This is common sense and well known both locally and in the EMH...

This is common sense and well known both locally and in the EMH presentations.

695.9Mt doesn't mean that much because with a deep mine perhaps 1.5 Mt per year is possible, open pit mining is not acceptable in the region. Therefore even if it was profitable, it would take 400-500 years with suggested technology to use the entire resource.

It is very possible that in the near future better technology such as geothermal extraction will be introduced or EVs will be replaced by hydrogen vehicles or something completely unpredictable right now. So the goal is not to use 100% of the resource, the goal is to get started quickly.

Therefore 695.9 Mt has no meaning and it is true that 90%+ of the resource will not be used. On the other hand, it is somewhat unfair to say that the resource is only "34.5Mt at 0.65% Li20" because the ore is magnetic (compared to other spodumene, brine etc...) and can be upgraded to 1.7% with very little effort.

So the truth is somewhere in between. It is not a magical resource with no competition anywhere in the world. It is also not completely useless.

However, the competition is usually in locations with no infrastructure (DR Congo), in locations with strong local opposition (Portugal), long way from any actual work being done (Serbia) or trying to use unproven technology (geothermal in Germany). The only other nice project that makes sense to me is in Finland but that one is very very small.

Infinity Lithium which was mentioned above would love to build an open pit mine (https://cdn.bignewsnetwork.com/psz1592807266.jpg) next to a university and hospital, basically over a hill close to a Spanish town with history going back to the ancient Romans. Unsurprisingly, the major and the governor claims that there is no chance at all of this project going forward as long as they are alive.

Cinovec right now is probably the largest and easiest resource within the EU that can be started up the fastest.