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Tesla to begin lithium-ion battery production at US megafactory – bodes well for $DGO.ca $BFF.ca $PFN.ca $SX.ca $FMR.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:39 AM on Thursday, January 5th, 2017
Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk jumps out of one of his electric vehicles. Picture: NEWZULU.
Image: Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk jumps out of one of his electric vehicles. Picture: NEWZULU.

Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors says it has started producing lithium-ion battery cells at its $5 billion factory in Nevada.

The company says it began making high-performance cells in December and production started overnight for cells used in Powerwall energy-storage products.

Tesla plans to start making batteries for its Model 3 sedans later this year.

The massive Gigafactory outside Sparks is coming online in phases, with a goal of full operation in 2018.

Officials say it could almost double the world’s production of lithium-ion batteries, making them more affordable as the company looks beyond the luxury niche market.

The electric carmaker says it has more than 850 full-time employees, plus more than 1700 construction workers.

Nevada has promised Tesla $1.3 billion in state tax incentives based on projections that it’ll employ 6500 people at full production.

Source: https://thewest.com.au/business/startup/tesla-begins-lithium-ion-battery-production-at-us-megafactory-ng-b88347284z

Nevada Energy Metals Acquires 100% Ownership in Clayton Valley BFF-1 Lithium Project

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:07 AM on Tuesday, April 12th, 2016

Bff_hub-2_copy

  • Announced acquisition of 60 claims (approximately 1200 acres/484 hectares) in Clayton Valley, Esmeralda County, Nevada
  • 250 meters from Albemarle Corporation’s Silver Peak lithium mine and brine processing operations
  • Also the location of Pure Energy Minerals’ 816,000 metric tonnes Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) Inferred Resource NI 43-101 announced in July 2015
  • 3.5 hours away from Tesla’s Gigafactory, which has a planned annual lithium-ion battery production capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours per year by 2020

April 12, 2016 / Vancouver, British Columbia- Nevada Energy Metals Inc., TSX-V: BFF (OTC: SSMLF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) is pleased to announce the acquisition of 60 claims (approximately 1200 acres/484 hectares) in Clayton Valley, Esmeralda County, Nevada.

The Clayton Valley BFF-1 Lithium Project southern boundary lies 250 meters from Albemarle Corporation’s Silver Peak lithium mine and brine processing operations. The mine has been in operation since 1967 and remains the only brine based lithium producer in North America. It is also the location of Pure Energy Minerals’ 816,000 metric tonnes Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) Inferred Resource NI 43-101 announced in July 2015. Clayton Valley’s centralized location between Nevada and Reno and its highways, access to power, water and labor provide excellent infrastructure for mineral exploration and development. The Clayton Valley BFF-1 Lithium Project is approximately 3.5 hours away from Tesla’s Gigafactory, which has a planned annual lithium-ion battery production capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours per year by 2020.


Click Image To View Full Size

Clayton Valley is one of the few locations globally known to contain commercial-grade lithium-enriched brine. The Valley is an internally drained closed-basin and is surrounded by mountains, hills and ridges on all sides. It contains an underground unconsolidated water bearing system (or aquifer system) which is host to lithium-enriched brines and is contained by the surrounding rock.

The decision to acquire the project was based on descriptions of geological modeling and historical drilling results (Western Geothermal Ltd) in a report authored by J.B. Hulen, PG, (July 31,2008). Mr Hulen concluded that shallow thermal-gradient drilling and lithium-exploration drilling by previous operators demonstrated that the area underlying this portion of Clayton Valley contained the valley’s highest subsurface temperatures.


Click Image To View Full Size

Within the graben (A graben is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults) and within the boundary of the claim block , a drill hole by Western Geothermal Partners 2007 logged as WGP#2

reported as follows:’ From 280 – to 305 ft., fine grained green sand and silt logged as volcanic ash was encountered. This unit may be correlative to the Main Ash Aquifer, which is a marker bed in other areas of the Clayton Valley Basin.”

