Charles Jillings, CEO of Utilico, energized by strong economic momentum across Latin America. Watch the video here.
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Tees Valley Lithium and JordProxa to join forces in UK lithium processing plant.
https://www.chemengonline.com/jordproxa-delivers-crystallization-plants-for-global-battery-metal-producers/?printmode=1
Albamerle & BHP in Australia.
BOTH heavily in Pilbrara region.
PROVEN with the biggest of the big players in lithium.
Https://www.ft.com/content/ce18cc79-b501-440e-a12a-1473fd85d88e
The vast tracts of desert in Western Australia, which have yielded gold, nickel and iron ore to prospectors in decades past, have now become a major battleground for miners of lithium, a key raw material for batteries as the world transitions to greener energy. A struggle for control of the resource has been ignited this year as multinational companies have clashed with Australian mining billionaires over a series of takeover attempts in two of the remotest parts of the state. A section of desert near the mining town of Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields region has become known as the “lithium corridor of power”, while merger moves in the Pilbara in the state’s north-west have triggered memories of the iron ore boom there in the 1960s and Western Australia’s nickel rush in the 1970s. “These exciting periods don’t come around too often, these prolonged periods of demand for a commodity. It is driving a frenzy,” said Tom Reddicliffe, a 40-year mining veteran and executive director of GreenTech Metals, whose exploration rights in the Pilbara have buoyed its share price amid heightened deal activity. “There’s only so many seats at the table. It’s like musical chairs — you don’t want to miss out,” he added. The “land grab” for mining rights in the lithium corridor kicked off in September, when US company Albemarle, the largest producer in the world, agreed to pay $4.3bn for Liontown Resources, an emerging project that has struck supply deals with Tesla and Ford. However, the takeover was foiled by Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, who stealthily built a 19.9 per cent stake in Liontown, forcing the US suitor to walk away. Rinehart, an iron ore magnate, then moved to spoil another lithium takeover, this time in the Pilbara. Chile’s SQM had agreed to pay about $1bn to buy out early-stage lithium player Azure Minerals before Rinehart pounced again by buying an 18 per cent blocking stake. Chris Ellison, who controls A$12bn ($8bn) miner Mineral Resources and is a shareholder in Azure, said this month that SQM’s bid looked “dead in the water”. Rinehart and Ellison have become increasingly active investors in a host of small lithium projects in both parts of the state, where foreign companies including Albemarle, SQM and China’s Tianqi Lithium have previously been among the biggest investors. Ian Hansen, head of the chemicals division of Perth-based retail-to-chemicals conglomerate Wesfarmers, which has partnered with SQM on lithium assets, said the recent flurry of activity represented a “growing belief in the fundamentals of Western Australian lithium”.
“Similar to the way that iron ore production has grown in the north-west of the state, players in the lithium sector may want to be in control of a large portion of the resources to consolidate their position,” he said. Rio Tinto, which was blocked in its attempts to open a lithium mine in Serbia last year, also has an eye on Western Australia’s potential, having applied for a range of tenements — licences to explore a block of land for resources — covering about 130,000 hectares in the lithium corridor. Small explorers such as St George Mining are also being courted. It had originally established tenements in the Goldfields region in the hope of finding nickel, until the operator of a neighbouring tenement discovered spodumene — the hard rock containing lithium — two years ago. That company renamed itself Delta Lithium and now counts Ellison and Rinehart as major shareholders. In recent weeks, St George has benefited, despite not yet finding any spodumene deposits. Amperex Technology, TDK’s lithium-ion battery-making division, invested A$3mn in a joint venture with the Australian miner. In addition, Shanghai Jayson New Energy Materials, a supplier to lithium battery makers in China, has put A$3mn into the company. John Prineas, executive chair of St George, said the investments showed that companies in the battery supply chain were following the lead of carmakers such as Tesla in backing early-stage Australian miners. “Big players are taking a ...........
