Unconfirmed speculation rife on Friday thatthe CATL Jianxiawo mine has been shutsince before Chinese NY and CATL may bereluctant to continue production below95,000RMB/t (~US$13,000/t) for lithiumcarbonate. Australian names were strongon Friday and offshore names followed onFriday night. If the speculation is correct,surely it's a signal that we are at, orreaching, pricing lows. Further, if CATL, theworld's largest battery is producer, is turningoff lepidolite production then surely a lotmore producers would be too. If we tookthis mine out of our S/D model it would seeus move from a 1% surplus to 2% deficit in2024.
