Lithium Related News, page-2919

@Learning_2B1 I agree and you raise some excellent questions. Regarding EMH, I recall there being a conservative slant from their CEO, going with the tried and true, rather than a novel process. This was several years ago however, pre LOH-Max, pre caesium/rubidium fine tuning, before Joe came on board, for that matter. They signed the L-Max licensing agreement in May 2016, when we were still PLP, a full 3 years before our pilot plant was operating.

Another significant factor is that the energy company CEZ now hold 51% of Cinovec (CEZ being 70% owned by the Czech Republic), so ASX listed EMH is a minority shareholder. Our 16 January 2017 announcement L-Max® Produces Battery Grade Lithium Carbonate did inform that caesium and rubidium were recovered as by-products, so as you say, the decision to not go with Lepidico may not wear well for their management. Their deposit btw, whilst low grade, being zinnwaldite, I believe was considered the largest resource globally? Or maybe ex-China? So although AVZ now claim that title, Cinovec holds much of the potential and promise to meet the European Commission's targets for local supply of raw minerals. With the EC watching (and waiting), CEZ and EMH will want to get it right.

Back to British Lithium, their CEO seems to have a bee in his bonnet. @BeerAndSkittles posted an article a couple of months ago on the UK's lithium hopes of which I had accused the journalist of mischief. Perhaps not. On their website, British Lithium refer to producing battery grade, yet don't mention the exact spec in percentages. They refer to their JORC, without saying what it is. If they don't prove up a 400,000 tonnes resource, where will that leave them as licence holder? The British government sure as anything is not going to just let it lie there.

A JV is an interesting notion. Cornish Lithium's $4 million licence package provides exclusivity over their 93 km² of St Austell, but I've wondered if our "strategic collaboration" with them could extend to a jointly run commercial plant: CLL retaining proceeds from Trelavour, Lepidico from third-party feedstock, of which it sounds like there will be ample supply. Yes, it will take a bit for miners in Cornwall to mobilise, but CLL formed the consortium with Imerys and HSSMI on 14 June 2021 "to assess the potential to produce lithium from waste material produced from both current and historic kaolin operations." Imerys operate in 50 countries worldwide, employing 16,400 people, 750 in Cornwall. "Kaolin was first discovered in Cornwall in 1746." Nearly 300 years of tailings are just sitting there.
https://cornishlithium.com/company-announcements/cornish-lithium-secures-funding-from-innovate-uk/
https://www.imerys.com/

To your question of possible company pivots and subsequent ramifications to their timelines: our tech is modular, so how quickly could we/Lycopodium scale up? Will battery parks or new energy hubs smooth the way? If the EC are targeting 2025 for 80% of European demand to be sourced within the EU and as of May, have 38 gigafactories in the pipeline, where in the world (literally) are they going to source all this lithium?

Of the 38 projects in the pipeline, 17 have secured funding so far, representing approximately $30 billion of total investment. Ten other projects, representing another $16.8 billion, have secured partial financing, and 11 more gigafactories have recently been announced, but have not confirmed financing.

If all 38 gigafactories make it to production, they could be delivering as much as 462 GWh worth of battery cells by 2025, and 1,144 GWh by 2030, enough to power over 90% of expected new vehicle sales in that year.
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/07/03/europe-planning-38-new-ev-battery-gigafactories/

Governments seem to have a plan. We just need to sit tight to wait and see what part(s) Lepidico will play.