Nevada Energy Metals is planning a detailed exploration program on our Clayton Valley BFF-1 Lithium Project for the fall 2016/winter 2017 The property was acquired for cost of staking with no overriding royalties or work programs. A finder’s fee is payable.

About Nevada Energy Metals: http://nevadaenergymetals.com/

Nevada Energy Metals Inc. is a well funded Canadian based exploration company who’s primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company’s main exploration focus is directed at lithium brine targets located in the mining friendly state of Nevada. The Company has 100% ownership in 60 claims in Clayton Valley, only 250m from Rockwood Lithium, the only brine based lithium producer in North America. Nevada Energy Metals has also acquired, 100 claims (Teels Marsh West) covering 2000 acres (809 hectares) at Teels Marsh, Mineral County, Nevada, a highly prospective lithium exploration project, 100% owned without any royalties, located on the western part of a large evaporation lake where a phase one, 20 hole shallow auger exploration program is in progress. Recently, on March 23, 2016 the Company announced the addition of the San Emidio Desert lithium project in Washoe County, Nevada. The Company’s first lithium project, Alkali Lake, in Esmeralda county is a 60% earn in option agreement from Dajin Resources Corp. where near surface lithium has been confirmed.

Qualified Person:

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by

Ali Alizadeh, MSc P.Geo, MBA, a director of the company and a Qualified Person under the provisions of National Instrument 43-101.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Harry Barr Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

5 Basic Lithium Facts

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:48 AM on Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

With gold and silver prices still under pressure, more and more investors are starting to look at the critical metals space, and at lithium in particular.

Lithium-ion batteries power everything from cellphones to laptops to electric vehicles, and demand for the metal is certainly on the rise. Many companies and investors have been drawn in by news of Elon Musk and Tesla Motors’ (NASDAQ:TSLA) lithium-ion battery gigafactory.

However, Tesla’s isn’t the only lithium-ion battery megafactory out there, and there’s more to lithium and the lithium market than electric vehicle batteries.

Here’s a look at five basic lithium facts investors should know.

1. It’s the lightest metal on the periodic table

Lithium is the lightest, or least dense, elemental metal. It is about half as dense as water.

The metal also has a high specific heat, making it useful in the production of heat-resistant glass, while its electrochemical potential makes it useful in batteries.

2. It can be found in brines, hard-rock deposits and clays

Lithium is found all over the world, in both hard-rock deposits and evaporated brines.

The world’s largest hard-rock mine is the Greenbushes mine in Australia. Most of the world’s lithium brine production comes from salars in Chile and Argentina. Bolivia is thought to hold the world’s largest lithium reserves, and the prolific lithium triangle spans all three South American countries.

Several companies are also looking to develop clay-based lithium deposits. For example, Western Lithium (TSX:WLC) holds the King’s Valley lithium deposit in Nevada, while Bacanora Minerals (TSXV:BCN,LSE:BCN) and joint venture partner Rare Earth Minerals (LSE:REM) are advancing the Sonora lithium project in Mexico.

3. It’s not just for batteries

While batteries have been getting most of the attention in the lithium space lately — and while demand for lithium from the battery sector is certainly on the rise — it’s worth noting that other sectors continue to account for a healthy proportion of lithium demand.

Citing data from Roskill, a report from Stormcrow Capital notes that in 2013, rechargeable batteries made up 29 percent of lithium demand, while the remainder of the market was mostly made up by various industrial end uses. That includes ceramics (14 percent), glass-ceramics (12 percent), greases (8 percent) and metallurgical powders (6 percent).

Lithium is also used in pharmaceuticals, lubricants and heat-resistant glass.

4. Lithium hydroxide vs. lithium carbonate?

After lithium is extracted from a deposit, it is often processed into lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide or lithium metal. Battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide can be used to make cathode material for lithium-ion batteries. Most contaminants must be removed in order for either material to be considered battery grade.

Hydroxide tends to be more expensive, but can produce cathode material more efficiently and is actually necessary for some types of cathodes, such as nickelcobaltaluminum oxide (NCA) and nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC).

