The Hunt for Lithium Resources Has China Looking in Dumpsters in an Effort to Offset Demand

LOS ANGELES, December 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

USANews Group News Commentary 

Driven by the Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution, the demand for lithium has countries looking high and low for new sources. In China, lithium recycling is already big business, as manufacturers look to fill the gap left by lithium ore scarcity.

Traditional lithium companies are focusing on developing new lithium resources including FMC (NYSE: FMC), Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), Orocobre Ltd. (TSX: ORL) (OTC: OROCF) and QMC Quantum Minerals (TSX-V: QMC) (OTC: QMCQF).

As the world embraces the electric vehicle revolution, a revolution of sorts is also going on in the metals mining industry. Lithium, one of the most obscure metals, is growing in demand as electric vehicles push the demand for new and better battery technology.

In fact, demand is so great that there's already a predicted shortfall by 2020. This imbalance has countries scouring the globe for sources, while lithium producers and technology innovators are going to have to step up production.

On the producer side, several miners are enjoying rising share prices based off of demand including Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), a leader in lithium, FMC (NYSE: FMC), the large chemical company mining in South America.

Lithium resources are found in high concentrations in South America, Australia, and China. More recently, several firms have added Canada to the global list of hot lithium producers. In fact, the Province of Manitoba just ranked up to second in the world for favorable mining jurisdictions, displacing even Australia, according to the Fraser Institute.

Canadian lithium miner QMC Quantum Minerals (TSXV: QMC) - (OTC: QMCQF), is on the ground in-country and has launched two separate hard rock projects in Manitoba's established lithium areas.

LITHIUM MOVING UP 

For a long time, lithium has remained outside the big leagues of metals, both in terms of allure and utility. As virtually every environmental conscious country rushes to save the planet from climate change, lithium is steadily taking up the role that oil has played for the better part of the last century.

Lithium is a critical component of lithium ion batteries, such as the ones used in mobile phones and now more commonly, electric vehicles.

Lithium has two qualities that make it suitable for use in rechargeable batteries; First, it is the lightest of all metals, which means that it does not increase the weight of batteries like lead does.