In 2013, Galaxy was not in good shape. The company had debt of more $A200 million, its Mt Cattlin lithium mine in Western Australia had been put on care and maintenance and the Jiangsu plant in China was underperforming.

Corporate costs were extremely high, and when director Anthony Tse replaced former boss Iggy Tan in June 2013, the role was “interim” while Tse determined if he could even get the company out trouble.

Tse admitted Galaxy was lucky to survive.

“I inherited issues – it was a big mess,” Tse told MNN last week in Hong Kong, where he’s based.

“There wasn’t much cash left in the till.”

Weeks later, the company reached an agreement with its bondholders, alleviating the need to repay them in cash later that year.

In the meantime, Tse cut corporate costs by 70% and

Only months later, Galaxy managed to raise $37.5 million in an oversubscribed entitlement offer.

“Only after all those boxes were ticked were equity holders ready to take out their chequebooks,” Tse said.

In early 2014, Galaxy ticked another box, signing a deal to sell the Jiangsu plant.

The sale was completed this time last year and Galaxy received $US173.2 million.

“The sale price was eight times our market cap,” Tse said.

The deal allowed the company to slash its debt and left it with a cash position of $A50 million.

In the meantime, Galaxy signed a deal with General Mining Corporation over the Mt Cattlin hard rock spodumene mine.

The deal allowed General to earn a 50% interest in Mt Cattlin for $25 million.

General did the studies into whether a restart was viable, with a review finding that Mt Cattlin could produce around 111,500 tonnes per annum of spodumene over an initial 17-year life.

The review estimated life-of-mine revenue of $1.1 billion and net cashflow of $526 million for a net present value of $247.5 million and an internal rate of return of 230%.

Offtake agreements are in place over 60,000t at $US600 per tonne.

“Pricing probably still has a bit to go,” Tse said, pointing out that there was plenty of upside for both parties on production and price.

Operations restarted this month and Tse said the partners would target around 150,000t of production next year.

The companies also have binding commitments from customers for 120,000t in 2017, with price to be finalised later in the year.

The first shipment is expected by July.

Galaxy also owns the Sal De Vida brine project, which sits in the “lithium triangle” of Argentina.

Tse pointed out that Galaxy was one of the only lithium players in the world which owned both hard rock and brine assets.

“Each asset has its role to play at each point of the cycle,” he said.

A definitive feasibility study was completed in 2013, but assumed lithium carbonate prices of $5500/t, deriving a net present value of $380 million.

The latest indications suggest pricing of up to $20,000/t, while exchange rates will also work in Galaxy’s favour.

A formal DFS revision is underway and is due for release by mid-year.

“The NPV is probably going to lift to north of $1 billion,” Tse said.

Galaxy is aiming for late 2018 to early 2019 production at Sal De Vida, but will look to sell down 20-30% of the project to a partner given the $370 million capital costs.

Galaxy shares have risen by more than 1000% since 2013.

“It’s only just starting to get interesting,” Tse said.