@Megafauna - here is another top notch Benchmark Intelligence...

@Megafauna - here is another top notch Benchmark Intelligence interview with an industry insider. This time it is with Kurt Kelty who is the vice president for batteries at GM. The bloke has been in the battery sector since 1991 and is at the pointy end of GM's charge into EVs.

https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=0ENqjgOjcyw (as usual, remove the space between "you" and "tube")

Couple of times, at around the 14:10 minute mark and then from about the 37:00 minute mark, he underlines that GM is intent on developing a north American supply chain for battery materials.

This confirmation neatly removes a burr I've had under my saddle cloth ever since listening to a Money of Mine episode about Rio acquiring Arcadium. One of their assertions was that Direct Lithium Extraction of Argentinean brines would push Quebec spodumene projects entirely off the cost curve. Setting aside for the moment that there is not a single successful DLE only operation in existence, that DLE hopefuls like Lake are seeing their capex estimates explode, that DLE uses far more fresh water than evaporation ponds thus carrying a much higher environmental risk (MOM actually claimed it was the other way around), that DLE processes are bespoke for each brine resource and so is very hit or miss, and that Argentina is not covered by the IRA legislation the idea that Rio would not want to fully develop a major presence in the biggest car market in the world strikes me as weird.

Anyway, here is the mighty GM telling the world that it wants a stand alone north American battery materials supply chain.

Also, the Canadian commentator, John Kaiser, thinks the Rio deal will be positive for the Quebec lithium miners.

https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=EJKqirPcmZM (and yes, remove the space between "you" and "tube")