There’s nothing like raging magma to form the foundation of a multi-billion-dollar business.
When the ashes settled around this millionaire making massive volcano in Argentina thousands of years ago, after expelling its fiery magma, it left behind a vast salt flat that would eventually become a miner’s glory and an investor’s dream.
This is where Mother Nature pays us back … with an abundance of a metal that is in short supply and will define our energy future—if we can get enough of it.
The metal is lithium.
And the Argentine volcano, one of nature’s wonderful gifts, represents the best risk/reward play on lithium we’ve seen to date.
The best part of this story is that we’ve already seen it happen once—on the north side of this volcano. Now we’re heading to the south side, where Southern Lithium (TSX: SNL.V) is ready to do it all again.
Millionaires are made on risk/reward ratios, and this is potentially the most lucrative lithium punt of the year.
North of the Volcano: Billion-Dollar Lithium Bonanza
On the north side of this volcano, ADY Resources (part of the Enirgi Group) has already proven the massive lithium offerings left behind by Mother Nature, volcanic eruptions and spewing magma over the millennia.
ADY’s Salar del Rincon property now boasts exulted status as the ONLY producing lithium operation in Argentina’s prized Salta Province.
And it proved everything up when lithium prices were dirt cheap, so investors were hugely rewarded.
This is what happens when a company parks itself on the side of a massive volcano and then proves up probable reserves of lithium worth over $5 billion.
And it’s an even more dramatic bonanza for investors when they discover these resources at a time when lithium is cheap and then watch prices quadruple over the past two years.
Anyone who jumped on that boat before the lithium price surge would be a multi-millionaire today.
After ADY proved up its resources, Chinese lithium spot prices jumped from $7,000 per ton in September 2015 to a high of $20,000 per ton in early 2017, this volcano wasn’t spewing out magma anymore; it was spewing out millionaires.
This is what they’re sitting on:
We’re already on the edge of lithium extractions. Demand is set to outpace supply already this year. And the future holds massive demand that cannot be met without new discoveries and rapid development and production.
Yes, there’s new supply coming online, but it’s not going to keep pace easily.
According to the most sought-after lithium industry consultant in the world, Joe Lowry, even with the recent wave of new project announcements, a supply shortage can still cause significant issues in the battery supply chain by 2023.
Elon Musk alone is planning on using the entire world’s supply of lithium for his $5-billion battery factory in Nevada, which started producing in January.
The top four companies that hold (for now) the oligopoly on lithium supplies can’t keep up. Even Albemarle’s CEO, Luke Kissam, told investors last year that “from a lithium standpoint, we are pretty much sold out.”
The catalysts keep coming, and they are dramatic.
• Tesla opened the doors on its battery giga-factory in January, and expects to be producing so much by next year that it will double the world’s battery production single-handedly. And it started producing its Model 3 on 7 July.
• German BMZ has launched the first phase of its German battery factory, and LG Chem is planning one in Poland, which is slated to open next year. Samsung also hopes to start making batteries in Hungary beginning in 2018.
• Mass production of Tesla’s Model 3 electric sedan promises to push lithium supply to its bursting point.
• Massive energy storage systems with a voracious appetite for lithium-ion batteries also threaten the supply picture, to the delight of miners.
• Volvo just announced that it will only have electric and hybrid cars by 2025.
This is one metal for which demand is not only visible, it’s palpable.
• According to Macquarie Bank (ASX:MQG), the share of lithium demand from electric and hybrid vehicles alone is due to surge from 10 percent in 2015 to 33 percent by 2021.
• Battery manufacturing capacity will triple in the next four years, according to Bloomberg.
• ‘Mr. Lithium’, Joe Lowry says demand should double between now and 2020, driven by the massive battery market, producers are in no position to keep up with this in the medium or long term.
• Volkswagen says the situation is desperate, and the industry needs 40 gigafactories. The auto giant foresees a huge shortage of batteries by 2025.
Bottom Line?
The ability to extract lucrative lithium from brine is a major coup—and a major opportunity for first-in investors. But the biggest money to be made here is in new discoveries. So, when a small-cap is sitting on the right side of a major volcano of lithium and is gunning full throttle to prove up resources, the risk-reward ratio is high, but also mouthwatering.
Southern Lithium (TSX: SNL.V) could represent the best risk/reward scenario on the lithium scene today.
Once it proves up resources on the untapped side of this Argentine volcano, it will already be too late to take advantage of this scenario. Drilling has already begun, and indications are already there that this play is geologically similar to ADY’s.
The company is cashed up, and there’s no stopping it now. In numbers, this could end up being a $7-million-market-cap beginning that ends with a $250-$500-million market cap. For investors, it’s the chance to make significant gains, if they prove it up.
But what really sweetens this deal is that not only is Southern Lithium (TSX: SNL.V) staked out right next to the only producing lithium play in Argentina’s Salta Province, but it’s also staked out right next to the only lithium producer in all of North America.
That’s prime position on two continents. And this is prime time to watch a volcano erupt again, in a very different and potentially lucrative way.
Honorable mentions:
AES Corp. (NYSE:AES): AES is one of the biggest names in energy storage, the major bottleneck in energy at this moment in time. Next to battery giants Tesla and Panasonic, we see AES as the most influential and innovative battery manufacturer
Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK): Zinc hasn’t been Teck’s best friend of late, but that looks set to change in the medium term, as supply continue to dwindle and as we hear news that the world’s top producer of the metal—Glencore—isn’t planning to bring shuttered mines back online. Supply will remain tight. Keep in mind this, though: Teck’s Q1 earnings and revenue fell short of expectations because of weaknesses at its zinc unit, sending it shares down about 6% in late April. In particular, there’s been a 23% drop in production at its Red Dog mine due to lower grades of zinc.
Vale SA (NYSE:VALE): Being one of the largest producers outside of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this Brazilian mining giant produced over 5,200 tons of cobalt in 2016 from Canadian sites in Ontario, New Caledonia and Manitoba. We see Vale as one of the best run cobalt miners out there.
Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG): Plug Power Inc. is one of the most respected providers of alternative energy technology, Plug Power Inc. is a company to watch as energy storage tech continues to boom. This company’s fuel cells will benefit hugely from ethical cobalt production, using cobalt as a replacement for platinum-activated catalysts which are far more expensive.
Navistar International Corporation (NYSE:NAV): A U.S.-based holding company and manufacturer of commercial trucks and busses. Founded over 112 years ago, the company clearly has staying power. The company has a strong presence in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico but its products are also sold in 90 other countries across the globe. The company has gained notoriety in recent years due to its electric delivery vehicles and hybrid busses. As the electric vehicle revolution kicks into full gear, this will certainly be a company to keep an eye on.
By. Charles Kennedy
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