Couldn't agree with you more Just Westy - Brine has my favour
Although most hard rock operations have lower CAPEX and shorter timeline to production they will be hardest hit by any future Lithium pricing volatility much the same way that many high cost Iron Ore producers went to the wall when Iron Ore prices sunk - only the strong survive through the cycles...
Interesting too is investors willing to support market caps of $100m+ for Li Juniors with Clay deposits that are yet to prove a cost effective and workable technology for extraction of commercial quantities of Li from their Clay....? To my mind investing in junior mining companies is speculative enough, but certainly on another level backing those with lofty valuations that have no clear pathway to production and are relying on technological breakthroughs
Also interesting is the risk many of these juniors are exposed to by operating in certain parts of the world in volatile political jurisdictions - AVZ is an ideal recent example of almost suffering a horrible setback in one of these such regions
PLS, TAW & AJM seem to have good prospects in short to medium term; AGY too if they can deal with the issues of higher Magnesium levels that have afflicted another producer in that region; I don't know enough about KDR to make a comment on it
Speaking of Elon Musk and Tesla, in addition to sourcing from sustainable raw material production, they have also stated their preference for sourcing local supply for a multitude of reasons - given the release of the Model 3 shortly, which IMO will be a complete game-changer, my sentiment is that Nevada has been somewhat overlooked and unloved for it's Li production potential from Brine - low political risk, established historical mining region & pro-mining jurisdiction, proven Li Brine system now owned by Albermarle that has produced for decades, very low Mg impurity levels albeit lower Li concentrations than the Lithium Triangle, ideal setting for Evaporation ponds given it's a desert & largest(?) global customer in the same state being Gigafactory-1; all of which has loosened my pursestrings to speculate on new hopeful - Li3
Not an intentional plug, just my very humble opinion and ramblings...good luck to all & bring on a world of EV's powered by Lithium!
