——专访Lithium Plus Minerals Limited (ASX: LPM)公司董事Simon Kidston
【阅读提示】：
刚刚过去的2024年，澳洲股市录得约7.5%左右的年度涨幅，虽然在全球主要资本市场中排名并非靠前，甚至略低于澳股市场长期平均年化回报，但ASX200、ASX300 及普通股指数同步创出历史新高。
其中本网持续跟踪报道的几只科技公司，包括ZIP Co Ltd（ASX：ZIP）、Appen Ltd (ASX:APX)、NUIX Ltd(ASX:NXL) ，Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN)，去年均录得1倍以上涨幅。
需要指出的是，上述ASX科技公司股价表现远远跑赢大盘背后，一方面系去年以来AI人工智能科技概念股成为市场的热点，另外一方面也和这些公司在本轮行情启动前所经历的股价雪崩大幅下挫有关。
详见《2024澳股回顾盘点之一：大盘年涨幅7.5% 低于市场长期年化平均回报 科技股、银行股领涨 锂矿股探底》、《2024澳股回顾及展望专题之二： ZIP Co Ltd（ASX：ZIP）、Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) 等前期深幅回调科技股暴力回升 科技板块连续两年走强成为股指上行重要动力》。
但并非所有的板块在过去的2024年都是赢家。ASX200中代表矿产能源及金属勘探开采的板块指数，2024年逆市下跌，落后于大多其它行业指数。
前两年涨幅巨大的锂矿股未能逃过行业波动之劫，去年大多黯然失色。
对于该板块公司及投资人而言，2024年是一个颇为艰难的年份——下游碳酸锂和氢氧化锂价格和上游的锂辉石精矿价格持续回落寻底。与此同时，上游锂矿开采企业多因成本因素运营陷入亏损或停产。
对上市公司最新2024财年年报不完全统计表明，ASX上市的锂矿开采公司中，在目前仅有IGO Ltd (ASX：IGO)和Pilbara Minerals（ASX：PLS）2家可以凭借成本优势盈利。
锂矿行业拐点何时到来的精确时间不得而知，但有一点逐渐形成共识———经历行业的大幅调整之后，供需链条上不具备竞争能力的企业和产能逐渐被市场淘汰，随着行业去产能过程走向深入，行业供需在悄然发生变化，产业并购再度升温。
精准预测了2024年锂盐价格的波动和下跌的Citi Bank花旗银行，其近期的研报指出目前锂行业已处于底部区，行业供需再平衡持续进行中，2025年供需将趋于平衡，花旗目前预测 2025 年中国电池需求将增长 30% ，2026年和2027年供需再现的缺口将使得锂矿价格较目前价位上涨近4成。
在那些精于行业周期变化、致力于捕捉行业触底趋势反转后巨大机会的投资人眼中，过去一年多来断崖式下跌的背后，可能意味着新一轮机遇在孕育之中。详情请留意本网稍后推出的《2024年度澳股回顾及展望之三：2024年澳股“重灾区”锂矿板块 2025年会否“卷土重来”？》
ACB News《澳华财经在线》最新一期ASX上市公司访谈栏目，采访的对象是已具备JORC资源量，锂矿采矿申请已递交，有望在2025年年中获批的ASX澳交所上市公司 Lithium Plus Minerals Limited (ASX: LPM)，该公司现有机构投资人股东中包括苏州天华时代（“CATH”，系宁德时代参股公司）和澳洲矿业界资深大佬Bill Beament 旗下的Develop Global Lty 公司。
Lithium Plus Minerals Limited (ASX: LPM)公司董事Simon Kidston 先生分享了他个人对行业看法同时，结合Lithium Plus Minerals Limited (ASX: LPM)的矿业资产组合、股东背景、项目进展、矿石建设融资计划以及最大化股东利益的选项等，从产业和市场角度做了最新的阐述。
其核心观点和花旗同样——未来几年，转型趋势会非常强劲，锂的市场需求将逐步恢复到以前的水平。
以下为基于访谈原文编发的文字修正版（原版访谈请点击上图中的视频播放进行观看）。
（受访嘉宾Simon Kidston：Lithium Plus Minerals Ltd (ASX：LPM)非执行董事）
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：Today we invited Mr Simon Kidston to join us
The Director of Lithium Plus Minerals, ASX code: LPM Welcome Simon
今天我们邀请到Simon Kidston先生参与我们的采访。他是澳交所上市锂矿勘探开发公司Lithium Plus Minerals (ASX:LPM) 的董事，欢迎您 Simon。
Simon Kidston: Thank you, great to be here.
谢谢，很高兴参与访谈节目。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：It's been a while since our last interview and we have seen a big correction in lithium carbonate price, what do you think about this.
