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enters lithium market on tightening supply","orocobre-enters-lithium-market-on-tightening-supply","article/orocobre-enters-lithium-market-on-tightening-supply",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":578,"featured":50,"reporter":723,"_editable":727,"component":728,"seo_title":553,"categories":729,"visibility":738,"author_company":49,"featured_image":739,"seo_description":578,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":744,"formattedArticleDate":745},"cef7389a-c646-45ff-bfca-ecea4418470e","2016-07-20 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,580,585,590,595,600,605,610,615,620,625,630,635,640,645,650,655,660,667,672,677,680,683,688,693,698,703,708,713,718],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"As the lithium industry welcomes its first new producer in a generation, demand is once again beginning to outpace supply","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"The lithium industry has welcomed its first new supplier in 19 years after Orocobre Ltd confirmed the start-up of its Olaroz lithium carbonate plant in Argentina.",{"type":574,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":579},"The Australia-based company has begun brine operations at the Salar de Olaroz in Argentina’s north and plans to ramp up to full capacity of 17,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate by the end of 2015.",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":579},"Orocobre is targeting the battery industry as its primary customer base, but is not closing itself off to market opportunities elsewhere including the glass, ceramics and industrial lubricants sectors.",{"type":574,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":579},"“We can produce 100% battery grade material from our feedstock brine but we are not purists, we will do business where it makes sense,” Richard Seville, Managing Director of Orocobre explained in an exclusive interview with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.",{"type":574,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":579},"The company is the first of a new wave of lithium projects to make it to production, somewhat of a rarity in today’s financial environment.",{"type":574,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":579},"In what has been one of the worst ever slumps experienced by the exploration mining sector, Orocobre has managed to secure $250m funding for Olaroz since 2010 with construction starting in late-2012.",{"type":574,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":579},"It has still been a seven-year process from registering the company to starting production, but in relative terms that is a rapid startup for a niche mineral operation and perhaps comes as a stark warning to end users seeking to secure medium term raw material supply that new projects can take the best part of a decade to develop.",{"type":574,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":579},"Major backers of the project include Japanese joint-venture partner, Toyota Tsusho Corp, in addition to major share holders Acorn Capital Ltd (7.17%), Renaissance Asset Management (4.52%), CIBC Asset Management (4.48%), Invesco Asset Management (3.97%), and Blackrock Investment Management (1.92%).",{"type":574,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":579},"And for these backers, the timing is looking good with the lithium market bracing itself for a period of tightness as increasing demand meets stagnant supply.",{"type":574,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":579},"There have been no significant expansions in recent years at any of the major lithium brine producers of SQM, Rockwood Lithium (now Albemarle) or FMC Lithium. In the meantime, demand from lithiumion batteries used in smartphones, tablets and laptops has been steadily rising and is likely to move the supply/demand balance into deficit by mid-to-late 2015.",{"type":574,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":579},"“During our time in construction, the market has gone from a perception of an excess in supply to a very, very tight situation. Despite publicly stated plans from existing lithium producers over the last two years, there have been no production expansions at all,” Seville explained.",{"type":574,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":579},"“If we were negotiating our contracts a year ago we would have been on the back-foot, but now with complete market uncertainty it’s a good time to enter the industry,” “The lithium market is going to get even tighter this year,” he added.",{"type":574,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":579},"Orocobre has equipped itself with the capacity to produce both technical grade and battery grade lithium carbonate.",{"type":574,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":579},"It does not yet have the ability to produce lithium hydroxide, but the company explained that it is certainly considering it as an “integral part” of its first expansion phase.",{"type":574,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":579},"Supply of lithium hydroxide, which is also a key battery cathode raw material, is tighter than lithium carbonate at present. It is a more niche product than lithium carbonate, but is also used by major battery producers that are competing with the industrial lubricant industry for the same raw material.",{"type":574,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":579},"Lithium hydroxide is subsequently expected to endure an even tighter supply situation to its carbonate counterpart in 2015.",{"type":661,"attrs":662,"content":664},"heading",{"level":663,"textAlign":49},3,[665],{"text":666,"type":579}," Can lithium be commoditised?",{"type":574,"attrs":668,"content":669},{"textAlign":49},[670],{"text":671,"type":579},"The price of technical grade lithium carbonate has fluctuated since 2004 from $3,000/tonne to an all-time high of over $6,000/tonne in 2009.",{"type":574,"attrs":673,"content":674},{"textAlign":49},[675],{"text":676,"type":579},"The last five years the price has since settled back in the mid-$4,000/tonne region, but is expected to start its rising trend once again in 2015.",{"type":574,"attrs":678,"content":679},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":681,"content":682},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":684,"content":685},{"textAlign":49},[686],{"text":687,"type":579},"The difference between this price and that of battery grade material, which is purified to a minimum of 99.95% lithium content and micronized, has always been one of contention with some producers claiming the superior grade has a higher price.",{"type":574,"attrs":689,"content":690},{"textAlign":49},[691],{"text":692,"type":579},"While this may be true of the sell-side offer price, the buyer, who negotiates the contract privately and not via an exchange, can drive this down to, at times, levels on a par with the technical grade product.",{"type":574,"attrs":694,"content":695},{"textAlign":49},[696],{"text":697,"type":579},"It has always raised the question of whether lithium, a specialist product that is tailored for each customer, can be commoditised and exchange traded.",{"type":574,"attrs":699,"content":700},{"textAlign":49},[701],{"text":702,"type":579},"Seville believes that with the way the market is structured at present, it is not possible. The talking point, however, is on whether the emergence of the battery megafactories and huge buyers of raw materials – up to ten times the size of today’s customers – can change this.",{"type":574,"attrs":704,"content":705},{"textAlign":49},[706],{"text":707,"type":579},"“I think the market will change a bit, but I don’t think lithium will ever become a commodity,” Seville told Benchmark.",{"type":574,"attrs":709,"content":710},{"textAlign":49},[711],{"text":712,"type":579},"“End users buy a product which is qualified for quality and consistency through a rigorous process. Short term substitution is not possible so it is not a commodity.",{"type":574,"attrs":714,"content":715},{"textAlign":49},[716],{"text":717,"type":579},"“The only way you can have some form of standardisation in lithium is if large buyers get all of it from one source, with one set of chemical attributes. Product specs vary between producers depending on the source,” he added.",{"type":574,"attrs":719,"content":720},{"textAlign":49},[721],{"text":722,"type":579},"Orocobre is presently negotiating its first round of contracts and is expected to reach its full production rate by the end of this year.",[724],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":725},{"job_title":565,"image":726,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"cef7389a-c646-45ff-bfca-ecea4418470e\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[730,733,736],{"slug":731,"name":732},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":734,"name":735},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":737,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":740,"name":740,"focus":740,"title":740,"source":740,"filename":741,"copyright":740,"fieldtype":742,"meta_data":743,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/ac3fa03d05/bm-shutterstock-258823082-555x370.jpg","asset",{"alt":740,"title":740,"source":740,"copyright":740},"Jul 20, 2016","20th July 2016",[],[],1792688600579]