it’s still an attractive project, if we had to live under current Chinese spot prices. I don’t want to set an expectation price, but the long-term fundamentals and the projections on pricing, and where we will be when we’re in production, will be at a much higher number than we are today.
Joseph Reagor: Okay, fair enough. Thank you.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of John Reynolds, who is an Individual Investor. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Analyst: Hi, Robert. This is John. How are you doing? I wanted to know when we can expect to hear from the DOD and DOE on grant money requests. If you can answer that for me?
Robert Mintak: Yes, I can’t give you a hard date, John, on those. We’ve got a number of programs that we’re tracking and that we’re active in. With the Defense Department, we have filed an initial application for Title III Defense Production Act funding. And we’re working through that process. Our feedback that we’ve been getting from advisors and individuals, who understand the process is, that there’s a significant amount of paperwork And that if we haven’t heard, or been declined yet, that we’re still in a good position moving forward. The Department of Energy on the DOE grant side, we’re active in a number of programs there. Actually, I’ll pass it over to Mike in a moment, because he’s working with our team on one of those key ones.
So, we’re actively informing the DOE and completing the necessary technical submissions. For recently announced funding opportunities that align extremely well with our project. We have to get through a number of boxes, if you like, that we need to tick on the formal submission. The upcoming announcements on those, I believe, will be in late summer for the larger grants. Mike, I’ll just pass it over to you once more if you just wanted to add additional color to that.