"if I go now and sell my future production in cobalt I’ll get 30...

"if I go now and sell my future production in cobalt I’ll get 30 per cent more than the spot price."

Mining entrepreneur Tony Sage says he backs Donald Trump's plan to reduce China’s stranglehold on resources.Mr Sage chairs ASX-listed European Lithium, Fe Ltd, Cape Lambert and Cauldron Energy — believes China is manipulating the price of lithium and cobalt as it did with iron ore before the steel-making commodity hit record highs.“ 2007 to 2011, the iron ore price went from $US20 a tonne to about $US100 and the Chinese panicked,” Mr Sage told * in Melbourne last week.“They were the serious buyers. They played with the stock, they played with the spot prices and they held it down for at least one or two years because they were the biggest buyer.“They’re doing exactly the same with cobalt and lithium.” Mr Sage says the spot price is not reflective of what lithium and cobalt producers are actually selling their product for.“If you look at the long-term prices, if I go now and sell my future production in cobalt I’ll get 30 per cent more than the spot price.“It happened exactly this way between 2007 and 2011 with the iron ore price, and to a lesser extent the coal price, because the buyers of the material dictate the price.”

about 85 per cent of the world’s lithium comes from China, but in the same way the Asian powerhouse currently dominates in rare earths, it wants to increase its control over lithium and other battery metals."