...why these lithium pundits and subject matter experts don't get it: this upcoming supply is a Chinese controlled source of lithium supply- who cares if it is lepidolite or not.
...it is another billion reasons China can 'control' lithium price in that the EV battery maker CATL has its own vertically integrated source and not subject to market forces in determining lithium price.
...its like if China controls BHP and Vale and China accounting for half of global iron ore demand, market pricing becomes less relevant.
...lithium hodlers just don't get it.
...China is at the epicentre of EV demand and lithium demand and at the same time controls key sources of lithium supply.
...which means Australian lithium would probably have to compete against Western sources of lithium to supply to the rest of the world assuming that over time Aussie lithium exports to Chinese battery makers get marginalised.
...stack that against a Trump administration that will ensure ICE vehicles co-exist with EVs, EU car makers hesitancy to get into the EV game and doing JVs with these same Chinese EV makers using more Chinese EV batteries sourced from Chinese controlled mines, Japan seeking an alternate path and staying with hybrids, and you get an Aussie lithium industry getting further away from EV markets that the Chinese do not already start to dominate.
Just over a billion reasons #lithium supply won’t be dominated by Chinese lepidolyte… Bolivia signs $1B lithium deal with CATL
Bolivia announces $1 bn deal with China to build lithium plants
Bolivia announces $1 bn deal with China to build lithium plants
by AFP Staff Writers
La Paz (AFP) Nov 27, 2024
Bolivia said Tuesday it had signed a $1 billion deal with China's CBC, a subsidiary of the world's largest lithium battery producer CATL, to build two lithium carbonate production plants in the country's southwest.
Bolivia's state-owned Bolivia Lithium Deposits (YLB) said the plants -- one with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons of lithium carbonate and the other of 25,000 - would be situated in the vast Uyuni salt flats.
Lithium, nicknamed "white gold," is a key component in the production of batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones.
Bolivia claims to have the world's largest lithium deposits.
President Luis Arce, who presided over Tuesday's signing ceremony, said it paved the way for Bolivia to become "a very important player in determining the international price of lithium."
The deal follows an earlier agreement reached last year between Russia's Uranium One Group and YLB to build a $970 million lithium extraction facility, also in Uyuni.
Both deals have yet to be approved by Bolivia's parliament.
Arce announced that negotiations were underway with China's Citic Guoan Group for a third contract.
