Hi happydayz, maybe you are right but my view is that big players with the long view are still moving the pieces around on the board .
As to this ‘game’;
Does everyone sit back and let China ‘take all’ or is there a way for one of the Australian iron ore majors to stay on good terms with Chinese customers yet secure a lithium stake for itself?
I think, like AJM, PLS is still looking for more funding for ongoing development?
And smack in the middle of them Fortescue holds tenements and is ramping up exploration ?
(I only just saw
@KBN ’s link in the PLS thread
28368720, saying Fortescue purchased tenements in between PLS and AJM several years ago.)
Potentially one buyer could take all?
And the cheaper the better ..
FWIW, here’s a bit more out of an AFR investigation team’s report I mentioned elsewhere the other day ;
https://www.copyright link/business...he-next-industrial-revolution-20190515-p51ngs“How China will rule the next industrial revolution....
....
.....Moving into AustraliaIn a cash-strapped industry, Chinese firms are financing mine expansion and new development in exchange for a guaranteed supply of lithium in both mature and emerging markets.
In Argentina, where President Mauricio Macri is eliminating mineral export taxes, reducing corporate tax rates, and allowing profit repatriation, China is establishing a dominant position in the nascent sector with “streaming deals”, which provide development capital in exchange for future lithium yields to help projects get off the ground. Chinese firms, led by Ganfeng, have stakes in 41 per cent of the country’s big planned projects that account for 37 per cent of Argentina’s reserves. This raw-material strategy is already coming to fruition: Lithium export volumes from Argentina to China rose nearly fourfold from 2015 to 2017, and China has secured access to the country's lithium for the longer term.
This same strategy, combined with asset acquisition, has also been successful in Australia, whose proximity to China, significant lithium reserves, and broad political support for mining investment have attracted Chinese investment. Tianqi and Ganfeng have established stakes in 91 per cent of the lithium mining projects under way and 75 per cent of the country’s reserves, including some of the world’s largest. By taking over Talison Lithium, Tianqi captured a majority stake in the Greenbushes mine, which accounts for roughly 40 per cent of global lithium production. Together, Chinese firms have secured deals with nine of the 11 major operations and projects in the pipeline in Australia, two-thirds of which are exclusive.”.....
(20min delay)