In addition to battery-grade materials, there is also a market for technical-grade lithium. Technical-grade lithium products, such as technical-grade lithium concentrate, sell for a cheaper price than battery-grade products, and are used in applications such as glass and ceramics. Technical-grade lithium products must have very low concentrations of iron.

Nevada Sunrise Gold (TSXV:NEV), a company that has earned a spot on the 2015 TSX Venture 50, and has quality gold properties in the prolific jurisdiction of Nevada where mining infrastructure and services are well developed. Nevada Sunrise Gold recently acquired the Neptune Lithium Property in Nevada, which has the potential to host lithium-bearing brines in subterranean aquifers beneath the Clayton Valley floor. Learn more about this company today!

5. Prices can be hard to find

Like most critical metals, lithium is not traded on any public exchange, and major lithium producers don’t often give out stats. For a long time, most of the world’s lithium was produced by an oligopoly of producers often referred to as the “Big 3,” which included Rockwood Lithium (now owned by Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)), Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM) and FMC (NYSE:FMC).

Producers in China have grabbed a larger share of the lithium market in recent years, but the lack of information on pricing has continued.

However, interested investors can look to experts in the lithium space for market reports and price forecasts. For example, the report from Stormcrow Capital mentioned above includes a detailed forecast for lithium prices.

Source: http://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/energy-investing/lithium-investing/five-basic-facts-about-lithium/?mqsc=E3814106&utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=INN_FullList+INN%20Daily+INN%20Daily&utm_campaign=INN%20Daily%20Automated

Lithium demand from Electric Vehicles, “EVs,” alone could grow 30% annually for years to come

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 12:38 PM on Thursday, July 23rd, 2015

Lithium demand from Electric Vehicles, “EVs,” alone could grow 30% annually for years to come

Jul 17, 2015 | Posted by: Peter Epstein

 

  • Conventional wisdom seems to say that overall lithium demand will grow by 8%-12% annually
  • Everything’s going electric, lithium-ion batteries large & small will reign supreme

A short time ago, manufactures released hybrid gasoline-electric cars so that they could claim to be green companies. That has completely changed, now the race is on for market share, volumes and profits.

I’m on record as stating that demand for lithium will grow faster than most believe. Conventional wisdom seems to say that overall lithium demand will grow by 8%-12% annually. I understand why that range has been adopted, it’s already a fast growth rate by historical standards. Commodity and natural resource demand is frequently said to increase at, “the rate of GDP growth.” I wonder which country’s GDP rate is being referred to, hopefully not the U.S. A prime reason for my bullishness on lithium demand, with overall growth closer to 20% a year, is that Tesla is attracting A LOT of attention and competition. I will spare readers the obligatory rattling off a list of Tesla’s growing competition. But there’s much more to the story than Tesla.

I believe that hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles will be phased out sooner rather than later. Any manufacturer that can’t deliver a full EV within the next 2-4 years might as well start working on flying cars, previously known as airplanes. This paradigm shift to EVs is not 5-10 years away, it’s right around the corner. Hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars are deployed on new car platforms, why would it be any different for the builders of EVs? A short time ago, manufactures released hybrid gasoline-electric cars so that they could claim to be, “green” companies. That’s completely changed, now the race is on for market share, volumes and profits.

RANGE ANXIETY!!

“Range anxiety.” That’s the cool way of saying that prospective buyers of EVs are on the fence, until they’re confident that a massive infrastructure of electric charging stations is in place. Guess what? That’s nonsense. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, average daily driving per capita is about 40 miles. Commuters that drive 100-150 miles or more round trip are the exception, not the rule. Does 40 miles per day sound too low? That’s the U.S. average, the range around that average is probably fairly large. Take for example city dwellers that don’t drive daily.

If one were talking about natural gas stations, “range anxiety” would be a serious concern. Recall that T. Boone Pickens has been calling for the replacement of gasoline and diesel fueled cars with cleaner burning natural gas. In that highly unlikely scenario there would have to be a huge build out of natural gas stations. Not so with EVs. Electric Vehicles won’t require an epic rollout of thousands upon thousands of charging stations. As EVs evolve, there will be dozens of models with driving ranges in excess of 100 miles. By then, range anxiety will disappear. Instead of searching for a charging station, one’s garage electricity outlet will do the trick.

