The Global Lithium Podcast

Jigar Shah (@JigarShahDC on Twitter) is the director of the Loan Programs Office at the Department of Energy. Mr. Shah was formerly the co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Jigar also has the best laugh of any prior guest on the podcast and celebrated his two year anniversary at the DOE on March 3rd – the day we recorded.

Topics:

The mandate of the Loan Programs Office

The calculus of leaving the private sector for the DOE

The “alphabet soup” of government programs focused on the Energy Transition

The laziness of big companies

LPO loans – by invitation only

Inspiring action where action wouldn’t otherwise happen

Why Jigar can’t comment on a loan application to LAC for Thacker Pass

Downstream battery investment vs upstream

The contribution of recyclers

Jigar Shah – the “long term lithium bull”

“Friend-shoring” challenges

Tesla

What defines a “friend” of the US

Supply chain risk management

Rapid fire

Closing comments on the BMO conference and lithium price

Emilie Bodoin is the CEO of Pure Lithium. 

Pure Lithium is on a mission to change the way batteries are made.

Topics:

The current state of lithium metal technology

Brine direct to lithium metal - the ultimate DLE?

Lithium ion batteries: a successful compromise

Making lithium metal batteries a reality

Mentors: Dr Donald Sadoway & Robert Friedland

The first big win

Building a team

Learning from mistakes

Scale and cost

Reality check

A "not so loaded' question

The DOE "disconnect"

Lithium Metal Iron Phosphate

Rapid Fire

My thoughts on recent happenings in the industry

This is a solo episode where I discuss:

The recent General Motors investment in Lithium Americas 

The Thacker Pass decision

Rumors regarding Mineral Resources interest in Patriot Battery Metals

Another round of bad lithium analysis from a large bank.

And a shout out to Seth Goldstein at Morningstar

My guest is Ana Cabral the Co-CEO of  Sigma Lithium 

Sigma is in the process of starting up the most significant hard rock project in South America

Topics:

Commissioning and start-up

Sigma’s value proposition for the battery industry

Spodumene to lithium chemicals conversion ratios

Sustainability

The market for tailings

The team

Becoming a 100K MT LCE producer

Upstream disruption

Boarder adjustments

The “next guardian” of Sigma

Ana’s view on the past failures of miners

ESG

The upward moving cost curve

Price

The Inflation Reduction Act

Ana's respect for Pilbara & WA spodumene producers

My comments on the upcoming Thacker Pass decision

Thoughts (not advice) on lithium investments

Rapid fire

This short solo episode takes a look at the lithium year that just ended but more importantly what to expect in 2023.

Brought to you by brinefield services company Zelandez.

DYOR - the Global Lithium Podcast does not present ANY investment advice.

Chris Berry (@cberry1 on Twitter) is the founder of Mountain House Partners, a Washington DC based advisory firm.  He is also a sought after commentator on the lithium ion battery metals space.

Nothing said on the podcast should be considered investment advice. DYOR - do your own research.

Topics in this episode:

The biggest lithium surprise of 2022

Price – where to from here?

The Inflation Reduction Act

Supply and demand

Canada, Argentina, and Brazil

Redwood Materials recent announcement

Recycling “black mass” at scale

DLE – when will it have an impact on supply?

Lepidolite – how much? how soon? quality?

An “essential question” for Chris from Simon Moores

The “Dragon Armor” LFP battery

Sodium Ion – much ado about nothing?

Battery pack size trends

The “paradox of green growth”

China – where to from here?

Does a “green premium” exist?

Lithium company valuations

Rapid fire

Peter Oliver has been one of the most influential people in the lithium industry over the past two decades. He spent 18 years at Talison – 12 years as CEO/Managing Director and later was a Non-Executive Director. 

Peter guided Talison through the acquisition by Tianqi Lithium in 2013 and then served as an advisor to Tianqi when they sold 49% of Talison to Rockwood (now Albemarle) and later acquired 24% of SQM. He was a founding director of Tianqi Lithium Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tianqi that was established to build the first hydroxide conversion facility in Australia. Peter remained a director until June 2021.

Few have the breadth of experience and understanding of the global lithium markets. Peter has recently returned to the lithium world as a Non-Executive Director of Latin Resources.

Topics:

The history of Greenbushes and the transition from tantalum producer to dominant hard rock lithium mine.

The lithium industry before the lithium ion battery

China’s rise as a lithium chemical converter based on Greenbushes spodumene.

Competing with brine based lithium in China

Lithium industry structure and why it needs to evolve to supply the energy transition

The reason China continues to lead the world in lithium chemicals production

Lithium geopolitics

Developing talent

Lepidolite – why development has been limited and its potential in the future

Staying under the radar

Coming back to the industry / joining the Latin Resources board

The lithium opportunity in Brazil

Price

Rapid fire

John Young is the Non-Executive Chairman of Green Technology Metals (ASX: GT1) and a Co-Founder of leading lithium producer Pilbara Minerals. Cam Henry is the Founder and CEO of Primero, an EPC company that serves many industries but stands alone as the leading company serving the hard rock lithium space. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Green Technology Metals.

In this episode we cover the current state of the hard rock universe from what is happening in Western Australia to developments in Canada, Brazil, and Africa.

After a macro discussion of the hard rock world we get into specifics of what attracted these two Aussie lithium pioneers to get involved with Green Technology Metals and why developing lithium in Canada will be critical to the future of battery supply chain development in North America and the EU. 

We also discuss the GT1 partnership with Lithium Americas and why that is important to the future development of the company. 

Towards the end of the podcast, Cam turns the tables and asks me some questions. We end with rapid fire.

JP Vargas is the Managing Director of Galan Lithium

Topics:

Galan's Hombre Muerto West resource in Argentina

Permitting

The chloride strategy

The Team

The most significant project challenges

Relationship with the Catamarca Government

Rapid Fire

This is a short episode with a focus on my recent trip to Chile as well as my time on the Camino in Portugal & Spain, a short visit to Reno and upcoming trip to Australia.

If you want to skip the brief comments on the Camino trek I recently completed, fast forward to minute three:

Mentions: Summit Nanotech, SQM, Albemarle, LAC, CORFO, Daniel Jimenez & iLi Markets