RE:Better Get Moving Or Get Left BehindI'm not sure this article was written looking at the big picture, and seems to be acting as nothing more than a thorn in the "Pundits" side... Simple truth is, no one is looking to lithium to be the new oil of the future, and only arrived at that status as a moniker to describe it's potential for growth.
The use of petroleum in the gasoline industry is less than half the pie of all it's uses and comes no where near the full use of what is being created with the lithium industrial revolution. Essentially, lithium is carving out it's own pie, that is set to take far more out of the petroleum industry than just the gasoline portion. It is also targeting the power plant industry, which I think can be seen as being just as big as the auto sector specially as we humans become more digital. I've seen many cases being made that "renewable energy" is a joke, and that we can't power our cities using solar, and wind power alone. However, the lack of acknowledging to the reason why it's a broken system is what triggers me to think that the majority of the article coverage on this sector is in part due to the funding being tossed around by the giants that are in danger of losing their customer base. The renewable industry was never designed/envisioned to run off win turbines and solar panels alone, and has always needed battery technology to catch up for it's synergy to take effect... We are seeing this happen right now!
From my research, the lithium sector in 2020 is set to produce some 300,000 tons, which is well bellow what it has done in the past due to the glut in this sector. Thing become very interesting once you start to look at the movements the auto sector is taking, along with the self sufficient resource movements of many countries through out the world. For example - Tesla announced it will be building a TeraFactory, which specialists are predicting to need 20-30x (times) the lithium that the current GigaFactories are taking. At that size, the current global supply would be stripped twice over just by one of these factories alone. There are also talks that the auto industry itself needs to secure themselves a supply chain that can give them the edge on the cost of the battery packs. Regions like south America are showing signs that their governments are starting to see the potential of the resources they hold, and are starting to wonder if they should be in control, rather than letting other countries exploit these resources. We are seeing this happen with DJI right now, as PlusPetrol is at it's door ready to buy them out. Their partnering with lithium refining technology company Moselle is proof that money is on the sidelines looking in... New refining technologies is going to drive this sector crazy in the very near term, otherwise - It takes two years to setup an evaporation mine up, and another two years for the pools to be used. this means no mine that goes into construction today, will be able to see profits for another 4 years on current technology.