The Global Lithium Podcast: Recent Episodes

Joe Lowry

Joe Lowry (aka @globallithium on Twitter) and known as "Mr Lithium" is a 30 year industry veteran and founder of the advisory firm Global Lithium LLC. Joe hosts the original lithium podcast featuring high level guests from the lithium chemicals industry, battery, cathode, and related areas. The Global Lithium Podcast remains the 'go to' offering in this space and has been downloaded in 140 countries.

I take a deep dive into Ganfeng's history and what drove their success. I question why the world's largest lithium company, Albemarle, doesn't have the same vision and ability to get things done as Ganfeng. The episode opens with MLC CEO Paul Hogan briefly explaining why lithium may be a significant part of his company's future.

Over the years SQM has declined multiple invitations to be a guest on the podcast. I am devoting this episode to my thoughts on SQM: past, present and future.

My guests are Gene Morgan and Clint Van Marrewijk, founders of brinefield services provider ZelandezGene is @ZelandezGene on Twitter/X

Clint is @Clint_Van on Twitter/X

Topics:

The "Schlumberger" of lithium

Speeding up brine projects

"ErLi" - modular lithium production

The impact of price cycles

Operating in Argentina vs Chile vs Bolivia

Water use

The Zelandez treasure trove of brine data

DLE and brine reinjection

The team and the culture

The "BFT"

Challenges working at altitude

To "BG" or not to "BG"

Competition

Rapid fire

In this episode I give my current thoughts on price as well as discussing my past calls both good & bad. I explain how I believe China has taken control of the lithium price narrative and the spodumene market, why I think brine based lithium returns to the lithium pole position in the coming decade and then I answer listener questions on everything from Canada, to what I invest in, to Brazil's lithium future to solid state batteries potential impact on the lithium supply chain.

I likely repeat myself a few times given that tends to happen when I talk for 40 minutes without a script.

This episode includes three guests: Mac Whale of Cormark, Cole McGill of Stifel and Daniel Jimenez of iLi Markets.

I joined the group on a site visit to Minera Exar's Cauchari operation. Minera Exar is a JV between Lithium Argentina and Ganfeng located in Jujuy Province, Argentina.

We discuss what we saw and how each guest evaluates a project that is ramping up:

1) What were they key questions they wanted answered?

2) What was their overall impression of the project?

This episode is brought to you by Zelandez and Mississippi Lime.

Michael Dunne (@dunne_insights) on X/Twitter is the CEO of Dunne Insights a global intelligence & advisory service that provides insights on EVs, batteries, and charging with a particular emphasis on Asia.

Topics:

Son of a "car spy"

China's lead in EVs

The demise of Detroit in China

Can the west catch-up?

BYD - the early days

China's other EV suppliers

CATL's significance

Can the US be a meaningful battery supplier?

Toyota's hybrid strategy

Should China be allowed in the US market?

Advice for POTUS

BYD in Brazil

The Art (of EV) War

How China out negotiates competitors

Vin Fast in the US

Rapid fire

This episode is brought to you by Zelandez and Mississippi Lime. It is the audio of a presentation I gave in late March at the Future Facing Commodities Event in Singapore with some additional commentary. The presentation slides can be found at: www.globallithium.net/articles

Topics:

In the beginning there was North Carolina hard rock

Questions you should be asking about the lithium market

Where did 2023 "oversupply" come from?

China battery players influence on lithium price

Increasing capital intensity

The cost curve

Negative sentiment

Demand: all about batteries in 2024

Lithium price: a many splendored thing

Bottom "price" fishing

Supply

"Swing supply"

This cycle vs the last one

Do the work!

Jon Evans (@jdevans4005 on X) is the CEO of Lithium Americas and one of the most influential leaders in the lithium industry.

Topics:

Building Thacker Pass – the largest lithium resource inNorth America

The team

The project timeline

Lessons from Cauchari

Lithium through a national security lens

GM as a partner

LFP in the US

Lessons from the DOE loan process

The importance of LAC’s Tech Center

Partnering with local stakeholders

The lithium market

Dealing with the anti mining crowd

Improving price discovery

Why Jon didn’t take the easier career path

Motivating the team in hard times

Rapid fire

Seth Goldstein (@SethGMStar1 on X) is an Equity Strategist and Chair of the Electric Vehicle Committee at Morningstar. This is his third appearance on the podcast.Topics:

Defining a top pick at Morningstar

Why Seth believes the lithium stocks he follows areundervalued

Bullish on LAC and Thacker Pass

LAC’s DOE loan

Incentivizing a North America battery supply chain

Lithium Argentina’s impressive start-up at Cauchari

Seth’s candid thoughts on Albemarle & their pricestrategy

SQM & Arcadium

Arcadium’s long struggle with expansions

The global EV growth story

The politics of EVs in the US

BYD & Tesla

Lithium prices

CATL’s inventory “tells” & the impact on lithium demand

Lepidolite costs

ESS

Rapid fire

Andy Leyland (@andyleyland1 on X) is the founder of Supply Chain Insights (@insights_SC on X). Andy has deep experience in all aspects of the lithium ion battery supply chain.

Topics:

What Supply Chain Insights does

2023: the "rebalancing" year

The lepidolite spectrum

Lithium demand - still robust

The turnaround in ESS

Sodium ion batteries

Oversupply

Inventory levels

The future of conversion in China

Brine: "Argentina's race to lose"

Two ways of looking at price

Why is lithium forecasting so bad?

Getting info from China

Incentive prices

China's domestic lithium potential

ESG hypocrisy

Who actually paid $80/kg for lithium?

Do fixed price contracts make a comeback?

Recycling

The SCI price forecast

Rapid fire

A solo episode. What I see in 2024 off the top of my head. I recorded it but haven't listened to it yet.

Topics:

Woodmac and the damage done.

A couple WA ASX updates

Price - where to from here?

Why the press doesn't get lithium

DLE

The comeback of brine

A lot of shout outs

Blair Way is the CEO of Patriot Battery Metals (@Patriot_Battery on X aka Twitter) PMET on the TSXV, PMT on the ASX and PMETF on the OTC

Topics:

Humble beginnings in Quebec

The maiden resource

Drill program

The team

How big a resource?

The lake

Production timing

Realistic goals

Why scale matters

The “Brinsden” effect

Albemarle

Top 3 challenges

Will Patriot own Corvette at start-up?

Rapid fire

My guests are Chris Berry (@cberry1 on X) and Daniel Jimenez (@D_Jimenez_Sch on X). Both gentlemen are multi episode guests that bring a wealth of expertise to any lithium conversation.

We discuss the highlights and lowlights of a dramatic year in lithium and also look to the year ahead.

Patrick Howarth leads the lithium effort within ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solutions Group. Exxon is currently drilling lithium brine wells in Arkansas with a plan to be in commercial production by 2027 using Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE). The company intends to become a major lithium producer by 2030. Exxon also developed the first lithium ion battery prototype in the 1970s.

Topics:

Exxon’s Low Carbon Solutions Group

Leveraging Exxon’s technology capabilities to decarbonize

Drilling for lithium vs oil & gas

The Smackover

DLE

Lithium “surprises”

Arkansas as a lithium province

Hard rock ambitions?

Supply & Demand

Price

The Team

“Lithium years”

Beyond Arkansas

A tribute to Dr Stanley Whittingham

Rapid fire

Ernie Ortiz is the CEO of Lithium Royalty Corp (@Lithium_Royalty on X).

Topics:

Ernie's backstory

The LRC business model

Primary vs secondary royalties

Building the portfolio

Why the focus on hard rock assets?

The team

The brand

Does market negativity create opportunity?

Price

Competition

ESG

The IRA

Improving lithium industry performance

Rapid fire

A solo episode where I discuss my recent trip to Korea & Japan, price & index worries, and offer a lithium history less.

Topics:

Korean worries about the IRA

Japan: the land of the "setting sun"?

How many legacy OEMs survive?

Price - what's next?

Concern about the usefulness of indexes

SQM

ALB

ChrisGina

Argentina elections

Part 2 with the Money of Mine podcast team: Matt Michael,Travis Ricciardo, and Jonas “JD” Dorling. The Money of Mine Podcast began in April of this year whenMatt, Travis and JD quit their day jobs to beginbuilding a “media empire.”I met them on a trip to Australia in Septemberand was invited to be a guest on their show. I am now a regular listener.

You can access their daily content via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. On X (aka Twitter) @moneyofminepod

Topics:

Piedmont Lithium

Albemarle

Ioneer

The “Donald Trump” of Oz

North & South America “field trip”

Lithium or “midstream” chemicals?

Price bifurcation

Investing $5 million in ASX lithium stocks

Common mistakes made by retail investors

Podcast – lessons learned

Interacting with the fan base

Canaccord’s “Mr. October”

Rapid fire

My guests are the Money of Mine podcast team: Matt Michael, Travis Ricciardo and Jonas "JD" Dorling.The Money of Mine Podcast began in April of this yearwhen Matt, Travis and JD quit their day jobs to begin building their "media empire".

I met them on a trip to Australia in September whenthey invited me to be a guest on their show – a link to that episode on YouTube ishere.

You can get their daily content via YouTube and all major podcast platforms. On X, they are @moneyofminepod

Topics:

The Money of Mine origin story

The endgame

Liontown drama

Announcing: “Chrisgina”

Australia’s lithium future

SQM’s next moves

Wesfarmer’s future

Mineral Resources – where to from here?

The Aussie lithium diaspora

Albemarle

You will have to wait for part 2 for rapid fire

Other social media links

Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/2p9p4xpd - LinkedIn: https://tinyurl.com/kvszkse3 - Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/yck4vx9p Personal Twitter accounts youcan follow too: - Matty: https://twitter.com/mattymikals - JD: https://twitter.com/JDmoneyofmine - Travis: https://twitter.com/TRAVmoneyofmine

Tu Le is the Founder and Managing Director of Sino Auto Insights. He is also co-host of the China EVs & More Podcast. @SinoAutoInsight on X

Topics:

The UAW Strike

The future of the "Big 3" US automakers

Tesla's huge EV lead in the US

Modifying IRA rules

The long road to NA/EU battery competitiveness

The German auto retreat in China

EV = battery & software

The China EV market

The India EV market

China market misinformation

LFP in North America

Rapid fire

Iggy Tan is the Non-Executive Chairman of Lithium Universe (ASX: LU7) and the Managing Director of Altech Chemicals. He was formerly the CEO of Galaxy Lithium.

Topics:

The Backstory

At Greenbushes in the 1990s

Trying to make carbonate in Oz in the 1990s

Iggy’s time at Galaxy

Mt Cattlin and Zhangjiagang

China’s first “western” lithium plant

Building Galaxy’s lithium portfolio

Time away from lithium

Creating a “Lithium Universe”

The team

The business model for Canada

The industry’s biggest mistake

Design considerations

Iggy the author

Rapid fire

A summary of my recent 12 day trip to Australia.

Tony Ottaviano is the CEO of Liontown resources. This episode was recorded at Liontown's offices in Perth, Australia the day after I visited their Kathleen Valley project.

Topics:

Building a culture

Alignment

The onboarding experience

Relationship with the Tjiwarl

The Dragonfly camp design

Using renewable energy

Empowerment

Documentation & control

Operational readiness

Supply contracts / customer visits

The Albemarle deal

Going downstream?

