In just a few years, the country’s [China] EV powerhouses have...

In just a few years, the country’s [China] EV powerhouses have turned lithium batteries away from the once-dominant mix of nickel manganese and cobalt (NCM) towards lithium iron phosphate (LFP), reducing a key source of demand for nickel miners.

LFP batteries made up 66 per cent of China’s total battery output in the first half of 2023, according to Fastmarkets, even though the battery’s overall energy density is lower than their NCM cousins.

“Consumers are getting over range anxiety and the LFP battery technology is getting better and better,” McCutcheon said.

“Lithium wins in both situations, but nickel and cobalt do not.”

https://www.s m h.com.au/business/companies/blindsided-the-crash-that-rocked-boardrooms-and-australia-s-wealthy-investors-20240205-p5f2h2.html [remove spaces in the domain name - HC is so petty for blocking external links]

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While we wait for REE and Cosmos to recombine* (get it done already), so that the company can have a good phosphate project (Cummins Range), a good lithium prospect (so they say, Canada) and RE in the background, I came across this article.

Makes me think that Durrant should really be pushing the phosphate now, primarily. Move the lanthanoids to the background. "The largest undeveloped rare earths project in Australia" isn't dragging anyone in. The buy side orders have been weak for months and months and months. And months. There's no demand. The perception is there's no reason to invest. Why would someone invest?

Start with dropping the "Phosphate Enabled Rare Earths" - if that was of interest to people the SP would not have kept trending down. The company doesn't need a tagline.

While sharing his time with 4 other companies, the current company Chair on top of things, yes? Right? Yes? Come on Robinson, Young, Hardcastle, Henry, Bahen, Horn and Freedman - you're almost all ingrained in the industry, get it together. You're all still getting paid. Your companies share prices' are in a bad way - where's the rigour, accountability and action? It's not solely the macro. If something hasn't been working, try something else.

*The (recently re-elected) current Chair, former MD, current Cosmos Chair and current Cosmos executive (whatever that entails) - all the same person - has been instrumental in shredding the value of both company names, so it needs a completely new one to give it a chance. And not a silly merged name like CosmosX, RareCos, CosLettuce, Satellites R Us, Global Transition Minerals, Global Transition Metals, Bermuda Metals for the Future, Green Metals for the Future Today, Rare Universal Minerals for Mars, etc etc.