Everything’s going electric, lithium-ion batteries large & small will reign supreme

Admittedly there are occasions when long distances are called for. In this circumstance, let’s assume that a gasoline powered vehicle remains the best alternative. That still allows for EVs to potentially become 1 of the 2 vehicles in a suburban family. That equates to a staggering amount of lithium demand without the need of ubiquitous charging stations. The same will be the case for bikes, motorcycles, mail delivery vehicles and buses, (among others). That’s why I believe that the annual growth rate of lithium demand for EVs alone could be as high as 30%, a tripling in 5 years. If the fastest growing segment were to triple (30% growth annually from 2016-2020), that suggests 20% overall demand growth for lithium is not a crazy assumption.

Without range anxiety, EVs will become ubiquitous, not charging stations! This is especially true given that Nissan, Ford, GM and Toyota, (among others) will be coming out with a number of inexpensive EVs with price tags in the $20k-$25k range sooner rather than later. That’s before considering favorable State and/or Federal tax treatment. Importantly, the lower price point EVs will not necessarily use less lithium. Not if they want to achieve high milage per charge. Miles per charge will be a key determinate of customer preference. Note that inexpensive EVs will benefit as much as high end EVs, from lower annual operating expenses by plugging in instead of filling up.

Dajin Resources Corp. (DJI.V) / (DJIFF) a high risk / high return opportunity

While the available supply of lithium is difficult to forecast, and will come on-stream unevenly, demand growth for EVs alone could be two or three times that of today’s consensus. Clearly, the demand for lithium will be lower or higher than expected. Readers probably know which side of the coin I’m betting on. That’s why I like a small cap, pure-play lithium company named Dajin Resources Corp. (DJI.V) (DJIFF). Combined U.S. and Canadian trading volume is averaging roughly 625,000 shares per day. The company has no debt and a solid balance sheet. Warrant exercises have been helping to maintain adequate cash balances.

Taking a contrarian view by being substantially more bullish on lithium demand from EVs, calls for an investment approach that differs from those who follow the crowd. Following the crowd is prudent if conventional wisdom prevails. However, for those like me who believe overall demand for lithium could grow by 20% annually, (30% for EVs alone), a way to articulate a bullish position is through juniors such as Dajin Resources. Taking a contrarian view entails both higher risk and higher reward. Unlike following the crowd though, an investment in Dajin Resources could play off quite handsomely. With properties in both Nevada’s Lithium Hub, located approximately 12 km northeast of Rockwood’s decades long Nevada operations and a very large land position in Argentina’s, Lithium Triangle. This company’s tock is strongly positioned to move considerably higher upon an increase in lithium prices and/or a rebound in the morbid TSX Venture Exchange.

Disclosure:

Dajin Resources (ticker DJI.V) (DJIFF) – Mr. Epstein owns shares of this company. Investors should consult with their own advisors before making investment decisions. Mr. Epstein is not an investment advisor. The article on this company on EpsteinResearch.com should be viewed in this context. This company is highly speculative and not suitable for all investors. As of [5/1/15] Dajin Resources is a Sponsor of EpsteinResearch.com on a month-to-month basis.

Read more at: http://www.miningfeeds.com/2015/07/17/lithium-demand-from-electric-vehicles-evs-alone-could-grow-30-annually-for-years-to-come/#sthash.qvlZyaHW.dpuf

Clean Energy Revolution Is Ahead of Schedule

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:16 AM on Wednesday, April 8th, 2015

