The Global Lithium Podcast

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?

A test to ensure all platforms are receiving the RSS Feed. Plus a comment on the constant attacks on battery metals producers by the current administration along with some historical context re: lithium mining

Seth Goldstein is an analyst at Morningstar - an industry leader providing independent research and analysis on a global basis. In his role at Morningstar, Seth covers Tesla, Albemarle, SQM, Livent and Lithium Americas.

Topics:

The EV market from a regional perspective

An update on Tesla’s new plants in Texas and Germany

Lithium supply and demand - how long will the shortage last?

Was Albemarle’s new lithium demand estimate for 2030 a meaningless theoretical exercise?

Why lithium is different than other resource markets

The Mineral Resources / Albemarle lithium JV - who has the upper hand in WA?

Livent: Too little, too late with a flawed strategy? Or a strong niche player?

Cathode – which “flavor” wins?

SQM – will they outperform Albemarle on price again in this market cycle?

Will SQM finally meet one of their volume predictions?

The “Spot” vs contract pricing gap – how much? For how long?

How will OEMs adjust their strategy to lithium limitations in this decade?

Seth’s thoughts on Lithium Americas – Cauchari and Thacker Pass

Product qualification in a market shortage

Rapid Fire

Chris Reed is the CEO of Neometals

Topics include:

First lithium success – the development of Mt Marion and a profitable exit

Battery recycling plans – Europe, North America, Asia

Feedstock – scrap & end of life batteries, timing

EVs “dirty little secret” – minimizing the current five years it takes the average EV to recoup the carbon footprint deficit with ICEs

The contribution recycling can make to lithium supply by 2030 and 2040

“Peak Spodumene”: What total LCE volume? When?

Electrolytic Lithium aka “Eli”– the process and potential

Changing the cost curve

Neometals upcoming London Listing

Supply and demand imbalance

Doomsday scenarios

Rapid fire

A double episode for Super Bowl weekend. 

Part One is with Standard Lithium's Dr Andy Robinson and Will Smith. Andy is COO. Will is Engineering Manager. We discuss the Standard Lithium project with partner Lanxess in El Dorado, Arkansas. Part Two features Andrew Miller the COO of Benchmark Mineral intelligence. We discuss lithium price, supply and demand and several other topics.

Simon Hay is the CEO of Leo Lithium and the former CEO of Galaxy Resources. Leo Lithium has a 50/50 JV with Ganfeng Lithium to develop the Goulamina Project in Mali. 

Topics include:

Africa's history in lithium

Project details: resource/reserves, grade, flowsheet, utilities, etc

Timing of stage 1 and stage 2

The Team

Challenges

Benefits of having Ganfeng as a partner

Offtake

Price formula

The lithium market - what is "different this time"

My guests are Co-CEOs Ana Cabral-Gardner and Calvyn Gardner

A lively discussion that was originally 72 minutes edited down to 47 minutes.

Topics:

Construction update and challenges

Ramping up

Covid and other obstacles 

Sustainability

BlackRock’s Investment

ESG Investing

Social License

Battery Quality spodumene – reality or myth?

Partners that matter

Lifting up the local community

Lithium: “The Limiting Factor” to EV Growth?

How long is the “short term”?

Twitter @SigmaLithium