Welcome to June 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review, in which we discuss all the recent news and developments in the batteries, end markets and battery materials sectors.

Our Focus topics this month are on (1) EU Green stimulus which I believe will be enormously positive for battery raw materials. European EV sales are set to surprise on the upside this year which will have substantial knock-on impacts on battery demand and hence raw materials demand for batteries. Given that inventories of many products are low, any increase in shipments has the potential to clear them out rapidly, leading to a significant pop in prices; and (2) The importance of Piedmont Lithium’s PFS into a merchant spodumene concentrate/lithium hydroxide converter and what its implications are for hard rock developers around the Atlantic Basin.