Business Insider is taking lithium story to the mainstream investors. This market is very small, still under the radar screens of the majority of investors and masqueraded by the carnage in commodities. Obama's Clean Power Plan and China's Strategic Industry Development Plan will create the mass markets in electric cars and home energy storage allowing solar power to work 24/7. Lithium is at the heart of this technology empowering Green rEVolution.
Lithium market is very opaque and real information is often hidden from the public among outrages claims and promotions from different companies and journalist just jumping on the hot subject. On this blog I try to bring you the best industry experts with their opinions and up-to-date developments in lithium market.
Joe Lowry - Lithium Supply & Demand: Origins, Growth and Investment.
Joe Lowry has published another brilliant piece on the state of lithium industry, exploding demand and very sober outlook for the supply side. Joe brings more than twenty years of deep inside technical knowledge in this very opaque market place and knows almost all major lithium producers by "kicking all the tires" of their field operations. Lithium race is upon us and President Obama opens the new chapter for the sustainable clean economy. Where lithium will come from?
Joe Lowry: Global Lithium Demand To Rise 150% In The Next Ten Years.
Joe Lowry provides a very sobering outlook for the lithium supply side for the next ten years. He estimates that demand will rise 150% from 160k T of LCE to over 400k T per year - I can even call it conservative in case if electric cars really will take off in the next few years. China is rapidly growing into the world largest market for electric cars matching its biggest auto-market size and state "War on Pollution". Chinese companies are controlling now 75% of lithium hydroxide production. Where all this lithium will come from? Joe is pointing out to the problems in the lithium sector with unproven technologies and junior miners without access to the capital to develop new projects. This is where International Lithium is standing out on its own. Ganfeng Lithium finances our J/V project developments in Ireland and Argentina and we have access to the latest technology from this leading lithium materials producer from China. Now our bulk sample from Mariana project in Argentina is being analysed for the potential lithium and fertiliser products by Ganfeng in China at its R&D facilities.
Dump The Pump: Warren Buffett And Elon Musk To Spark A Lithium Boom.
I find it quite symbolic that Oil Price has published this article by James Stafford. Our lithium story is getting on the investors' radar screens, the process is slow and masqueraded by the carnage in commodity sector. People and companies who are building their portfolios cannot imaging more opportune time: Elon Musk and Warren Buffett are making the broad market appeal for electric cars and solar energy, but lithium market itself is still full of smoke and mirrors. And now just wait for the official confirmation from Apple about electric iCar to spark all electric cars market and hedge funds start fishing upstream all supply chain. This is where Lithium comes into play as the strategic commodity, where security of supply is the most important now. The disparity in commodity and technology valuations creates great opportunities for those who can think long-term and cherry pick the best assets at the rock bottom valuations. Where to go: always do your DD and follow the smart money from industry insiders. I will provide links for your research and share all publicly available information about International Lithium and our strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium. Please do not hesitate to contact myself on any of the social media platforms or at International Lithium. We are here to make this rEVolution happen. Dump The Pump. Read more.
Business Insider:
Lithium is one of the most mysterious elements in the universe to scientists, but it's also a growing commodity for automotive companies like Nissan, Tesla, Volkswagen, and even NASA's Mars rovers, who are using it in the game-changing re-chargeable batteries that fuel their all-electric automobiles.
Just in the last few years, astronomers have found ways to explain why our sun is relatively poor in lithium abundance and why our galaxy is unusually rich with it. At the same time, all-electric cars are growing in popularity (see the chart below), and as of the beginning of this year Tesla vehicles were the most popular in the US. Even global sales are continuing to rise:
Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) on WikipediaModel S global sales by quarter (3Q 2012 - 2Q 2015)
While solving cosmic mysterious have little to do with our immediate demand for lithium-powered cars here on Earth, it's important to recognize that without the Big Bang and stars, we wouldn't have any lithium at all to help us curb harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
"As battery technology improves, lithium is expected to play a key role in efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that are responsible for global warming," the US Geological Survey states in a report, which mentions that lithium's "greatest potential for the most people" is in the form of these re-chargeable batteries.
It's only been within the last 115 years that humans have begun mining Earth's lithium resources, and right now production is booming. The spike you see in 2000 is from the rise in demand for rechargeable lithium ion batteries:
Over the last five years, lithium's use in batteries has substantially increased compared to other uses. Lithium is also a useful element in glass production because it lowers the melting temperature of glass, which mean manufacturers can use less energy to melt, shape, and mold their products.
There's an estimated 39 million tons of lithium on Earth, but only about one-third of that is in a form that humans can mine in an economically-feasible way.
The vast majority of this mineable lithium — about 87% — can be found in salty, briny lakes. The remaining 13% is contained in hard rock mineral deposits.
As demand for lithium-ion batteries began to sky rocket after the turn of the century, mining companies looked to salt brine for more lithium. To extract lithium from brine requires a lengthy evaporation process that lasts between 8 months to three years, but it's a simpler and costs about half as much than mining hard rock: 
USGSChart showing production of lithium, by deposit type, worldwide from 1990 through 2008. Values are in metric tons of contained lithium. Data are from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1992–1995) and U.S. Geological Survey (1996–2009).
USGSChart showing production of lithium, by deposit type, worldwide from 1990 through 2008. Values are in metric tons of contained lithium. Data are from U.S. Bureau of Mines (1992–1995) and U.S. Geological Survey (1996–2009).
There are some concerns that as we continue to demand more lithium-based products, we'll deplete the Earth of this resource. USGS estimates that if America's demand for electric vehicles continues on its upward trend, then by 2050 we'll need to mine about 54,000 tons of lithium a year — about one-third more than the total amount of lithiumproduced in 2014 for all lithium-based products — to meet demand for lithium in rechargeable batteries alone.
Nevertheless, others argue that this level of mining won't threaten Earth's total reserve, since deposits in countries including Chile, China, and Australia remain relatively high.
As of 2014, here's how much lithium was still in mineable reserves in the world's leading lithium manufacturers:
When it comes the future of electric vehicles, it's not the lithium that's going to pose a problem — the electricity these cars will use is going to tax electrical companies more than the lithium mining will take natural reserves."
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