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Demand for lithium will jump fivefold by the end of the decade, according to Bloomberg.
BNEF forecasts that around $14 billion of investment is needed to finance lithium resource and refining capacity by 2025. Plus as much as another $5 billion will be needed by 2030. Just last week, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Boss Simon Moores flagged that EV makers need to actually get involved with mining if they want to make EVs at scale. And there are some signs that governments, producers, and consumers are now recognising the scale of that task. “Tesla Inc. signed two recent supply pacts with developers of future projects in Australia, while Ganfeng Lithium Co. — one of the world’s largest producers — said last week it’ll use record profits to support a huge expansion program, aimed at delivering the eventual capacity of 600,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, compared to the production of about 89,000 tonnes now,” BNEF said. And China’s authorities have even called for quicker development of a domestic lithium sector that already dominates world production – highlighting growth prospects in Qinghai, Sichuan and Jiangxi provinces. “In the U.S., President Joe Biden last week added battery metals, including lithium, to a list of items covered by the Defence Production Act, meaning companies can access funding to boost output or to study potential new developments,” BNEF says.