Zinnwald Lithium Share Discussion Threads

[5chipper] 27/11/2022 13:49

Zinnwald switched process to planning to produce lithium hydroxide

[bountyhunter] 26/11/2022 21:14

Interesting, "a different kind of lithium to the EMH lithium", that's rather surprising, or is it just the process

[bountyhunter] 23/11/2022 18:19

Pootle being the operative word.

[shieldbug] 23/11/2022 11:52

Not sure what the criticism here is based on. I am happy for this to pootle along. It could accelerate but it probably won't. Personally I would be amazed if they produce a BFS by end of 2023. At least with the exploration they can produce a bigger resource in the BFS than in the PEA so less chance of anti climax. Happy to have Jeremy Martin and Secker on the board. There are plenty of juniors with big bold promises and no chance ever of delivering anything.

[bountyhunter] 22/11/2022 20:36

I must reluctantly confess I am a bit fed up with hearing about their 'strategy'. What we need is action we have had enough words.

[sharekitchen1974] 22/11/2022 16:30

I think this will drift lower for a while as nothing significant to light the fire

[steeplejack] 22/11/2022 13:55

There's some sizeable sales being printed today and clearly some holders,despite the MOU recently arranged,have decided to cut and run.The company's PR lacks dynamism,especially compared with the likes of Atlantic Lithium.Equity markets are very risk averse currently and even good news is greeted with a shrug.The stock is probably well oversold for what that's worth.

[my retirement fund] 22/11/2022 08:46

Wonder what will next wake the share price up ?

[sev22] 04/11/2022 15:09

Zinnwald Lithium aims to deliver Bankable Feasibility Study by the end of 2023.

[my retirement fund] 01/11/2022 09:21

you'll need to get it out of bottom drawer for the odd fundraising though ?

[bsg] 01/11/2022 08:45

Bottom draw for this for the next 5 years.

[bountyhunter] 01/11/2022 07:46

Yes moving in the right direction at last!

[steeplejack] 01/11/2022 07:31

Things beginning to bubble.....at long last.

[bountyhunter] 31/10/2022 12:53

It has been now.

[sporazene2] 31/10/2022 12:40

surprised the move by EMH to tie up to get support from Saxony and Germany governments wasnt picked up here.

[bountyhunter] 31/10/2022 11:32

It's worth reading the EMH RNS out today as it's the same Lithium deposit just across the Czech border...

[sev22] 28/10/2022 13:22

From the same article:

Europe Update.

There have also been developments in Europe just this week. French company Imerys (FR:NK) has announced a €1bn (£870mn) mine and processing plant combination in the centre of the country, which would produce enough lithium hydroxide each year to power 700,000 electric vehicles from 2028 onwards.

The company has bona fides through its existing minerals processing expertise. It is also already mining above the deposit from which it will get its lithium, although this is a separate operation for the ceramics industry. The lithium is deeper down, which means an underground mine needs to be built – no easy task. “I can tell you that many of the choices we are making in terms of technology are more expensive than what is done in China or in Australia,” Imerys chief executive Alessandro Dazza told analysts on 24 October. “Many decisions we are taking do have a cost, but we do believe this is our mission to make this mine an example in France, in Europe, in the world, and to address many of the typical questions that would be posed by environmental institutions.”

As per Imerys’s numbers, if all the serious European lithium projects currently on the drawing board made it to production, they would produce 250,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate. Overall global demand by then will be 2.5mn tonnes, according to Benchmark. The 250,000-tonne figure also includes the on-ice Jadar project in Serbia, the removal of which would potentially lower actual production levels by 58,000 tonnes a year. Other projects will likely fall by the wayside as local opposition or simple economics become roadblocks.

[sev22] 28/10/2022 13:18

From this week's Investors Chronicle:

US lithium handouts supercharge projects.

The White House throwing almost $3bn at a variety of upstream and midstream battery metals companies will go a long way to ramping up local capacity.

October 27, 2022
By Alex Hamer

Last week, the US government dived into mining and battery processing.

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Department of Energy handed several companies lumps of cash ranging from $50mn (£44mn) to $316mn, in what adds up to almost $3bn in total investment. There are positives for UK investors within this plan – several companies have UK links, such as Piedmont Lithium (US:PLL), which is tied to Atlantic Lithium (ALL). Other beneficiaries, like Albemarle (US:ALB), are big enough to be bought and sold from abroad.

