Lithium: Recession Proof?

Lithium: Recession Proof?

Albemarle (ALB) Windfall Shows Lithium's Resilience to Recession Fears - Bloomberg

As other metals with a broader share in older industries, like copper, wilt under the weight of slowdown concerns, lithium prices are holding up. That's allowing producers to lock in sky-high prices in contract renewals, cushioning the blow of higher costs.

A mine worker takes water samples from a brine pool at the Albemarle Lithium mine in Calama, Antofagasta region, Chile.Photographer: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg

"While Chile and Australia account for the majority of global lithium mine supply, China has more than half of all capacity for refining it into specialist battery chemicals." 

China is the least-expensive place to process lithium, due to lower construction costs and a large processed chemistry engineering base to tap into, according to Tozier. By comparison, it costs twice as much to build refining capacity in Australia and the US, while South America is somewhere in between.

See the whole piece on Bloomberg here: Albemarle Windfall Shows Lithium's Resilience to Recession Fears

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MasterMetals

@MasterMetals

Insufficient supply of #Copper & #Metals to achieve #NetZero by 2050.

Chile & Peru account for 38% of mined copper.

US copper production has fallen by almost 50% over the past 25 years.

China occupies a central role in the entire copper value chain

Daniel Yergin comments what iDr Copper's message is for the energy transition.

"Unless solutions are found quickly, which will be challenging, insufficient supply of minerals risks short-circuiting the drive to achieve net zero by 2050."

"A host of operational challenges confront future copper supply. Copper mining is actually more concentrated than oil production. Just two countries — Chile and Peru — account for 38 per cent of mined copper. And Chile's proposed new constitution includes a provision that would make the approval process for mining more difficult.

"Obtaining permits for mines in the US is increasingly hard, which is one of the reasons US copper production has fallen by almost half over the past 25 years. Meanwhile, China occupies a central role in the entire copper value chain, with the risk of the global trade becoming enmeshed in the great power competition between Washington and Beijing."

See the whole article here:

https://on.ft.com/3uLALGX

#China Creates #IronOre Giant

#China spent ~ $180 billion on iron ore imports last year.

What will this mean for $RIO & $BHP?

China Mineral Resources Group established Tuesday with a registered capital of 20 billion yuan ($3 billion).

The company's business scope covers activities including mining, ore processing and trading agent, the data showed

The establishment of the company marks China's biggest effort yet to tackle what its officials have long argued is the excessive pricing power wielded by miners including BHP Group Ltd. and Rio Tinto Plc. China spent about $180 billion on iron ore imports last year.

The new entity will house outbound investments such as the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, seen by China's leaders as the best route to ease the steel industry's reliance on Australian ore, said the people. It will also ideally become the sole channel for buying imported iron ore from third parties, most of which comes from either Australia or Brazil.

Bloomberg reported in February that China was planning a centralized purchasing platform for iron ore imports. The plan has been under consideration for years with the backing of senior leaders, the people said. At the very least, it will be a vehicle to consolidate several overseas iron ore investments including Simandou, as well as raw materials purchasing for a handful of China's biggest state-owned steelmakers.

See the whole article here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-plans-iron-ore-giant-084448636.html