By Noah Smith

The most important piece of news on the energy front isn’t the plunge in oil prices, but the progress that is being made in battery technology. A new study in Nature Climate Change, by Bjorn Nykvist and Mans Nilsson of the Stockholm Environment Institute, shows that electric vehicle batteries have been getting cheaper much faster than expected. From 2007 to 2011, average battery costs for battery-powered electric vehicles fell by about 14 percent a year. For the leading electric vehicle makers, Tesla and Nissan, costs fell by 8 percent a year. This astounding decline puts battery costs right around the level that the International Energy Agency predicted they would reach in 2020. We are six years ahead of the curve. It’s a bit hard to read, but here is the graph from the paper:

battery efficiencyThis puts the electric vehicle industry at a very interesting inflection point. Back in 2011, McKinsey & Co. made a chart showing which kind of vehicle would be the most economical at various prices for gasoline and batteries:

competitive
Looking at this graph, we can see the incredible progress made just since 2011. Battery prices per kilowatt-hour have fallen from about $550 when the graph was made to about $450 now. For Tesla and Nissan, the gray rectangle (which represents current prices) is even farther to the left, to about the $300 range, where the economics really starts to change and battery-powered vehicles become feasible.

QuickTake Batteries

But in the past year, the price of gasoline has fallen as well, and is now in the $2.50 range even in expensive markets. A glut of oil, and a possible thaw in U.S.-Iran relations, have moved the gray rectangle down into the dark blue area where internal combustion engines reign supreme.

Still, if battery prices keep falling, the gray rectangle will keep moving to the left. The Swedish researchers believe that Tesla’s new factories will be able to achieve the 30 percent cost reduction the company promises, simply from economies of scale and incremental improvements in the manufacturing process. That, combined with a rebound in gas prices to the $3 range, would be enough to make battery-powered vehicles an economic alternative to internal combustion vehicles in most regions.

But this isn’t the only piece of good energy news. Investment in renewable energy is powering ahead.

The United Nations Environment Programme recently released a report showing that global investment in renewable energy, which had dipped a bit between 2011 and 2013, rebounded in 2014 to a near all-time high of $270 billion. But the report also notes that since renewable costs — especially solar costs — are falling so fast, the amount of renewable energy capacity added in 2014 was easily an all-time high. China, the U.S. and Japan are leading the way in renewable investment. Renewables went from 8.5 percent to 9.1 percent of global electricity generation just in 2014.

That’s still fairly slow in an absolute sense. Adding 0.6 percentage point a year to the renewable share would mean the point where renewables take half of the electricity market wouldn’t come until after 2080. But as solar costs fall, we can expect that shift to accelerate. In particular, forecasts are for solar to become the cheapest source of energy — at least when the sun is shining — in many parts of the world in the 2020s.

Each of these trends — cheaper batteries and cheaper solar electricity — is good on its own, and on the margin will help to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, with all the geopolitical drawbacks and climate harm they entail. But together, the two cost trends will add up to nothing less than a revolution in the way humankind interacts with the planet and powers civilization.

You see, the two trends reinforce each other. Cheaper batteries mean that cars can switch from gasoline to the electrical grid. But currently, much of the grid is powered by coal. With cheap solar replacing coal at a rapid clip, that will be less and less of an issue. As for solar, its main drawback is intermittency. But with battery costs dropping, innovative manufacturers such as Tesla will be able to make cheap batteries for home electricity use, allowing solar power to run your house 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

So instead of thinking of solar and batteries as two independent things, we should think of them as one single unified technology package. Solar-plus-batteries is set to begin a dramatic transformation of human civilization. The transformation has already begun, but will really pick up steam during the next decade. That is great news, because cheap energy powers our economy, and because clean energy will help stop climate change.

Of course, opponents of the renewable revolution continue to downplay these remarkable developments. The takeoff of solar-plus-batteries has only begun to ramp up the exponential curve, and market shares are still small. But it has begun, and it doesn’t look like we’re going back.

To contact the author on this story:
Noah Smith at [email protected]

To contact the editor on this story:
James Greiff at [email protected]

Source: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-08/clean-energy-revolution-is-way-ahead-of-schedule

CLIENT FEATURE: Stria Lithium (SRA: TSX-V) Powering The Green Revolution

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 4:04 PM on Tuesday, January 27th, 2015

SRA: TSX-V

Why Stria Lithium?

