Global Lithium Resources has put itself in a strong position to weather the lithium winter, having already committed “most of the heavy spending” towards several important workstreams.
Across the first half of 2024, Global Lithium will be in an extended reporting season, bringing all of its exploration results to market. This includes a recently completed 60,000m drilling program at the Manna lithium project in WA as well as results from metallurgical testwork completed at Manna.
There is also good news on the approvals front, with Global Lithium managing director and chief executive officer Ron Mitchell revealing that the company’s Manna mining lease is on track to be granted in the June quarter of 2024.
As for the lithium downturn, Mitchell is optimistic.
“If anyone wants to get a view of the market from me, I’ve been in the sector for 14 years,” Mitchell said at the RIU Explorers Conference in Perth.
“This is the third lithium cycle I’ve been through, so I know exactly how they work and when they rebound and how they rebound.”
Mitchell said that while the characteristics of this downturn are different from past downturns, he is “very confident” the market will recover, and Global Lithium will be in a strong position to capitalise when it does.
Having two projects in Australia – the Manna project and Marble Bar asset (boasting a combined resource of 54 million tonnes) – gives Global Lithium “wonderful development optionality” to realise its dream of being a lithium producer.
And with 70 per cent of offtake uncontracted, Mitchell believes Global Lithium will have negotiating power in the years to come.
“Offtake is your weapon – you don’t give it away lightly,” he said. “And we’ve got tremendous interest from global Tier 1 counterparties across Japan, Korea, China, India, Indonesia, Europe and North America.
“There’s a general understanding out there – we’ve heard a few presenters talk about the lithium space – it’s still very early days.
“The sophisticated producers and users of lithium in the world are actually quite concerned at the moment with the pullback they’re seeing in projects and the incumbents slowing down production, because they know the demand is coming.”
Global Lithium aims to its definitive feasibility study (DFS) for the Manna project in the first half of 2024. This will incorporate an updated mineral resource estimate based on the recently completed 60,000m drilling program.
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