This could be a bigger issue for the Li market than many people realise - and very positive for hard rock Lithium producers. Put yourself in GE's shoes... battery quality is a non-negotiable, as is the necessity of not abdicating a place in the EV and battery storage revolution underway. So what will they do? - for one, want to be less dependent on China for batteries - so they will look for suppliers they can rely on - Japan, S Korea. But they may also look at doing a Tesla style approach in the US. All this means is that the ability to produce good quality batteries needs good quality feedstocks of lithium. The quality issues in China are to do with their brine lithium which I understand is not as good as brine Li coming out of S America - hence the drop in internal spot prices in China, which has contributing to spooking the market (in the absence of alternative pricing transparency). The Chinese CAN make high quality batteries - but they need the good quality material from Aus if they are going down the hard rock route. All this will make the major car manufacturers who are depending on China very nervous from a quality/reliability perspective (hello BMW...?).
I am seeing all the pieces coming together (this, plus others such as the water issues in the Atacama) which will all lead to the Lithium 3.0 bull run - here's hoping. It's long overdue! KDR and other other Aussie Li Stocks are beautifully positioned, and current way underpriced.
KDR Price at posting:
$1.19 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