  • A Mining TECHNOLOGY Company
  • No Expensive Drill Programs, No Expensive CapEx
  • Lithium Processing Technology Will Be Used By Lithium Producers
  • Aiming to become one of the lowest cost producers in the world for battery- grade technology lithium — critical for high-technology green energy industries.
  • Stria’s strategic, cost-effective exploration substantially reduces the risks and expenditures of exploration by focusing on deposits that are readily available to advance.
  • lithium market remains robust with tremendous upside potential versus other metals.

 

A New Source, a new process for technology lithium

Several foreign nations are already stockpiling materials critical to the emerging green technology economy, which means a reliable North American supply of high quality lithium-based products has never been more urgent. Stria believes Canada has a key role to play in the green tech economy, and plan to be a part of it by carving out a supply and technology niche in the critical and strategic metals world.

Proprietary Processing Technologies

  • Following completion of positive bench scale testing of its proprietary, environmentally sustainable lithium ore processing technologies, the Company has moved into the design stage for its limited production pilot plant.
  • Pilot plant will be designed to produce up to 140 kg per month of lithium compound over a six month period, commencing in early 2015, with the aim of providing potential customers with sufficient 99.99% purity materials for validating process economics and product quality.

Pontax-Lithium property …

Stria holds 100 per cent ownership of the Pontax-Lithium property located in the west-central James Bay territory in northern Quebec.

The property, which Stria acquired from Khalkos Exploration Inc. in 2013, is host to a recently discovered swarm of a dozen spodumene-bearing (a lithium mineral) pegmatite dikes, each one metre to 10 metres in thickness, plus a series of small centimetre-thick dikelets.

The lithium-bearing dikes outcrop over an area of 450 metres by 100 metres (for more information, click here to view the NI-43-101 Technical Report (Girard,2013) on the Pontax-Lithium Property).

Close-up view of Pontax’s spodumene-bearing pegmatite. The light grey spodumene is idiomorphic and lath-shaped. The intergranular grey mineral is quartz.


Willcox Lithium / Arizona

Stria holds 100 per cent ownership of the Willcox Lithium project, located in Cochise County, Arizona. Acquired through the purchase of Pueblo Lithium LLC from AGR-O Phosphate Inc. in 2014, the property is comprised of 61 lode mining claims.

The purpose of the 2014 Willcox drilling program is to confirm historic exploration results and to test groundwater samples for use in Stria’s proprietary membrane processing technologies now under development. This technology will allow Stria to recover lithium from brine type deposits without the need of large scale evaporation ponds and their associated environmental impacts.

Stria Lithium Updates Its Novel, Environmentally Sustainable Lithium Processing Technologies

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 4:50 PM on Monday, January 19th, 2015

OTTAWA, ONTARIO–(Jan. 19, 2015) – Stria Lithium Inc. (TXS VENTURE:SRA) (“Stria” or the “Company”) is pleased to report the following update on its proprietary, environmentally sustainable lithium ore processing technologies and the extension of its non-brokered private placement until February 2nd.

Market Outlook

The Energy Storage sector is growing substantially faster than the Electrical Vehicle (EV) battery sector. According to Industrial Minerals, a reliable global source of mineral data, commercial energy storage applications using lithium-ion phosphate batteries has become a multi-billion industry.

Industrial scale energy storage for regional energy storage installations in California, Hawaii and Bolivia, complement the corporate electrical storage requirements of EV pioneer Tesla, for example, for use in its trans-American charging network.

While lithium markets have held their price values in a soft commodities market during the last 18 months, lithium juniors face other challenges in securing a toehold into the lithium space.

In his year-end 2014 market outlook, analyst Chris Berry stated:

“Lithium production is an oligopoly. Despite the strong growth rates in lithium demand (estimated at 8% per year), oligopolies do not welcome competition and therefore if you’re a company aspiring to join the ranks of producers, you need some sort of a competitive advantage or strategic relationship which allows you the possibility of achieving the lowest cost of production. The growth rate in demand is key.”