Price

Where to next?

Peak Australia LCE production

Rapid fire

Lithium Americas will separate into two entities in the fourth quarter of 2023. LAC’s South American assets will become Lithium Argentina (@Lithium_ARG on X aka Twitter). I spent a few days with the team last week in Buenos Aires and Salta, Argentina.

Recording a podcast seemed like a natural thing to do. John Kanellitsas, Franco Mignacco, Ignacio Celorrio, Carlos Galli and Tom Benson joined me with a cameo appearance by Kelly O’Brien.

Topics:

The journey to becoming Argentina’s third lithium chemical producer

The importance of finding and retaining the right people

Combining cultures in the Minera Exar JV

The Lithium Americas separation

Politics in Argentina

The growing significance of lithium to Argentina

Why it is too soon for Argentina should focus on making batteries

Doing lithium “differently”

The 500,000 ton goal for Argentina

Leveraging talent from other industries

Bringing new technology to exploration

Pastos Grandes

Talent wars

“The Signal and the Noise”

The five year vision for Lithium Argentina

On this episode I enlist the help of Rene LeBlanc & Tara Berrie to help me answer listener questions that cover a broad cross section of interests from how to evaluate lithium projects to the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act to where price may be heading. Shout outs to Daniel Jimenez and Chris Berry.

Denis Geoffroy is the Chief Commercialization Officer at Nano One. Denis has spent a quarter of a century in the lithium ion battery space and was responsible for the only commercial North American LFP operation in Candiac, Quebec.

We discuss his journey in LFP and how Nano One’s “One Pot” technology will enable a resurgence of LFP production in North America.

Topics:

LFP – born in Texas and the early days in Quebec

LFP’s recent resurgence in the market

How China came to dominate the market

The current state of LFP supply

Nano One: “Changing How the World Makes Battery Materials”

LFP – the “mass market” EV cathode

The original “million mile” battery

Bringing LFP production back to North America

Nano One partnerships

Recycling LFP

Learning from cathode “OG” Dr Yuan Gao

Rapid fire

Chris Gale is the founder and MD of Latin Resources.

www.latinresources.com.au / @LatinRes on Twitter

Topics:

Backstory – the long, winding road to lithium

Raising capital

Going to South America

How a lithium explorer survives

Why Brazil?

The long odds against explorers becoming producers

Upgrading the resource

Learning from Sigma’s experience

What is a tier 1 lithium deposit?

First steps in developing a project

The Team

The importance of getting a lithium legend on the BOD

Potential off-takers

Rapid fire

Rest in peace Dr John Goodenough

Tu Le is the founder & Managing Director of Sino Auto Insights (@SinoAutoInsight on Twitter) and a Co-Host of the China EVs & More Podcast.

Tu had significant experience with at Ford, GM and Apple before making his way to China and the EV world.

Topics:

China's current & future position in the global EV market

Average battery sizes

The return of EV incentives in China ?

EV price cuts

Tu Le: "BYD is what Tesla wants to be"

Why is GM's CEO saying they can't build a profitable EV in the $30-40K price range in this decade

China EV plans for North America

The coming consolidation of EV producers in China

Why legacy OEMs are on the decline in China

E-Mobility "smartification" & ACES

Why software leads the way in EV development

North American & EU decoupling from China - easier said than done

Changing the US driving mindset

E- Mobility growth in India

The critical metals angst of OEMs

Sodium Ion battery impact on EVs

ONE - Our Next Energy

The top five global EV/Mobility companies in 2030

Rapid Fire

Ron Mitchell is the Managing Director of Global Lithium Resources (ASX GL1) and a veteran of the lithium industry with more than a decade of prior experience at Talison and Tianqi.

Topics:

Ron’s backstory

Early days doing business in China

Building relationships

Negotiating in China

How does the industry 10X supply?

Ron’s spodumene price “crystal ball”

Global Lithium Resources' two projects

Building the team at GL1

Partners

Offtake

Going downstream?

Doing mining differently

Geopolitics

A question for Ron from Tara Berrie

Rapid fire from me as well as Alex Cheeseman

Closing comments on China's "interesting" price narrative

John Worth is the CEO and MD of geo40 a technology company based in New Zealand engaged in low carbon recovery of minerals from geothermal fluids. They currently produce colloidal silica at commercial scale from geothermal streams in New Zealand and are leveraging that technology to provide direct lithium extraction (DLE) to a variety of asset types containing low levels of lithium (50 ppm & up). After successfully piloting DLE technology they now plan to move to the demo level with a target of commercialization in North America by 2025 and later in other jurisdictions.

Topics:

The need to add DLE to the lithium supply portfolio
What makes a great DLE project
Why it makes sense to pursue low ppm level lithium streams in North America
Where DLE fits in on the cost curve
Tailwinds from the "new normal" of lithium prices
The need for multiple DLE players
Why geo40 is leaving the Salton Sea to others
My comments on what is happening in price

I speak with three podcast listeners who are also keen lithium investors - Nathan Wolyniec from Brisbane Australia; John McElroy, a Green Beret with more than 1,000 parachute jumps originally from Syracuse, NY and David Cebalo a retired investor from Indiana. We discuss what drew them to investing in lithium stocks, how they research companies and make decisions. I end the episode with some thoughts on the Livent - Allkem merger announced earlier this week.

There are two guests on this episode: Daniel Jimenez & David Guerrero. Both have been on the podcast multiple times.

You will get perspective on Chile's new lithium strategy/policy from both sides of the Andes. We also discuss the lithium price and lithium development in Argentina. We probe the possibility of changes to Argentina's royalty structure and ponder Argentina's ultimate lithium production potential with and without DLE. We also briefly discuss lithium activity in Bolivia.

If you want to hear more of my thoughts on the new policy in Chile, here is a link to an interview I did with a group in Chile is below:

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1eaKbrOoQDYKX

I presented "The Lithium Decade" in Singapore last week at the Future Facing Commodities conference. Select slides from the presentation will be available on the Global Lithium website.

Peter Hannah (@PHmetals on Twitter) is a senior manager at Fastmarkets. This is Peter's second appearance. His first appearance in June, 2022 was in the top ten of all episodes to date.

We discuss the current pricing situation: the volatility in China with spot price dropping vs rising contract prices elsewhere, supply and demand, the future of lepidolite, the perceived threat of sodium ion batteries and much more.

Daniel Jimenez is the MD of iLi Markets and a director of Galan Lithium. He has deep experience in lithium after spending almost three decades at SQM before starting his own firm. This is Daniel's fourth appearance on the podcast.

In this episode we have a detailed discussion on current and future supply by region in the face of unprecedented demand growth.

We discuss the currently volatile price situation in China, examine the reasons for it and try to put it in context with pricing in the markets outside of China.

Daniel can be found on twitter at @D_Jimenez_Sch

The iLi Markets website is ilimarkets.com

Jigar Shah (@JigarShahDC on Twitter) is the director of the Loan Programs Office at the Department of Energy. Mr. Shah was formerly the co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Jigar also has the best laugh of any prior guest on the podcast and celebrated his two year anniversary at the DOE on March 3rd – the day we recorded.

Topics:

The mandate of the Loan Programs Office

The calculus of leaving the private sector for the DOE

The “alphabet soup” of government programs focused on the Energy Transition

The laziness of big companies

LPO loans – by invitation only

Inspiring action where action wouldn’t otherwise happen

Why Jigar can’t comment on a loan application to LAC for Thacker Pass

Downstream battery investment vs upstream

The contribution of recyclers

Jigar Shah – the “long term lithium bull”

“Friend-shoring” challenges

Tesla

What defines a “friend” of the US

Supply chain risk management

Rapid fire

Closing comments on the BMO conference and lithium price

Emilie Bodoin is the CEO of Pure Lithium.

Pure Lithium is on a mission to change the way batteries are made.

Topics:

The current state of lithium metal technology

Brine direct to lithium metal - the ultimate DLE?

Lithium ion batteries: a successful compromise

Making lithium metal batteries a reality

Mentors: Dr Donald Sadoway & Robert Friedland

The first big win

Building a team

Learning from mistakes

Scale and cost

Reality check

A "not so loaded' question

The DOE "disconnect"

Lithium Metal Iron Phosphate

Rapid Fire

My thoughts on recent happenings in the industry

This is a solo episode where I discuss:

The recent General Motors investment in Lithium Americas

The Thacker Pass decision

Rumors regarding Mineral Resources interest in Patriot Battery Metals

Another round of bad lithium analysis from a large bank.

And a shout out to Seth Goldstein at Morningstar

My guest is Ana Cabral the Co-CEO of Sigma Lithium

Sigma is in the process of starting up the most significant hard rock project in South America

Topics:

Commissioning and start-up

Sigma’s value proposition for the battery industry

Spodumene to lithium chemicals conversion ratios

Sustainability

The market for tailings

The team

Becoming a 100K MT LCE producer

Upstream disruption

Boarder adjustments

The “next guardian” of Sigma

Ana’s view on the past failures of miners

ESG

The upward moving cost curve

Price

The Inflation Reduction Act

Ana's respect for Pilbara & WA spodumene producers

My comments on the upcoming Thacker Pass decision

Thoughts (not advice) on lithium investments

Rapid fire

This short solo episode takes a look at the lithium year that just ended but more importantly what to expect in 2023.

Brought to you by brinefield services company Zelandez.

DYOR - the Global Lithium Podcast does not present ANY investment advice.

Chris Berry (@cberry1 on Twitter) is the founder of Mountain House Partners, a Washington DC based advisory firm. He is also a sought after commentator on the lithium ion battery metals space.

Nothing said on the podcast should be considered investment advice. DYOR - do your own research.

Topics in this episode:

The biggest lithium surprise of 2022

Price – where to from here?

The Inflation Reduction Act

Supply and demand

Canada, Argentina, and Brazil

Redwood Materials recent announcement

Recycling “black mass” at scale

DLE – when will it have an impact on supply?

Lepidolite – how much? how soon? quality?

An “essential question” for Chris from Simon Moores

The “Dragon Armor” LFP battery

Sodium Ion – much ado about nothing?

Battery pack size trends

The “paradox of green growth”

China – where to from here?

Does a “green premium” exist?

Lithium company valuations

Rapid fire

Peter Oliver has been one of the most influential people in the lithium industry over the past two decades. He spent 18 years at Talison – 12 years as CEO/Managing Director and later was a Non-Executive Director.

Peter guided Talison through the acquisition by Tianqi Lithium in 2013 and then served as an advisor to Tianqi when they sold 49% of Talison to Rockwood (now Albemarle) and later acquired 24% of SQM. He was a founding director of Tianqi Lithium Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tianqi that was established to build the first hydroxide conversion facility in Australia. Peter remained a director until June 2021.

Few have the breadth of experience and understanding of the global lithium markets. Peter has recently returned to the lithium world as a Non-Executive Director of Latin Resources.

Topics:

The history of Greenbushes and the transition from tantalum producer to dominant hard rock lithium mine.

The lithium industry before the lithium ion battery

China’s rise as a lithium chemical converter based on Greenbushes spodumene.