Do you see it as a short-term change or a longer term shift in the industry？
距离我们上次采访已有一段时间。期间我们看到市场的一些变化，包括碳酸锂价格大幅回调 。
您对碳酸锂价格回调怎么看？这是一个短期的震荡，还是整个锂矿行业长期趋势的转向？
Simon Kidston: In 2022 and 2023 lithium prices surged, and in my view they run sustainable that was driven by expectations that all the vehicles in the world were transitioning to electric from diesel and petrol.
I think what we saw in the market was a supply response, some additional production came into the market, and we also saw a slower ramp up in the transition to electric vehicles that was previously anticipated. so there was a pull back in the commodity price.
but if I look at the big picture, what I think is happening is the transition to electric vehicles, it's real, this has been led in China where most of the cars now are transitional while transitioning to electric vehicles. The west is catching up but more slowly than previously expected.
so, I think if we look forward in the next two or three years, the trend is very strong and the market for lithium will recover to previous levels.
2022年和2023年锂价格飙升，在我看来是不可持续的，这是基于相关投资者对行业未来的一种可持续发展的预期所驱动的。
世界上所有的汽车，无论是柴油还是汽油的，都在向电动车过渡。我认为我们在市场上看到的这轮调整，由于供应端变化引起的一种市场反应。
眼下一些新增产能进入市场,我们同时也看到市场早前也有预期，在向EV电动汽车转型过程中，整个电动车行业产能爬坡的增速有所放缓，所以大宗商品价格有所回落。
但如果从更广的范围来看 ，我认为正在发生的是向电动汽车转型。
现实中，中国主导并遥遥领先。现在中国大多数汽车都在向电动汽车转变，西方国家正在迎头赶上，但比之前预期的要慢 。
展望未来我认为，在未来两三年内，转型趋势会非常强劲，锂的市场需求将逐步恢复到以前的水平。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：thank you for your sharing.
So how has the market volatility impacted Lithium Plus Minerals? Could you please summarise the major activities and achievements of the company over the past year.
谢谢您的分享。
市场波动是如何影响Lithium Plus Minerals公司的呢？ 您能总结一下贵公司过去一年运营的主要情况和业务进展吗？
Simon Kidston: So fortunately，Lithium Plus Minerals is well funded and we're backed by some major players, we're backed by the biggest lithium company in the world-CATL from China but also backed by one of the gurus or leaders of the Australian exploration industry Dr. Bin Guo.
Because of those backers in our financial resources, we've been able to achieve a lot of milestones.
We've now proven very good metallurgy for our Lei deposit. It's one of the highest grading lithium deposits in Australia, it's very close to port.
We've lodged a mining licence application, and we have done a lot of work on metallurgy and processing on how we're going to process this all.
and importantly, we've announced an offtake agreement with Canmax, the leader of the lithium industry from China.
we've done a lot this year, we progressed our projects and we're positioning ourselves for the recovery in the lithium market in the period to come.
过去一段市场剧烈波动，但幸运的是，Lithium Plus Minerals公司得到了一些大型机构投资者的支持，其中不仅包括世界上最大的锂电池生产公司——中国宁德时代旗下CATH的支持，而且也得到了Dr Bin Guo 的支持，Dr Bin Guo是澳大利亚矿业勘探行业的专家。
因为我们有这些行业先锋企业和专家的支持，过去一段我们实现很多里程碑式的进展。
目前最新的选矿试验证明了我们Lei锂矿体极好的选矿回收率，这是澳大利亚最高品位的锂矿床之一，离港口很近，我们已经提交了采矿许可证申请，这样我们就可以尽早开始施工——可能在明年获得采矿证。
我们也在冶金技术工艺以及相关矿物开采加工流程方面做了大量的工作，重要的是，我们已经宣布了与苏州天华的承购协议，苏州天华是中国锂电行业的头部企业。
应该说过去一年我们做了很多——推进我们的项目并为未来锂矿市场的复苏做准备。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：Regarding the ongoing metallurgical test work program,
what have the early results shown? Do they match your expectations.
关于正在进行的选矿试验工作，早期的结果进展如何？它们符合公司的预期吗？
Simon Kidston: Metallurgical is very important, what we've proven is that our ore body at Lei is very suitable for delivering high recoveries. it's a coarse grain spodumene which means it's easy to process and that means we get high recoveries.
so when we dig up the ore, a very high percentage of that ore is converted to saleable products.
In our case, we've demonstrated 85% recoveries through flotation and dense media separation that will produce a very high grade concentrate which is desired by our customers in China, and it means it's economic for us to produce in Australia.
