Yes, there are many many companies picking up lithium bearing tenements and trying to get a cut of the lithium pie. Most, unfortunately will never into production.
Yes, lithium is one of the most abundant metals out there. It is present in traces in sea water and many other inland areas. However, the reason it is such a valuable commodity is because out of the large amount of lithium, only a tiny amount of it is economic to extract. This is one of the reasons why a kilo of LCE can and has fetched 20000 USD in the battery factories of China. The problem here is no longer about which suppliers these Chinese factories/converters can choose to get their feed from, it's more about IF there is any feed available at all. Hyundai recently stopped the production of one of their EV simply because they could not access the required batteries required. That's how serious the shortage is. This is compounded as most major mines have already committed to long term contracts; PLS's Pilgangora, RIM's Mt Marion are with Ganfeng, Greenbushes with Tianqi, and AJM's Pilgangora with Lionergy. Many of the South American projects are committed as well.
I am not well researched into LPI and GSC to comment substantially. However with CAD, their MT surveys are catastrophically bad at their Lida Valley claim. 45 ohm-meters is very high and not ideal considering RLC achieved 0.1 ohm-meters, in line with the lower end of many lithium triangle projects. Scotts south is a little better but nothing eye opening. Perhaps their other projects will fare better. I understand these words may sound overly critical but when there are so many lithium stock choices, it often pays to do so.
In addition, it makes increasingly more sense to reduce exposure to hard rock and/clay projects given that they are typically the most costly to operate. These projects often have mining lifes of more than a decade and hence, investing in brine can protect against future price volatility compared to spondumene. This is another reason I choose RLC. Not only are they substantially and independently reviewed to be undervalued, but their projects are ticking all the right boxes in terms of profitability and potential. I expect this company's MC to overtake CAD's currently (20mil) within 6 months.
