ASX Today, page-44187

The anticipation was electric as we gathered at the airport, bags packed and passports in hand. It wasn’t just any trip—me and the boys were headed to China, a country none of us had been to before, to celebrate something truly monumental. CATL was closing the biggest Lepidolite mine in the country, and we weren’t going to miss it. For blokes like us, invested up to our eyeballs in lithium, this was like the World Cup final of mining deals.

We made sure to bring a little taste of home with us. Stashed in our bags were a healthy supply of Four’N Twenty pies and a carton of VB. We had no idea if Chinese customs would give us a hard time over the pies, but there was no way we were heading into such a momentous event without our iconic Aussie snacks and beers. We joked about trading a few with the miners over there, who’d probably never seen a pie like ours.

As we touched down in China, the sheer size of everything hit us immediately—the sprawling cities, the towering skyscrapers, and the buzz of people all around. But nothing compared to the scale of the mine itself. It was massive, a sprawling industrial beast that looked more like a city than a mine. We arrived just in time to see the final trucks rolling in and the last rocks of Lepidolite being pulled from the earth. The air was thick with dust, the roar of machinery, and the scent of progress.

We cracked open the VB right there, standing at the edge of the mine with our hard hats on, feeling like kings of the lithium world. “To the future of batteries!” one of the boys shouted, raising his beer, and we all cheered, clinking our cans. There was something surreal about sipping cold beers in the shadow of what felt like the future. CATL was making moves that would ripple through the industry for decades, and here we were, lucky enough to witness it firsthand.

It didn’t take long before we were mingling with some of the local engineers and workers, and sure enough, the pies made an appearance. We handed a few out, and the puzzled looks quickly turned to smiles once they took a bite. The savory goodness of a Four’N Twenty cut through the language barrier better than any translator could.

The night rolled on, filled with laughter, stories, and a few too many VBs. We celebrated like we were part of something big, not just investors watching from afar but mates in the middle of history. The mine, now quiet and still, felt like a giant monument to what was coming next—electric cars, new tech, and everything powered by the lithium beneath our feet.

As we stumbled back to the hotel, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, pies long gone and beers finished, we knew this was a story we’d tell for years. We were just a bunch of Aussie blokes, but for one night in China, we were living large, celebrating a moment that would fuel the world.