The Global Lithium Podcast

Peter Oliver has been one of the most influential people in the lithium industry over the past two decades. He spent 18 years at Talison – 12 years as CEO/Managing Director and later was a Non-Executive Director.  Peter guided Talison through the acquisition by Tianqi Lithium in 2013 and then served as an advisor to Tianqi when they sold 49% of Talison to Rockwood (now Albemarle) and later acquired 24% of SQM. He was a founding director of Tianqi Lithium Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tianqi that was established to build the first hydroxide conversion facility in Australia. Peter remained a director until June 2021. Few have the breadth of experience and understanding of the global lithium markets. Peter has recently returned to the lithium world as a Non-Executive Director of Latin Resources. Topics: The history of Greenbushes and the transition from tantalum producer to dominant hard rock lithium mine. The lithium industry before the lithium ion battery China’s rise as a lithium chemical converter based on Greenbushes spodumene. Competing with brine based lithium in China Lithium industry structure and why it needs to evolve to supply the energy transition The reason China continues to lead the world in lithium chemicals production Lithium geopolitics Developing talent Lepidolite – why development has been limited and its potential in the future Staying under the radar Coming back to the industry / joining the Latin Resources board The lithium opportunity in Brazil Price Rapid fire

John Young is the Non-Executive Chairman of Green Technology Metals (ASX: GT1) and a Co-Founder of leading lithium producer Pilbara Minerals. Cam Henry is the Founder and CEO of Primero, an EPC company that serves many industries but stands alone as the leading company serving the hard rock lithium space. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Green Technology Metals. In this episode we cover the current state of the hard rock universe from what is happening in Western Australia to developments in Canada, Brazil, and Africa. After a macro discussion of the hard rock world we get into specifics of what attracted these two Aussie lithium pioneers to get involved with Green Technology Metals and why developing lithium in Canada will be critical to the future of battery supply chain development in North America and the EU.  We also discuss the GT1 partnership with Lithium Americas and why that is important to the future development of the company.  Towards the end of the podcast, Cam turns the tables and asks me some questions. We end with rapid fire.

JP Vargas is the Managing Director of Galan Lithium Topics: Galan's Hombre Muerto West resource in Argentina Permitting The chloride strategy The Team The most significant project challenges Relationship with the Catamarca Government Rapid Fire

This is a short episode with a focus on my recent trip to Chile as well as my time on the Camino in Portugal & Spain, a short visit to Reno and upcoming trip to Australia. If you want to skip the brief comments on the Camino trek I recently completed, fast forward to minute three: Mentions: Summit Nanotech, SQM, Albemarle, LAC, CORFO, Daniel Jimenez & iLi Markets

Henry Sanderson (@hjesanderson on Twitter) is an author and executive editor at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. He was previously with the Financial Times. His recently published book Volt Rush is a must reader for anyone interested in EVs, critical metals and the energy transition. Topics: Henry’s reason for writing Volt Rush The rags to riches stories of Chinese “clean energy barons” now billionaires Avoiding the "oligarch syndrome" What Xi Jinping wants Jack Ma becomes a verb A Wuling vs a Tesla - is EV penetration a meaningful metric? EVs: “democratized” in China but not in the west? The challenge of developing “China free” supply chains Messy geopolitics The Inflation Reduction Act Do US OEMs have the right EV strategy? The resurgence of LFP Western Australia’s growing lithium influence China’s raw material vulnerability Africa’s future role in critical metals The changing lithium landscape in South America The future of China’s domestic lithium resources Lithium in the UK? Who are the “losers” in the race to go green? Rapid fire

Austin Devaney (AustinDevaney on Twitter) is the Chief Commercial Officer at Piedmont Lithium and a former executive at Albemarle Topics: Austin’s early days in the lithium world How customer needs have evolved Lithium quality requirements for EVs SQM’s curious & value destroying “20% price decrease letter” from several years ago Why high prices aren’t able to quickly fix high prices in the lithium space The legacy of late lithium projects Shout out to Eric Norris OEMs – slow to understand lithium The Inflation Reduction Act What Elon Musk doesn’t understand about the lithium industry Lithium in North Carolina: “Back to the Future” Piedmont’s permitting issues Brine vs hard rock Lepidolite – the new high cost umbrella? Why prices will stay high for years Rapid Fire

In this episode I briefly speak about why I believe the "Big Banks" have, for the most part, gotten their recent price forecasts wrong. The rest of the episode is answering listener questions: Topics: The Inflation Reduction Act Permitting  DOE Loan Program DLE Canada's future in lithium The EU vs North America in battery supply chain development Companies mentioned: SQM, Albemarle, Ganfeng, Tianqi, Lithium Americas, Pilbara Minerals, Mineral Resources, Rio Tinto, Green Technology Metals, Tesla, Galan Lithium, Livent, Allkem, Wesfarmers, Frontier, Critical Elements, E3 and several more

I interview the co-founders of the International Lithium Association (ILiA). Anand, known as “The Lithium Raj,” has deep lithium experience. Roland has experience running other major industry associations. We start off discussing Anand’s experience as a lithium pioneer marketing spodumene from Australia (Greenbushes) before discussing the International Lithium Association’s reason for being. Follow them on Twitter: @ILiA_lithium & Linked In The ILiA website:  https://lithium.org/ Topics: The early days & growth of the lithium market in China Building relationships & negotiating in China The early days of Tianqi & Ganfeng. The transition from spodumene use in glass & ceramics to chemical conversion How China competed with low cost brine imports from South America China’s rise in battery Moving from Talison to Galaxy & later Pilbara Minerals The thinking behind the creation of the International Lithium Association Attracting the major lithium players as members The Association’s areas of focus and challenges Serving members & the general public What does ILiA look like in 2027? Rapid fire with the first "do over" in GLP history

As CEO of Pilbara Minerals for over six and a half years Ken Brinsden (@KenBPilbara on Twitter) had a long list of accomplishments. We discuss the past, present, and future in this episode. Topics: Lithium: unreasonable expectations on an immature industry The new price paradigm The creation and future of the Battery Metals Exchange (BMX) “Rearranging” margins in the supply chain End user naivete The significance of the Altura acquisition The importance of the team Newcomers with mid-stream production aspirations Innovation in mining is inevitable Why the future for Pilbara isn’t spodumene Staying motivated ESG Lepidolite and the Goldman Sachs “Report” Grooming a successor What’s next? Rapid fire

This is a solo episode where I discuss learnings from recent travel to the Benchmark and Fastmarkets conferences, my visit to the new Lithium Americas Technical Development Center in Reno, thoughts on the "speed" of the DOE loan office and recent announcements by Ford and GM. The episode closes with a Q&A session where I take questions and rapid fire from a long time podcast listener.