The Global Lithium Podcast

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 when Matt, Travis and JD quit their day jobs to begin building a “media empire.” I met them on a trip to Australia in September and 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

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.

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

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

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 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