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Aiming high on lithium, aluminiumLondon |

The scramble to find more projects in transition materials such as copper and lithium has prompted a strategic rethink at RioTinto, with a push into smaller mines and potentially riskier frontier locationMr Barton said lithium was “an area that we want to expand and increase”– comments that came after The Australian Financial Review revealed last month that Rio was lodging claims to more than145,000 hectares of exploration tenements in potentially lithium-rich parts ofWestern Australia.“The volatility in pricing is incredible where it is, but we feel that that’s going to be critically important in the energy transition ... the direction of travel is quite clear,”he said.
He predicted that the high price of lithium could prompt a drive to substitute alternative products forlithium, “But we think for a 20- to 30-year time frame it’s an important segment, if you will, that we want to move into.



it’s been a horror 12 months, but if we are looking at a 20 year plus boom cycle of strong demand for Lithium, happy days.