Lithium mining and Electric cars batteries report
Post date: Jan 9, 2011 10:36:00 AM
High on Lithium
With oil prices edging closer to $100 per barrel,
the chatter about electric cars is again on the rise
Talison Lithium Ltd. (TSX:TLH), based in Australia
Western Lithium USA Corp.'s (TSX.V:WLC;PK:WLCDF)
King's Valley lithium project in Nevada
In Chile, off of the Atacama Desert, you're going to see grades of 2,000 parts per million (ppm) of lithium. That's at the top of the range
Who are the major lithium players at this stage?
There are four major Lithium producers
3 produce from brine deposits in South America
Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE:SQM; SN:SQM), which is the Chilean national mining and chemical company;
FMC Lithium (NYSE:FMC),
which is part of FMC Corporation; and Chemetall, which is part of Rockwood Holdings, Inc (NYSE:ROC).
Talison Lithium
Talison really dominates the market for lithium that's used to manufacture glass and ceramics. But they also sell a fair bit of their lithium to companies in China that produce battery-grade lithium.
Greenbushes Lithium
Operation in Western Australia, and, as you said,
that's a hard rock deposit. They produce a mineral called spodumene. The theoretical limit on lithium concentration in spodumene is about 8% lithium
What's the life expectancy of that operation? 20 - 40 YEARS
That's one of the reasons there are no other major hard rock suppliers because the primary market for that material is glass and ceramics. When you have something that's as inexpensive to produce as the spodumene from that high-quality deposit, it's very, very difficult for anybody else to get into that game.
Lithium batteries
are light, and have a low self-discharge rate
at about five per cent a month.Lithium-ion batteries have a long shelf life, but eventually they stop holding their charge. They are extremely toxic and need to be recycled.
Mining for Lithium at Salar de Uyuni Bolivia
Lithium mining
Lithium mining is largely dependent on chemistry. The costs really scale with the individual deposit and with the individual chemistry of the brine, if it's a brine deposit.
Brine deposits
You want to find the companies that can produce lithium inexpensively. Frankly, that tends to limit you to looking at brine deposits.
Sanyo Japan making batteries for Volkswagen, Suzuki
Japan's Sanyo doubling its plant production capacity for lithium-ion batteries. Sanyo has contracts to supply Volkswagen and Suzuki. The company says that the market for lithium over the next 10 years will average $6 billion a year. It's worth about $4 billion now. Do we have enough lithium to meet that demand?
Lithium batteries are not used in electric vehicles today.
The batteries in the Honda Insight or the Toyota Prius, today, are all nickel-metal-hydride batteries
Nissan LEAF,
it uses about 4 kg Lithium metal / car
or about 21 kg. of lithium-carbonate equivalent
Last year, the demand for lithium was about 100,000 tons.
(We usually quote the amount of lithium shipped in the world as lithium-carbonate equivalent because it's a nice, benign chemical.)
Major increase in the price of lithium per ton: $6,500
Lithium not on London stock market, but by deal
But the price for lithium is not set like copper or nickel prices on the London Metals Exchange. Lithium prices are determined by buyers and sellers working out agreements with each other
Orocobre Limited (TSX:ORL; ASX:ORE).
signed an offtake agreement and development program with Toyota Tsusho. Equity injection by Toyota into Orocobre's Salar de Olaroz lithium project in Argentina.
Lithium Americas Corp. (TSX:LAC).
with a target price of $2.50. It's trading around $1.90 now
They have lithium supply agreements with both Magna International Inc. (NYSE:MGA; TSX:MG) and Mitsubishi Corporation
Deposits in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia
that make them so prospective for lithium?
The salty brine has a high enough concentration of lithium to make it worthwhile to process. But it also has a low enough concentration of contaminants that those materials don't negatively impact the cost of the lithium. That has made the South American desert one of the least expensive places in the world from which to source lithium.
Tibet. China.
the lithium concentration is low and the concentration of some contaminants, like magnesium, is relatively high. That, unfortunately, has made those deposits uneconomic to mine.
Western Lithium, Nevada
The company has a clay deposit, the King's Valley lithium project in northern Nevada. King's Valley probably contains a never-ending stream of lithium. It's in the United States, so the political risk is minimal. Battery-grade lithium, at a very reasonable cost. The cost outlined in its study would make Western Lithium one of the least expensive producers of battery-grade lithium in the world.
Rodinia Lithium Inc.'s (TSX.V:RM; OTCQX:RDNAF) Argentina
Salar de Diablillos lithium brine project in Argentina
looks like a good one
Brine vs Hard rock
With brine, for example, lithium production is dependent on the weather, so guaranteed delivery can become an issue. Production of lithium from hard rock or clay is nearly certain and independent of the weather
source: stockhouse.com
click to enlarge source: dailymail.co.uk