Ryan Mee, CEO of Fulcrum Metals, reviews FY23 and progress on the Gold Tailings Hub in Canada. Watch the video here.
Yes there is plenty of intermittent energy, and while the energy - like any energy - is free, since provided by nature the cost of extracting it into something usable is not free. It has a cost, and that cost has to be weighed up against alternatives such as gas and nuclear. The only truly free energy is overunity energy such as that purported to come from LENR. Whether or not solar, wind, tidal, or wave energy can supply 100% of the energy needs is dependent on where you are on the planet. In northern latitudes 100% solar and wind is not possible - even with storage. And this is without considering the possibility that human advancement may well become ever more energy intensive as we move forward technologically, and poorer countries catch up.
I think EV’s are an interesting, and potentially transformational, technological development of transportation, and I also think that batteries will play a part in grid stabilisation as ‘renewables’ introduce more destabilisation, but let’s not kid ourselves about 100% renewables. It’s just not going to happen - at least with existing technology.
This doesn’t detract at all from the investment case here as there is a tsunami of demand coming for battery grade lithium. But let’s just keep things in perspective about the potential of ‘renewables’ to give us a carbon free energy grid.
Yes Obs, I’d agree that gas would and should be seen as a viable option. I’m somewhat dismayed about the news that the government is thinking about scrapping domestic gas. It is one of the cheapest ways of heating your home, especially given rising electricity costs. The grid is set to become more liable to breakdown if the push for renewables gets ahead of the technological fixes to stabilise it. See: https://www.thegwpf.com/increasing-electricity-system-fragility-in-the-uk/ If people are forced to rely on electric for heating then this could have serious consequences in a cold winter. Scotland is particularly vulnerable, for example. And if they have banned wood burners by then people in outlying areas are going to be in trouble.
Battery storage certainly has some growth potential but it’s limited as a long term storage for intermittent renewables.
https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2019/02/GridStorageWeb-1.pdf
It can work in the tropics but not in the UK. We still need either gas - possibly fracked - or nuclear to keep the lights on. The report above doesn’t mention EV’s used as storage but I don’t think that would change things that much. And in any case it wouldn’t add to the demand for lithium since they would be doing double duty as it were.
Nonetheless, even keeping things in perspective the demand for lithium looks like it is set to far outstrip supply, which is good for us.
I think wind is a waste of time. As are most attempts to cut CO2 directly. A cost benefit analysis shows that other less obvious measures are far more effective. I think electric vehicles should be looked at in their own terms as a new technology that will probably transform our relationship to cars. They also centralise much of the pollution problem at the energy production source thus making it easier to manage. Renewables alone cannot keep the grid up and running for various technical reasons to do with frequency and inertia, and batteries have limited applicability although certainly can play a part : https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611683/the-25-trillion-reason-we-cant-rely-on-batteries-to-clean-up-the-grid/ Nuclear and gas are the only current answer, although LENR could very well become a commercial reality soon if it isn’t all a hoax.
The greens and fossil fuel industry are in an unholy alliance against nuclear power which is the only current option that can keep the grid up and running. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/03/28/the-dirty-secret-of-renewables-advocates-is-that-they-protect-fossil-fuel-interests-not-the-climate/
So for EV’s it’s all about how much embodied energy in theirproduction and where the energy comes from to power them.
For raw materials suppliers like us it is about reducing energy/costs of production. That’s all we have control over.
Ofsetting gains elsewhere I’d imagine. But who knows we could all have the same very nice problem one day if things really do come together here.
Mine are in an ISA. You know. I thought I’d do something sensible with my inheritance! FFS. But I do think things may come good here. Eventually. Hopefully before I have to face the folks on the ‘other side’. At the moment I should think they are thinking ‘stupid boy’. To be honest so do I at times.
Who knows! Anyone in this share for any length of time will know that it is prone to spike people. The question is more where it is going over the next few months, since getting spiked on the way up is a whole different ball game to getting spiked on the way down.
Well after all these years we know who’s who. And who’s opinion to listen to. Let the traders have their fun. At some point someone is going to notice that we have rare earth and lithium among other things. No doubt by that point the traders will come stampeding back. Although I think we may well pick up a few more LTH’s along the way. Maybe some will even get spiked in the current excitement, but so long as they are patient, stubborn, or unwilling to sell at a loss then it will come good since I think that this is only the beginning. Finally I think we have Finally set off on our climb out the slough of despond. Personally I am, like many others are, still not quite in the sunlit uplands but I can smell the flowers blooming now from where I am on the long climb up.
2 + 2 = 4? Not when you’re holding shares in KDNC it doesn’t.
Perhaps it’s both, given the size of the resource. Spme kind of farm-in agreement?
Not at all worrying in my view. Lithium is in the goverment’s Sights as a strategic raw material. Diamond may end up getting involved. We have total legal rights. So if they want to contribute we can give them something back.
In the grand scheme of things Babis is a fly in the spiders web of EU regulation. If the EU decides that lithium is crucial then everything else follows from that in my view.
https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/3rd-mobility-pack/swd20180245.pdf
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/the-dirt-on-clean-electric-cars
It matters a lot where car batteries are made apparently. Embodied energy as well as charging in coal burning countries like Germany makes electric cars worse than clean ICE.