Ongoing SP Discussion, page-75

Lithium demand will lift 1100% from ~400,000 to 4.4 billion tonnesNatural graphite demand grows by 700%Demand for nickel grows from ~2.6mtpa to 5.8mtpaRare earths neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) face “a step change” in demand from ~30ktpa towards ~100ktpaCobalt demand to expand over the next decade from around 120ktpa to over 400ktpaAnd by 2030, copper consumption in EVs — which averages 90kg vs 20kg in ICE vehicles — will represent 4.4mt of copper demand or around 13% of the totalBy 2030. That’s only nine years away, folks – about the time your kid’s going to be whining about property prices and how they’ll “never be able to save a deposit”.Here’s how to reduce the odds of them mooning around your house until they’re 30, by laying down a sweet battery metals nest egg. Where’s it all coming from?Nine years is about the amount of time it takes to bring a new mine into production.And there are nowhere near the number of battery metals projects in the pipeline to cater to that sort of demand – regardless of the battery chemistry.For example, VW’s 2030 ambition to reach 240GWh within Europe alone poses “seismic challenges” for the company’s ability to procure adequate volumes of raw materials in forms suitable for use in batteries, Roskill says.“Building factory capacity is one thing, but the company did little to demonstrate where the raw material supply will come from to fuel this planned capacity,” Roskill says in response the carmakers recent ‘Battery Day’.When it comes to raw materials like lithium, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence analyst Caspar Rawles believes carmakers like VW will be forced to go direct to the miners.“They will have to go and speak to suppliers who have material left for long term agreements,” he says.“That will become increasingly challenging.”