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Musk’s call for more lithium refining highlights reliance on China","elon-musks-call-for-more-lithium-refining-highlights-reliance-on-china","article/elon-musks-call-for-more-lithium-refining-highlights-reliance-on-china",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":665,"featured":50,"reporter":666,"_editable":670,"component":671,"seo_title":553,"categories":672,"visibility":680,"author_company":49,"featured_image":681,"seo_description":665,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":686,"formattedArticleDate":687},"d6e624ab-2929-4bed-afab-2d60b4e1831f","2022-07-21 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"china","China",[564],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":567},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":568,"image":569,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":570},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":574,"content":575},"doc",[576,583,588,593,598,603,608,613,618,623,630,635,640,645,650],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"Elon Musk’s call for entrepreneurs to go into the lithium refining business highlights the lack of capacity outside of China, Benchmark data shows.","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":582},"Musk said there were likely to be “constraints in the refining of the materials necessary for lithium ion batteries” since refining was “much harder” than mining.",{"type":577,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":582},"“The processing of lithium is insane,” Musk told analysts during a post earnings call. “The mining is relatively easy, the refining is much harder…you have to refine the lithium into battery grade carbonate and hydroxide which has extremely high purity. It’s like software margins in lithium processing right now. It’s a licence to print money.”",{"type":577,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":582},"The US and Canada currently refine only 3% of the global lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) compared to 59% for China, according to Benchmark’s Lithium Forecast. By 2030 the US and Canada will contribute about 7% and China 46%.",{"type":577,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":582},"Europe refined less than 1% of the world’s LCE last year, and by 2030 is expected to refine 7%, Benchmark forecasts.",{"type":577,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":582},"Chinese refiners are getting better at processing different sorts of spodumene and will be difficult to compete against, Cameron Perks, an analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":577,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":582},"Chinese lithium refining majors Ganfeng and Tianqi last week forecast a significant jump in first half net profits due to record high lithium prices.",{"type":577,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":582},"Chengdu-based Tianqi said it expects first half net profit to be between $1.44 billion and $1.74 billion, an increase of between 11,089% to 13,420% year-on-year. Rival Ganfeng has forecast net profit to be between $1.08 billion and $1.35 billion for the first six months of the year, an increase of between 408.25% to 535.3% year-on-year.",{"type":577,"attrs":619,"content":620},{"textAlign":49},[621],{"text":622,"type":582},"“Refining capacity in China is massive,” Perks said. “The pipeline is huge, there’s no shortage of companies. If Elon Musk wants to secure supplies outside of China then it may not be economical.”",{"type":624,"attrs":625,"content":627},"heading",{"level":626,"textAlign":49},4,[628],{"text":629,"type":582},"Processing outside China ",{"type":577,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":582},"While lithium refining capacity is growing outside of China, it is more expensive and has suffered from delays.",{"type":577,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":582},"Tianqi announced it would build its Kwinana lithium refinery, its first outside China, in Western Australia, in 2016. The first phase of the plant started to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide in May this year, and cost A$770 million ($510 million) in total.",{"type":577,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":582},"US lithium producer Albemarle’s lithium processing plant in Australia, Kemerton, also suffered from delays and the costs went above the initial estimate of $1.2 billion. The plant was originally due to start production in 2020 but started this year.",{"type":577,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":582},"Tesla’s senior vice president Drew Baglino said the world’s largest electric vehicle maker is working with its suppliers to ramp their capabilities as quickly as possible and also making its own investments as well.",{"type":577,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653,655,663],{"text":654,"type":582},"“We are building a ",{"text":656,"type":582,"marks":657},"cathode facility",[658],{"type":659,"attrs":660},"link",{"href":661,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":662},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/teslas-cathode-supply-chain-integration-plans-in-context","url",{"text":664,"type":582}," here in Texas…we are working on a lithium refining activity as well ourselves because the best way to learn how to accelerate something is to do it yourself. So, these are the things we are doing to move it all forward,” he said.","Elon Musk’s call for entrepreneurs to go into the lithium refining business highlights the lack of capacity outside of China, Benchmark data shows. Musk said there were likely to be “constraints in the refining of the materials necessary for lithium ion batteries” since refining was “much harder” than mining. “The processing of lithium is insane,” […]",[667],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":668},{"job_title":568,"image":669,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"d6e624ab-2929-4bed-afab-2d60b4e1831f\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[673,675,678],{"slug":674,"name":299},"cathode",{"slug":676,"name":677},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":679,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":682,"name":682,"focus":682,"title":682,"source":682,"filename":683,"copyright":682,"fieldtype":684,"meta_data":685,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/463a06fba0/bm-kwinana-tianqi-2.jpg","asset",{"alt":682,"title":682,"source":682,"copyright":682},"Jul 21, 2022","21st July 2022",[],[],1792773925294]