Competing with brine based lithium in China

Lithium industry structure and why it needs to evolve to supply the energy transition

The reason China continues to lead the world in lithium chemicals production

Lithium geopolitics

Developing talent

Lepidolite – why development has been limited and its potential in the future

Staying under the radar

Coming back to the industry / joining the Latin Resources board

The lithium opportunity in Brazil

Price

Rapid fire

John Young is the Non-Executive Chairman of Green Technology Metals (ASX: GT1) and a Co-Founder of leading lithium producer Pilbara Minerals. Cam Henry is the Founder and CEO of Primero, an EPC company that serves many industries but stands alone as the leading company serving the hard rock lithium space. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Green Technology Metals.

In this episode we cover the current state of the hard rock universe from what is happening in Western Australia to developments in Canada, Brazil, and Africa.

After a macro discussion of the hard rock world we get into specifics of what attracted these two Aussie lithium pioneers to get involved with Green Technology Metals and why developing lithium in Canada will be critical to the future of battery supply chain development in North America and the EU.

We also discuss the GT1 partnership with Lithium Americas and why that is important to the future development of the company.

Towards the end of the podcast, Cam turns the tables and asks me some questions. We end with rapid fire.

JP Vargas is the Managing Director of Galan Lithium

Topics:

Galan's Hombre Muerto West resource in Argentina

Permitting

The chloride strategy

The Team

The most significant project challenges

Relationship with the Catamarca Government

Rapid Fire

This is a short episode with a focus on my recent trip to Chile as well as my time on the Camino in Portugal & Spain, a short visit to Reno and upcoming trip to Australia.

If you want to skip the brief comments on the Camino trek I recently completed, fast forward to minute three:

Mentions: Summit Nanotech, SQM, Albemarle, LAC, CORFO, Daniel Jimenez & iLi Markets

Henry Sanderson (@hjesanderson on Twitter) is an author and executive editor at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. He was previously with the Financial Times. His recently published book Volt Rush is a must reader for anyone interested in EVs, critical metals and the energy transition.

Topics:

Henry’s reason for writing Volt Rush

The rags to riches stories of Chinese “clean energy barons” now billionaires

Avoiding the "oligarch syndrome"

What Xi Jinping wants

Jack Ma becomes a verb

A Wuling vs a Tesla - is EV penetration a meaningful metric?

EVs: “democratized” in China but not in the west?

The challenge of developing “China free” supply chains

Messy geopolitics

The Inflation Reduction Act

Do US OEMs have the right EV strategy?

The resurgence of LFP

Western Australia’s growing lithium influence

China’s raw material vulnerability

Africa’s future role in critical metals

The changing lithium landscape in South America

The future of China’s domestic lithium resources

Lithium in the UK?

Who are the “losers” in the race to go green?

Rapid fire

Austin Devaney (AustinDevaney on Twitter) is the Chief Commercial Officer at Piedmont Lithium and a former executive at Albemarle Topics: Austin’s early days in the lithium world How customer needs have evolved Lithium quality requirements for EVs SQM’s curious & value destroying “20% price decrease letter” from several years ago Why high prices aren’t able to quickly fix high prices in the lithium space The legacy of late lithium projects Shout out to Eric Norris OEMs – slow to understand lithium The Inflation Reduction Act What Elon Musk doesn’t understand about the lithium industry Lithium in North Carolina: “Back to the Future” Piedmont’s permitting issues Brine vs hard rock Lepidolite – the new high cost umbrella? Why prices will stay high for years Rapid Fire

In this episode I briefly speak about why I believe the "Big Banks" have, for the most part, gotten their recent price forecasts wrong.

The rest of the episode is answering listener questions:

Topics:

The Inflation Reduction Act

Permitting

DOE Loan Program

DLE

Canada's future in lithium

The EU vs North America in battery supply chain development

Companies mentioned: SQM, Albemarle, Ganfeng, Tianqi, Lithium Americas, Pilbara Minerals, Mineral Resources, Rio Tinto, Green Technology Metals, Tesla, Galan Lithium, Livent, Allkem, Wesfarmers, Frontier, Critical Elements, E3 and several more

I interview the co-founders of the International Lithium Association (ILiA). Anand, known as “The Lithium Raj,” has deep lithium experience. Roland has experience running other major industry associations.

We start off discussing Anand’s experience as a lithium pioneer marketing spodumene from Australia (Greenbushes) before discussing the International Lithium Association’s reason for being.

Follow them on Twitter: @ILiA_lithium & Linked In

The ILiA website: https://lithium.org/

Topics:

The early days & growth of the lithium market in China

Building relationships & negotiating in China

The early days of Tianqi & Ganfeng.

The transition from spodumene use in glass & ceramics to chemical conversion

How China competed with low cost brine imports from South America

China’s rise in battery

Moving from Talison to Galaxy & later Pilbara Minerals

The thinking behind the creation of the International Lithium Association

Attracting the major lithium players as members

The Association’s areas of focus and challenges

Serving members & the general public

What does ILiA look like in 2027?

Rapid fire with the first "do over" in GLP history

As CEO of Pilbara Minerals for over six and a half years Ken Brinsden (@KenBPilbara on Twitter) had a long list of accomplishments. We discuss the past, present, and future in this episode.

Topics:

Lithium: unreasonable expectations on an immature industry

The new price paradigm

The creation and future of the Battery Metals Exchange (BMX)

“Rearranging” margins in the supply chain

End user naivete

The significance of the Altura acquisition

The importance of the team

Newcomers with mid-stream production aspirations

Innovation in mining is inevitable

Why the future for Pilbara isn’t spodumene

Staying motivated

ESG

Lepidolite and the Goldman Sachs “Report”

Grooming a successor

What’s next?

Rapid fire

This is a solo episode where I discuss learnings from recent travel to the Benchmark and Fastmarkets conferences, my visit to the new Lithium Americas Technical Development Center in Reno, thoughts on the "speed" of the DOE loan office and recent announcements by Ford and GM. The episode closes with a Q&A session where I take questions and rapid fire from a long time podcast listener.

Tony Ottaviano is the CEO of Liontown Resources and an experienced mining executive.

Topics:

The move from the “Big End of Town” to the world of lithium

The Kathleen Valley project

Going underground

Hiring criteria

The team

Building vs operating

The most significant challenges Tony faces

The offtake deals – Tesla, LG, and Ford

ESG

Core values

The market

Going downstream

Rapid fire

Peter Hannah is the Senior Price Development Manager at Fastmarkets and one of the best young commentators in the battery metals space.

We discuss:

Lithium supply and demand dynamics

The meaning and importance of the spot price Ponder when lithium will mature as an industry

Why supply will define demand over the next few years Discuss the future of hedging lithium

And why we agree $16/kg lithium carbonate won’t happen anytime soon

I close this episode with thoughts on recent analyst reports, Argentina’s latest move to secure fair export prices and BYD’s foray into Africa

David Guerrero is currently an independent consultant and advisor with a long history in the Argentina lithium industry beginning with Lithium One before becoming the President of Galaxy Resources - Argentina. David is sought after by parties from around the world that draw on his deep knowledge when considering investments in South American lithium brine assets.

Topics:

The current state of the lithium industry in Argentina

Which new projects have the best chance of producing by 2025 & 2030

The most significant barriers to success for brine projects

Infrastructure challenges

The potential for export of “liquid spodumene” aka lithium chloride brine

The role of Federal and Provincial governments in the lithium industry

Argentina vs Chilean royalty policy

Lithium geopolitics

ESG

DLE

Rapid fire

My Q&A session with a WeChat Group featuring some of the brightest young minds in the lithium/battery/EV ecosystem.

Topics:

The Rise and Future of Ganfeng

Global Supply Chain Issues

BYD & CATL's Future Outside of China

Tesla's Lithium Positioning

The Lithium Decade

Why Didn't Western Lithium Companies Prepare for the EV Boom?

Do Any Legacy OEMs have a Meaningful Lithium Strategy?

The Best Barometer of Lithium Price

Chile's Lithium Future

How Much Influence will China have in Argentina's Lithium Future?

DLE

Geopolitics and the Battery Space

Rene LeBlanc is the Chief Technical Officer at Lithium Americas. Rene has also worked for Tesla and FMC Lithium (now Livent).

Topics:

How much lithium is needed in the production of a lithium ion battery pack?

Update on Cauchari

Ramping up a greenfield lithium project

Cycle times

Seasonality in brine production

Update on Thacker Pass

LAC's new Technical Center in Reno

DLE

Price

ESG

Cauchari's water use vs currently used DLE

Talent acquisition

Rapid fire

My guests from Rio Tinto are Marnie Finlayson, MD of Battery Materials, and Grant Donald, GM of Strategic Marketing, Minerals.

Topics:

RT’s battery materials strategy

Being a leader in the green economy

Producing lithium from mine waste in California

The Rincon project in Argentina

The battle for lithium talent

Supporting local communities

Development timelines

Keeping up with technological change

RT’s view of the market going forward

RT’s thoughts on where their lithium will go

The status of the Jadar project in Serbia

Price

Being a leading force in the energy transition

How does RT’s battery business look in five years?

Rapid Fire

In my closing remarks I discuss Elon Musk’s tweet about getting in to lithium production. Lithium remains Elon and Tesla’s Achilles’ heel

Topics:

The Benchmark vision & business model

Limiting factors to the growth of the “lithium ion economy”

The “great battery raw material disconnect”

The LME nickel fiasco

Is President Biden invoking the Defense Production Act significant?

Tesla compared with legacy OEMs

The emerging US Battery Supply chain compared with the EU – rhetoric vs reality

Vertical Integration in the battery/EV space

Why the lithium shortage is understated – the battery scrap conundrum

Where is Benchmark in five years?

The impact of geopolitics on the lithium ion battery world

Rapid Fire

A solo episode covering the following topics:

Lithium prices - why SQM, Albemarle and Livent have very different prices per kg

The price of lithium stocks

The false narrative of Chinese lithium dominance

Is GM the "Don Quixote" of the EV world?

Energy Secretary Granholm playing politics in West Virginia

Lithium training for media types

Geothermal lithium - not ready for prime time?

Seth Goldstein is an analyst at Morningstar - an industry leader providing independent research and analysis on a global basis. In his role at Morningstar, Seth covers Tesla, Albemarle, SQM, Livent and Lithium Americas.

Topics:

The EV market from a regional perspective

An update on Tesla’s new plants in Texas and Germany

Lithium supply and demand - how long will the shortage last?

Was Albemarle’s new lithium demand estimate for 2030 a meaningless theoretical exercise?

Why lithium is different than other resource markets

The Mineral Resources / Albemarle lithium JV - who has the upper hand in WA?

Livent: Too little, too late with a flawed strategy? Or a strong niche player?

Cathode – which “flavor” wins?

SQM – will they outperform Albemarle on price again in this market cycle?

Will SQM finally meet one of their volume predictions?

The “Spot” vs contract pricing gap – how much? For how long?

How will OEMs adjust their strategy to lithium limitations in this decade?

Seth’s thoughts on Lithium Americas – Cauchari and Thacker Pass

Product qualification in a market shortage

Rapid Fire

Chris Reed is the CEO of Neometals

Topics include:

First lithium success – the development of Mt Marion and a profitable exit

Battery recycling plans – Europe, North America, Asia

Feedstock – scrap & end of life batteries, timing

EVs “dirty little secret” – minimizing the current five years it takes the average EV to recoup the carbon footprint deficit with ICEs

The contribution recycling can make to lithium supply by 2030 and 2040

“Peak Spodumene”: What total LCE volume? When?

