News: Crowded herd of lithium explorers faces culling as supplies rise, page-10

Where is the aggressive supply build-up? There are many explorers, but that is not the same thing. I think it was Joe Lowry who said that it takes around 7 years for a green-fields brine processing operation to reach full production (ORE was about this long). Any new hard rock mines need corresponding processing plants (and most of these are in China and will be needed to supply the batteries to power China's aggressive plans for EVs to help address air pollution challenges).

It all boils down to what you believe will be the growth for Li battery storage. EVs are certainly one driver. Both domestic and grid-level power storage are another. Personally I see no reason why demand shouldn't continue to outpace supply, and even if t doesn't, brine processors are the lowest cost producers and will continue to be profitable long after the hard rock miners have mothballed their operations.