struggler - as I posted recently there are about 60 car brands in the Australian market (more than in the US or the UK) but Toyota monsters the market, with 23% of sales. To put it another way, there are about 59 car brands in Australia fighting over 77% of the market.
finding - in the article they indicate that the North Carolina factory will be building batteries for hybrids as well as EVs but I could not see any mention of any metrics that would allow us to estimate the amount of lithium the NC factory would need.
In any case I doubt the NC plant would use Naraha Li hydroxide. For one, my understanding is the lithium hydroxide is a bit unstable / prone to degrade so the idea in building a hydroxide plant in Japan was for it be used close by in NE Asia (the other option in the mix was to build it in S America). I reckon they will have no issue selling Naraha lithium hydroxide in NE Asia (with a fair chance of it being used in the battery plant that Toyota and Panasonic are proposing to build near Naraha). Another reason why I doubt Naraha product is destined for North Carolina is based on my basic grasp of geography. NC is on the Atlantic side of the US and Japan, of course, is on the Pacific side. Supply lines using non-sea hauling can add costs, delays and risks.
I suspect Toyota Tsusho, given that its job is to procure supplies for the mothership, is smart enough to join the dots between Allkem having James Bay and Toyota needing lithium in North America. On consummation of the Orocobre Galaxy merger the boss of Toyota Tsusho stood down as a director of Orocobre but he would have been a player in the decision by Orocobre to merge with Galaxy. I seriously doubt that the merger was all about James Bay but the TT dude would have seen the potential synergy. In the AGM presentation Allkem say they are "investigating vertical integration of James Bay with a downstream conversion facility". What's to stop Toyota Tsusho and Allkem doing another Naraha type deal but in North Amercia.
PS I was just reminded of another problem they have with Olaroz. At an altitude of 3,900 metres, where Olaroz is, all the chemistry is warped. For instance up there water boils at about 85 degrees celius.
AKE Price at posting:
$8.51 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
