Avsnitt
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Jon Evans is the CEO of Lithium Americas and a long-time industry veteran.
Topics:
How the industry has changed since 2008
Why price stays higher for longer this cycle
The battery market
After the first Thacker Pass ton
US lithium demand
Not Jon's first rodeo
Partners
A lesson from Ted Lasso
What keeps Jon motivated
Sulfuric acid
LAC's position on the cost curve
America's midstream issue
Africa
What success at Thacker Pass looks like
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This is a solo episode where I talk about market commentary, hype from the US Government, where China is really dominant, the big banks return to lithium, price, and Lithium Confidential.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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My guests are two voices from the brine world. Murray Brooker and Clint Van Marrewijk.
Topics:
Why do brine projects take so long?
WA's hard rock advantages
Will brine development be faster in this cycle
The impact of big balance sheets
What makes a great brine project?
Brine recovery rates
The "promise" of DLE
No DLE, no Smackover
"Brine without borders"
Modular brine production
The brine talent pool
Rapid fire
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Chris Reed is the Managing Director of Neometals
Topics:
Status of the lithium market
What China got right
Pivoting from urban mining to brine
LFP
Conversion in the West
Africa
DLE
The project in Utah
SPAC of the century?
Oh Canada
Lithium history lessons
Demand in 2030
CATL's lithium strategy?
Supply in 2035
Geopolitics
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Tu Le is the founder of Sino Auto Insights, an innovation & management consulting firm.
Topics:
The Global EV picture
The final frontier for China EVs
The US "China EV" strategy
GM and Ford
The status of FSD (full self-driving)
The changing perception of Tesla in China
What's next for BYD and Tesla?
When will CATL be producing batteries in the US?
The "best of the rest" China EV companies
Rapid fire
The growing angst in China over lithium supply
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Tom Benson (aka the "Doctor of Volcanoes") is the Vice President of Exploration at Lithium Argentina.
Topics:
Being creative in exploration
The major upgrade to the Cauchari - Olaroz resource
Bigger than the Atacama?
Tom's history at Thacker Pass
Lithium Africa - Tom's latest focus
The Africa lithium "recipe"
Use of new technology & AI in exploration
"Permitting Purgatory"
Making Africa a lithium success
Comments on the Smackover & Salton Sea
It's "nice to be nice"
Rapid fire
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This is a short solo episode.
Topics:
What lithium investors are asking
The converter in Texas
A tale of two earnings calls
My visit to Thacker Pass
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YJ Lee is a Director and Fund Manager at Arcane Capital in Singapore. Find him on X @usuallyYJLee
Topics:
The Backstory
YJ's path to lithium
The learning process
His bullish forecasts
EVs, E-trucks & BESS
Picking winners
Ganfeng & Tianqi turn bullish
CATL's diminishing lithium market influence
Is another price spike coming?
Thacker Pass
DLE & the Smackover
Eramet
Vulcan
Nemaska
Canadian potential?
Rapid fire
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Rene is a VP at Lithium Americas and one of the best technical minds in the industry.
Topics:
How the industry has changed in 20 years
The return of LFP
Flowsheets
China's overnight success after two decades
The challenge for America
The next cycle
Is the low hanging fruit gone?
What derailed high nickel cathode
Tesla's Texas converter hype
BESS
DLE
Thacker Pass update
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This is a solo episode. In the past I wrote a time limited "stream of consciousness" New Year's post on LinkedIn. This year I decided to do a podcast with the same rules.
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Daniel Jimenez is the founder of iLi Markets and formerly worked for SQM. On X: @D_Jimenez_Sch
Topics:
The rapid growth of BESS
CATL
China's weakening grip on lithium
Hidden costs in Africa
The tightening market
Where is the money made in LIB
Chile's lithium future
Argentina
Rio Tinto's next moves
When does DLE matter?
Alternatives to CO3 & LiOH
The coming price spike
Conversion capacity outside China
Rapid fire
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This episode is a panel discussion that took place at the Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit in October on the missing midstream.
