Reaffirmed many good Li points.
Good to see more large banks giving Lithium a green light.
Deutsche Bank are one of the big boys!
This opens the gates for more investors to invest and that helps ALL Lithium stock inflows.
Millennial Lithium drilling at their Pastos Grandes project in Argentina, Image courtesy of Market One Media
Junior miners vie for opportunities in innovating green energy sector
Industrial demand for lithium is hitting the mining sector — and consumers of energy and technology — in a series of huge waves.
The first, powered by compact and efficient rechargeable lithium-ion batteries enabled widespread consumer adoption of smartphones and tablets.
The second consumer wave,which has yet to crest, is the growing adoption of plug-in electric vehicles, or EVs, as practical alternatives to private automobiles powered by internal combustion engines. New manufacturers such as Tesla, as well as traditional ones including Ford, Chevrolet and Mercedes Benz, are in a fierce rush to meet the expectations of a millennial generation of consumers looking to shrink their environmental footprints by opting for lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared to up the ante for home-based green energy systems with an October 2016 announcement that he wants to commercialize the manufacture of solar photovoltaic roof panels that look like conventional roof tiles. Tesla, which recently acquired solar energy company SolarCity (also chaired by Musk), announced an update on its lithium ion household electricity storage battery, Powerwall 2, which offers twice the power of the original — and presents homeowners with an off-grid option for electric car charging.
The third and largest wave, utility-scale energy storage, is still gathering momentum according to a recent report by Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank envisions huge high-capacity storage battery units revolutionizing electricity grids. These units would give utilities the option to store large volumes of power for peak demand cycles — and lower day-to-day costs by deferring expensive new electricity generation projects.
It’s not just an opportunity for utilities. A household equipped with small wind turbines and solar panels on its roof can bank that energy in a battery for later use. For example, you could collect solar power in the daytime, then draw down the battery at night to keep the lights on.
“The emergence of the electric vehicle and energy storage markets is being driven by a global desire to reduce carbon emissions and break away from traditional infrastructure networks,” Deutsche Bank states.
“Consumers are aware of their reliance on carbon fuels and seek to break away from traditional infrastructure networks, while not accepting any impact to quality of living.”
“Deutsche Bank has identified over 25 battery applications within the energy storage sector, and calculates that the top five, including grid management and peak demand support, will account for more than 95 per cent of lithium ion battery use in 2019, up from 56 per cent in 2015. It anticipates a fivefold increase in global battery consumption over the next decade, placing pressure on the battery supply chain.”
As the United States Geological Society noted in a recent brief, “Lithium supply security has become a top priority for technology companies in the United States and Asia. Strategic alliances and joint ventures between technology companies and exploration companies have been, and are continuing to be, established to ensure a reliable, diversified supply of lithium for battery suppliers and vehicle manufacturers.”
A recent report from Swiss Resource Capital AG describes lithium as “the energy storage medium of the future.” It quotes Commodity Capital CEO Tobias Tretter, manager of an internationally focused lithium index fund, as saying that the fundamentals for the metal are strong.
Stetter suggested many new exploration companies that rushed to take advantage of a recent surge of investor interest in lithium wouldn’t survive as the sector consolidates over the next couple of years. “This will ensure that the ‘promotion’ companies disappear and the investors will focus once again on the companies with the best management teams and the best projects.”
“I see prices staying strong for quite a number of years,” Scarr said, “in contrast to a lithium boom-bust cycle five years ago.” “This year we saw a dramatic increase in prices, driven by literally panic in the streets, particularly in Asia. That price increase is a simple, direct function of supply and demand. At this point, some eight to twenty thousand tonnes added capacity is required each year, and that demand growth is increasing year-by-year. I don’t see it slowing for the good part of a decade.”
Scarr thinks juniors have the advantage over the majors, which can “almost maintain the growing base load but aren’t quick or flexible enough to take advantage of surging demand.”
“The majors today are mainly operators of cash-cow facilities, not niche designers and innovators. Yes they can hire talent, but they have no real inherent advantage, other than existing customers — assuming they have treated those customers right and while some have, others have not.”
Scarr said Millennial will advance its projects by “focusing on the fastest path to cash flow. This has become our mantra: cash flow first, improvements and expansion later.
“To make sense of it all, we must stay abreast of market trends and technology, while keeping an eye on the traditional cost drivers.”
Stevenson echoes Deutsche Bank’s projection that electricity generation sector — the “power wall” — will be the biggest catalyst for growth in lithium demand in the next few years.
“If that starts to take hold, demand for lithium goes through the roof.”
AJM Price at posting:
14.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
