Hey happy... believe it or not I'm happy to have you here
I like a good debate. Especially in a market where the research makes your head swim. A lot of rubbish from so called analysts and a market that seems to shift from month to month.
It should be denated even if just to keep us thinking outside the box.
The best I can make of the brine versus spodumene is this.
There IS A PLACE for both. In fact we'd probably be screwed without both.
Most of the brines go to the U.S, Europe or North Asia.
Most of the spodumene, (in fact I think all) goes to China.
China was mining their own spodumene before they ever got into brines in Tibet,
They have the knowledge and they are also home to products that need tech grade.
They are also behind on battery tech and need everything going for them.
Lithium from spodumene does produce a better quality battery.
I would suggest that China is close to 50% of the battery market now and it won't level until around 70% in a few years. So that extra 20% is likely going to need more spodumene just to catch up on percentages. Then we look at the massive growth forward for all manufacturers (available brines to spodumene) and the overall market and we can see why they need Pilgangoora.
Spodumene likely to pick up more of the battery, tech grade market and brines more of the rest. So we can rattle all that around the space between our ears and come up with our best guess and still be wrong.
There is a market for both and BOTH depend on how quickly demand will ramp up.
It's about demand first and foremost and then suppliers can all rattle it around to make sense of it.
