Thanks for clarifying my suspicions
@Green Bull. I guess traders like to try finalize their profits for tax considerations? The uncertainty the new budget brings would be a factor also?
Either way I think the next lithium wave will be unstoppable. The Telsa factor is good but China is the major player on the lithium scene (their fresh air depends on it) and the fact Bruce can speak fluent Mandarin has to help in business dealings with the Chinese. Let's face it China has their fingers in everything. I think Tesla won't be the only one building mega factorys in America. He will be competing with them to secure market control in the race to become the most cost-effective EV and storage manufacturer. In turn this will drive prices of EV related metals up. People always want quality and brand names but more often than not they will settle for a little less quality if the product is cheaper, we are all guilty of it and you know it. If ANS can cut their evaporation times down or if they don't have to evaporate at all and pump straight to a processing plant their profit margins would be hard to compete with. Epecially when you compare brine to open cut hard rock mining operations. Don't forget Mr. Wu Xiaonian is the number one shareholder in ASN (closely followed by Bruce) and is the Chairman and son of the founder of Shanxi Jianbang Group Co and they signed an MOU with them in may last year. For those who don't know how big this company is here is a copy and past from their website.
"The Shanxi Jianbang Group was founded in 1988 by Mr. Wu Jianbang as a manufacturer of steel woks and other steel products. The company remains privately owned by the relatives of the founder with the majority owned by his son, the current Chairman of the Group, Mr. Wu Xiaonian. Since becoming Chairman of the company in 2008, Mr. Wu Xiaonian has led a rapid expansion of the steel making business.
By 2014, the company has grown to have an annual production capacity of 7 million tons, 4600 employees and with 7.3 billion RMB total assets. In 2014, Jianbang realized 10.6 billion RMB output and 301.4 million RMB gross profit. Full-year totals imported iron ore 4.4 million tons, and value of imports and exports was 57.2 billion, accounting for 85% of the total imports and exports of Linfen City, ranking first in Linfen and fourth in Shanxi Province.
Jianbang is an integrated, medium-sized group with cross-regional business, and cross-industry development. The business projects are as follows: import and export trade (qualified to import our own iron ore), power generation, building materials, iron making, steelmaking, rolling, casting, rubber products, and railway transport service. The group annually produces: 3 million tons pig iron (including 1 million tons high quality ductile cast iron); 4 million tons steel; 1.2 billion kwh of power, and 300,000 tons precision castings. Jianbang also produces 2.1 million tons cement mix from blast furnace slag water, and the integrated site has the capacity to supply 6 million tons. Jianbang Group has thus formed a virtual cycle industrial chain: gas fired power generation, electro-iron making, iron casting, steel rolling, and construction materials production from slag."
It could be possible they want to diversify because of the drop in iron ore prices or do they want lithium/ graphite so they can build their own battery's to store all that energy or can they use graphite in their steel?
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/03/0...factory-support-electrified-byd-truck-growth/
Food for thought would love to hear everybody's opinions!
(20min delay)