I assume by "global product specifications", that he is...

I assume by "global product specifications", that he is referring to the Chinese national standard GB/T11075-2013 for industrial lithium carbonate (99.0%) and the Chinese industry standard YS/T582-2013 for battery grade (99.5%).

To the extent that the China market is the global market, these could be considered defacto global standards. A little ironic in the case of BG, as the cathode industry has been heavily concentrated in Japan. Defacto global BG standard or not, customers have a lengthy qualifying process to ensure that the product works for their process and their product, and if you look back through the quarterlies you will see where ORE progressively updated the number of BG customers.

Of course the headline number - 99.0 or 99.5 - is only part of the story, but if you listen to the webcast, you will hear that ORE's battery grade product is typically 99.9% and was roughly 50% of their sales mix in this quarter and more in the last quarter if I recall correctly. But I guess he is so used to banging that quality/struggling drum that it is his go-to explanation for anything to do with ORE...