Electrolytic Lithium aka “Eli”– the process and potential

Changing the cost curve

Neometals upcoming London Listing

Supply and demand imbalance

Doomsday scenarios

Rapid fire

A double episode for Super Bowl weekend.

Part One is with Standard Lithium's Dr Andy Robinson and Will Smith. Andy is COO. Will is Engineering Manager. We discuss the Standard Lithium project with partner Lanxess in El Dorado, Arkansas. Part Two features Andrew Miller the COO of Benchmark Mineral intelligence. We discuss lithium price, supply and demand and several other topics.

Simon Hay is the CEO of Leo Lithium and the former CEO of Galaxy Resources. Leo Lithium has a 50/50 JV with Ganfeng Lithium to develop the Goulamina Project in Mali.

Topics include:

Africa's history in lithium

Project details: resource/reserves, grade, flowsheet, utilities, etc

Timing of stage 1 and stage 2

The Team

Challenges

Benefits of having Ganfeng as a partner

Offtake

Price formula

The lithium market - what is "different this time"

My guests are Co-CEOs Ana Cabral-Gardner and Calvyn Gardner

A lively discussion that was originally 72 minutes edited down to 47 minutes.

Topics:

Construction update and challenges

Ramping up

Covid and other obstacles

Sustainability

BlackRock’s Investment

ESG Investing

Social License

Battery Quality spodumene – reality or myth?

Partners that matter

Lifting up the local community

Lithium: “The Limiting Factor” to EV Growth?

How long is the “short term”?

Twitter @SigmaLithium

My guest is Henrique Ribeiro of S&P Global Platts, a leader in providing price information, industry market insights and analytics. In addition to his work in lithium/battery metals price information and analysis, Henrique is also a host on the Platts Future Energy Podcast.

In this episode, we discuss Platts role in providing information about lithium and other battery metals. We cover their methodology for making price assessments and how they factor in lithium product specifications.

We discuss the significance of the “spot” price and why it can vary so significantly from contract price and information found in import/export statistics.

I ask about quality control in the Platts process and how they deal with contacts that may try to “massage” the information they provide.

I ask Henrique for his thoughts on the lithium supply and demand imbalance and when price may “soften”.

We discuss the questions Henrique is most often asked by various industry stakeholders.

Platts does not forecast lithium prices. We will discuss the logic behind that practice.

In a world of many different prices for the same lithium grade, you will learn the value of the spot price as an indicator.

We close with a slow rapid fire.

Find out more at: spglobal.com

My guest is Daniel Jimenez ex SQM and currently running his own advisory firm, iLi Markets (ilimarkets.com). Recorded less than two weeks before the Chilean Presidential election runoff - described as the most divisive in the country's history. We discuss potential impacts of the election on the lithium industry depending on whether the winner is from the right or the left.

At minute 14, we begin a discussion of the Atacama & the current & future production of both SQM & Albemarle from the world's premier brine asset. We we also review the reasons for SQM lagging the pricing results of most competitors. Spoiler alert – we both expect that situation to change.

We also ponder Albemarle’s long & winding road in ramping up production from expansions in Chile.

We move on to a discussion of global supply & demand. Daniel’s 2021 & 2022 total demand numbers are higher than mine but not drastically so.

Daniel provides his thoughts on the potential for new lithium projects in Chile as well as DLE before moving on to the potential & challenges for the EU & North America to supply a significant percentage of their future lithium demand.

We cover the recent rise of Chinese investment in South American lithium projects.

Will recycling contribute significantly to lithium supply before 2030?

Solid state batteries & the potential impact on what lithium raw material requirements.

Rapid fire.

Daniel can be found on Twitter @D_Jimenez_Sch

Dr. Yuan Gao has been a significant player in the lithium ion battery space for a quarter of a century. From his early days at FMC Lithium working in battery R&D to his time with Molycorp in rare earth materials followed by a five-year tenure as CEO of Chinese cathode producer Pulead and most recently as a member of Lithium Americas Board of Directors and as a sought after advisor. Few have the breadth of experience Yuan has.

Dr. Gao holds twenty-one patents.

In this episode we discuss the cathode market in detail from LFP to High Nickel products. We also review the challenges in producing LMFP and “Cobalt Free” High Nickel.

We discuss the regionalization of battery supply chains and why it will be difficult for North America and Europe to play “catch up” with Asia.

We move on to the future of solid state batteries and the challenges faced by the recycling industry. We ponder when recycling industry will transition from processing the scrap of new gigafactories to being part of a truly circular lithium ion battery ecosystem.

As always, we close with rapid fire.

Tom Benson is the lead geologist at Lithium Americas

Topics:

What makes a viable lithium resource?
Project time lines
The world's top resources - #1 may surprise you
Thacker Pass
Projects, protests, and politics
Being a good neighbor
Sustainability
Tom Benson’s version of the “Golden Rule”
Great resources vs great projects
Straight talk about sulfur
Developing talent
The “Lithium Lab”
Environmental “imperialism”
The battle for hearts and minds
Rapid fire

Tom can be found on Twitter @thomasrbenson

Dan Blondal, CEO & Alex Holmes, COO Topics: · M2CAM (metal to cathode active material) technology benefits · Latest developments in LFP cathode · Nano One’s LFP strategy outside China · Avoiding the “precursor problem” · The evolution of EV battery technology · Working with OEMs and mining companies · The future of battery supply chains in North America & Europe · Nano One’s differentiating technology · The cathode industry’s waste problem · Recycling and the “dirty little secret” of gigafactories · Partnerships with governments and industry · Nickel and manganese plays for Nano · Building the team · Battery geopolitics · Making improvements on the Asia battery model · New school supply chains · Rapid Fire Nano One on Twitter: @NanoOne_NANO

My brief remarks on the status of the lithium market followed by Q&A at the Panorama Minero "Lithium South America" event in Buenos Aires on September 29th, 2021. The Q&A begins at 12 minutes. The questions come from a variety of influential people in the world of lithium in South America.

Below of is a list of the questions and the people asking them:

1- Daniel Jiménez, iLi Markets

Your opinion on projects that plan to use DLE, not just in Argentina but also the US & Europe.

2- Miguel Soler: Secretaria de Minería e Hydrocarbons’ de Jujuy

Based on your knowledge and the history of technology evolution during the 20th and present centuryy. How long you believe technologies demanding Lithium will stay with us? before they are replaced by others like Hydrogen and/or new developments ?

3- Flavia Royón, Secretaria de Minería y Energía de Salta

What are the biggest threats you see, associated to the lithium industry development in LatAm in light of: the market dynamics, geopolitics, process technologies and the availability of other critical energy metals?

4- Teresita Regalado, Secretaria de Desarrollo Minero de Catamarca

Thoughts on how to optimize Argentina's opportunity regarding the Lithium supply, taking into account its geographical location with respect to other sources of raw material located close(r) to where the highest industrial consumption is ?

5- José de Castro, COO de Integra Lithium

Why, despite the fact CAPEX, OPEX, Water Footprint and Carbon Footprint are usually higher in most DLE processes than those in conventional evaporation, so many companies have been generating promises on “green and sustainable” processes, contrary to current productions and generating a bad feeling effect in public opinion?

6- Carlos Galli, Consultor/Especialista

We discussed last year about the involvement of OEM (auto makers) in lithium production. Do you see any changes in their approach to try to secure lithium supply? What are your thoughts about this?

7- Alejandra Cardona, de la Cámara Minera de Salta y Mint Intelligence

In the global context, the generation of clean energies is promoted as strategies to fight clámate change. Talingo care of the environment means more mining is needed. How did this impact lithium & other E-mobility related minerals supply projections on a global scale and how does Argentina position itself in this scenario?

8- Alejandro Colombo, Director Periodístico de Panorama Minero

Are you expecting a bigger move from overseas Chinese companies through M&As? What response is expected from the United States and Europe to ensure a sustainable supply chain in the coming years?

9- Ignacio Celorrio, Presidente para Latinoamerica - Lithium Americas

En: Which sources of financing for Li Projects will emerge, in addition to the current ones ? Also, which countries you believe have the biggest potential to take new projects into production ?

10- Asistente al seminario - Event attendee

There is not much talk about Lithium Chloride and solid state batteries use lithium metal. What is the projection of possible Lithium Chloride producers?

The live portion of this 20 minute episode was recorded in the iconic London pub "The Dove" with Benchmark's Simon Moores, his buddy Shay, Standard Lithium CEO Robert Mintak and Standard's Chairman Robert Cross. Initially the meeting was just supposed to be lunch with Simon. When the party grew to five, it seemed like a great opportunity to pull out my IPhone and record an impromptu podcast. The "live" portion is more about people coming out of lockdown and returning to international travel than lithium. I also talk about others I met on my first international trip since March 2020. I was also fortunate to catch up with the management of Livista Energy and the CEO of Fastmarkets and some other companies I am not a liberty to discuss - yet. Shout-outs to Panorama Minero who host a favorite event of mine in Argentina, the good citizens of El Dorado, Arkansas and two locals specifically - you have to listen to find out the reason. Finally, you will hear about plans to get Simon a bit of "southern cultural training" when he travels to Arkansas.

Carlos Galli is a globally recognized expert in lithium brine technology. This is a wide ranging discussion on the lithium market in Argentina including what needs to happen from a policy perspective to fully leverage Argentina’s diverse portfolio of lithium containing salars.

The importance of access to adequate quantities of fresh water for lithium projects and the great debate of how brine use should be considered in the water discussion.

We review the top projects in some detail. LAC/Minera Exar, Orocobre (both Sal de Vida & Cauchari Expansion), Livent's expansion, Neolithium, POSCO, Eramet, Rincon, Lithica, Millennial, etc.

Ganfeng's ambitious plans beyond Cauchari

We also discuss Lake Resources and their recent commentary about their future

Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) is another topic both as it relates to Argentina and other parts of the world.

The discussion strays across the border on occasion as we bring Chile and Bolivia into the discussion.

My guest is Stephen Biggins the Managing Director of Core Lithium. Core is developing the Finniss Lithium Project in the Northern Territory of Australia near the capital city of Darwin.

We discuss:

Their project: from metallurgy to process details and timing

Relationships with two top level lithium producers – Ganfeng and Yahua

Offtake details

The project DFS

Drilling to grow the reserve base

The benefits of developing a project in the Northern Territory

Lithium “fines” as a by product

The market: entering the “perpetual lithium deficit”

Becoming vertically integrated in the future

Project execution challenges

Building a team

ESG

Rapid fire

My guest is Dale Henderson, Chief Operating Officer, of Pilbara Minerals.

Topics include:

An operations update

Acquiring and restarting Altura’s operations

Increasing production to ~550K MT of spodumene concentrate by mid-2022 and more than a 1,000K MT by mid-decade

The market and price outlook

Financing

Adopting new technology to reduce the operation’s carbon footprint

Potential new products

Company culture

Lessons learned in the lean years

Rapid fire

Dale is on Twitter @henderson_dale

Pilbara Minerals is on Twitter and Instagram @PilbaraMinerals

Adam Panayi is the Managing Director of UK based EV and Battery consultancy Rho Motion. The key to understanding the future direction of the lithium industry is understanding the growth of EVs and batteries as well understanding the developments in cathode chemistry and solid state. Shout outs to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Simon Moores and Roger Atkins.

