LKE towards TOP-5, page-4046

Good article.

https://www. a f r. com/companies/mining/carmakers-will-pay-through-the-nose-for-lithium-brinsden-20220331-p5a9ug

"Outgoing Pilbara Minerals chief executive Ken Brinsden has tipped lithium miners to keep “winning” the margin battle in the electric vehicle supply chain as prices surge, arguing supply is simply too far behind demand – and carmakers will have to keep “paying through the nose” for the key battery material."

“[But] it’s happened because the carmakers were asleep at the wheel, they were not paying attention to the raw materials supply base, they are too far removed. Inevitably [demand] was coming back, and today they’ve been caught short, and they’re going to have to pay through the nose to be able to access raw materials. It’s going to be a big issue for them for quite some time to come.

“[It’s] very, very healthy pricing and likely to stay strong. A mine takes five to seven years to get up and running. You can build a chemical plant and a car plant in less than two years … so it’s going to take quite some time for the mines to catch up.”