Today's guest is Simon Moores, CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the world’s leading Price Reporting Agency (PRA) for the lithium-ion battery to the electric vehicle supply chain and a data and intelligence provider for the space.
Simon and Cody have a great conversation about the state of the EV battery supply chain and lithium in particular – where it comes from, how it's processed, what drives its price, the geopolitical considerations of its mining and production, and what to expect in the coming years and decades.
In this episode, we cover:
- [1:50] Simon's background in batteries, mining, and journey to starting Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
- [3:30] The role of EV batteries in driving the lithium market
- [6:45] Primary method of lithium mining today and challenges for scaling long term
- [12:44] Driving forces behind energy storage volumes today
- [13:37] Supply chain for lithium today and current challenges
- [19:36] Production of lithium in China
- [22:10] Environmental impact of processing metals into chemicals for batteries
- [25:25] The US plan for domestic lithium-ion battery processing and impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act
- [30:00] Joint ventures and other key players building gigafactories
- [33:24] Status of EV consumer market in China
- [36:30] An overview of Benchmark Minerals
- [41:11] Simon's short and long-term market outlook for lithium
Get connected:
Cody Simms
Simon Moores / Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
MCJ Podcast / Collective
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Episode recorded on January 17, 2023.
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant
