- Argentina, where the new business-friendly Macri government has begun making sweeping changes in a bid to return the country to economic orthodoxy, has an opportunity to build a vital lithium export business, Reuters reports.
- More than half the earth's known reserves of lithium - the small but essentially irreplaceable component of rechargeable batteries, used in consumer devices like mobile phones and electric cars - are found in an area straddling Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.
- FMC Corp. (NYSE:FMC) already is producing lithium from the salt flats in northern Argentina; lithium provides a small but growing part of FMC's revenues, with forecast sales of ~$250M this year.
- Western Lithium (WLCDF) is working with Korea's Posco (NYSE:PKX), whose chairman was in Argentina last month to meet with Macri and begin construction of a new lithium plant, due to begin commercial production within a year.
- Chile is popular with investors for its longtime free market credentials, while the dry desert climate is optimal for lithium production; local firm SQM has long operated there, and U.S. firm Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) is muscling in on SQM's turf after spending $6B to buy Rockwood.