Benchmark Lithium prices - Battery Grade, EXW China @benchmarkmin

Nov 2018 $11,875
Nov 2019 $7,950
Nov 2020 $6,100
Today $30,025

Structural shortage is set to hit in 2022.

Lithium carbonate prices are at all time highs but easy to see them soar above $40k in 2022
Lithium is the key element that this entire low carbon economy is being built on. With low cost energy storage en masse, speed, scale and economics will fall apart

The passed £1 Trillion US #InfrastructureBill is set to send lithium into a super bull market next year.
The White House has identified lithium ion batteries as a core technology.

“We will get America off the sidelines on manufacturing solar panels, wind farms, batteries, and electric vehicles to grow these supply chains”
Also why The White House and President Biden stepped in to settle LG Chem / SK Innovation dispute in April

whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

We were happy to play our part here at @benchmarkmin ( benchmarkminerals.com/membership/us-… )
Lithium demand was already set in overdrive before the #InfrastructureBill

Earlier in the year I explained that the lithium demand trajectory was double the rate of the supply response, creating an almighty supply demand gap.
This lithium gap will increase as a result of the US #InfrastructureBill … it’s natural for investors and industry to focus on the end market - the electric vehicle #EV - first
But any savvy investor will be looking at the entire supply chain and investing in the slowest or weakest link in the #EV supply chain first.

It takes 7 yrs to build a lithium mine, yet only 2 yrs to build a battery plant.

Mining lives on different timelines to manufacturing
The lithium ion battery is ready to power the world…
But the supply chain, from mine to battery cell needs it’s fair share or investment to make it happen otherwise US #InfrastructureBill ambitions or climate ambitions will fall apart
I explained this lithium ion and #EV supply chain criticality to the @EnergyGOP @EnergyDems in:

2017: energy.senate.gov/services/files…

2019:

And 2020: benchmarkminerals.com/membership/a-n…
The one trillion dollar #InfrastructureBill and #COP26 in the same week is great news for the lithium ion battery and #EV thematic and a super bull lithium market

But lithium is an industry that is not yet set for this demand scenario
To learn more about lithium and the lithium ion battery to #EV supply chain, we welcome all questions and comments at #TeamBenchmark @benchmarkmin >> benchmarkminerals.com/contact/

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More from @sdmoores

26 Oct
Lithium ion battery prices are going up for the first time. Some said it would never happen. #EV

But rising lithium prices are the cause.

172% increase in Benchmark Lithium Price Index since this time in 2021 says it all

Automakers to take the hit

More TBA @benchmarkmin
Lithium carbonate price increases have hurt the most.

These have risen 200% y-o-y on the Benchmark Lithium Price Index
Crazy thing is we are not even hitting a major shortage of lithium until next year.

This lithium price squeeze could turn into a lithium price crisis for those not locked into long term contracts.

benchmarkminerals.com/lithium-prices/
Read 8 tweets
25 Oct
❗️High raw material prices are starting to push some lithium ion battery cell prices up

This is what ⁦@benchmarkmin⁩ warned of last year below

To understand batteries you need to know your supply chains #lithium #nickel #cobalt #graphite #manganese benchmarkminerals.com/membership/lit…
How Team @benchmarkmin called an end to the major declines in lithium ion battery prices.

A must read here: benchmarkminerals.com/membership/ben…
The way to keep battery costs low and falling is the inclusion and expansion of #LFP cathode which has expanded massively in China

benchmarkminerals.com/membership/ben…
Read 4 tweets
6 Oct
<thread> Lithium prices.

In 2019 I was asked whether lithium prices in the next price surge would ever reach the highs of 2016.

My response was this time it would be more aggressive. Instead of the late 20s, prices in China would exceed $40,000/t

There are a few reasons…
This time there are more buyers than in 2016.

There are still not enough sellers: miners, refiners.

Demand for lithium is outstripping the rate supply is growing by double.

The wall of EV demand for lithium continued to build, esp 2026 and beyond.
Right now the lithium industry is responding in real time, in many ways, and isn’t addressing a massive demand issue that we face towards the latter end of the decade.

For this massive investment would be needed or DLE breakthroughs to help close the supply demand gap.
Read 5 tweets
5 Oct 20
<Tesla and Lithium >

5 @benchmarkmin Charts you need to know about Tesla and it’s lithium hydroxide production / spodumene plans.

1. Tesla is now official upstream of the lithium ion battery supply chain

✅ New cathode plant
✅ New Lithium Hydroxide plant
2. Lithium chemical refining is going global, not just in China

Production of lithium from spodumene has traditionally been the reserve of China.

Lithium chemical plants are now being established outside of China incl 🇦🇺 🇯🇵 🇰🇷 and now 🇺🇸 (Tesla)
3. More control over spodumene (lithium feedstock) prices

In the last lithium price surge, spodumene rose to above $900/tonne (@benchmarkmin prices).

Today it’s less than half.

Tesla will now buy spodumene directly for their own use.
Read 7 tweets
3 Oct 20
<thread> My third testimony to the US Senate, June 2020: key points

China is building the equivalent of one battery megafactory a week, the United States one every four months.
In that time, we have witnessed a global battery arms race and watched the world’s number of supersized battery plants – known as battery megafactories or gigafactories – go from 17 to 142 [now 167]
Lithium ion batteries are a core platform technology for the 21st century.

They allow our energy to be stored on a widespread basis in electric vehicles and energy storage systems, and they spark the demand for the critical raw materials and chemicals.
Read 11 tweets
1 Oct 20
[@benchmarkmin thread] Pertinent points on Tesla’s plan for produce lithium, the first auto maker to do so....
New lithium hydroxide facility expect to be co-located next to Terafactory in Austin
Tesla will build the USA’s first battery materials hub which in addition to lithium is expected to include cathode and nickel chemical production feeding into 4680 battery cell production
Read 7 tweets

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