I agree Whisky....volume cars which promote mass adoption, will require a greater volume of lithium overall.......specifically, more CARBONATE.
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A poster her a few weeks back stated-Carbonate is bad business....
I too used to think this, and was a big fan of hydroxide...but have shifted my thinking.
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Carbonate is not bad business...not when you consider the recent shift and proliferation of the LFP battery.
There certainly is a place for it in the market, and it is now growing its application, as we are seeing a BIG shift to LFP batteries in Asia and Nth America, primarily due to cost.
The biggest emerging sector of EV's is the non premium offerings in each range, as well as dedicated urban or city cars, which will not cost a small fortune.
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This will be big.
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Small city car ranges and cheaper base model Tesla's, Ford F150's, Ram's, Silverado's etc....will eventually make up the majority of sales.
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Although Carbonate does have many alternate sources of supply, which has seen its current price fall heavily, mainly in China, the IRA will protect SYA's market from the importation of these mostly Chinese sources, which are also of very low grade.
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The other aspect of carbonate is it can be tolled.
It has the flexibility to be sent off for conversion to hydroxide, which Rodney Hooper recently quoted as around US$2000/t.
So SYA could have the flexibility to sell hydroxide through a third party tolling arrangement...if required, which some Chinese refiners are currently doing.
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Another point about hydroxide is that many current projects, particularly DLE, are planned to produce hydroxide, so within the next 3-5 years, we will see a lot more hydroxide come onto the market...will they be able to adapt to carbonate if required?...probably not.
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The other aspect is NAL's mantra of speed and tonnage.
The speed of tonnage is being addressed by NAL's rapid restart,and the most aggressive drilling campaign in Canada this year.
Speed they have so far been on point with.
Speed also applies to the carbonate plant, even if some here feel PLL will drag the chain and delay it as long as possible.
However, there has been a distinct shift in rhetoric from Keith this year, so I don't think this will be the case and I think by mid-late 2025 they will be getting close to commissioning and initial trialling and testing.
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The other point is our continued, and longstanding involvement with Richard Hunwick and ICS.
This has been going on for a few years now and recently received a boost with further funding from the Quebec government.
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I WILL NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE A BOLT ON ICS HYDROXIDE PLANT OPTION IN THIS PFS OR IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
Although the greater probability is it will be further developed and used for the Norther hub.
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It makes sense to me to not only upgrade the carbonate plant, but to build the additional circuit, a bolt on hydroxide plant, in tandem and have the option as a producer to sell both.
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So regardless of the refined product 'flavour of the month', you are covered....
Anyway, let's see what this carbonate PFS has to offer, hopefully we will have it this week ...or next...
(20min delay)