The Top 3 Reasons Lithium Prices Could Accelerate to Higher Highs

July 28, 2022 - Baystreet.ca


Lithium prices are expected to push even higher. For one, “To keep up with demand, every existing producer supplying the market today must double every two to three years for the next decade,” Eric Norris, President of Albemarle said. “No producer has been able to do that reliably to date.” Two, Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s Commercial Vice President, Lithium, says “The market needs about 200 to 300,000 tonnes of lithium every year (to meet demand) and that means that you need roughly 8 to 10 new projects coming on stream every year.” Three, according to the CEO of the International Council of Metals and Mineral Mining, Rohitesh Dhawan, as noted by Sky News, "We can see quite a large mismatch between demand and supply. We currently produce around 400,000 tonnes of lithium annually. By 2030, that's likely to (need to) jump to around two million tonnes.” All could send lithium prices even higher, and benefit companies, such as E3 Lithium (TSXV: ETL) (OTC: EEMMF), Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), Lithium Americas (NYSE: LAC) (TSX: LAC), American Lithium Corp. (TSXV: LI) (OTC: LIACF), and General Motors (NYSE:GM).

Look at E3 Lithium (TSXV: ETL) (OTC: EEMMF), for example.

E3 Lithium, Alberta’s leading lithium developer and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology innovator, oversaw the successful manufacture of its first quantity of continuously produced, commercial scale sorbent, critical to the success and commercialization of its ion- exchange DLE technology.

E3 Lithium (E3) worked with a third-party equipment design and manufacturer using their in-house development equipment to produce an initial 20 kgs of E3’s proprietary sorbent in a single continuous run. Prior to producing this commercial quantity, E3’s development team produced in-house sorbent in quantities less than a kilogram to support internal test work. The goal of this commercial production was to validate the transition from small scale batch production in the lab to commercial scale continuous production, which has been achieved to successful results.

E3 has analyzed the sorbent produced from this continuous scale production equipment against the batch produced in- house and found the new product to have equal, if not better performance with rapid and high lithium recovery rates of more than 97 per cent.

This 20 kg test run demonstrated that large scale production is possible using this equipment and positions E3 to achieve its goals of:

- Having the vendor produce several tonnes of sorbent for use in E3’s field pilot project

- Designing the equipment to be implemented in the commercial processing facility as part of E3’s Clearwater Project

“We are extremely pleased with the results of our first commercial production of sorbent and its high lithium recovery rates,” said Chris Doornbos, President and CEO of E3. “This commercially-produced sorbent provides confidence in the viability of scaling up E3’s production to deliver the larger volumes of high-quality sorbent needed for commercial operations.”

Other related developments from around the markets include:

Albemarle Corporation announced that it has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.395 per share. The dividend, which has an annualized rate of $1.58, is payable October 3, 2022, to shareholders of record at the close of business as of September 16, 2022.

Lithium Americas published its 2021 Environment, Social, Governance and Safety (ESG-S) Report. The Report themed Enabling Transition, reaffirms the Company’s commitment to responsible development and production, as well as highlights the Company’s ESG-S practices and overall progress made over the past two years (reporting period of January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021). “One of the greatest global transitions is underway – the shift to a clean energy economy – and lithium is essential to this transition,” commented Jonathan Evans, President and CEO of Lithium Americas. “Lithium Americas is uniquely positioned to enable a North American-based lithium supply chain. Over the last two years, every aspect of our business has been growing and transitioning to ready ourselves to be one of the safest, most environmentally responsible and inclusive lithium operators.”

American Lithium Corp. provided an update of initial diamond drill results from the program currently underway at the Tonopah Lithium Claims project located northwest of Tonopah, Nevada. This diamond drill program is focused on expanding the existing large-scale near surface TLC resource. An update on Reverse Circulation drill program results to date is expected to be released in the coming weeks. Simon Clarke, CEO of American Lithium states, “We are very pleased that these results continue to expand the drilled resource footprint with higher grades and consistently thicker mineralization than the existing TLC resource. Our main focus for the diamond drilling has been to expand and high grade our existing resource and these results successfully achieve both objectives. This will enable us to better position starter pits under our mining plan to initially focus on higher grade sections of the resource thereby maximizing Project returns. We are also looking forward to updating the mineral resource estimate for TLC in conjunction with finalizing our maiden PEA.”

General Motors and LG Chem announced a binding agreement for the supply of Cathode Active Material (CAM) from LG Chem to GM. The supply agreement will help GM meet its fast-growing EV production needs. CAM is a key battery material consisting of components like processed nickel, lithium and other materials representing about 40% of the cost of a battery cell. Through the long-term supply arrangement, LG Chem plans to supply more than 950,000 tons of CAM to GM beginning the second half of 2022 through 2030, enough for approximately 5 million units of EV production. The CAM secured by GM will be used by Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solutions, at its battery cell plants in Warren, Ohio; Spring Hill, Tennessee; and Lansing, Michigan. GM and LG Chem will also explore the localization of a CAM production facility in North America by the end of 2025.

Legal Disclaimer / Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement Winning Media has been paid three thousand five hundred dollars for advertising and marketing services for E3 Lithium by E3 Lithium. We own ZERO shares of E3 Lithium. Please click here for full disclaimer.

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