Livent claims that the battery metal industry will face the 'voodoo economy' and encourages more capital investment

According to foreign media reports, lithium metal miner-LiventCorp CEO Paul Graves said on Friday that the electric vehicle industry must increase capital investment for lithium metal to stimulate investment and prevent lithium metal supply from being interrupted in the future. condition. It is estimated that in the next few years, the demand for electric vehicles will surge. To a certain extent, this is the result of the government's ban on gasoline and diesel vehicles, because governments around the world are quite worried about climate change and environmental issues. Although the new crown epidemic has caused the rise of electric vehicles to come to an abrupt halt, there has been an oversupply of lithium metal in a short period of time, which has caused the price of lithium metal batteries to drop by more than 10% this year, forcing white metal miners to stop project expansion. It is a rare opportunity for the electric vehicle industry to renegotiate supply agreements with miners to reduce the purchase price of lithium metal. But at the same time, electric vehicle companies are asking miners to increase production. This undoubtedly raises the issue of 'voodoo economics.' Livent CEO Paul Graves previously called this industry disorder 'voodoo'. economics'. Graves revealed to Reuters: 'If you can't communicate rationally with me on lithium metal prices, so that I have the money to invest in minerals, I will not invest money to expand production.' For example, Livent called a stop in Argentina. For the multi-year expansion agreement, the project will not restart until at least half a year. The crux of the problem lies in regulations and other factors. But Graves said, I'm afraid it will take at least a few years to see the product go live. Livent and its old rival, AlbemarleCorp of the United States, announced earlier this week that its sales would fall sharply, and the latter also postponed multiple expansion projects. He said: 'If all electric vehicle companies implement their 2023 (model launch) plan, and the lithium metal market continues to develop according to the current state of affairs, then the supply of lithium metal will only be 15% of the total demand.' Panasonic and other battery manufacturers Businesses usually sign agreements with lithium metal miners, and car companies have begun to consider signing similar agreements. Graves said that despite the current lower lithium metal prices, the pricing of long-term contracts should be based on higher prices so that the mining industry has the funds to build new mines. He said: 'Otherwise, if the high-pricing strategy changes, lithium metal miners can only find other ways to solve the problem, and then the miners will still demand price increases.'