With difficult extraction and a very limited brine source...

With difficult extraction and a very limited brine source recoveries are essential for Kalium. Pumping from bores is operationally expensive. To then lose that costly and limited brine supply through even a small amount of seepage is a death knell.

Unlined evaporation ponds in an environment not dissimilar to Lake Disappointment is happening in numerous places around the world, not to mention on our coastline - I felt there was some serious scare mongering going on in that Kalium announcement.

Ducking down to Bunnings to get some plastic to line evaporation ponds for testing is great but the full-scale capital cost, even for the limited scale operation that Kalium's project will sustain, is going to be horrendous.