An interesting take on things from * today, see...

An interesting take on things from * today, see below.

Core continues to slide, some doom and gloom surrounding continued dipping lithium prices certainly manifested in headlines stemming from an ASX notable on Friday.Despite the Kali sugar hit today, it still feels like nervy times for lithium investors right now, especially after Core Lithium (ASX:CXO), Australia’s newest spodumene miner, announced a temporary suspension of mining at its Finniss project in the NT.As reported by * on Friday, the $480m market capper will instead shift its focus to processing and selling stockpiled materials, with development of the 10.5Mt BP33 underground mine put on ice and discretionary spend including studies, exploration and corporate costs reduced.
CXO’s price dipped 11.5% on Friday, and at the time of writing it’s not faring any better; in fact it’s shaping worse on Monday, down another 18%.The silver lining for CXO, though, is that it has $202m in the bank at the end of September and no debt, placing it in a strong position for the foreseeable.
The more optimistic lithium pundits (including Morningstar – see below) believe a turnaround for lithium spot prices could happen mid year. ‘Lithium demand will more than triple’: MorningstarOne thing seems certain so far this year – lithium remains a tricky market to call, with general non-consensus being the consensus regarding lithium price bottoming.
But here’s something – global financial services gun Morningstar has predicted lithium prices will rise in 2024 as demand growth once again finally begins to outpace supply.Much like Joe “Mr Lithium” Lowry’s analysis in a Q&A with * recently, Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein predicted last week that:“As destocking ends, we expect prices will stabilise and rise in 2024.
”That said, Lowry’s exact words were: “I believe the bottom happens by the second half of 2024 at the latest.” He didn’t go so far as to predict a price spike.