The panelists were:
David Park, CEO of Standard Lithium
Dan Blondal, CEO of Nano One
Hugh McDonald, Arkansas Secretary of Commerce
Bhageerath Vadhi, Geologist - Ford Motor Company
Topics:
What is the midstream?
Why does it matter?
The cathode bottleneck
China's current dominant position
Margins
Nano One's LFP advantage
Washington's perspective and role
Emphasizing energy storage over EVs
Geopolitics
What does success look like?
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There are three guests and a cameo appearance in this episode.
Sam Pigott and Carlos Galli from Lithium Argentina are joined by Jason (Xiaofeng) Luo from Ganfeng. The cameo appearance is from Kelly O'Brien the head of investor relations at Lithium Argentina.
Topics:
History of the LAR - Ganfeng partnership
Consolidating assets - PPG
The "marriage" & synergy
Ganfeng's view of Argentina
RIGI
The success of Cauchari
The team
Ganfeng's recent market growth comments
The incentive price
Components of demand
When does Argentina become #1 in brine?
Funding PPG
Ganfeng's Marianas project
Water issues
DLE
Rapid fire
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This solo episode was recorded November 19th 2025 in Los Angeles while I was attending Benchmark Week.
Topics:
Ganfeng on supply / demand / price
Canaccord's take on the market
BESS
Exxon's comments on lithium
The midstream
DLE
Rio's lithium future US Congress on China's predatory pricing
Liontown's spod auction
IGO's Kwinana woes
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The state of Arkansas is poised to be the next great lithium brine province. This week at the Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit I interviewed Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders along with Allie Kennedy Thurmond and Jason Muller from Equinor, Ashu Sharma from Aquatech and Jesse Edmondson of Standard Lithium.
Topics:
Why Arkansas?
Angela's story
Going downstream
No DLE, no Smackover
US policy gaps
Stockpile options
Building value chains
The Smackover Lithium culture
Force multipliers
Aquatech's business
Process optimization
Li-Pro & Pearl
What's next for the Summit?
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Emilie Bodoin is the founder and CEO of Pure Lithium. The mission of Pure Lithium is commercializing a rechargeable lithium metal battery.
Topics:
Improving how lithium metal is made
Simplifying the battery supply chain
Why making EV batteries is not the company's goal
Speed
LFP and vanadium
Partners
Mentors
The commercialization plan
Why solid state batteries aren't a panacea
Rapid fire
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Chris Berry aka "the voice of reason" is the founder and President of House Mountain Partner. Ernest Scheyder is a journalist and the author of "The War Below."
Topics:
The US critical metals strategy
The US trend towards state capitalism
Picking winners
LAC/GM and the DOE loan "deal"
Free money??
The market bottom
The OPEC analogy to lithium
Lithium's version of fracking
DLE's future role
Lithium as a "party animal"
The long road to a circular economy
Rapid fire
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Ron Mitchell has one of the lithium industry's most impressive resumes having worked for Talison, Tianqi, and a resource development project. He also chaired the LME lithium and cobalt committee for several years.
Topics:
The challenge of developing resources
De-risking projects
Price
Africa - reality vs hype
Lepidolite - mountains of residue
The beauty of vertical integration
The hard rock cost curve
Incentive prices
Hard rock conversion beyond China
Peak spodumene in Australia
Risk management tools
Issues with spot price
What's next?
Rapid fire
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Chris Doornbos is the Founder and CEO of E3 Lithium.
Topics:
Thinking differently about lithium
The Alberta advantage
The Team
DLE
Sorbent flexibility
Timing
Financing options
Price & price supports
The "lithium buyer's club"?
The cost curve
Influencing policy
The critical path
Rapid fire
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I provide additional perspective of why I believe the "lithium winter" is over.
Chinese anti-involution measures are a contributing factor, as is continued strong demand growth and less lithium feedstock and chemical inventory in China than many people think.
- Visa fler
