As CEO of Pilbara Minerals for over six and a half years Ken Brinsden (@KenBPilbara on Twitter) had a long list of accomplishments. We discuss the past, present, and future in this episode.

Topics:

Lithium: unreasonable expectations on an immature industry

The new price paradigm

The creation and future of the Battery Metals Exchange (BMX)

“Rearranging” margins in the supply chain

End user naivete

The significance of the Altura acquisition

The importance of the team

Newcomers with mid-stream production aspirations

Innovation in mining is inevitable

Why the future for Pilbara isn’t spodumene

Staying motivated

ESG

Lepidolite and the Goldman Sachs “Report”

Grooming a successor

What’s next?

Rapid fire

This is a solo episode where I discuss learnings from recent travel to the Benchmark and Fastmarkets conferences, my visit to the new Lithium Americas Technical Development Center in Reno, thoughts on the "speed" of the DOE loan office and recent announcements by Ford and GM. The episode closes with a Q&A session where I take questions and rapid fire from a long time podcast listener.

Tony Ottaviano is the CEO of Liontown Resources and an experienced mining executive.

Topics:

The move from the “Big End of Town” to the world of lithium

The Kathleen Valley project

Going underground

Hiring criteria

The team

Building vs operating

The most significant challenges Tony faces

The offtake deals – Tesla, LG, and Ford

ESG

Core values

The market

Going downstream

Rapid fire

Peter Hannah is the Senior Price Development Manager at Fastmarkets and one of the best young commentators in the battery metals space. 

We discuss: 

Lithium supply and demand dynamics 

The meaning and importance of the spot price Ponder when lithium will mature as an industry 

Why supply will define demand over the next few years Discuss the future of hedging lithium 

And why we agree $16/kg lithium carbonate won’t happen anytime soon 

I close this episode with thoughts on recent analyst reports, Argentina’s latest move to secure fair export prices and BYD’s foray into Africa

David Guerrero is currently an independent consultant and advisor with a long history in the Argentina lithium industry beginning with Lithium One before becoming the President of Galaxy Resources - Argentina. David is sought after by parties from around the world that draw on his deep knowledge when considering investments in South American lithium brine assets.

Topics:

The current state of the lithium industry in Argentina

Which new projects have the best chance of producing by 2025 & 2030

The most significant barriers to success for brine projects

Infrastructure challenges

The potential for export of “liquid spodumene” aka lithium chloride brine

The role of Federal and Provincial governments in the lithium industry

Argentina vs Chilean royalty policy

Lithium geopolitics

ESG

DLE

Rapid fire

My Q&A session with a WeChat Group featuring some of the brightest young minds in the lithium/battery/EV ecosystem.

Topics:

The Rise and Future of Ganfeng

Global Supply Chain Issues

BYD & CATL's Future Outside of China

Tesla's Lithium Positioning

The Lithium Decade

Why Didn't Western Lithium Companies Prepare for the EV Boom?

Do Any Legacy OEMs have a Meaningful Lithium Strategy?

The Best Barometer of Lithium Price

Chile's Lithium Future

How Much Influence will China have in Argentina's Lithium Future?

DLE

Geopolitics and the Battery Space

Rene LeBlanc is the Chief Technical Officer at Lithium Americas. Rene has also worked for Tesla and FMC Lithium (now Livent).

Topics:

How much lithium is needed in the production of a lithium ion battery pack?

Update on Cauchari

Ramping up a greenfield lithium project

Cycle times

Seasonality in brine production

Update on Thacker Pass

LAC's new Technical Center in Reno

DLE 

Price 

ESG

Cauchari's water use vs currently used DLE

Talent acquisition 

Rapid fire

My guests from Rio Tinto are Marnie Finlayson, MD of Battery Materials, and Grant Donald, GM of Strategic Marketing, Minerals.

Topics:

RT’s battery materials strategy

Being a leader in the green economy

Producing lithium from mine waste in California

The Rincon project in Argentina

The battle for lithium talent

Supporting local communities

Development timelines

Keeping up with technological change

RT’s view of the market going forward

RT’s thoughts on where their lithium will go

The status of the Jadar project in Serbia

Price

Being a leading force in the energy transition

How does RT’s battery business look in five years?

Rapid Fire

In my closing remarks I discuss Elon Musk’s tweet about getting in to lithium production. Lithium remains Elon and Tesla’s Achilles’ heel

Topics: 

The Benchmark vision & business model 

Limiting factors to the growth of the “lithium ion economy” 

The “great battery raw material disconnect”  

The LME nickel fiasco 

Is President Biden invoking the Defense Production Act significant? 

Tesla compared with legacy OEMs 

The emerging US Battery Supply chain compared with the EU – rhetoric vs reality 

Vertical Integration in the battery/EV space 

Why the lithium shortage is understated – the battery scrap conundrum 

Where is Benchmark in five years? 

The impact of geopolitics on the lithium ion battery world 

Rapid Fire

A solo episode covering the following topics:

Lithium prices - why SQM, Albemarle and Livent have very different prices per kg

The price of lithium stocks  

The false narrative of Chinese lithium dominance

Is GM the "Don Quixote" of the EV world?

Energy Secretary Granholm playing politics in West Virginia

Lithium training for media types

Geothermal lithium - not ready for prime time?