In a little less than an hour we cover:

How Rho Motion collects and parses data aka “how the forecast sausage is made”

GWH projections for 2025 and 2030 – the driver of lithium demand

The methodology of predicting Gigafactory utilization

Stated Gigafactory capacity vs effective capacity

EV penetration by region

ESS – taking what batteries it can get (for now)

Gigafactory start-up reject rates (the dirty little secret of battery producers)

Warranties

Why after several EV “false starts” it is different this time

Cathode chemistry projections

Rapid fire

Guests: Standard Lithium’s CEO, Robert Mintak and COO, Dr. Andy Robinson.

Topics include:

Managing a project and building a team remotely during Covid

Getting the process right: scale and quality data matters

The benefits of a building a new plant within a larger, established chemical operation

Seeking attention and support from the Biden administration

Timing of commercialization

Potential of lithium from the Smackover formation beyond El Dorado

The coming lithium supply mismatch with demand

The actions needed from OEMs and policymakers

After "rapid fire" I close the episode with comments/advice for the Biden administration on battery raw material supply chain policy

Alexi Zawadzki is the President of North American Operations for Lithium Americas (LAC). He is currently leading the effort to bring Thacker Pass into production by mid decade.

In this episode we discuss the resource (type and size), the current status of the project including pilot plant operations, LAC's commitment to sustainable project development, innovative mining and reclamation techniques, planned use of renewable energy and desire to minimize the impact to the environment.

Thacker Pass will be the first world class lithium resource to be brought online in the US in this century.

Jon Evans is one of the most effective and knowledgeable executives in the lithium world. He is also a great leader.

I have known Jon for well over a decade. First as my boss when I was running FMC Lithium’s Asia operations. When I left FMC and started Global Lithium, Jon was often a source of insightful advice. He remains a mentor to me despite being a Zodiac calendar younger than I am. Yes, you can still use a mentor in your 60s.

Among the topics we cover:

The status LAC’s projects in Argentina (Cauchari) and the US (Thacker Pass)

The positive aspects of Covid project delays

Why a US critical metals supply chain will develop despite many with a “not in my backyard” mindset

The high level of partnership interest in Thacker Pass and why Jon doesn’t want or need an offtake agreement

LAC’s strong balance sheet and the flexibility it brings

Building effective teams and how LAC hires

Risk mitigation

Global supply and demand

The developing “broader audience” for lithium

ESG

Dangerous assumptions

Why the industry will need to produce products beyond carbonate and hydroxide for the battery industry

Rapid fire

Carlos Vicens is the CFO of Neo Lithium. We discuss the 3Qs project in Catamarca Province, Argentina.

Topics include:

Operating in Argentina

Unexpected “benefits” of Covid in moving the project forward

ESG – more than just the “E”

Their partnership with global battery leader CATL

Straight talk on product “cuts”

The top challenges bringing a lithium project into production

Setting the record straight on 3Qs logistics

Price expectations

DLE

Financing path forward

Rapid

The is part 2 of my 100th episode with highlights from some of my favorite episodes and guests.

Jon Evans - Lithium Americas

Li Liangbin and Wang Xiaoshen - Ganfeng

Eduardo Bitran - CORFO

Ken Brinsden - Pilbara Minerals

Dr Yuan Gao - ex CEO of Pulead

Dan Blondal and Dr Stephen Campbell - Nano One

The Lowry family

Chris Berry, President of House Mountain Partners ( www.discoveryinvesting.com ), is one of the most highly regarded battery metals analysts in the space. He was also the first guest on the Global Lithium Podcast in November of 2017. It seemed natural to bring Chris back for episode 100 especially given the recent resurgence of interest in lithium and other battery metals as the global energy transition unfolds.

Known as "The Voice of Reason" Chris has a unique ability to speak plainly about complex topics. His insights regarding the increasing role of geopolitics in the development of battery supply chains makes this episode worth a listen.

Chris can be found on twitter @cberry1

Jed Dorsheimer is the Global Head of Sustainability Research at Canaccord Genuity, Co-founder and President of the Biophysical Economics Institute and host of the Hidden Joule Podcast. Jed is a leading commentator on: Sustainability/ESG, Allocation of Resources, Climate Change, and Systems Complexity.

We discuss:

Economic ROI (Energy Return on Energy Invested)

Basics of Thermodynamics

An example of something that “Tesla did Differently”

What does “Sustainability” really mean?

Does Nuclear Power get a bad rap?

An example of a well-intentioned German Policy Failure

The Current State of ESG and Life Cycle Analysis

ESG Funds – Clean & Green??

Considering “Negative Externalities”

Concentrated vs Diffused Energy Systems

Jed’s minimum EROI Criteria for Sustainability

ESG Scoring

Rapid Fire

Carlos Galli is an independent lithium consultant in Argentina. Carlos has worked on many brine projects both as a principal and a consultant. He learned from one of the best lithium minds in Argentina, his father Dr Daniel Galli. Topics covered in this episode include:

Covid’s ongoing impact in Argentina

Building a “lithium bridge” from the Argentine Puna to Europe for the EU battery supply chain

Some underappreciated benefits of brine assets

The “water dimension” in lithium projects and why it is often ignored or mischaracterized

Ponds vs Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE)

DLE’s potential to bring quality (if not cost) advantages

Why the Argentina President should stop hyping supply targets

Ranking the top five Argentina lithium projects

Value addition vs chasing the value chain

How many projects can coexist on Salar del Hombre Muerto?

Beyond DLE

Bolivia – Saudi Arabia without oil?

Rapid Fire

Alex Cheesemen (@ACheesey on Twitter) is an ex Australian military officer and a significant player in the Western Australia lithium industry. Alex had the unique “opportunity” to be one of the last people standing at Altura Mining. In this episode Alex will share what he learned in the process of helping bring a significant hard rock asset into production and then, due to the vagaries of lithium asset financing challenges and unfavorable market conditions, he was tasked with taking it through the receivership process. Alex has a great perspective on the WA lithium industry past, present, and future. We discuss: The timeframe for bringing projects into production Pros and Cons of having a lean project team DMS vs flotation The financial struggles of junior mining companies Learning how to connect Altura’s product with the conversion market in China The receivership experience and how the WA mining community helped out Thoughts on when currently shut in spodumene capacity will come back online Mineral Resources and Albemarle aka “watching the elephants dance” How much spodumene production can we expect from Australia in 2025 and 2030 How soon price will recover and to what level China and Australia trade tensions Why I may never be let back into WA Plus “Rapid Fire”

Episode 94: Simon Hay

Simon Hay is the CEO of Galaxy Resources.

We review the status of production at Mt Cattlin and development plans for Sal de Vida and James Bay.

We discuss spodumene prices and why Galaxy will continue to sell at spot price in 2021.

Simon makes “no apology” for the new phased development strategy at Sal de Vida and discusses the conditions that need to be in place to move James Bay forward.

We discuss the pros and cons of having partners.

Project execution and teams.

The challenge of managing a project in Argentina from Perth during Covid.

Will Western Australia producers learn the lessons from the past 24 months when considering capacity restarts?

I ask Simon the best aspect of his job.

And, as always, Rapid Fire.

Seth Goldstein is one of the best lithium analysts – anywhere. He works for top rated investment research company Morningstar where in addition to his lithium work he also chairs their EV committee. Prior to joining Morningstar, Seth worked for Berkshire Hathaway Energy. As part of his role with Morningstar Seth follows Albemarle, SQM and Livent; however, he is also well versed on other companies in the space, as well as the EV and cathode markets. Topics include: Seth’s analytical process Analyzing the former “Big 3” When will EVs achieve cost parity with ICE vehicles? Barriers to EV adoption EV penetration in 2025 and 2030 Why building recharging infrastructure is more important than subsidies Carbonate vs hydroxide – the market split in 2030 Is the lithium industry as opaque as it seems? Seth’s thoughts on the cost curve and future pricing Albemarle’s changing price strategy Will Tesla continue to lead in EVs? Handicapping new lithium projects and expansions Will the “Big 4” continue to dominate supply in 2030 LAC – the next major? Rapid Fire From my perspective this is a “top 10” episode. Seth can be found on twitter @SethGMStar1 Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $215 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2020. The Company has operations in 29 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc. Neither I, nor Global Lithium LLC have received compensation in any form from Morningstar.

Episode 90: Sigma Lithium - Ana Cabral-Gardner & Calvyn Gardner

Sigma is developing a brownfield hard rock project in Brazil with a focus on “green mining” and ESG considerations.

Topics include:

The three main considerations in developing Sigma’s resource

ESG

Sigma’s competitive position vs Australian Hard Rock producers

Partnerships and Sigma’s plan for downstream lithium chemical participation

The “social license” challenges for mining projects based on recent events in Brazil

Why “green premiums” are not built into project financial estimates

Life Cycle Assessment audits

Covid challenges

Lithium “hippies” plus rapid fire.

Episode 89: Livista Energy

This episode features Daniel Bloor, CEO, and Jose Hofer, Commercial Manager, of Livista Energy. You can follow them on Twitter @LivistaEnergy and on Linked In as well as their website: Livista.Energy

Livista plans to have the first large scale lithium conversion plant operating in Europe. In addition to discussing the project, we also cover:

Battery passports and traceability

The challenge of finding raw material supply

Will “ESG compliant” material receive price premiums?

Financing challenges

Site selection

Livista’s scope of ambition

Does Europe need a strategic lithium stockpile?

The future of lithium price

Episode 88: Minviro / Life Cycle Assessments

Robert Pell and Alex Grant from Minviro, pioneers in producing Life Cycle Assessments for the lithium industry, are my guests. Minviro is focused on the environmental portion of the emerging and increasingly significant field of ESG.

We discuss:

The development, importance and value of life cycle assessments

Impact categories

Properly quantifying results vs “tick the box” exercises

The need for 3rd party reviews

OEMs desire for ESG compliant material but unwillingness to invest in it

How seriously life cycle assessments are being taken by the industry

And for those of you that are Ayn Rand fans, after this episode you may be asking “Who is Sarah?” instead of “Who is John Galt?”

My favorite lithium event of the year is Panorama Minero's “Lithium South America”. I had the opportunity to keynote at this event in Salta in 2018 and Jujuy in 2019. This year at the virtual event I participated by doing a live Global Lithium Podcast with a great co-host, Carlos Galli, who conveyed the questions from the audience and added his own insightful commentary.

Topics include:

Why OEMs are not investing in lithium and when this will likely change

The bifurcated market in both quality and price

Covid’s impact on the lithium demand

The coming shortage of battery quality lithium

Tesla’s lithium failure

Why Argentina should “build a lithium bridge” to Europe

The Future of DLE

My ranking of the “Top Five” lithium players

Bolivia – the land of lithium dreams

In addition I make a few comments on the "divorce" of Livent and E3 Metals

Bob Morris is a battery metals expert who worked for industry heavyweights Umicore, INCO and Vale for many years before starting his own consulting company.

