My favorite event on the annual lithium calendar is Panorama Minero's "Lithium South America". My guests on this episode are Daniel Jimenez of iLi Markets, Roland Chavasse of the International Lithium Association and JP Vargas the MD of Galan Lithium.

Sid Subramani has global responsibility for lithium projects at Hatch (@HATCHglobal on X), a professional services and engineering company.

Topics:

The Hatch role in lithium

A typical engagement

Red flags

Projects: majors vs juniors

Big Energy vs Big Mining

DLE – when & how significant?

Common project mistakes

The importance of grade

Why projects are late

QPs

Lepidolite

Lithium jurisdictions

Specifications

Cap-Ex: China vs others

The cost curve

People

Rapid fire

Katie Pyfer is a Senior Director of Energy Storage responsible for global pricing at Albemarle. She has a PhD in analytical chemistry.

Topics:

Product analysis

Managing market cycles

Price discovery

"Micro" managing

Battery demand

Commodity or specialty chemical?

Tolling

The blending game

Qualification

Competitive tension

The benefit of lithium auctions

Price transparency

Contracts

The future of "futures"

I answer listener questions on this episode.

Topics:

The Future of DLE

Argentina production in 2025

Black Swan events

Can the US work with China?

The Pilbara/LRS deal

Is it time for more M&A?

US production in 2030

EU lithium potential

Hard rock vs brine

The Salton Sea

Is LFP the future?

Oversupply - how long?

SQM as a barometer of price

Rapid fire

Lisa Rebora is the Head of Global Lithium at Equinor, a global energy company (NYSE: EQNR). Equinor recently invested in two of Standard Lithium's projects in Arkansas and Texas but has lithium ambitions beyond the US.

Topics:

Who is Equinor?

Capital commitment to low carbon solutions

Why lithium?

The long look at DLE

Why Arkansas & Texas?

The relationship with Standard Lithium

The importance of Koch as a partner

Building a lithium team

Strength in Partnerships

Challenges getting to market

Market volatility

The lithium growth story

M&A

The million dollar question

The British invasion in Arkansas

Rapid fire

Iola Hughes is the Head of Research at Rho Motion, a battery information services company that is part of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Iola is @RhoMoIola on X

Topics:

Cathode chemistry

GWH growth numbers

China's amazing performance

Pack sizes

The EV slowdown (ex China)

ICE-EV price parity

Does BYD need the US?

Will Tesla get the boot in China?

Revival of the hybrids

India

Sodium ion

OEM strategies

Solid state batteries

The ESS market

Rapid fire

My guest is industry veteran Daniel Jimenez. This is my first live podcast recorded in Fastmarket's "Live Lounge" during their recent Lithium and Battery Raw Materials Conference in Las Vegas.

Topics:

Lithium market sentiment

Excess capacity across the lithium ion battery supply chain

Recalibrating unrealistic North American and EU EV

Africa – opaque on volume and quality?

SQM as a barometer of the industry

Codelco and the Chilean state

Tianqi’s failed dream in Chile

SQM in Australia

ALB – strategy or tactics?

Big Oil’s move into lithium

Can the oil companies use DLE to transform the industry?

Arcadium – synergy?

Chile – outside of the Atacama

Argentina’s lithium future

Bolivia

Brazil’s hard rock boom

Canada as a lithium province

The future of US lithium

Who will be the marginal cost producer?

The incentive price

Lepidolite

Building lithium ion supply chains ex China

Galan’s project

Rapid fire

Auction advice for Albemarle

Eramet - DLE's first full scale plant or another black eye?

My guests are Standard Lithium CEO Robert Mintak and Dr Andy Robinson, President and COO.

Topics:

Equinor - another great partner

Focusing on high grade brine

De-risking DLE with Koch

Project timelines

What the OEMs are looking for

Why the Smackover is so significant

3 projects with a consistent flowsheet

The Equinor deal structure

Arkansas & Texas as lithium jurisdictions

Continuing to build the team

Managing 3 projects vs 1

Carbonate or hydroxide?

Standard's place on the cost curve

What's next?

Rapid fire

I take a deep dive into Ganfeng's history and what drove their success. I question why the world's largest lithium company, Albemarle, doesn't have the same vision and ability to get things done as Ganfeng. The episode opens with MLC CEO Paul Hogan briefly explaining why lithium may be a significant part of his company's future.

Over the years SQM has declined multiple invitations to be a guest on the podcast. I am devoting this episode to my thoughts on SQM: past, present and future.