Episode 97: Alex Cheeseman

Alex Cheesemen (@ACheesey on Twitter) is an ex Australian military officer and a significant player in the Western Australia lithium industry. Alex had the unique “opportunity” to be one of the last people standing at Altura Mining. In this episode Alex will share what he learned in the process of helping bring a significant hard rock asset into production and then, due to the vagaries of lithium asset financing challenges and unfavorable market conditions, he was tasked with taking it through the receivership process. Alex has a great perspective on the WA lithium industry past, present, and future. We discuss: The timeframe for bringing projects into production Pros and Cons of having a lean project team DMS vs flotation The financial struggles of junior mining companies Learning how to connect Altura’s product with the conversion market in China The receivership experience and how the WA mining community helped out Thoughts on when currently shut in spodumene capacity will come back online Mineral Resources and Albemarle aka “watching the elephants dance” How much spodumene production can we expect from Australia in 2025 and 2030 How soon price will recover and to what level China and Australia trade tensions Why I may never be let back into WA Plus “Rapid Fire”