Few people have the depth of the battery supply chain experience that Bob has. Although we dealt with many of the same customers and both spent time as expats in China and Japan, we never crossed paths until we were introduced recently by Dan Blondal, CEO of Nano One.

In this episode Bob shares the basics of industry dynamics for both nickel and cobalt. We discuss why expectations for the growth of high nickel cathode were unrealistic - noting that demand estimates from industry pundits without significant experience often are. We also review why cobalt is likely to have a place in the battery world for a very long time despite the desire of many to minimize use of the metal.

As the development of 811 NMC continues to fall short of expectations, we examine the reasons why 532 and 622 NMC are still viable. We move on to the resurgence of LFP and the ramifications that may have for lithium supply.

Bob provides his thoughts on Tesla’s Battery Day, range anxiety, and why every cathode will continue to have a place in the market for the foreseeable future.

We close by discussing the future of recycling and why Northvolt’s 2030 ambitions for using recycled battery materials are unrealistic.

Emilie Bodoin is the founder and CEO of Pure Lithium a start-up focused on changing the way lithium metal is made and greatly enhancing the quality vs the current state of the art. The original patent for rechargeable lithium batteries goes back to the 1970s and was based on using lithium metal. Technical/safety issues forced a compromise to the current lithium ion design using metal oxides rather than lithium metal.

If Emilie has her way, the next generation of rechargeable lithium batteries will utilize lithium metal and be much more powerful than what we have today. As with all start-ups, risks abound.

I like Emilie’s focus and determination. If you are interested in the future of lithium batteries and lithium raw materials this episode is for you.

The day I met Emilie in New York in early 2019 I also met Paul Graves the CEO of Livent and former podcast guest. At the end of the episode I will discuss Livent’s recently announced plan to be involved in resurrecting the largest value destroying fiasco in lithium history – Nemaska Lithium and why I like the idea.

Last week Altura went into receivership. A day later Pilbara had a conditional deal to purchase their neighbor. Lithium drama has moved, at least temporarily, from the Atacama to the Pilbara. I hope the acquisition happens and ultimately leads to Pilbara vertically integrating via partnerships in Europe and possibly Korea.

In Argentina last week, the government of Salta announced it would allow exportation of lithium brine to have the value addition take place in another country. I think this is a short sighted decision unless it is somehow limited to a brief period of time. I explain the logic behind my thinking.

Last week at the Fastmarkets Lithium Conference the question was asked – does Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) matter? I explain my thoughts on that topic. I also say why I think the conference needs a “makeover” to remain relevant and challenge my buddy Simon Moores who organized the first edition of the conference when he worked for the Fastmarkets (then called Industrial Minerals) to come up with a new and improved conference for the coming “Golden Age” of lithium.

SQM advised me last week what I “have to do” in order for them to be on the podcast….

In episode 83 I have a conversation with a skilled interviewer who talks to me about my three decade “journey” in the lithium world.

Topics include:

Current lithium “state of play”

False lithium narratives

The EU battery build out and need for interdependence in lithium supply

Why do some contemplating EU conversion projects feel carbonate, rather than spodumene, is the best route to battery quality hydroxide?

Why the lithium industry continues to be so misunderstood

Barriers to investment

Is Elon Musk “worth his salt” with respect to lithium?

The future of the cost curve

Why I will never catch up with my daughter’s presence on social media

What is my favorite “type” of lithium?

Why the next lithium shortage will last for years?

The problem with feasibility studies

Why partners matter

Urban Mining

Ganfeng’s strategy

Shout outs to Jon Evans, Dr. Tom Benson and Chris Reed

Why I like LAC and hope Standard Lithium succeeds

Episode 82 features Marco Romero, CEO of Euro Manganese. We discuss the manganese market especially as it relates to lithium batteries and then take a deep dive into the company’s project in the Czech Republic.

In a separate segment of this podcast you will also hear my candid thoughts on Piedmont Lithium’s supply contract with Tesla and SQM’s recent ESG announcement and 2020 sales/production guidance.

The Euro Manganese Project entails re-processing a significant manganese deposit hosted in historic mine tailings, strategically located in the heart of Europe, approximately 90km east of Prague. EMN's goal is to become a leading, competitive and environmentally superior supplier of Ultra-High-Purity Manganese Products, serving both the lithium-ion battery industry, as well as producers of specialty steel and aluminum alloys.

This is a two part episode. The first 20 minutes is episode 81 "Elon Musk: 40 Shades of Battery Grade" a Q&A with questions that resulted from my recent appearance on TC's Chartcast - episode 46. I discussed lithium industry basics with an audience more familiar with EVs than lithum chemicals. I got a few dozen questions after that episode and answer several of them here. Afterwards, I include episode 80 with my comments on Tesla's Battery Day. This episode was originally posted on my website: globallithium.net but so the Anchor catalog is complete I am including it here.

This episode features Vivas Kumar of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence for a second appearance. Vivas has been involved in the battery space since 2017 beginning as the “lithium guy” at Tesla before joining Benchmark.

We cover a wide variety of topics of the day and then focus the conversation on what is going on in the "soon to be very significant” Indian market.

Listen all the way to “rapid fire” and you will find out why Vivas doesn’t want his mother listening to this episode.

Chris Reed, the CEO of Neometals (ASX: NMT), is my guest on episode 78. Chris was the mastermind behind the development of the Mt Marion mine. He wisely brought in two heavyweight partners - Ganfeng and Mineral Resources to ensure guaranteed offtake and timely construction / start-up. Mt Marion is the cornerstone of Ganfeng’s hard rock supply and the first strategic lithium asset in production for Mineral Resources. Chris timed Neometals’ very profitable exit from the project well and retained pro-rata future offtake rights. One of the most forward thinking minds in the lithium world, Chris plans to lead Neometals into the broader battery metals market via “urban mining” – recycling lithium batteries to supply high quality cobalt, nickel and lithium while helping the battery industry greatly lower their carbon footprint. We discuss the current oversupply of spodumene concentrate and where pricing needs to be for newly minted Western Australia mines to survive and then expand to meet the massive growth in lithium demand. Chris and I agree a tight lithium chemicals market and price spike are coming based on the lack of investment in new hard rock and brine capacity in recent years. We examine the two main process categories of recycling and how Neometals will again utilize world class partners to move quickly along the development curve. Chris deconstructs the economics of recycling and where battery metals from urban mining will fit on the various cost curves. The episode concludes by looking at Neometals plans for a lithium hydroxide plant in India with a strategic partner and then move to “rapid fire”. Along the way I add to my vocabulary of Aussie sayings with at least three new ones. The first person that can guess them and leaves me a note on globallithium.net/contact gets a Global Lithium hat. Chris and Neometals COO, Mike Tamlin were the guests on episode 3 “Wizards of Oz” which is still second most popular episode of all 77 prior podcasts based on downloads. As always - thanks to our sponsor Zelandez

Episode 77 of the Global Lithium Podcast: “Gradually then Suddenly”: is a conversation with Roger Atkins.

Roger Atkins of electricvehiclesoutlook.com is one of the top EV voices on the planet with 30 years of auto industry experience.

This conversation is not really about lithium, it is more about the demand drivers of lithium’s future. Anyone interested in batteries, electric mobility, energy storage or the future will benefit from this podcast.

We discuss why OEMs really aren’t as motivated to transition to e-mobility as they like to “advertise”, why Tesla has an almost insurmountable lead in battery and EV technology and move on to the rivalry between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and how the world will benefit from their growing competition. We ponder if Musk and Bezos are the new generation of “Robber Barons” with social media generated halos.

Elon Musk’s admiration for Henry Ford is another topic. We wonder aloud if Elon would benefit from sharing ideas with Henry’s great grandson the current executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company.

Roger explains why simple EV penetration metrics are essentially a meaningless form of what he calls “numerical alliteration”.

We break down the e-mobility world by different types of vehicles and discuss how regional differences impact the development of the market. Some market segments are past the mass adoption “tipping point”, others are not.

Along the way you will hear thoughts about the major battery chemistries and their relative merits. Roger asks me if I think ESS will be a bigger market than e-mobility, the answer may surprise you.

The above, much more and rapid fire.

Alison Dai is the Commercial Director of Chengdu Chemphys, a specialty producer of high purity lithium chemicals. Although less well known than Chinese major producers Ganfeng and Tianqi, Chemphys was active selling high quality lithium chemicals to the difficult to penetrate Japanese and Korean markets long before their larger rivals.

Alison was born in China, raised in Western Australia and left an investment banking career with JP Morgan Chase to return to Chengdu and become involved in the family lithium business.

We discuss the current state of the lithium market and ponder when the the oversupply situation will turn to shortage. I ask Alison about Chemphys plans for both expansion and utilizing partnerships to grow in the international market.

We explore the rise of lithium reprocessors, the challenge of upgrading industrial quality lithium to battery quality and opportunities for Chemphys to help brine producers implement direct lithium extraction.

Alison gives her thoughts on the rise of high nickel cathodes and the recent resurgence of LFP cathode.

And, of course, we close with rapid fire.

My guest for Episode 75 is Gene Morgan the CEO of brine field services provider Zelandez. Gene has an interesting story that starts in New Zealand, moves to oil fields in various parts of the world before an invitation to Bolivia led to both meeting his wife and, ultimately, a career change to lithium.

We discuss the various services Zelandez provides to lithium explorers, developers and producers. Gene has a unique window on the lithium space interacting with a wide array of current and future producers.

Having started my career with an oil exploration and production company I have long believed that the lithium industry has a lot to learn from the much larger and technologically advanced oil business.

If you want to know more about the future of brine production in South America, then this is episode is for you.

The name Zelandez should be familiar to you since they have been a loyal sponsor of the Global Lithium Podcast since the early days.

Episode 74 “Forged in the Fire” features Ken Brinsden the CEO of Pilbara Minerals. Ken is one of my favorite all time guests. He is articulate and forthright in an industry known for opacity.

We cover several topics in 40 minutes including: Pilbara’s recent refinancing, their improved lithium recoveries to the world class level, how Pilbara is dealing with the current challenging market conditions and preparing for the inevitable upturn.

Ken gives his thoughts on the ability of the industry to respond to the anticipated steep growth in lithium demand in the coming decade and the opportunities a global lithium ion battery build out represent for the company.

I ask Ken to comment on Pilbara’s partnership strategy, corporate culture and the growing importance of ESG considerations to those seeking to finance lithium projects.

Ken’s office in Perth is about as far away from my home base in Charlotte as you can be. The normally reliable Zoom connection was stressed a few times but the majority of the episode is fine from a sound perspective.

Thanks to our sponsor - Zelandez

This episode features Pavel Galchenko of Halmek Lithium. Most investors and many analysts following the lithium industry can’t name a Russian producer; however, Pavel is well known by major lithium companies because of the many industry partnerships Halmek has had for distribution, toll production and providing an outlet for low quality lithium carbonate that Halmek has learned to convert into high quality lithium hydroxide. Pavel and his partners at Halmek have made step by step progress from distributing FMC Lithium (Livent) product and US DOE stockpile hydroxide to building their own plant producing industrial grade hydroxide from sourced carbonate to now making battery quality and high purity hydroxide for local and international markets. At some point in time Halmek has also partnered with SQM, Albemarle and Toyota Tsusho/Orocobre. We discuss the history of the Russian lithium market, the difficulties producing high quality hydroxide and the many challenges entering the lithium battery supply chain. Pavel can be found on Twitter @PYasev. This episode was brought to you by Zelandez.

