Wednesday 14 October 2015

International Lithium and Ganfeng: Argentina's Mine Industry Doubles Down on Lithium




International Lithium Corp. - A Green-Energy Metals Company.



  "I have written extensively about International Lithium and our strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium. Our J/Vs in Argentina and Ireland are financed by this giant from China and we have very important access to the technology. Basically we are building the secure supply chain for Ganfeng Lithium using their expertise in raw materials needed for production of battery grade lithium from the very beginning. Our brine bulk sample from Mariana is being tested at Ganfeng state-of-the-art R&D facilities in China and in Ireland we have identified 22 exploration targets. Now, according to our latest NR, we are waiting for the approval of the budgets for both projects to be rapidly advanced after very encouraging results were received from the last exploration stage this year.





   Today I would like to show you another side of International Lithium. We have the very strong technical team headed by our CEO Gary Schellenberg. Anthony Kovac - our COO and John Harrop - our VP of Exploration are among very few top level exploration managers and geologists in lithium sector. This Team depth has allowed International lithium to attract Ganfeng and strike two major J/V deals in all our industry. These days we are getting the first fruits of this very hard work. Coming volume shows that market is waking up and we are receiving at least some recognition of the value we have been building all these years. 
  I am talking a lot about the security of lithium supply and Tesla Lithium Hydroxide Supply Deal is another proof and was noticed by market overnight. Now venture capital is knocking on all doors chasing the upstream supply chain for electric cars and Energy rEVolution. 
  We have another great project at International Lithium: Mavis Lake Lithium And Tantalum Project which is located in mining friendly Canada in the area with excellent infrastructure and very encouraging initial exploration results with high grade Lithium and Tantalum. It will be our next strategic advance for the company. With J/Vs moving forward we are looking for the strong Strategic Partner to develop this project for the potential supply of this strategic commodity for the ongoing Next Industrial rEVolution. West will wake up one day to the fact that China has managed to control now not only over 90% of REE production, but 75% of Battery Grade Lithium Hydroxide as well. 
  Security of Supply means exactly this - Security. When the price is taking the second consideration and availability of critical materials is taking the central stage. My personal mission is to make this Security happen for the Western world for real as well, even if this part of the World still lives by HFT rules and Q by Q performance reflecting the coming bonuses. Our Asian friends are beating us all here with the state-level plans looking for The Next Fifty Years and building new strategic industries like Electric Cars in China.
  We have Elon Musk, we need more like him, but it is a very good start. Our strategic partner for Mavis Lake is waiting somewhere in between of latest Q performance reviews. If you know the one - you know whom to call. Now I do not have really to explain any more What Is Lithium For - Elon Musk has made the great job and every single Tesla Model S is the best moving ad of the things to come. All cars will be electric and it will be very soon. And by the way any new hard rock mine for Lithium will take 5-7 years to build Lithium brine operations will take 4-5 years at best. 
  Why International Lithium? You can check presentation above. Read more."


International Lithium Corp. Reports on Continuing Work in Argentina and Ireland With Ganfeng Lithium.


Mr. Kirill Klip, President, International Lithium Corp. comments, "Our projects are advancing in tandem with rising lithium prices. The lithium supply chain is being stressed even before the commissioning of the Tesla Gigafactory and other megafactories from BYD, Foxconn, Boston Power and LG Chem. Our joint ventures with Ganfeng Lithium demonstrate that cooperation between companies with varying expertise in the raw materials supply chain can work to secure a supply of strategic commodities. In this case, lithium which is necessary for the clean energy initiatives announced by the U.S. and China. These two countries alone will provide mass markets for electric cars and home energy storage units increasing the demand for lithium batteries."





IndustryWeek:

Argentina's Mine Industry Doubles Down on Lithium

Argentina, Bolivia and Chile hold about 70% of the world's reserves of lithium, but Chile isn't granting any new concessions and Bolivia has suspended mining after residential opposition, which leaves Argentina to lead the way.
Panasonic displays a handful of its lithium-ion batteries at the 2015 CES.
Panasonic displays a handful of its lithium-ion batteries at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
David Becker, Getty Images

BUENOS AIRES — We need lithium for cell phones, electric cars and just about every long-life battery gadget we use: It’s a key ingredient of the modern economy, but new mining concessions can be hard to find.
Except, that is, in Argentina, where a lithium rush is in full swing.
Argentina, Chile and Bolivia hold 70% of the world’s reserves of the soft, silvery metal. But Chile is not currently granting new concessions, and Bolivia has suspended lithium mining after opposition from local residents around the Salar de Uyuni salt flats, which hold enormous lithium deposits.
“Argentina has, in the provinces of Catamarca, Salta and Jujuy, the most fantastic quantity and quality of lithium the world can boast today,” Argentine mining secretary Jorge Mayoral said. “It’s a mineral Argentina is betting heavily on. Argentina sits on resources that may surpass 128 million tonnes of lithium carbonate, which is a vital component in manufacturing lithium batteries.”
At the foot of the Andes mountains, in the windswept region of Puna, the “salares,” or salt flats, hold vast deposits of lithium. In 2014, the world consumed 170,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent. American, Japanese and South Korean companies are already mining Argentina’s deposits.
“When we started promoting lithium in 2005, we never imagined we would have such success in attracting investment to Argentina,” Mayoral said. “All the big auto makers have been present in Argentina trying to get a foot in lithium development.”
‘Golden triangle’
Toyota, Mitsubishi and Posco have already begun production in the province of Jujuy, on the border with Chile and Bolivia — the so-called “golden triangle” of lithium. In 2013, French group Eramet also got in the game with two deposits in Salta province covering nearly 200 square miles.
“It’s a beautiful deposit. We discovered a significant level of resources — more than seven million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent,” Eramet’s Hughes-Marie Aulanier said.
Eramet has not yet entered the production phase — expected to last more than 40 years — but its geologists are busy assessing how much of the deposit is commercially viable.
Aulanier said the firm would use an innovative, “world-first” procedure to avoid harming the environment, developed by Eramet’s research department with the French Institute for Oil and New Energies (IFP Energies Nouvelles).




Thirty to 40 French and Argentine employees are at work on the site, with just llamas and vicunas for company in an unpopulated desert region at an altitude of more than 13,000 feet. The nearest village, Santa Rosa Grandes, is more than 35 miles away.
Eramet, which has partnered with the province’s public mining company on the project, plans to invest $260 million once the feasibility study gives the green light. It expects output of 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent a year through 2019. The mined lithium carbonate yields 20% lithium after processing.
By Alexandre Peyrille"

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