The Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE) share price may be back on form on Tuesday, but it was a very different story in September.
During the month, the lithium developer's shares crashed a disappointing 23% lower.
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What happened to the Lake Resources share price last month?
Investors were selling down the Lake Resources share price last month for a couple of reasons.
The first was the significant market volatility that occurred amid concerns that a global recession is coming.
Higher risk investments, such as lithium shares, were hit hardest. This led to many lithium shares recording particularly large declines during the month.
What else?
Also putting pressure on the Lake Resources share price was news that the company is facing an ownership dispute with its partner Lilac Solutions.
Lilac Solutions is the company providing the DLE technology that will be integral to Lake Resources' Kachi operation.
According to the release, Lilac Solutions believes it has until the end of November to achieve certain milestones that will grant it a 25% ownership in the Kachi project.
However, Lake Resources doesn't agree and says that these milestones needed to be delivered by the end of September to achieve an interest in the project. To resolve the dispute, Lake has exercised its rights to have the dispute resolved either by agreement of both Lake and Lilac or by arbitration.
This is a bit of a concern for investors as Lilac Solutions' unproven technology has been talked up by management as being the key to making the project a success. Management previously commented on Lilac's technology. It said:
Lake believes DLE will become the primary method of lithium extraction because it is the only practical way to ramp up lithium supply sustainably and in a way that conforms to increasing ESG scrutiny on lithium projects. However, in the lithium industry not all DLE processes are the same. This is why Lake has taken the time to identify the process that is not only most efficient but also delivers a product that represents the most socially and environmentally sustainable approach to lithium extraction through ion exchange DLE and brine managed reinjection.
The phrase: 'don't bite the hand that feeds you', springs to mind here.
