The Global Lithium Podcast

Henry Sanderson (@hjesanderson on Twitter) is an author and executive editor at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. He was previously with the Financial Times. His recently published book Volt Rush is a must reader for anyone interested in EVs, critical metals and the energy transition.

Topics:

Henry’s reason for writing Volt Rush

The rags to riches stories of Chinese “clean energy barons” now billionaires

Avoiding the "oligarch syndrome"

What Xi Jinping wants

Jack Ma becomes a verb

A Wuling vs a Tesla - is EV penetration a meaningful metric?

EVs: “democratized” in China but not in the west?

The challenge of developing “China free” supply chains

Messy geopolitics

The Inflation Reduction Act

Do US OEMs have the right EV strategy?

The resurgence of LFP

Western Australia’s growing lithium influence

China’s raw material vulnerability

Africa’s future role in critical metals

The changing lithium landscape in South America

The future of China’s domestic lithium resources

Lithium in the UK?

Who are the “losers” in the race to go green?

Rapid fire

In this episode I briefly speak about why I believe the "Big Banks" have, for the most part, gotten their recent price forecasts wrong.

The rest of the episode is answering listener questions:

Topics:

The Inflation Reduction Act

Permitting 

DOE Loan Program

DLE

Canada's future in lithium

The EU vs North America in battery supply chain development

Companies mentioned: SQM, Albemarle, Ganfeng, Tianqi, Lithium Americas, Pilbara Minerals, Mineral Resources, Rio Tinto, Green Technology Metals, Tesla, Galan Lithium, Livent, Allkem, Wesfarmers, Frontier, Critical Elements, E3 and several more

I interview the co-founders of the International Lithium Association (ILiA). Anand, known as “The Lithium Raj,” has deep lithium experience. Roland has experience running other major industry associations.

We start off discussing Anand’s experience as a lithium pioneer marketing spodumene from Australia (Greenbushes) before discussing the International Lithium Association’s reason for being.

Follow them on Twitter: @ILiA_lithium & Linked In

The ILiA website:  https://lithium.org/

Topics:

The early days & growth of the lithium market in China

Building relationships & negotiating in China

The early days of Tianqi & Ganfeng.

The transition from spodumene use in glass & ceramics to chemical conversion

How China competed with low cost brine imports from South America

China’s rise in battery

Moving from Talison to Galaxy & later Pilbara Minerals

The thinking behind the creation of the International Lithium Association

Attracting the major lithium players as members

The Association’s areas of focus and challenges

Serving members & the general public

What does ILiA look like in 2027?

Rapid fire with the first "do over" in GLP history

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