Stria Lithium’s business advantage is built through its strategic clean energy alliance with Focus Graphite Inc., and Grafoid Inc.

Industrial Minerals, reported that despite real or perceived barriers, “… new sources of raw material are likely to be needed to prevent price inflation as demand from the battery sector grows.”

Mineral markets expert Simon Moores, in his January 15, 2015 commentary in Benchmark Notes, admonishes investors to consider the impact rapid growth in lithium demand had on the smartphone industry:

“The smartphone uptake took the battery supply chain by surprise. Such was its unprecedented nature, leading lithium suppliers of the key battery raw material continually underestimated the speed of growth in demand which ranged from 8-12% each year in that period. Lithium saw a supply squeeze and its price spike three-fold between 2004 and 2009 as a result.

And with EVs and utilities, the batteries are bigger… much bigger. For supply chain disruption, EV sales would not need to be in the billions or millions, global annual sales of over 200,000 would force significant change.”

Stria’s novel technology, is designed to produce low-cost and high purity lithium directly from spodumene lithium ore.

Stria is currently at the design stage of its pilot plant and has engaged an external, third party engineering firm to validate and audit its proprietary process. The pilot plant will be designed to produce up to 140 kg per month of lithium compound over a minimum six months with the aim of providing potential customers with sufficient 99.99% purity materials for validating process economics and product quality.

Non-Brokered Private Placement

The Company is pleased to announce its private placement offering of non flow-through and flow-through units will remain open until February 2nd, 2015.

On October 30, 2014, Stria Lithium announced the close of its first tranche of a non-brokered private placement offering of up to $1,000,000.

The total private placement consisted of the sale of up to 2,666,667 non flow-through units (the “Units”) at a price of $0.15 per Unit for gross proceeds of $400,000 and up to 3,157,895 flow-through units (the “Flow-Through Units”) at a price of $0.19 per Flow-Through Unit for proceeds of up to $600,000.

Each Unit consists of one (1) common share of the Company and one (1) warrant (a “Warrant”). Each Flow-Through Unit consists of one (1) flow-through common share of the Company and one (1) Warrant. Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one (1) additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.35 for a period of 24 months from closing.

The closing of the first tranche of the non flow-through portion of the Offering realized gross proceeds of $26,650.05 from the issue of 177,667 Units. The closing of the first tranche of the flow-through portion of the Offering realized proceeds of $154,770.20 from the issue of 814,580 Flow-Through Units.

About Stria Lithium Inc.

Stria Lithium (TSX VENTURE:SRA) owns the Pontax spodumene lithium property in Northern Quebec and the Willcox brine lithium property in southeastern Arizona, that are currently at the exploration stage. They host no mineral resources or reserves.

As announced in January 2014, Stria’s core business is the development of proprietary, in-house processing technologies. Stria’s technologies, based on recovering lithium metal directly from ore and from brine liquids, will be more efficient, will require fewer controls, less chemistry and require less energy from compact facilities designed to enable easy automation.

Qualified Person: This news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Julien Davy, P.Geo., M.Sc., MBA, President and COO of Stria and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 Guidelines.

Forward Looking Statement – Disclaimer

This news release may contain forward-looking statements, being statements which are not historical facts, and discussions of future plans and objectives. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove accurate. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations are in our documents filed from time to time with the TSX Venture Exchange and provincial securities regulators, most of which are available at www.sedar.com.

Stria Lithium Inc.
Mr. Julien Davy
President and COO
[email protected]

INTERVIEW: Stria Lithium Discusses Revolutionary Lithium Processing Technology

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:06 AM on Wednesday, December 17th, 2014

SRA: TSX-V

WATCH INTERVIEW NOW!

  • Focused on the emerging green energy revolution, with a particular focus on Lithium.
  • Aiming to become one of the lowest cost producers in the world for battery- grade technology lithium through partnerships, licensing and joint ventures which are critical for high-technology green energy industries such as consumer electronics, energy storage and military.
  • Unveiled lithium procession technology that will provide the company with significant advantages.

Hub On AGORACOM / Corporate Website / Watch Interview Now!