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Joe Lowry podcast with Standard Lith and Lithium AmericasLithium Americas interview with Rene Leblanc ex of FMC/Livent -good review of the chemical processing hurdles for tier 1 and tier 2 battery grade lithium producers. Leblanc has a background in pharmaceutical chemical processing. So do several of the Standard guys. This gives them a leg up in tackling the demand from the top tier battery makers for rising quality. Second interview with Standard who lead the direct lithium extraction from brine pack; they have built their field scale pilot plant in Arkansas and are now tweaking their process. Not much detail in the interview. Note that Joe is now a Standard shareholder after being very skeptical of DLE stories. Standard and Lithium Americas stand out as juniors with technical talent that sets them ahead of the rest of the pack. Even the established lithium producers in the west, Albemarle, Soqeum, Livent , have a hard time meeting tier one battery grade quality standards. Some, like Orocobre, never do and their product sells at a big discount as a result especially in down markets but even in an up market. Toyota has a stake in Orocobre and offtakes their inferior product then has to reprocess it . The producer field will, already has to some extent, divide itself along quality lines. No doubt that lack of quality lithium carbonate and hydroxide supply, not just volume, is going to hamper OEMs and their expansion of EV sales. Tesla is miles ahead of the old guard OEMs including VW in nailing down lithium supply and quality for tier 1 battery production. They have also positioned themselves well in China with the tier 2 battery LFP producers where grade is not as critical. |
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