"It’s been likened to a Game of Thrones-style scramble for supremacy as WA’s mining heavyweights make a charge on the State’s lithium resources.A key component in electric vehicle batteries, lithium is fast becoming one of the most valuable and sought-after commodities in the world as the race to decarbonise gathers speed.
While some caution the lithium boom is more of a bubble, Josh Thurlow, lithium chief executive at Mineral Resources, said the miner isn’t concerned about market volatility and fluctuating prices and is instead focusing on the long game.“We see there’s some price volatility even in the last five years,” Mr Thurlow told Insider. ”That’s going to happen and we’re not focused on those ups and downs.“What we do know is that there is and will continue to be an ongoing, increasing demand for lithium. And from what we can see, that demand will outstrip supply over the next 10 years.”The International Energy Agency estimates global EV sales will reach about 400 million by 2020 (misprint? 2050 maybe?), a significant jump from about 16 million today. Global lithium supplies will need to grow a whopping 40 per cent in the next 12 months to meet demand.“I don’t think people have fully understood the scale and the size or exactly what’s required across the globe to transition from where we are now to where our aspirations are, whether that be 2020, 2035 or 2050,” Mr Thurlow said."