....position early as it is very expensive to do so after discovery. That’s definitely a positive sign for the future of the lithium industry here,” he said. The deal frenzy has also come at a time when the lithium price has crashed as much as 70 per cent compared with highs seen last year, as expectations of electric vehicle demand in key markets such as China have been lowered. Prineas said the investment in his company showed demand remained robust. “All the talk is oversupply of lithium, but it's not what we’re seeing from the end users,” he said. Western Australia already supplies about half of the world’s raw lithium and is seen as a stable place to invest compared with parts of Africa, where there has been political instability, and Chile, where the state has moved to take control of lithium projects. Local expectations are high. A report by Australia’s chief economist said lithium product exports should exceed A$20bn in the year to June 2023, up from A$5bn in the previous year. The report added that by 2028, the value of lithium exports should exceed those of coal, a staple of Australia’s economy for decades. Australia has ambitions to step up its efforts to refine spodumene to keep more of the value onshore rather than shipping all of its resources to China, which has a commanding share of the refining process. Refining creates higher-value lithium hydroxide, a chemical compound used in EV batteries. Western Australia now has two refineries, with a third due to be opened by SQM and Wesfarmers next year. Recommended News in-depth Gina Rinehart Australia’s ‘iron lady’ Gina Rinehart takes a big bet on lithium Gina Rinehart Australia’s resources minister Madeleine King said critical minerals such as lithium and rare earths required more processing than coal and iron ore, which Australia has historically focused on. “We have high ambitions and we want to compete with those who currently dominate the market,” she said. However, the push into refining has been plagued by delays, cost overruns, technical challenges and a lack of skills, meaning Australia’s challenge to China’s position has made slower progress than anticipated. Mineral Resources backed out of an Australian refinery joint venture with Albemarle this year, citing the difficulty in competing with Chinese companies on cost. Ellison said his strategy was to now focus on “gathering up rock wherever I can”, including in the Goldfields, which he said was “known as the most prospective lithium ground in the world”. Reddicliffe said companies such as Liontown and Azure, which had looked set to be swallowed up, now needed to prove that the value of their deposits lived up to industry expectations. “Geology is geology, but the big challenge is figuring out the economics of it,” he said
Https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cmselect/cmbeis/196/report.html
Cheers vis. Yep, all checks and scans done. Just glad its currently not aggresive. Thanks for the good will.
So here's to another bit of hopeful news
https://news.sky.com/story/nissan-to-deliver-boost-for-sunderland-after-government-ev-talks-13013837
Surely there must be pressure on Gov to increase the factories in the uk with the Chinese supplying batteries ???? Doh. Oz is going the other way and slowly breaking the Oz Chinese supply chain.
Thanks MO
I am so sorry to hear of your PSA diagnosis. Hopefully they got it early and can do something to arrest it/remove it or slow it. The sooner you act the better to cut the risk of it spreading. Good luck
It has always been the case that other technical advance would and are coming through.
I totally accept these new technologies will come through at higher density and lower cost.
I would suggest the technology of lithium and associated metals within a battery will also be being pushed to ever better levels and lower costs for scale.
So I am not writing off lithium for at least another decade.
Hydrogen has always been in my research an again could prove still better as tech developes. Again 5-7 years in the making.
What would the bulk of the 33 + giga factories built or being built in europe be set up for in the automation processes say VW plants in Germany and Czech ?
They are literally sitting on top of the main world class tonnage of lithium in central euope. Cornwall to Bristol or Birmingham is the distance. Not gonna cost much to ship processed lithium. Make it cheap to extract at bulk using new tech and it may not change much. Supply on the doorstep of a HEAVILY Unionised workforce and jobs a plenty for the Southern Saxony Higher Czech wealthy.
VW are currently all in pretty much in lithium. That is just one company. I would add GLOBALLY top 3 car manufacturer. It would cost jobs, reautomation and change to go fully to a new power source supply.
I think for my 1.5 years left of investing , I will be fine with lithium in any which way it is used.
Long term 5 years+...well I hope to be free from such decisions.
PSA of an 80+ year old slow growth cancer recently diagnosed. Just make ya money and live life as fast as you can. Keep safe and well.
Good morning MO hope you are well.
Did you see this?
https://northvolt.com/articles/northvolt-sodium-ion/
As resident expert on all things lithium, how do you think this compares with the best lithium batteries? There are so many attributes to compare. Power density, recharge times, life of battery, cost, cost per kwh etc. I guess each battery type has advantages/disadvantages versus the others.
I was surprised that it was Northvolt that developed it. Any thoughts?
Https://mailchi.mp/talga/land-acquired-5419586?e=d5209eba95
Will this cause others not to miss out on anode supplies for Europe ? Yep for sure as Talga have spent near 8 years developing the product to this level. Finally just rewards.
TVL will be one soon enough.
Https://ojo-publico.com/4422/lithium-boom-europe-putting-pressure-south-america
Hmmmm. Fighting off China by all accounts. Thats a good win by Wogen and TVL to get supply from Soith America.
I would not get too excited about Dart Mining. They have a lousy record of chasing dreams ~ From a penny dreadful Gold project that never got going to a failed overblown Molly show with a ludicrous mining plan. Their Lithium projects are in the heart of Victoria's High Country with next to no Infrastructure for miles, the only people up their are Loggers. Meanwhile Victoria is the Greenest State in Oz, and is currently controlled by a Labor Government beholding to the Melbourne Greens Party. The Mines Department there was castrated many years ago when it was amalgamated with Environment and Work Cover.
He knows his stuff. Sure aint investing like musk in S Africa or S America. Australia all the way with THE premium products.
Canada will be within 10 years the next high grade producer, by grade and by volume knocking S America back. They can keep the volumes and political madness. PS I think China and Russia are pretty big influencers now in S Am.
https://thewest.com.au/business/bulls-n-bears/british-billionaire-backs-dart-to-bring-lithium-ship-home-c-12535464
Australia is king in grade and volume. Do the deal Paul and crack on.
Eh.....South America is one of the two top locations for lithium supply. Hardly banditos.
