Episode 161: John Worth

John Worth is the CEO and MD of geo40 a technology company based in New Zealand engaged in low carbon recovery of minerals from geothermal fluids. They currently produce colloidal silica at commercial scale from geothermal streams in New Zealand and are leveraging that technology to provide direct lithium extraction (DLE) to a variety of asset types containing low levels of lithium (50 ppm & up). After successfully piloting DLE technology they now plan to move to the demo level with a target of commercialization in North America by 2025 and later in other jurisdictions.

Topics:

• The need to add DLE to the lithium supply portfolio

• What makes a great DLE project

• Why it makes sense to pursue low ppm level lithium streams in North America

• Where DLE fits in on the cost curve

• Tailwinds from the "new normal" of lithium prices

• The need for multiple DLE players

• Why geo40 is leaving the Salton Sea to others

• My comments on what is happening in price