This trip my team met numerous battery / electric vehicle / mining / asset management companies in the lithium sector.
Extremely impressed by the quality and talent of the Chinese groups.
What would be fair to say is, China does not have that much visibility into the global lithium supply chain.
Historically the sector relied on Sichuan Tianqi Lithium / Ganfeng (who are reducing / stopping supply to customers) - this combined with the rapid development of the battery and EV sector has resulted in what is begging to be a scramble for raw materials.
Canadian / African / Australian lithium companies are not well known nor understood.
New projects for 2016 are Mt Marion / Mt Caitlin / ORE. All 3 projects are trying to resolve quality and quantity issues.
In 2017 / 2018 there are three more potential long life projects AJM / BGS / PLS.
SKM (world class mine engineering scoping group) was clear that it takes 7 years to bring a brine project online - please see my previous posts for links.
Hard Rock deposits take 3 to 4 years typically to bring a discovery to operation.
What is clear if a new discovery was made today - 2020 / 2021 will probably be the next point in time for new supply.
History has now shown (Deutsche Bank report - with hindsight) that it takes longer to bring new projects online.
Case in point is Mt Marion / Mt Caitlin and ORE.
From every discussion with key industry groups is that the market is short lithium.
As a short / medium or long term investment each of these trips has only confirmed the opportunity in this space.
The size, grade, existing infrastructure and low cost makes PLS a very attractive investment.
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