More on Orocobre
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PortfolioDirect
My wire on Tuesday referring to comments about Orocobre by Pilbara Minerals CEO Neil Biddle seemingly touched a raw nerve within the Orocobre cheer squad. Controversially, Biddle had questioned Orocobre’s ability to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate. Biddle’s remarks were most likely an outbreak of acute project envy (APE). Where Biddle has failed repeatedly to deliver, Orocobre has succeeded. Orocobre is a rarity – an Australian resources company with sales and not just an expensive unfunded idea. Its resource size raises the possibility of it becoming a core portfolio investment for Australian investors for the next 30 years. All good; but the time has passed for it to be judged on how well it builds a plant. It needs to validate a market value approaching $400 million. Orocobre has said it is going to sell 17,500 tpa at a cost of US$2,000/t and a price of US$5-7,000/t. Is this enough? It could be but judgments about future market price now depend on valuations generally, the company’s growth prospects and how skillfully sales and profit guidance is presented.
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![John Robertson](https://assets.livewiremarkets.com/rails/active_storage/representations/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBWXc9IiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--c2aa664b1ca2f7744d0c90464e98577955b66fe6/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaDdCem9MWm05eWJXRjBTU0lKYW5CbFp3WTZCa1ZVT2hOeVpYTnBlbVZmZEc5ZlptbHNiRnNIYVFISWFRSEkiLCJleHAiOm51bGwsInB1ciI6InZhcmlhdGlvbiJ9fQ==--a788536266c8d052a67a95e113f2ebbff3ad0a97/f9fff80c906634d4cd45b7e8cf6082d01376379067.png)
John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business...
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![John Robertson](https://assets.livewiremarkets.com/rails/active_storage/representations/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBWXc9IiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--c2aa664b1ca2f7744d0c90464e98577955b66fe6/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaDdCem9MWm05eWJXRjBTU0lKYW5CbFp3WTZCa1ZVT2hOeVpYTnBlbVZmZEc5ZlptbHNiRnNIYVFISWFRSEkiLCJleHAiOm51bGwsInB1ciI6InZhcmlhdGlvbiJ9fQ==--a788536266c8d052a67a95e113f2ebbff3ad0a97/f9fff80c906634d4cd45b7e8cf6082d01376379067.png)
John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business...
Expertise
No areas of expertise