The Global Lithium Podcast

Peter Hannah is the Senior Price Development Manager at Fastmarkets and one of the best young commentators in the battery metals space.  We discuss:  Lithium supply and demand dynamics  The meaning and importance of the spot price Ponder when lithium will mature as an industry  Why supply will define demand over the next few years Discuss the future of hedging lithium  And...

David Guerrero is currently an independent consultant and advisor with a long history in the Argentina lithium industry beginning with Lithium One before becoming the President of Galaxy Resources - Argentina. David is sought after by parties from around the world that draw on his deep knowledge when considering investments in South American lithium brine assets. Topics: The current state of the l...

My Q&A session with a WeChat Group featuring some of the brightest young minds in the lithium/battery/EV ecosystem. Topics: The Rise and Future of Ganfeng Global Supply Chain Issues BYD & CATL's Future Outside of China Tesla's Lithium Positioning The Lithium Decade Why Didn't Western Lithium Companies Prepare for the EV Boom? Do Any Legacy OEMs have a Meaningful Lithium Strategy? The Best...

Rene LeBlanc is the Chief Technical Officer at Lithium Americas . Rene has also worked for Tesla and FMC Lithium (now Livent ). Topics: How much lithium is needed in the production of a lithium ion battery pack? Update on Cauchari Ramping up a greenfield lithium project Cycle times Seasonality in brine production Update on Thacker Pass LAC's new Technical Center in Reno DLE  Price  ESG C...

My guests from Rio Tinto are Marnie Finlayson , MD of Battery Materials, and Grant Donald , GM of Strategic Marketing, Minerals. Topics: RT’s battery materials strategy Being a leader in the green economy Producing lithium from mine waste in California The Rincon project in Argentina The battle for lithium talent Supporting local communities Development timelines Keeping up with technological chan...

Topics:  The Benchmark vision & business model  Limiting factors to the growth of the “lithium ion economy”  The “great battery raw material disconnect”   The LME nickel fiasco  Is President Biden invoking the Defense Production Act significant?  Tesla compared with legacy OEMs  The emerging US Battery Supply chain compared with the EU – rhetoric vs real...

A solo episode covering the following topics: Lithium prices - why SQM, Albemarle and Livent have very different prices per kg The price of lithium stocks   The false narrative of Chinese lithium dominance Is GM the "Don Quixote" of the EV world? Energy Secretary Granholm playing politics in West Virginia Lithium training for media types Geothermal lithium - not ready for prime time?

Seth Goldstein is an analyst at Morningstar - an industry leader providing independent research and analysis on a global basis. In his role at Morningstar, Seth covers Tesla, Albemarle, SQM, Livent and Lithium Americas. Topics: The EV market from a regional perspective An update on Tesla’s new plants in Texas and Germany Lithium supply and demand - how long will the shortage last? Was Albemarle’s...

Chris Reed is the CEO of Neometals Topics include: First lithium success – the development of Mt Marion and a profitable exit Battery recycling plans – Europe, North America, Asia Feedstock – scrap & end of life batteries, timing EVs “dirty little secret” – minimizing the current five years it takes the average EV to recoup the carbon footprint deficit with ICEs The contribution recycling can...

A double episode for Super Bowl weekend.  Part One is with Standard Lithium's Dr Andy Robinson and Will Smith. Andy is COO. Will is Engineering Manager. We discuss the Standard Lithium project with partner Lanxess in El Dorado, Arkansas. Part Two features Andrew Miller the COO of Benchmark Mineral intelligence. We discuss lithium price, supply and demand and several other topics.

Simon Hay is the CEO of Leo Lithium and the former CEO of Galaxy Resources. Leo Lithium has a 50/50 JV with Ganfeng Lithium to develop the Goulamina Project in Mali.  Topics include: Africa's history in lithium Project details: resource/reserves, grade, flowsheet, utilities, etc Timing of stage 1 and stage 2 The Team Challenges Benefits of having Ganfeng as a partner Offtake Price formula The...

My guests are Co-CEOs Ana Cabral-Gardner and Calvyn Gardner A lively discussion that was originally 72 minutes edited down to 47 minutes. Topics: Construction update and challenges Ramping up Covid and other obstacles  Sustainability BlackRock’s Investment ESG Investing Social License Battery Quality spodumene – reality or myth? Partners that matter Lifting up the local community Lithium: “Th...

