Lithium, Yours and Mines

Forex traders short the Chilean peso will be pleased to hear that tech giants are pushing lithium prices sky high. Tesla and Apple’s greed for the third element are understandable – what with Tim Cook’s plans for an iCar, and his bipolar disorder (unconfirmed).

Google, more specifically Alphabet, wants lithium for its subsidiary Waymo, a leader in autonomous driving.

Meanwhile, a host of less top-heavy companies need lithium too, such as QuantumScape, said to be working on a lithium-ion battery that will keep 90% of its capacity after 240k miles (unconfirmed).

But of course we bring up lithium in the context of China, who dominates the global electric battery supply chain, and who can safely be assumed to be a leader in their production going forward.

“Chinese conglomerates are doubling down on lithium investments, upstream and downstream,” says Jimmie Jeremejev. “Mine operators with provable lithium supply can fairly name their price for Chinese investment, on terms more flexible than miners in emerging economies are usually used to.”