Eye on Lithium: Australia’s going to need a lot of batteries

• Australia pushing ahead with more energy storage
• Balkan acquires new Canadian lithium project
• Energy Transition Metals starts Spanish lithium exploration

All your lithium news, Friday December 9.

Australia might soon be on the market for a whole heap of new grid-scale lithium-ion batteries after State and Territory energy ministers agreed to establish a Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) to power its shift towards renewable energy.

The mechanism is aimed at fast-tracking the development of big batteries and long duration storage by encouraging the ideal mix of storage and renewable technologies needed in the system over the coming decade.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said open tenders will determine the projects to gain CIS support while an agreed revenue floor will help cover project operating costs and debt repayments, with the Government paying the difference when revenues fall short, and a share of profits returned whenever revenues exceed an agreed ceiling.

It will also complement existing State schemes and will not alter competitive tenders that are already underway.

“The Capacity Investment Scheme is essentially a keep the lights on mechanism,” Bowen added.

“Australian households, industry and the energy market are all moving with their feet towards more affordable renewable energy.

“The Capacity Investment Scheme will ensure the reliable power we need is delivered as this transition continues.”

According to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s “Step Change” scenario, achieving net zero emissions by 2050 will require a 300% increase in firming capacity from alternative sources to coal.

That likely translates to a lot of batteries, which in turns means a fair amount of lithium.

Chile’s not hot on lithium yet

Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about the growth of Chile’s lithium sector after president Gabriel Boric failed to announce a formal strategy nine months after coming to power on pledges to create a state-owned lithium company.

Growth of the country’s lithium industry is hampered by the lack of new expansions outside of the two largest companies, SQM and Albemarle, as well as concerns that private companies are being pushed out of the industry.

As such, Chile risks being overtaken by its neighbour Argentina.

Benchmark Market Intelligence flagging that if all planned capacity comes to market, Argentina could overtake Chile with a more than fourteen-fold increase in supply, to 534,000 tonnes LCE by 2030, due to a number of new projects from Chinese investors as well as mining giant Rio Tinto.

New projects have to obtain a special lithium operation contract (CEOL) from the mining ministry to produce lithium, as well as approval from the nuclear commission.

Boric’s plan to create a state lithium company also seems to be a step away from the private sector though officials have reportedly said the President will seek to create a public-private partnership company to look at how to add value to the country’s lithium production.

However, few details have emerged to date, leading to concerns that it will be left behind.

Here’s how ASX lithium stocks are tracking:

Lithium was just a tad bit in the red today with losers (49 of them) just about edging up the 42 companies that made gains.

Who’s got news out?

Balkan Mining and Minerals (ASX:BMM)

Balkan has expanded its Canadian operations with the company acquiring six new multi-cell claims covering 27.05km2 in the Georgia Lake lithium district, between its existing Gorge and Tango projects.

The new Arrel project is located 15km southwest of Gorge and 158km northeast of Thunderbay and has seen minimal modern exploration despite the Thunder Bay region of Ontario being the focus of lithium pegmatite exploration works.

Notable deposits in the area include Rock Tech Lithium’s Georgia Lake project and Imagine Lithium’s Jackpot project.

Energy Transition Metals (ASX:ETM)

The company has started exploration at its Villasrubias lithium project in Western Spain, which it farmed into in July this year.

ETM’s initial work program will build on previous exploration and mining with a drone aeromagnetic and electromagnetic survey, a very low frequency electromagnetic tomography survey, along with geological mapping, sampling, and trenching.

This work is aimed at identifying the extension of pegmatite bodies.

Several occurrences of tin mineralisation have been discovered in the tenement including the Canalita Mine, which consists of a et of trenches, and a larger excavation of approximately 6m that has since been filled in.

The tin mineral cassiterite was the primary metal extracted from Canalita while the waste rock from mining are aplite and pegmatite, often associated with the lithium mineral lepidolite.

Preliminary exploration at Villasrubias by regional government entity SIEMCALSA discovered evidence of lithium mineralized dykes along at least 370m of strike within a complex buried pegmatite field.