Spot on @Black Cat - I rather see it as most peeps cant imagine...

Spot on @Black Cat - I rather see it as most peeps cant imagine a the new play coming from left field.

Being well out of lithium, and now back in, I took a new look at the whole thing from scratch. In four main groups there's evaporation brine, near surface hard rock, deep hard rock and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) brine.
Each have the usual qualifications of grade and tonnes, impurities, location and infrastructure, local and national sovereign risk, etc.
So I reckon only the best of all those will likely be operating in 6 to 10 years at the next peak of demand.

BUT not all will have the same bottom line. e.g. only the very best deep hard rock mines will make a crust, while huge near surface mines with infrastructure will be rolling in cash (Greenbushes).
Meanwhile many evaporation mines will close due to environmental reasons - they exhaust the groundwater.
And IMO the bottom line is that the DLE processes tailored to local brines will be the winners - lowest cost and best environmentals, especially if powered by hydro, or other low carbon electricity.

Consequential to my research, my new $7 mil capped DLE baby is in Arkansas, with Exploration Target of up to 3 mill tonnes LCE, and exhausted oil wells into the brine targets and with Exxon Mobil and Albemarle neighbours of like mind.

Take a looksee mate, and when you have a minute get a geo to look into old oil wells near you for lithium.

Now that's from Left Field, is it not ?