Vulcan, whose shares in Sydney have risen more than threefold this year, hopes to benefit from rising demand for lithium in Europe, which is trying to build up a local battery-manufacturing industry to reduce dependency on Asian suppliers. The company’s pre-feasibilty study values its lithium resources near Offenburg at 2.8 billion euros ($3.4 billion) before taxes.
The Australian startup claims it can produce battery-grade lithium without emitting carbon dioxide by extracting lithium using a geothermal power plant in southern Germany. The method is similar to what Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is researching in California’s Salton Sea.
Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, is looking to gain exposure to the battery metal at a time when prices are starting to recover after a difficult 2020. China is leading a resurgence in demand for lithium as the global economy starts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Lithium carbonate prices surged 37% in January, the biggest monthly gain since December 2015, according to Asian Metal Inc.
A raft of Australian miners are looking to boost their capacity in the battery minerals space. IGO Ltd in December agreed to buy a 49% stake in Tianqi Lithium Corp’s Greenbushes operation in Australia, the biggest lithium mine in the world.
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The race to EV’s is getting faster and faster – Jaguar are saying all their vehicles will be post petrol by 2030 that’s only 9 years away. And no sign of this catching on in SA. Perhaps this is because, in the absence of decent public transport with a defunct PRASA, it would be way too expensive to expect our taxi associations to upgrade the current mode of transport! This means we will end up with the worlds redundant technologies, eventhough we have the capacity to produce green Lithium ourselves here in this country, supporting both job creation, and Green Energy. The question we have to ask ourselves is “. Is this country, it’s people and government sophisticated enough to move and adapt to the fast changing future of the rest of the world? Sadly I think not.