Banter and General Comments, page-4151

Bit of an extract from an article today on the commodities space... 3rd paragraph on the lithium space...

Global mining sector consolidates, cuts back new capital raisings

The total value of financial deals in the mining sector worldwide fell by -14.9% in 2018 to US$114bn, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.

The value of mergers and acquisitions rose by 13.5%, but this was more than offset by a -32.4% decline in the amount of capital raised. Five countries made up 65.2% of the global total, with Australia the third largest in terms of deal value, behind China and Canada but ahead of the US and Indonesia.

The largest deal was Tianqi Lithium Corp’s acquisition of a 23.77% share in Chilean lithium miner SQM. China’s Tianqi bought the stake from Canadian fertilizer giant Nutrien for US$4.1bn. Chile has the world’s largest reserves of lithium, which GlobalData calls “a high growth commodity given the rise in demand for lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles”.