Episode 72 features Dave Buckley one of the few people on the planet to have extensive (more than two decades) experience processing brine and hard rock into carbonate and hydroxide for two major lithium companies followed by half a decade of consulting experience with projects around the world. In addition, Dave also has cathode processing experience.

We cover brine and hard rock processing challenges, issues with expansions in the Atacama, recovery rates, the challenge of producing a higher percentage of battery quality material, DLE, the need for developing lithium talent, hydroxide shelf life and why the “direct” hard rock route to hydroxide is a misnomer.

Dave and I grew both grew up in Western New York and although we didn’t meet until 1992 share a common bond in optimistically suffering through decades of football futility in Buffalo. Dave can be found on Linked In but keeps a very low social media profile.

This is a Q & A episode in two parts. The first part is an abbreviated version of my ‘Ask Me Anything” call with Daniel Graham, a podcast listener from Queenstown, New Zealand. We discuss why I still believe lithium is the best investment among battery raw materials, Tesla, range anxiety, the market for newly designed LFP batteries, lithium metal, ponder if DLE’s potential will be realized or if the industry will have to rely on existing technology for the foreseeable future. I give my thoughts on lithium projects on both sides of the Andes, the importance of project teams and I respond to a “personal question”. In Part II, I answer the question of why even major producers struggle making high percentages of battery quality material. I define the lithium “last mile” problem and answer specific questions about SQM and Standard Lithium. Finally, I discuss why the growth of LFP won’t make life easier for producers as far as quality is concerned. The podcast can be found on the Global Lithium website: www.globallithium.net, Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcast and other major podcast outlets. To ask a question, leave a comment or to submit your name for the next "Ask Me Anything" drawing, please go to www.globallithium.net/contact

My guests are Nano One's CEO, Dan Blondal and CTO, Dr. Stephen Campbell.

We discuss Nano One's recent announcement of a potential game changing process for manufacturing 811 NMC. We cover the resurgence of LFP and developments by BYD and CATL that could enable LFP to compete with high nickel cathodes in EVs. We do a deep dive into cathode technology and debunk some commonly held misconceptions.

Nano One's new cathode materials aim to make rechargeable lithium batteries safer and longer lasting. Their process technology can add value to any type of cathode and enables the use of lithium carbonate as the feedstock for high nickel cathodes.

After listening you will understand much more about cathodes and why producing 811 NMC has been such a challenge. You will also understand why the lithium chemicals market is likely to be balanced between carbonate and hydroxide well into the future despite all the forecasts to the contrary.

This is a Q&A episode that is the result of an “Ask Me Anything” Zoom call with a very well prepared and insightful podcast listener. I am asked how meaningful tracking Gigafactories is when projecting demand. We talk about the continued progress at Tesla and ponder whether “big money” that has recently shown interest in lithium will jump in or “pass”. I am asked if the quality issues at Orocobre “can be fixed?” and what I think about Piedmont. We move to the Atacama: is water really an issue? We discuss SQM’s continued disappointing performance and briefly wonder aloud if the new management at ALB will bring change. I am asked if investing in LAC long term is my “best idea”? What is discussed is very similar to what I do on an expert call. Thanks to our sponsor Zelandez

Mac Whale is back for another discussion of the lithium world, how he looks at markets, the impact of Covid 19 and how that has changed his analysis of future EV/lithium demand. Mac discusses lack of investment in new lithium projects and how that will likely result in a future run-up in prices that may exceed the price spike of 2015-2016.

I close the episode with my thoughts on why there was a very noticeable increase in the price of many lithium stocks in the last week and caution lithium investors not to fall into the trap of short term thinking. I also do a shout out to my daughter Cailin who shares a birthday (June 5th) with the late Breonna Taylor and was inspired to raise more than $10,000 in her memory to promote social change via BLM charities .

Recorded as part of Benchmark's #EVFest, this was the first live edition of the podcast that is now being released as three separate podcast episodes. The first installment is with Robert Mintak, the CEO of Standard Lithium and Andy Robinson the COO. We discuss their unique lithium project which leverages the brine output and infrastructure of the bromine operation of their partner Lanxess. A pilot operation with unique technology has recently started operating bringing a chance for the small town of El Dorado, Arkansas to have a significant position in the "new energy" economy on the one hundred year anniversary of the first major oil strike in that part of Arkansas which ultimately helped create the wealth of the Hunt family of oil, silver and Super Bowl fame. Listen and enjoy.

Dr. Rene LeBlanc is my guest for Episode 65. Rene is a PhD Chemical Engineer with extensive experience in the lithium/battery space. After a decade with Livent/FMC Lithium, Dr. LeBlanc moved on to Tesla where one of his responsibilities was evaluating potential lithium suppliers on a global basis. After a couple years at Tesla, Rene moved back to the lithium world where he now serves as Chief Technical Officer of Lithium Americas. In his current role, Rene brings his technical acumen to bear on LAC’s two world class lithium projects – Cauchari in Argentina and Thacker Pass in Nevada.

I worked with Rene for several years. I consider Rene the world’s foremost technical expert in the production of lithium hydroxide as well as one of the most knowledgeable people on planet with respect to resource development whether it be brine, hard rock or sedimentary assets.

We discuss the key criteria for lithium resource evaluation, quality metrics, qualification protocols for suppliers, reprocessing, the trade-offs of using various cathodes, future demand expectations for carbonate and hydroxide and more.

It is my privilege to count some of the world’s greatest experts in lithium, cathode and battery as personal friends. Rene is certainly in that group.

The is a special double episode with one of the best minds in the lithium/cathode/battery arena – Dr Yuan Gao. I have been proud to call Yuan my friend for nearly a quarter of a century. In today’s episode we discuss new safety regulations for the China EV market that will take effect in January. The new rules will likely have an impact on cathode/battery pack choices in China – perhaps for several years. You will learn the details. The new content is about 30 minutes – as a bonus I have included episode 43 which was recorded in Santiago, Chile in June, 2019. Even if you listened last year, you will likely learn something new listening again. For new listeners, I absolutely recommend E43. I edited out first few minutes so it begins with questions rather than the lengthy intro.

Thanks to our sponsor Zelandez. If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe via you favorite podcast provider. In part 2 of my discussion with Jose Hofer we cover several topics including: ongoing quality issues in the lithium world that are dealt with by sending material to re-processors. How does the need for another link in the supply chain impact qualification by cathode and battery makers? We move on to the current status of the (slower than anticipated) rise of NMC cathode and what the 2025 demand balance between carbonate and hydroxide is likely to be. We ponder how improved LFP implementation technologies developed by BYD and CATL will impact the use of this low cost cathode in mid market EVs. We consider the topic of ESG (environmental, social & government) issues and discuss VW's recent visit to the Atacama – was “industrial tourism” or something much more serious that the lithium industry needs to deal with? Next we ponder the question if DLE (direct lithium extraction) will ever become mainstream after more the 15 years of seeking commercialization. We reject the notion that Livent’s process at Hombre Muerto is DLE which some have posited of late in an attempt claim DLE is already commercial. We end with some rapid fire questions.

Benchmark's Jose Hofer is my guest for part one of a two part episode. Jose is a mining engineer educated in both Chile and the US. He has a great breadth of experience for someone so young. Prior to Benchmark, Jose was with "Big 4" lithium producer SQM. In part one we focus on the impact of the Corona Virus on lithium demand, supply and price which, of course, can't be meaningfully discussed without addressing the current global economic situation. In part two we get into a detailed discussion of industry quality issues, the rise of lithium re-processors and much more. The podcast is brought to you by brine field services company Zelandez.

In today's episode we hear how people from Australia to the US & Canada to Bolivia and the UK are coping with the global "lockdown" or "shelter in place" orders. Some names like Chris Berry aka "the voice of reason" and Alexi Zawadzki aka "the biggest feet in lithium" are well known to Global Lithium Podcast listeners. Other names such as Gene Morgan (Zelandez), Big Ben Ash (Benchmark), Alex Rubin (Bisley & Co) and Stu Crow (Lake Resources) a little less so. The second half of the podcast is more traditional. I do two brief interviews. The first with my daughter, Erin and her husband Joe. They live in New York, the epicenter of the virus in the US and are making the best of it. Due to a bandwidth issue and Zoom freezing for a few seconds there is a brief bit of "dead air". The second interview is with my younger daughter Cailin who lives Los Angeles. Cailin is holding up well - working from her small apartment. I ask my daughters the same rapid fire question. The answers are strangely similar. The podcast closes with a brief and positive message from my former driver and current friend Philip Wu. According to Philip, the situation in Shanghai is quite normal now. Philip's advice to us is stay inside and wait it out.

This episode features five guests - each gives his unique perspective regarding how the Corona Virus is impacting where they live. We hear from podcast newcomer Alex Cheeseman of Altura Mining and four podcast veterans - Benchmark's Simon Moores, Mac Whale from Cormark, Daniel Jimenez and David Guerrero aka "the Last Samurai of Brine". In addition to the guest's commentary I provide some thoughts on the market and why I think those projecting large supply increases over the next 24 months have it wrong. In addition to this podcast I was also on the S&P Global Platts Battery Metals podcast which you can find here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/battery-metals-podcast/id1418058093

Much of the western world is still in the early days of dealing with the "Corona Virus Storm". China and Korea have shown us the storm will pass but it takes proper response and time to effectively deal with global outbreak. It is still too early to accurately predict the impact on the lithium, battery and EV markets but I share some thoughts on possible outcomes. I also give my thoughts on what I believe is a false narrative regarding China dominating the lithium, battery & EV markets.

I am repeating one of the top episodes from season one of the Global Lithium Podcast. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's Simon Moores and Andy Miller are the guests. We cover the "Rise of Benchmark" discussing their place in the industry providing price insights and commentary critical to various battery industry stakeholders. You will learn about various types of lithium contracts, offtake agreements vs supply agreements and what makes an agreement "bankable". We learn why the deeply ingrained concept of "spot" price is a misnomer. We discuss the different contracting philosophies of various industry players and how lithium, the Atacama and James Bond are connected. Before all that I also speak to recent price activity and some industry misinformation. And, yes, you will actually hear me say spot price in my comments when I should have said short term price.... mea culpa.

Dean Frankel from Solid State Battery developer Solid Power is back for a longer complement to the short part I we recorded a few weeks ago.

We review what makes a battery solid state, discuss Solid Power's plans to bring a much higher energy density battery to market. We get into the battery components and the lithium intensity of various cell designs. Along with lithium intensity we discuss the lithium chemical raw material supply implications to accommodate a meaningful entry of solid state batteries into the EV market.

We review the options for getting lithium metal into a solid state battery and potential routes to the lithium sulfide which Solid Power will also require.

Along the way we discuss the recent news stories that both BYD and Tesla have plans to implement a new LFP battery design to capture share in the EV market that were previously thought to require nickel cathodes. In addition to the LFP stories we discuss Dean's thoughts on GM's recent announcement about their NMCA plans.

The podcast ends with one of the more interesting rapid fire answers I have had.

