The Global Lithium Podcast

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”

Episode 94: Simon Hay Simon Hay is the CEO of Galaxy Resources. We review the status of production at Mt Cattlin and development plans for Sal de Vida and James Bay. We discuss spodumene prices and why Galaxy will continue to sell at spot price in 2021. Simon makes “no apology” for the new phased development strategy at Sal de Vida and discusses the conditions that need to be in place to move James Bay forward. We discuss the pros and cons of having partners. Project execution and teams. The challenge of managing a project in Argentina from Perth during Covid. Will Western Australia producers learn the lessons from the past 24 months when considering capacity restarts? I ask Simon the best aspect of his job. And, as always, Rapid Fire.

Seth Goldstein is one of the best lithium analysts – anywhere. He works for top rated investment research company Morningstar where in addition to his lithium work he also chairs their EV committee. Prior to joining Morningstar, Seth worked for Berkshire Hathaway Energy. As part of his role with Morningstar Seth follows Albemarle, SQM and Livent; however, he is also well versed on other companies in the space, as well as the EV and cathode markets. Topics include: Seth’s analytical process Analyzing the former “Big 3” When will EVs achieve cost parity with ICE vehicles? Barriers to EV adoption EV penetration in 2025 and 2030 Why building recharging infrastructure is more important than subsidies Carbonate vs hydroxide – the market split in 2030 Is the lithium industry as opaque as it seems? Seth’s thoughts on the cost curve and future pricing Albemarle’s changing price strategy Will Tesla continue to lead in EVs? Handicapping new lithium projects and expansions Will the “Big 4” continue to dominate supply in 2030 LAC – the next major? Rapid Fire From my perspective this is a “top 10” episode. Seth can be found on twitter @SethGMStar1 Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $215 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2020. The Company has operations in 29 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc. Neither I, nor Global Lithium LLC have received compensation in any form from Morningstar.

Episode 90: Sigma Lithium - Ana Cabral-Gardner & Calvyn Gardner Sigma is developing a brownfield hard rock project in Brazil with a focus on “green mining” and ESG considerations.   Topics include: The three main considerations in developing Sigma’s resource ESG Sigma’s competitive position vs Australian Hard Rock producers Partnerships and Sigma’s plan for downstream lithium chemical participation The “social license” challenges for mining projects based on recent events in Brazil Why “green premiums” are not built into project financial estimates Life Cycle Assessment audits Covid challenges Lithium “hippies” plus rapid fire.

Episode 89: Livista Energy This episode features Daniel Bloor, CEO, and Jose Hofer, Commercial Manager, of Livista Energy. You can follow them on Twitter @LivistaEnergy and on Linked In as well as their website: Livista.Energy Livista plans to have the first large scale lithium conversion plant operating in Europe. In addition to discussing the project, we also cover: Battery passports and traceability The challenge of finding raw material supply Will “ESG compliant” material receive price premiums? Financing challenges Site selection Livista’s scope of ambition Does Europe need a strategic lithium stockpile? The future of lithium price

Episode 88: Minviro / Life Cycle Assessments Robert Pell and Alex Grant from Minviro, pioneers in producing Life Cycle Assessments for the lithium industry, are my guests. Minviro is focused on the environmental portion of the emerging and increasingly significant field of ESG. We discuss: The development, importance and value of life cycle assessments Impact categories Properly quantifying results vs “tick the box” exercises The need for 3rd party reviews OEMs desire for ESG compliant material but unwillingness to invest in it How seriously life cycle assessments are being taken by the industry And for those of you that are Ayn Rand fans, after this episode you may be asking “Who is Sarah?” instead of “Who is John Galt?”

My favorite lithium event of the year is Panorama Minero's  “Lithium South America”. I had the opportunity to keynote at this event in Salta in 2018 and Jujuy in 2019. This year at the virtual event I participated by doing a live Global Lithium Podcast with a great co-host, Carlos Galli, who conveyed the questions from the audience and added his own insightful commentary. Topics include: Why OEMs are not investing in lithium and when this will likely change The bifurcated market in both quality and price Covid’s impact on the lithium demand The coming shortage of battery quality lithium Tesla’s lithium failure Why Argentina should “build a lithium bridge” to Europe The Future of DLE  My ranking of the “Top Five” lithium players Bolivia – the land of lithium dreams In addition I make a few comments on the "divorce" of Livent and E3 Metals

Bob Morris is a battery metals expert who worked for industry heavyweights Umicore, INCO and Vale for many years before starting his own consulting company. Few people have the depth of the battery supply chain experience that Bob has. Although we dealt with many of the same customers and both spent time as expats in China and Japan, we never crossed paths until we were introduced recently by Dan Blondal, CEO of Nano One. In this episode Bob shares the basics of industry dynamics for both nickel and cobalt. We discuss why expectations for the growth of high nickel cathode were unrealistic - noting that demand estimates from industry pundits without significant experience often are. We also review why cobalt is likely to have a place in the battery world for a very long time despite the desire of many to minimize use of the metal. As the development of 811 NMC continues to fall short of expectations, we examine the reasons why 532 and 622 NMC are still viable. We move on to the resurgence of LFP and the ramifications that may have for lithium supply. Bob provides his thoughts on Tesla’s Battery Day, range anxiety, and why every cathode will continue to have a place in the market for the foreseeable future. We close by discussing the future of recycling and why Northvolt’s 2030 ambitions for using recycled battery materials are unrealistic.

Emilie Bodoin is the founder and CEO of Pure Lithium a start-up focused on changing the way lithium metal is made and greatly enhancing the quality vs the current state of the art. The original patent for rechargeable lithium batteries goes back to the 1970s and was based on using lithium metal. Technical/safety issues forced a compromise to the current lithium ion design using metal oxides rather than lithium metal. If Emilie has her way, the next generation of rechargeable lithium batteries will utilize lithium metal and be much more powerful than what we have today. As with all start-ups, risks abound. I like Emilie’s focus and determination. If you are interested in the future of lithium batteries and lithium raw materials this episode is for you. The day I met Emilie in New York in early 2019 I also met Paul Graves the CEO of Livent and former podcast guest. At the end of the episode I will discuss Livent’s recently announced plan to be involved in resurrecting the largest value destroying fiasco in lithium history – Nemaska Lithium and why I like the idea.

Last week Altura went into receivership. A day later Pilbara had a conditional deal to purchase their neighbor. Lithium drama has moved, at least temporarily, from the Atacama to the Pilbara. I hope the acquisition happens and ultimately leads to Pilbara vertically integrating via partnerships in Europe and possibly Korea. In Argentina last week, the government of Salta announced it would allow exportation of lithium brine to have the value addition take place in another country. I think this is a short sighted decision unless it is somehow limited to a brief period of time. I explain the logic behind my thinking. Last week at the Fastmarkets Lithium Conference the question was asked – does Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) matter? I explain my thoughts on that topic. I also say why I think the conference needs a “makeover” to remain relevant and challenge my buddy Simon Moores who organized the first edition of the conference when he worked for the Fastmarkets (then called Industrial Minerals) to come up with a new and improved conference for the coming “Golden Age” of lithium. SQM advised me last week what I “have to do” in order for them to be on the podcast….