The Lithium Triangle, a region of South America comprising Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, has proven potential in lithium production, but each country faces its own specific challenges.

The countries that comprise the Lithium Triangle currently control more than 50% of global lithium resources, with production concentrated in the salt flats regions of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, where there are lithium brine deposits.

Battery recyclers Ecobat, Huayou Cobalt and SungEel HiTech are planning large capacity additions in Europe despite continued industry headwinds, Fastmarkets heard at the GDMMC conference in The Hague on November 25-26.

The merging of two of North America’s lithium producers, Piedmont Lithium and Sayona Mining, aims to provide optionality over growth projects and enhance the companies’ strategic flexibility, according to Fastmarkets’ head of base metals and battery research William Adams.

Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers have been reaching upstream to producers, beyond their agreements with their battery manufacturing partners, to secure North American supply for their production, battery materials and technology company Novonix’s chief executive officer Chris Burns told Fastmarkets

POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution (PPLS) will complete construction of Train 2 at its lithium hydroxide monohydrate conversion facility in Gwangyang, South Korea, by early December 2024, a company source told Fastmarkets, with delivery of the first batch of lithium hydroxide expected within two months from then.

Fastmarkets has corrected the rationale and trade log for MB-LI-0033 lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price, cif China, Japan & Korea, which was published incorrectly on Friday November 22.

Market feedback shows that these two commodities see active spot liquidity and great price volatility. Therefore, a higher assessment frequency enables Fastmarkets to reflect their spot market dynamics in a more timely manner. The new specifications for the prices are as follows, with the amendment in italics: MB-LI-0036 Lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, […]

The shift in China from nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) batteries, which mainly use lithium hydroxide, to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which use lithium carbonate, is leading to a wider price spread between the two materials, prompting producers there to shift from hydroxide to carbonate.

Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for its International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)-audited non-ferrous metals, via an open consultation process between October 8 and November 7, 2024. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process.