In the medium and long term, the IRA will introduce strict rules about the sourcing of raw materials in electric cars, so the government has moved to build up the local supply chain. The grants all went to companies building or planning battery metals processing facilities.

This is also an important move for those exposed to EU carmakers, given the US’s importance as a buyer. The US was the common market’s largest single export market in 2021, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (Acea), overtaking the UK with 18.5 per cent of total sales. The UK share stood at 18.4 per cent, down from 30 per cent in 2016.

As we wrote earlier this month, the US is advancing its domestic electric vehicle capacity at speed, which is necessary as China controls much of the existing processing outfits and could throttle supplies. At the same time, the US has stolen a march on Europe – as shown by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence data. In 2020, Benchmark forecast European battery production capacity, as a percentage of total worldwide production, would reach 14.2 per cent by 2024.

The consultancy now says the continent will provide 12.4 per cent of global batteries, but even then not until 2026.

“The new rules have restricted the eligibility for tax incentives to a relatively small number of vehicles assembled in North America in the short term and, in the medium term, may disqualify any vehicle at all from obtaining such a benefit due to very high local-content rules for batteries,” said Acea in a statement.

On the other end of the scale is North America, which has gone from a forecast 8.2 per cent to 12.3 per cent of global output. “Europe’s battery industry will struggle to keep pace with rising demand for electric vehicles this decade, as the region falls behind the US and Asia in terms of becoming self-sufficient in lithium ion battery cells,” Benchmark said last week.

Lithium and other metals require significant processing to get to the high-purity forms that go into batteries. China’s existing expertise and existing capacity mean it is still comfortably top dog. But as the electric vehicle market grows, other countries will need to increase their self reliance – because of the race for raw materials and the potential for geopolitical tensions leading to export and import routes being blocked.

Stopping midstream.

There are plenty of big statistics around the mining of lithium itself – by 2040, more lithium will be needed per month than was mined in all of 2021, says Benchmark – but an easy assumption is that US and European production will be piecemeal, and existing major exporters Chile and Australia will continue in that role, with other regional players such as Argentina and Brazil also contributing. West Africa will likely be a key export region, although is still awaiting a proof-of-concept operation. Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire already have plenty of gold miners, however.

The modern US is not some wild west where miners roll in and hit cash flow immediately – like Europe, permitting has not been easy for those looking to dig up lithium. The highest profile project, Thacker Pass in Nevada, will need to clear a court battle to begin construction, as First Nations groups contest the government's decision to give it the green light. Trident Royalties (TRR) holds a royalty on the project, owned by Lithium Americas (US:LAC).

Meanwhile, US cash has also landed on the Australian Stock Exchange. One recipient is Syrah Resources (AU:SYR), which is making it back to its market capitalisation highs of 2018. The graphite miner has been talking about a US plant for years, and being handed $219mn will put a spring in any company's step. “Syrah’s Vidalia facility will be the only vertically integrated and large-scale natural graphite AAM producer outside China and the first large-scale natural graphite AAM producer in the US,” the Department of Energy said last week.

While graphite has different market dynamics than lithium, this award shows how canny operators have moved into the US space. Another ASX company is also looking for US investor cash. It does not have a link to the automotive industry, but does have a project in the heart of Europe. It's even called European Lithium (AU:EUR).

Earlier this month, the company announced it would add a US listing, and the Wall Street Journal floated a potential valuation of almost $1bn (£880mn). This would be an extreme valuation for a company with a current market capitalisation of £70mn. It has the rights to an old underground mine in Austria, by any definition not a world-changing amount of lithium. The listing plan is to use a repurposed special purpose acquisition company (Spac) shell, so this may still crash and burn. But the IPO value being touted is quite a figure for a company that might only produce a handful of lithium in global terms.

One conclusion from this cash rushing in from the US government is that any company with that exposure is worth investing in. We would take a more nuanced approach, noting that untested technologies and court battles over permitting are potential red flags for producers. That said, if the EU steps in and starts handing out similar levels of cash, those piling into anything lithium stocks would likely catch some upside.