Allkem General Discussion, page-827

How this lithium miner CEO juggles a big family with a big job

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While Orocobre technically acquired Galaxy under the $4 billion “merger”, Perez de Solay says the rebranding to become Allkem is designed to ensure the company’s two disparate tribes feel united.

“The ‘All’ in Allkem is because it is all together, the merged company, the value created by bringing both teams, both pools of knowledge and talent together,” explains Perez de Solay. “The ‘Kem’ part is because we are becoming more and more of a chemical company, rather than a mining company.”

The strategy to become more of a chemical company is central to Perez de Solay’s belief that the company’s best days lie ahead, even though commodity and equity prices in the sector have risen dramatically over the past 18 months.
Spodumene prices more than quintupled in 2021, lithium carbonate prices more than quadrupled while lithium hydroxide prices more than tripled.

Yet analysts such as Canaccord’s Reg Spencer believe demand will continue to outstrip supply for at least the next six months, potentially pushing prices even higher.

With electric vehicle sales more than doubling in 2021, Perez de Solay believes demand for lithium will be more durable in future than it was over the past decade of boom and bust.

The imminent completion of a new processing plant at Naraha in Japan will be a big step forward in the push to become a chemical company.
Allkem will own 75 per cent of the plant, which will receive the lithium carbonate made by Allkem in Argentina, then process it into battery grade lithium hydroxide – the product that customers increasingly prefer because it allows batteries to store more energy.

By adding lithium hydroxide to its existing product suite of Argentinian lithium carbonate and Australian spodumene concentrate, Allkem will have greater protection against the battery industry’s rapidly changing preferences, and the ability to seize on price arbitrages between the different lithium products.

“We want to build a company that has the ability to change from one [lithium product] to the other easily,” says Perez de Solay.