My guest is Henrique Ribeiro of S&P Global Platts , a leader in providing price information, industry market insights and analytics. In addition to his work in lithium/battery metals price information and analysis, Henrique is also a host on the Platts Future Energy Podcast. In this episode, we discuss Platts role in providing information about lithium and other battery metals. We cover their...

My guest is Daniel Jimenez ex SQM and currently running his own advisory firm, iLi Markets (ilimarkets.com). Recorded less than two weeks before the Chilean Presidential election runoff - described as the most divisive in the country's history. We discuss potential impacts of the election on the lithium industry depending on whether the winner is from the right or the left. At minute 14, we begin...

Dr. Yuan Gao has been a significant player in the lithium ion battery space for a quarter of a century. From his early days at FMC Lithium working in battery R&D to his time with Molycorp in rare earth materials followed by a five-year tenure as CEO of Chinese cathode producer Pulead and most recently as a member of Lithium Americas Board of Directors and as a sought after advisor. Few have th...

Tom Benson is the lead geologist at Lithium Americas Topics: What makes a viable lithium resource? Project time lines The world's top resources - #1 may surprise you Thacker Pass Projects, protests, and politics Being a good neighbor Sustainability Tom Benson’s version of the “Golden Rule” Great resources vs great projects Straight talk about sulfur Developing talent The “Lithium Lab” Environmenta...

Dan Blondal, CEO & Alex Holmes, COO Topics: · M2CAM (metal to cathode active material) technology benefits · Latest developments in LFP cathode · Nano One’s LFP strategy outside China · Avoiding the “precursor problem” · The evolution of EV battery technology · Working with OEMs and mining companies · The future of battery supply chains in North America & Europe · Nano One’s differentiating techno...

My brief remarks on the status of the lithium market followed by Q&A at the Panorama Minero "Lithium South America" event in Buenos Aires on September 29th, 2021. The Q&A begins at 12 minutes. The questions come from a variety of influential people in the world of lithium in South America. Below of is a list of the questions and the people asking them: 1- Daniel Jiménez, iLi Markets Your o...

The live portion of this 20 minute episode was recorded in the iconic London pub "The Dove" with Benchmark's Simon Moores, his buddy Shay, Standard Lithium CEO Robert Mintak and Standard's Chairman Robert Cross. Initially the meeting was just supposed to be lunch with Simon. When the party grew to five, it seemed like a great opportunity to pull out my IPhone and record an impromptu podcast. The "...

Carlos Galli is a globally recognized expert in lithium brine technology. This is a wide ranging discussion on the lithium market in Argentina including what needs to happen from a policy perspective to fully leverage Argentina’s diverse portfolio of lithium containing salars. The importance of access to adequate quantities of fresh water for lithium projects and the great debate of how brine use...

My guest is Stephen Biggins the Managing Director of Core Lithium . Core is developing the Finniss Lithium Project in the Northern Territory of Australia near the capital city of Darwin.  We discuss: Their project: from metallurgy to process details and timing Relationships with two top level lithium producers – Ganfeng and Yahua Offtake details The project DFS Drilling to grow the reserve ba...

My guest is Dale Henderson, Chief Operating Officer, of Pilbara Minerals. Topics include: An operations update Acquiring and restarting Altura’s operations Increasing production to ~550K MT of spodumene concentrate by mid-2022 and more than a 1,000K MT by mid-decade The market and price outlook Financing Adopting new technology to reduce the operation’s carbon footprint Potential new products Comp...

Adam Panayi is the Managing Director of UK based EV and Battery consultancy Rho Motion . The key to understanding the future direction of the lithium industry is understanding the growth of EVs and batteries as well understanding the developments in cathode chemistry and solid state. Shout outs to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence , Simon Moores and Roger Atkins . In a little less than an hour we cov...

Guests: Standard Lithium’s CEO, Robert Mintak and COO, Dr. Andy Robinson. Topics include: Managing a project and building a team remotely during Covid Getting the process right: scale and quality data matters The benefits of a building a new plant within a larger, established chemical operation Seeking attention and support from the Biden administration Timing of commercialization Potential of lit...

Alexi Zawadzki is the President of North American Operations for Lithium Americas (LAC) .  He is currently leading the effort to bring Thacker Pass into production by mid decade. In this episode we discuss the resource (type and size), the current status of the project including pilot plant operations, LAC's commitment to sustainable project development, innovative mining and reclamation tech...