JV & offtake on the up..There has been much speculation regarding Tesla's giga factory and its potential impact on Li demand . It would appear that regardless of where Tesla get it's Li from they are not the only auto company eyeing JV's with Jr miners. Toyota, Nissan, BMW, US, Asian, Indian, Euro.. autos etc.. all have partnerships of some sort with battery producers "primarily out of asia". Those producers have been scrambling to secure supply of Li and have entered JV's with miners. Some of the auto's are going directly to the Li miners like Toyota in SA. No matter if the JV is through a battery producer or auto company all of them are looking to ensure they get in the game to ensure supply. There is no shortage of lithium in the world. But few of the world’s lithium deposits are of commercial value. Lithium, which does not naturally occur in elemental form due to its high reactivity, is mined from brines, pegmatites — also known as “hard-rock” deposits — and sedimentary rocks, with the first two the main sources for commercial lithium production today. While hard-rock lithium production once dominated the market, the majority of lithium carbonate is now produced from continental brines in South America, primarily due to the lower cost of production.
Brine deposits represent about 66 per cent of global lithium resources and are found mainly in the salt flats of Chile, Argentina, China and Tibet.
Pegmatite deposits account for about 26 per cent of known global lithium resources, but are coming back in favour thanks to the emerging clean tech economy and the demand for a dependable supply of lithium.
Lithium in pegmatites is most commonly found in the mineral spodumene, but also may be present in petalite, lepidolite, amblygonite and eucryptite. In Canada, the James Bay area of Quebec is known for its pegmatite deposits. Tantalum, beryllium, caesium rare earths are among the elements that can be recovered from lithium ore deposits such as LCT pegmatites, making the economics more attractive.
So where do we go from here? Seems to be plenty of demand coming onstream from multiple sources and global supply of battery grade Li is somewhat limited for the time being. It's going to take a few years for JR's to get into production and RBI is well positioned to takre advantage of near term demand wether from the global market or a "tesla" looking for a strategic asset .. I trust we will be rewarded soon..