Very happy shareholder.
The market will wake up
The supplier has been named; Wogen. It may not even be coming from one single plant, until and unless there’s further detail we won’t know for sure.
pwlx, well as a shareholder i am very interested in knowing who is supposed to supply tvl.
its not like everything paul has said has happened?
traxys being the big metals player tvl did the mou with ....
as an investor i'd rather know who the deals are with to 100% ensure its not a bag of old spanners chat that he is spouting out.
the fact the market has not lapped this up speaks volumes , no ?
s africa , even musk will not touch as its a fast route to getting fleeced.
s america anything could happen, at any time and often does depending on the wind direction and a finger in the air !
i would not invest directly in anything african. burned too many times.
as for s america , same basket, same bandido's.
i am fully behind australian supply and i think the market will move once proper news comes from them. pilbara has some of the best quality in the world and volumes too. should knock any s am or s af supply in to a ****ed hat.
i'm banking on australian assets in the near term with uk brines and uk lithium recycling to feed the remainder.
come on paul. enough of the small stuff or name them for shareholder confidence and the financing of tvl !
I’m honestly not sure I care too much where the supply comes from. As long as there’s supply and it’s got decent ESG credentials then I’m sold. If it’s coming from a trading house they’ve obviously got a source lined up, if PA says it’s South America then it’s South America. Could be a new endeavour for Wogen 🤷♂️ No need for them to have done something over there before for them to be doing something there now.
Https://m.youtube.com/shorts/3uPfxtVxlQw?feature=share
Yeah, it came up somewhere else for me. Why NOT in the RNS as to S American supply ?
Wogen hardly done anything over there as far as todays research for me has gone.
Mainly China supply focused from the previous news, but Walkabout Resources graphite to move away from Chinese supply is about the latest from Wogen.
Maybe they see benefits to 'western' supply now and hopefully some US energy bounty ?
Interesting the web of funding & finance houses Wogen are linked to and links upon links within the web.
Should have put the S American supply in the notes of the rns though if he is putting out info himself on the same day.
Plenty of digging to do on who the supply is from ?
Albamerle owned ? Or SQM ? Both big down there who can spin off from Chinese supply
Well a great day today for #ALK, if not initially for the share price. Very muted response for what is a game changing and company making feedstock deal. It has been clear for sometime that the key to unlocking value is feedstock. Financiers require it. This has now been delivered for Train 1. Wogen Resources turnover $500m per year. I can’t imagine they would enter into a supply deal with ALK if they thought the finance would not be forthcoming. Good to see their CEO saying the project is “exciting”and that they are “particularly pleased to be associated with it”.
Finance likely to be mezzanine debt leading to project level equity and green bonds (per PA). I reckon around $30m mezzanine to complete FEED (per PA). PA has previously indicated this would take around 6 months which ties in nicely with the protected early 2026 production.
So todays deal unlocks revenues of $600m pa, free cash flow of $120m pa and NPV of $930m (from November 23 company presentation). Staggering figures when put in context of a current MC of £11m. And that’s for only one Train of four.
Broker target of £15.30 issued two weeks ago which included an 85% risk discount. Risk has now been reduced considerably so the target should increase.
We are told that offtake is not an issue. So whilst we are advised finance is lined up I guess that will be the next major derisking milestone.
Green Lithium valued at £50m pre money in their recent fun raise. They have not yet secured feedstock. RockTech Lithium valued at £70m (was more than double not long ago). They have not yet secured feedstock.
Circa 45% of the company owned by directors. Share options that only kick in above £5 and £10 and only when certain milestones are delivered.
As a shareholder I am biased but this feels feels like a huge value disconnect and therefore in my view an opportunity.
The latest company presentation (November 23) and investor webinar should be compulsory viewing for new investors. They lay out the path to value creation.
One final thought. The beauty of ALK is that it doesn’t have to go through the process of proving up a resource and extracting it. It is also not exposed to fluctuations in the underlying commodity price as it just charges a refining margin. So in my view whilst ALK is a refiner and not a miner todays deal effectively allows ALK to leapfrog other integrated miner / refiners who still must prove up and extract their resource. The resource is now handed to ALK on a plate with this deal.
Very happy to hold and delighted with todays news.
The company issued a short media clip featuring Paul. Quote "will supply with technical grade carbonate from South America". Its also what Paul alluded to on last weeks investor webinar.
Having said that I can no longer find the tweet with it on.
ALK buys lithium from trading companies, so they can't buy it cheaply.
I hope they get lithium from the mining company.
However, it is important to have multiple suppliers
I just hope they do well and we get a big profit.
Patch, where in the Wogen rns does it say S America?
"Headquartered in London, Wogen has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and Cleveland in the USA. "
Big supplier of graphite to Asia - China mainly.
Joburg interestingly in connection with Acrux capital who deal more with lithium and tied up with FinTech.
Nothing / nobody on any research pointing to S America other than Paul? We all know he wants brines from S A but this rns has no mention?