At the recent Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, the Investing News Network did not miss the chance to catch up with Chris Berry, founder of House Mountain Partners, to discuss the future of lithium and the battery metalsmarket.
Speaking about trends seen so far this year, Berry pointed at what majors said during earnings season — as they are all planning for at least a million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent demand by 2025.
“I think [it] is going to be really tough for the industry to get to that level,” Berry said, pointing to all the specific challenges miners could face in the coming years.
Broadly speaking, if there is a bullish takeaway from the earning season, [it’s] that the demand is still there despite some of the challenges we have seen on the pricing side,” he said.
Berry also shared his thoughts on China and prices in the Asian country.
“I don’t think investor focus will ever shift from China because it is just such a big portion of the market,” he said. “With respect to pricing, what I think you will see in 2019 and beyond — outside of China on the contract basis, prices are broadly flat, maybe they swing 5 or 7 percent up or down either way, but you are not going to see a huge swing up or a huge swing down.”
The expert also shared his thoughts on junior miners and what the best approach is for investors when looking at lithium projects.
So is lithium still a good investment? Watch the video above to hear what Berry had to say on the topic. You can also check out our other PDAC 2019 interviews here.
The two insights of the industry leaders from the recent PDAC convention. C Berry does seem to be more conservative in his views on the lithium sector, however, he still sees demand as being there, despite some of the challenges around pricing.
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