Lithium miners on the move as Rio to build $2.4B mine, LG touts EV demand
Jul. 29, 2021 By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
Lithium miners are rallying after Rio Tinto said it will finance the development of the $2.4B Jadar Mine in Serbia and LG Energy cited electric vehicle demand in posting record profit.
Among the group's big names: ALB +8.5%, LAC +8.2%, SLI +6.5%, PLL +6.1%, LTHM +5.1%, SQM +3.5%, LTHM +2%.
ETF: LIT
Rio says its new investment will be one of the world's largest greenfield lithium projects and position it to become the largest source of lithium supply in Europe for at least the next 15 years.
Rio's move is "a significant moment for the lithium industry," says Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's Simon Morres, as it "marks the first time big outside money from a single miner or chemical maker has entered lithium and invested in an entirely new source,"
Benchmark is forecasting a significant lithium supply deficit of 915K metric tons lithium carbonate equivalent in 2029 even with Rio's new supply coming into the market.
LG Energy Solution, the world's second biggest battery maker, posted a record Q2 profit and said sales of batteries used in electric vehicles was improving.
Earlier this week, LG Energy and Hyundai Motor announced plans to jointly build a $1.1B battery cell plant in Indonesia.
Lithium Americas trades sharply higher even after a U.S. federal judge ruled that Native American tribes may join the environmentalist lawsuit seeking to block development of the Thacker Pass project in Nevada.
According to Bloomberg, National Bank Financial analyst Lola Aganga says the judge's move should have no impact on the project's timeline.
The same judge ruled against environmentalists a few days ago in allowing the company to conduct excavation work at its Thacker mine site.
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