A stable supply of lithium is a good thing. A restricted,...

A stable supply of lithium is a good thing. A restricted, unstable supply will force companies to find an alternative for their batteries. Right now, there is a healthy ramp up in the production of lithium to try and meet demand, which is expected.

At this stage, there are only a handful of companies that are able to produce a viable output of LCE per annum over an extended period of time.

E.g: Brines

Orocobre - Salar De Olaroz (Argentina) -
Plans for phase 2 expansion (contingent to completing Phase 1) to double prod to 17.5kt pa

Galaxy Resources - Sal de Vida (Argentina) - Output - circa 28,475 LCE pa

SQM - Current output 48kt pa (Chile)

FMC - Hombre Muerto 2019 expansion - 40kt pa

2019 - Lithium Americas and SQM's JV, Cauchari-Olazroz project, (Argentina) - Output - 25kt pa

Then you have the big movers, including,

Talison Lithium, Greenbushes
- Second facility operating by 2Q 2019 will up production from current 80kt to 180kt LCE


Albermale's Chile project
- Currently powering up to 80kt, once current projects are complete they're planning to expand production, seeking approval for 125kt by 2020

These companies are trying to ramp up output, but like I said, there are only a handful. There are over 50 listed companies on the ASX claiming to be exploring for lithium, but exploring and producing are two totally different things.

The question is will LKE find a viable lithium resource to be a profitable, legitimate player in the new world.

LKE holds concessions to over 170k Ha's of arguably the best real estate in Argentina. Now add a world class team to that mix, and a market cap of just over 50M, that's a risk I'm willing to take.