Rights Issue, page-17

• To meet lithium demand in the Paris-aligned scenario, by 2030 we would need 20 more mines the size of Greenbushes in WA, currently the world’s largest: WoodMac
• Can solid state batteries complete on cost? Not this decade
• Near term miner AVZ hits another all time high

Our High Voltage column wraps all the news driving ASX stocks with exposure to lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, rare earths, and vanadium.

These are latest forecasts for metals demand in two scenarios: WoodMac’s base case forecast, in blue, and a Paris-aligned scenario on track to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees, in green:

The difference is enormous, WoodMac’sEd Crooks says.

“To meet that demand for lithium, for example, in the Paris-aligned scenario, by 2030 we would need 20 more mines the size of Greenbushes in Western Australia, currently the world’s largest,” he says.

The monster Greenbushes mine next to its namesake town in South West WA. It’s like the Kalgoorlie Super Pit of lithium. Pic: Google Earth

Twenty additional world class mines in less than a decade.The process from exploration, through to resource definition and mining studies, financing and construction takes five years at the very least.

WoodMac is sceptical it can be achieved.


High Voltage: We need to build 20 large lithium mines by 2030 to hit Paris targets - *