Tom Benson (aka the "Doctor of Volcanoes") is the Vice President of Exploration at Lithium Argentina.

Topics:

Being creative in exploration

The major upgrade to the Cauchari - Olaroz resource

Bigger than the Atacama?

Tom's history at Thacker Pass

Lithium Africa - Tom's latest focus

The Africa lithium "recipe"

Use of new technology & AI in exploration

"Permitting Purgatory"

Making Africa a lithium success

Comments on the Smackover & Salton Sea

It's "nice to be nice"

Rapid fire

This is a short solo episode.

Topics:

What lithium investors are asking

The converter in Texas

A tale of two earnings calls

My visit to Thacker Pass

YJ Lee is a Director and Fund Manager at Arcane Capital in Singapore. Find him on X @usuallyYJLee

Topics:

The Backstory

YJ's path to lithium

The learning process

His bullish forecasts

EVs, E-trucks & BESS

Picking winners

Ganfeng & Tianqi turn bullish

CATL's diminishing lithium market influence

Is another price spike coming?

Thacker Pass

DLE & the Smackover

Eramet

Vulcan

Nemaska

Canadian potential?

Rapid fire

Rene is a VP at Lithium Americas and one of the best technical minds in the industry.

Topics:

How the industry has changed in 20 years

The return of LFP

Flowsheets

China's overnight success after two decades

The challenge for America

The next cycle

Is the low hanging fruit gone?

What derailed high nickel cathode

Tesla's Texas converter hype

BESS

DLE

Thacker Pass update

This is a solo episode. In the past I wrote a time limited "stream of consciousness" New Year's post on LinkedIn. This year I decided to do a podcast with the same rules.

Daniel Jimenez is the founder of iLi Markets and formerly worked for SQM. On X: @D_Jimenez_Sch

Topics:

The rapid growth of BESS

CATL

China's weakening grip on lithium

Hidden costs in Africa

The tightening market

Where is the money made in LIB

Chile's lithium future

Argentina

Rio Tinto's next moves

When does DLE matter?

Alternatives to CO3 & LiOH

The coming price spike

Conversion capacity outside China

Rapid fire

This episode is a panel discussion that took place at the Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit in October on the missing midstream.

The panelists were:

David Park, CEO of Standard Lithium

Dan Blondal, CEO of Nano One

Hugh McDonald, Arkansas Secretary of Commerce

Bhageerath Vadhi, Geologist - Ford Motor Company

Topics:

What is the midstream?

Why does it matter?

The cathode bottleneck

China's current dominant position

Margins

Nano One's LFP advantage

Washington's perspective and role

Emphasizing energy storage over EVs

Geopolitics

What does success look like?

There are three guests and a cameo appearance in this episode.

Sam Pigott and Carlos Galli from Lithium Argentina are joined by Jason (Xiaofeng) Luo from Ganfeng. The cameo appearance is from Kelly O'Brien the head of investor relations at Lithium Argentina.

Topics:

History of the LAR - Ganfeng partnership

Consolidating assets - PPG

The "marriage" & synergy

Ganfeng's view of Argentina

RIGI

The success of Cauchari

The team

Ganfeng's recent market growth comments

The incentive price

Components of demand

When does Argentina become #1 in brine?

Funding PPG

Ganfeng's Marianas project

Water issues

DLE

Rapid fire

This solo episode was recorded November 19th 2025 in Los Angeles while I was attending Benchmark Week.

Topics:

Ganfeng on supply / demand / price

Canaccord's take on the market

BESS

Exxon's comments on lithium

The midstream

DLE

Rio's lithium future US Congress on China's predatory pricing

Liontown's spod auction

IGO's Kwinana woes

The state of Arkansas is poised to be the next great lithium brine province. This week at the Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit I interviewed Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders along with Allie Kennedy Thurmond and Jason Muller from Equinor, Ashu Sharma from Aquatech and Jesse Edmondson of Standard Lithium.

Topics:

Why Arkansas?

Angela's story

Going downstream

No DLE, no Smackover

US policy gaps

Stockpile options

Building value chains

The Smackover Lithium culture

Force multipliers

Aquatech's business

Process optimization

Li-Pro & Pearl

What's next for the Summit?