Recorded on 2/29 in Tokyo. I discuss the recent LFP buzz after people learned that both BYD and Tesla plan to use a newly designed LFP battery which will have much higher energy density. I also discuss the impact of the Coronavirus on the lithium world, supply chains, etc. My early 2020 demand forecast will have to be redone based on the impact of the virus. I am celebrating the 20th anniversary of moving my family to Japan today and talk a little bit about that.

Episode 11 was recorded in Salta, Argentina in June 2018 as one of two "Father's Day" episodes.

One of my all time favorite episodes, my guests are lithium experts: Dr Daniel Galli, his son Carlos Galli and the "Last Samurai of Brine" David Guerrero. They do a great job of simplifying some of the complexities of producing lithium chemicals from brine. I do a short intro discussing what I feel are the key takeaways from this episode.

I also tell "speed listeners" how far to skip ahead if they prefer not to listen to the "intro banter" of the old podcast format. In any case - listeners will come away with a better understanding of brine chemistry and what REALLY makes Battery Quality lithium chemicals.

I am off to Battery Japan next week. Expect a podcast from the "Land of the Rising Sun".

In preparation for a planned March podcast recording with Solid Power's Dean Frankel, we decided to test the quality of recording on Zoom's video conferencing platform. What was planned as a combination "sound check" and the recording of a trailer (another first for this podcast) morphed into Part One of a two part discussion.

We find out how Dean came to work at Solid Power. We learn what defines "solid state" and the potential for better safety performance along with increased energy density. We move on to Solid Power's thinking regarding both their target market and the roadmap to commercialization. Next we delve into ongoing development challenges and finally touch on the lithium raw material implications in a solid state battery world. During rapid fire, you will hear from Solid Power newbie Will McKenna.

"Part Two" will be recorded in March.

In this episode we discuss the recent announcement by Lithium Americas regarding a transaction with their partner Ganfeng Lithium. The agreement will result in benefits to both parties. Guests Mac Whale of Cormark and LAC CEO Jon Evans will give their perspective on the deal.

Note: Mac misspeaks on the project valuation implied by the 1% of the project Ganfeng is purchasing. (1% at $16 million = a valuation of $1.6 billion).

I also discuss the recent run-up in Tesla stock and caution lithium investors not to get too excited about the likely short term impact Tesla's performance has had on certain lithium stocks. I wish Luke Kissam, CEO of Albemarle, "Godspeed" in dealing with his recently disclosed health issue. I also briefly discuss the coronavirus and potential impacts it may have on 2020 in the lithium world.

One of my objectives in starting the Global Lithium Podcast was to use it as a tool to learn from the best minds in the industry. After recording over 50 episodes, a great deal of valuable knowledge has been disseminated by my guests. Beginning this week I will, on a bi-weekly basis, repost some of the best episodes and provide commentary on what I feel the major "take aways" are. Although the lithiumpodcast.com website is still available, eventually all the episodes with guests will appear on this platform with updates and additional comments. Although I personally know many of my guests well, I learn something new each time I listen and I believe your experience will be the same. I appreciate that listening to podcasts a second time isn't for everyone which is why "Archive" episodes will be stated upfront. The Ganfeng "Not Lost in Translation" episode is one of the best not so much for the technical information revealed but more it is a "rags to riches" story about how initially one man's vision and later a "dynamic duo" can change an industry by defying conventional wisdom. I learn from Li Liangbin and Wang Xiaoshen each time we meet. It has been a privilege to watch my two friends have great success and to have been in a small way part of that success.

On this episode we cover everything from the twitter hype over the recent rains in the Argentina Pune and what impact it may have on production to the steadily dropping spodumene prices impacting WA producers to the EV limiting battery shortage claimed by Daimler. I am asked what a new constitution would do to lithium production in Chile and what impact the new virus in China may have on a recovery in lithium prices. Finally I respond to the often asked question of "why aren't there more women guests on the podcast?" My apologies that I didn't have time to answer every question. I am trying to keep Q&A episodes in the 25 minute range.

This episode is a result of a chance meeting in Buenos Aires after seeing a tweet by James Ellsmoor aka the Digital Nomad. James has been on my list of potential podcast guests for several months so it seemed fate intervened to make this episode happen. James is an advocate for sustainability and renewables projects in rural areas and remote islands around the world. A millennial that has started several ventures but never had a "real job" is an interesting departure from my typical podcast guest.

James can be found on twitter: @jellsmoor and on Linked In and Facebook.

This is another episode that was enabled by being able to quickly respond to the opportunity via use of my Iphone to record.

In addition to speaking with James, I briefly discuss the situation in Argentina, Bolivia's new "Lithium Czar", Drama in the Atacama and the recent run-up in the stock price of junior lithium stocks.

Please note that after initial publication of this episode I inserted an "errata clip" to correct the fact that that I misspoke about Argentina's opponent in the 1986 world cup final - it was West Germany not England. The "hand of God" goal by Diego Maradona was actually in the quarterfinal final match vs England. Lesson: never listen to an American talking about futbol.

Trivia: The picture of the Global Lithium hat was taken one year ago today in a fjord in northern Norway near Tromso.

The Global Lithium Podcast adapts the format for the "Lithium Decade". One host, with co-hosts from time to time, same focus on high quality guests on the long version and answering your questions on Q&A episodes. For now, Anchor will be the podcast home but we will remain available on Apple, Spotify and other major platforms. This episode was recorded in Reno, Nevada. My guests are Dr. Rene LeBlanc, CTO of Lithium Americas and Alexi Zawadzki, President of Lithium Nevada. We discuss recent developments at the Cauchari and Thacker Pass Projects before delving into other areas. I ask and Rene explains why it is a misnomer to say "it is too difficult to make battery grade carbonate at altitude". We both worked for FMC Lithium (now Livent) in a day when Hombre Muerto produced an excellent battery quality product above 4,000 meters in Catamarca Province Argentina. I provide some comments on Livent's recent earnings guidance and make some brief comments on pricing and other pertinent topics. We have a cameo appearance by long time friend of the podcast Randall Burns of LAC while I ride across Reno in his EV and am chastised by Alexi for not owning a Tesla yet. Things get loud during the "five guys in a bar segment" when Alexi asks a broader group if you could go back an be alive for any one day in history - what would it be? This episode was recorded on my IPhone - please keep that in mind as you listen. I did not travel with a mic or recording software but didn't want to miss the opportunity to record the first long form episode of the new decade. Sponsorshi

On this episode of the podcast I have two great guests- Daniel Jimenez, Managing Director of iLi Markets and former VP at SQM plus Jingwen Sun of Minmetals Securities who give their thoughts on the market in 2020. I say 2020 a couple of times when I meant to say 2019 towards the end of the podcast but likely context will bail me out... This episode goes a little long (30 min) as I also give my thoughts on each of the "Big 4" Lithium Producers as we move into the "Decade of Lithium". I also respond to the question: “what is the status of the Global Lithium Podcast?”.

Mac Whale is my guest. He gives his thoughts on stocks in 2020. I talk about why I believe there is one more step down in price before the bottom, Nemaska seeks protection from creditors, why I sold Livent, 2020 contract prices and SQM's recent behavior in China.

This has been a tough year for the lithium market. I would love to tell you 2020 is going to be much better but I think we will have to wait for 2021 for a significant positive change. Why? You have to listen to find out.

This episode features Vivas Kumar of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Vivas was previously with Tesla. We discuss e-mobility, the "Manhattan Project" like effort the US needs to catch up in the "battery arms race", millennial attitudes towards mining and much more.

Jose Hofer is a rare breed in the lithium world. He has experience working for a major producer (SQM) and now the freedom to leverage his knowledge as a senior analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. I have known Jose since shortly after he entered the lithium world. One of his first mentors at SQM was Daniel Jimenez, a past guest of both the Global Lithium Podcast and this podcast. Jose also known as "titanium fingers" based on his guitar prowess is someone I believe you will be hearing from for a long time.

The first Global Lithium Podcast guest makes his initial appearance on Global Lithium Q&A. Chris Berry of House Mountain Partners answers my question and then I answer two listener questions. Run time: ~18 minutes

A Cyber Monday special - I am posting E53 of the Global Lithium Podcast on the Q&A site and later today will post a regular Global Lithium Q&A episode with Chris Berry aka "The Voice of Reason".

I spent the past week in Japan and China meeting leading cathode and battery producers. I give you my "take aways" on the transition to high nickel cathode, price and quality. I also make comments on the SQM earnings call and Galaxy's recent Sal de Vida announcement.

Joe and Emily are joined in Los Angeles by the newly minted “geek squad,” the label intended as the ultimate compliment to four technical experts. All are veterans of the podcast.

We are guided through the lithium value chain from the ground to lithium chemicals to cathode and ultimately the battery. Dr. Tom Benson of Lithium Americas shares how lithium is formed inside the earth, and how the fact that lithium “Can’t Be Tamed” is what makes it so practical for batteries. Dr. Yuan Gao of Pulead and now a Lithium Americas Board Member takes us through extracting lithium from raw materials and making cathodes. Dr. Gao, or the “Lithium OG”, explains the concept of excess lithium and why it matters even more in a high nickel world. Dr. Dr. Rene LeBlanc of Lithium Americas explains how the process to separate lithium can be the reverse of how it's formed, and shares how the physical separation process for the sedimentary material at Thacker Pass is like the process for extracting gold.. Dan Blondal of Nano One explains the different purposes served by cobalt, as a stabilizer of layered nickel structure or active material in LCO batteries.

We give a shout out to the Real Clear Politics discussion of Minerals: The Overlooked Foundations of our Future, where Emily was a panelist and felt like she knew the cool kids when Alexi Zawadski and Thacker Pass were name dropped by Carl Cannon, Executive Editor & Washington Bureau Chief of RealClearPolitics, as a carbon-neutral project.

Our guests close with what they experience as most misunderstood lithium myths, and as always we end with rapid fire questions.

This episode reviews some highlights from Cathodes 2019 and my feedback to listeners on their criticism of the podcast. One gaffe is when I say spodumene carbonate instead of spodumene concentrate but most of you would understand what I meant anyway.

Questions about Ponds, ALB earnings, Price and the Future

Five questions: from Livent earnings to why I am critical of ALB but not of Ganfeng. Does Bolivia matter? Do I ignore Altura? plus rapid fire.

More on the social unrest situation in Chile. In this episode we hear from Alonso Barros, an attorney and Cambridge PhD. Alonso is involved in many things, among them serving as an advisor to various Indigenous Groups in Chile. Dr. Barros knows the details of the situation between various stakeholders in the world's largest lithium brine producing region well.

This is a special episode of Global Lithium Q&A with guests former SQM Commercial VP Daniel Jimenez and Alejandro Hess. Both gentlemen are from Chile and provide local insights to the current situation of social unrest along with the potential short and long term impacts on the lithium industry.

It has been a busy week for announcements in the lithium world. I cover the topics in the title and answer a couple rapid fire questions.

If you have been blocked by me on Twitter there is probably a good reason but feel free to voice message me via Anchor and tell me why I shouldn't have blocked you in the first place.

A large number of questions came in after episode 1: I answer four of them including: the hydroxide shelf life issue, "are we at a market bottom?" , the value of Fastmarkets' pricing product, and my take on Russia pursuing a lithium project in Chile. Of course there is a rapid fire question.