选矿试验对于项目非常非常重要。
我们已经确认我们Lei矿项目的锂辉石从选矿工艺上可以达到极高的回收率，它是粗粒结构的锂辉石，这意味着容易加工处理的同时，我们的矿石可以有很高的回收率。
当我们对矿石进行开采时，这种矿石中相当大的部分可转化为可销售的产品。
就我们的项目而言，我们已经通过浮选和重介质分离等工艺展示了85%的回收率，这意味着将生产出高品位的锂辉石精矿，而这也是我们中国客户所期望的。
同时这也表明我们在澳大利亚的项目有很好的经济回报。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》： As you mentioned before, Lithium Plus has a strategic relationship with China's CATL and Canmax. can you explain how you're working with these companies?
正如您之前提到的在商业层面，Lithium Plus Minerals与中国的宁德时代和Canmax建立了战略关系，您能解释一下贵公司是如何与这些公司合作的吗？
Simon Kidston: This is a really important point.
CATL is the world's leading lithium company the biggest in the world by far
CATH (JV between CATL and Mr Pei) is 9% shareholder in Lithium Plus Minerals, and our Chairman Dr Bin Guo
has a close relationship with their chairman. so that meant that time at chairman Dr Bin Guo could negotiate an offtake arrangement with Canmax，which is the processing arm the CATL and that's important, because what we will do here is that we will mine the ore body in Australia, will ship that to Canmax's processing facilities in China, and once they processed that material into lithium carbonate will split the profits in a ratio, which will mean our shareholders have exposure to the profitability of mining lithium and conversion to lithium carbonate.
It's a unique arrangement and we’re the only Australian company that's been able to achieve those arrangements for our offtake.
这点很重要 。
宁德时代是全球领先的锂业公司，迄今为止是世界上最大的锂业公司。
CATL合资公司CATH拥有Lithium Plus Minerals 9%的股份，我们公司的董事长郭斌博士与CATH的主席关系密切，董事长郭斌博士促成了我们与战略伙伴苏州天华的承购协议安排。
这对于Lithium Plus Minerals的项目和整个公司而言非常重要。因为我们在澳大利亚计划要做的就是进行矿山开发，之后将开采的锂辉石原矿通过港口运送到苏州天华在中国的加工厂进行后续加工，在他们将其加工成碳酸锂后合作双方将按比例分配利润。
这意味着我们的股东将能够同时分享到锂矿开采的利润以及矿石转化为碳酸锂的加工环节中的利润。
这是一个独特的安排，我们是唯一一家能够为通过承购协议达成这些安排的澳大利亚公司。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：What's the timeline for the Direct Shipping Ore plan?
and what challenges do you think might come up during its implementation?
直接运输矿石计划的时间表是什么？您认为在实施过程中可能会遇到哪些挑战？
Simon Kidston: so, the reason why we're focused on direct shipping ore which is low cost and quick to execute, we're very focused on delivering first revenue as soon as possible and we've proven that metallurgy works for direct shipping ore, we've demonstrated our partnership with the biggest lithium company in the world.
So we believe there's a really big commercial opportunity to accelerate our revenue and become a producer of lithium, and be ready to capitalise on the next upswing lithium prices which we know will happen at some stage in the future.
We're really positioning the company to benefit from the next uplifting commodity prices.
我们专注于直接运输矿石的原因在于这样的模式运营成本低，推进速度快，我们非常专注于尽快交付产品并产生第一笔现金流收入。
Lithium Plus Minerals已经证明目前的选矿技术适用于直接运输矿石，同时我们已经与世界上最大的锂下游公司确立了购销协议，我们相信这将赋予Lithium Plus Minerals巨大的商机——不仅加速我们的收入助力其成为锂矿开采生产商，同时亦为分享下一波锂价上涨带来的红利做好准备。
我们相信这些将在未来的某个时间阶段发生，所以我们的公司在做准备，从下一次锂矿石价格上涨中受益。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：Beyond DSO are there any other potential strategies or options the board is considering with aims of maximize shareholder's value？
在实现股东价值最大化的目标方面，除了矿石直接运输之外，还有其它潜在的策略或选项董事会正在考虑吗？
Simon Kidston: It's a good question. One of the things we have decided to do is diversify our portfolio to include uranium and rare earth, and we've acquired some very high-grade early-stage exploration assets which means that we've got an exciting strategic portfolio that we want to develop over the course of next year.
We're looking at how we could commercialise and fund that portfolio, and we're thinking one option for us could be to spin out that company into a separate listing on the ASX, potentially next year and give our shareholders what's called in specie distribution of shares.
If you own a share of Lithium Plus, you will get a free share in the uranium and rare earth company which will have its own listing on the stock exchange.
So we have free share entitlement for our shareholders to get exposure to uranium which is going very well in the market now and rare earth which have long term attraction in the industry as well.
