British billionaire adamant lithium ship will sail again

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By Steve Butler

February 20, 2024 — 4.43pm

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International stock-trading entrepreneur Jim Mellon has predicted a vibrant third lithium wave for global markets, claiming a recent price breather for the silvery-white metal would ultimately prove to be just a temporary hibernation.

Having amassed a fortune with a range of bold ventures headlined at one point by buying up oil and gas stocks via coupons on the streets of post-Soviet Russia, Mellon is adamant that despite the current pause on the global lithium craze, it is not just a fad … and he is keeping his money where his mouth is.

British stock-trading entrepreneur Jim Mellon.

The Isle of Man-based English businessman believes global demand for lithium metal will continue to skyrocket for at least the next decade and in an exclusive interview with Bulls N’ Bears, he outlined his belief that the global surge behind lithium is still only in its infancy as the world tools up for production.

‘My general view is that now is a great time to be loading up on lithium.’

Dart Mining’s biggest shareholder Jim Mellon

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Mellon believed alternative types of “dry” batteries that will generally require lithium were still a long way from being injected into the mass market and predicted the lithium market will ultimately show to have grown by seven times for the period between 2021 and 2030.

He believed lithium demand against how much of it was available globally would soon trigger another price jump.

“My general view is that now is a great time to be loading up on lithium, especially in areas regarded as secure such as Australia and the United States,” Mellon told Bulls N’ Bears.

“Despite the well-known headwinds, including lower than expected uptake of EVs (electric vehicles) in parts of the world and very weak lithium prices – largely due to China – we will enter a lithium deficit position globally by 2025.

“Lithium remains a key strategic metal and the proliferation of Chinese EVs will soon become obvious to us in Australia and the West. They are cheap, stylish and offer extended ranges in some cases.

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“Tesla will have difficulties competing and the German and legacy OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) will find it difficult, also. The Koreans and Japanese are offering effective competition.

“The lithium boom is only just beginning and the lower prices for lithium shares in the stock market, in many cases, offer attractive entry points.”

Mellon’s musings on lithium should not be taken lightly. Back in 2018, he commissioned a study on lithium and forecast prices would rally by at least 10 times more than what other professional forecasters were pinning it at. His vision, based on the needs and demand for battery storage and grid management, proved to be spot on the money and underpinned his global plunge into lithium stocks.

Those holdings include his position as the biggest shareholder (19.86 per cent) in Victorian-based explorer Dart Mining. But he was far from just throwing a random dart at the ASX boards when he decided to stack his considerable financial wealth behind the company.

Mellon says his liaison with Dart is based on a long-time friendship with the company’s chairman and managing director James Chirnside. He retains a strong belief in the prospects of the company, which made Victoria’s first-ever lithium pegmatite discovery in 2016 when it reassessed historically-untested samples that revealed results of up to 1.57 per cent lithium oxide.

He said the company’s $12 million earn-in agreement with Chilean mining giant Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM), signed in December 2022, was also a key confidence-builder.

While Dart has recently returned to its gold roots to drill-test its historic Rushworth project in Victoria, it remains poised to re-sharpen its focus on lithium if Mellon’s predictions ring true.

“The fact that SQM is backing the Dart exploration is a big plus for me,” said Mellon, who publicly predicted the global credit crunch of 2007-08 in a book titled “Wake Up! Survive and Prosper in the Coming Economic Turmoil”.

“Dart has many prospective projects including lithium and gold and if anything, it might be too many for the market to understand. But it is a long-term banker, in my honest opinion.

“I have known James for 30 years. He is a great friend, a hard worker, a trusted colleague and a good thinker. I, of course, was happy to back him, and in every fund raise I have taken my share of about 20 per cent.

“It’s a tough market out there, as we all know, but one day James’s ship will come home.”

Dart Mining is going back to its gold roots at its historic Rushworth ground in Victoria.

When Mellon was still finding his feet in the cut-throat business world, it was a brush with a couple of icons who locked him into the industry for life.

“When I was a fund manager in the US in the early 1980s, I got to meet people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs,” he crooned. “What an opportunity for a young fellow.”

And Mellon used the same type of lateral thinking that turned Gates and Jobs into global business giants when he made the speculatory foray into post-Soviet Russia that would supercharge his financial fortunes. He had already become a millionaire at age 28 after selling the United States-based Thornton Management company he had co-founded, but regarded his Russian mission as his “first really big break”.

From 1992 to 1994, the Russian Government decided to divest ownership of 15,000 State-controlled firms by selling share vouchers on the streets. The bold public plan was designed to limit the business control of the Russian mafia and the group of bureaucrats dubbed the “nomenklatura” and piqued the interest of budding businesspeople such as Mellon.

He and American-born British investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton were understood to have spent $2 million in a day buying up big on the $25 vouchers available. The haul’s worth reportedly grew to $17 million in just a few weeks.

“We were among the first investors, but knew nothing except that oil and gas was the likely best way to go – so we bought anything with those words in the name (of the companies),” Mellon explained.

“Russia was and is a dangerous place, so we hired bodyguards and used US dollars to swap for coupons, which entitled us to bid in auctions for State-owned assets. This was 1994 and it was literally the ‘Wild East’. I wouldn’t have the guts today.”

Fast-track to today and Mellon, who regularly bobs up on published “rich lists” in the United Kingdom, has pivoted his investment thinking to include areas such as human life longevity, agriculture and the environment, alongside his more traditional mining industry-based interests that form part of his worldwide business empire.

The Oxford University graduate said he had become a major shareholder in Agronomics, which he described as the world’s leader in precision fermentation and cellular agriculture. He was also watching closely to see what effect the ongoing conflict in the Middle East would have in the investor space – particularly in the stockmarkets of the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

But Mellon, who co-founded companies including UraMin, Condor Gold and Bradda Head Lithium, remained connected to and impressed by the Australian mining exploration industry … and he had a couple of tips to boot for Bulls N’ Bears readers.

“The Australian mining sector is among the three most prominent and respected in the world,” he said.

“I think tungsten and tin will be critical along with lithium and the processing capabilities will be developed outside of China in rapid order. I own a stake in Zenith Minerals in Australia and have been involved in Syrah Resources and Giralia Resources going back some way.

“If was going to give any advice, personally, I would invest most money with reputable fund managers. But for some speculative investment, go into shares direct.”

So, while the world now waits for the third lithium wave to emerge, Dart is taking the opportunity to put its shoulder to the wheel, last week kicking off a new drilling program to test parts of the highly-prospective Rushworth goldfield, about 160km north of Melbourne and 65km east of the city of Bendigo, with modern exploration methods for the first time.