这是个很好的问题。
我们决定做的一件事是将我们的矿业投资组合多元化，包括铀和稀土。
我们已经获得了一些非常优质的早期勘探资产，这意味着我们已经拥有一个非常令人兴奋的具有战略价值的矿产投资组合，我们计划在今年开发这些项目，目前正在研究如何商业化并为该投资组合提供资金。
我们认为一个选项是将铀、稀土资产从公司分拆，单独在澳交所上市，可能要到明年
并给我们Lithium Plus Minerals的股东提供对应的股份。
所以说如果你拥有Lithium Plus的股份，你将可能免费得到未来资产分拆上市的铀和稀土公司的股份，它将在证券交易所单独上市。
换而言之，我们的股东有免费获得对应股票的权利，去建立一个新的铀矿投资组合。现在铀矿板块在资本市场上很好，稀土在行业中也具有长期吸引力。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：Thank you for sharing, can you also give us an update on the mining license what challenges or progress have you seen?
谢谢您的分享，能告诉我们采矿许可证方面的最新情况吗？
Simon Kidston: look，we're very lucky, we lodged our mining licence application with the Northern Territory Government in June of 2024 and we've been fortunate that we've had good community engagement and government engagement and support.
We're working with the Department of Mines in the Northern Territory now to progress that application, and we would hope to have the permit, or the mining license approved sometime next year, hopefully mid 2025 will have a granted mining license which means we'll be ready to start mining if the market conditions are suitable to do so in the course of next year.
2024年6月向北领地政府提交了采矿许可证申请 。
我们很幸运，我们有非常好的社区参与以及政府的参与和支持，我们现在正与北领地地区的矿业部们合作，推进该申请。
我们希望能在明年某个时候获得采矿许可证的批准——希望是在2025年年中能获得采矿许可证。
也就是说届时我们具备可以开始挖矿的条件，如果在2026年市场条件也适合这样做。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：okay what are the major priorities for the board and the team as we look ahead to 2025？
展望2025年，董事会和团队的主要优先事项是什么？
Simon Kidston: So the first step is to get the Lei deposit shovel ready, what I mean by that is have it ready. So that we can commence mining sometime if the conditions allow, that means we need get the permits the approvals and the feasibility completed in 2025, that's a very important priority.
The second priority is to work with our partners in China CATL and Canax to negotiate low-cost funding arrangements that can fund the cost of building the mine and getting the business into first production.
These are the main two priorities for the business.
The third priority is to continue exploration to identify additional deposits so that we can have additional mines to develop into the future.
第一优先事项是进一步做好Lei矿床的开采准备工作——我的意思是准备好前期工作，这样我们就可以尽快开始采矿，如果条件允许也就是说我们拿到许可证、拿到批准以及完成项目可行性计划，这是非常重要的优先事项。
第二，是与我们在中国的合作伙伴合作，商讨低成本融资安排用以矿山建设的资本支出费用，并尽快进入首次生产。
这些是公司的主要两个优先事项。
第三要务是继续勘探，确定发现新增矿床，这样我们未来就可以有更多的矿山进行开发。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：How do you foresee the lithium supply chain evolving over the next 12 to 24 months? What key message would you like to share with current and potential investors?
您如何看待未来12到24个月锂矿行业供需变化的演变？您想和公司当前以及潜在的投资者分享什么关键信息？
Simon Kidston: I guess if investors are looking for a lithium business that's backed by the biggest lithium company in the world , if they're looking for a lithium business that's led by one of the leaders in the Australian Chinese exploration community Dr Bin Guo, Lithium Plus is that company.
Further, we believe that all of the experts of forecasting continued growth over the medium term towards electric vehicles which means the price for lithium over the next two or three years or into the medium term in future is likely to be much stronger.
I think our company is well placed to capitalise on those long term trends.
我想我要说的是，如果投资者正在寻找并投资锂矿公司，并且希望该公司受到世界上最大的行业头部公司支持 ，如果他们想投资一家由澳大利亚勘探行业专家之一领导的公司，Lithium Plus就是他们寻找的公司。
此外，所有的专家都预测电动汽车将在中期范围内持续增长，这意味着锂的价格在接下来的两三年中，或未来中期时间范围内，可能会比眼下强得多。
所以我想，我们公司完全有能力利用这些长期趋势来获利。
ACB News《澳华财经在线》：Thank you. This is end of the interview, we look forward to hearing more updates from Lithium Plus in the future , All the best Simon thank you very much .
谢谢您，采访到此结束。
我们期待在未来听到Lithium Plus的更多更新 ，祝一切顺利
Simon Kidston: Thank you
谢谢你
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