Articles Tagged "rockwood holdings"

Lithium Industry Q4 Outlook

Overall outlook for the lithium industry is dependent upon demand from a number of contributing areas including future adoption and accelerated market penetration within the electric vehicle industry as well as continued global demand for consumer electronics and mobile devices according to some analysts.

Top Lithium Producers

The limited number of publicly traded companies engaged in lithium exploration and production is even more concentrated than the geographical extent of operations; however, the dynamic industry experienced some important developments which grabbed investors attention this year.

Stronger Lithium Prices a Key to Increased Earnings for Largest Miner

Revenues for lithium showed a considerable relative improvement recording an increase of 47.6 percent compared with last year. This demonstrates that the lithium market has improved considerably compared to the market conditions observed during 2009.

Support for Lithium Ion Battery Technology in the US Pacific Northwest

Ford Motor Company and Portland General Electric announced a collaboration to help prepare the city of Portland share information on charging needs and requirements to ensure the electrical grid can support the necessary demand for electric vehicles. The recent collaborative follows a press release from the US Department of Energy for a $2.4 billion investment to further accelerate the manufacturing and deployment of electric vehicles, batteries, and components in the US.

Lithium Industry Keenly Awaiting Potential Chile Regulation Change

Last week, the top lithium mining companies urged Chile to overhaul regulation to allow them to increase output of a metal seen booming in coming years anticipating a larger scale adoption and demand of electric cars and lithium batteries. The government wants the industry to grow; however, opposition has said the state should keep its tight grip over an industry that could bring billions of dollars in revenue in the future.

Lithium Prices

Lithium carbonate purchases are typically tied to longer term supply contracts between the lithium producers and customers. There may be as many as ninety different varieties of lithium that producers will market and pricing is not simplified enough to give a generic quote as there are different volumes and purities according to the demands.

Myths of a Lithium Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)

As the lithium fund holds a variety of companies that are exposed to multiple revenue streams it might be of interest for investors to note that on a weighted average basis, the implied exposure to lithium from the top 10 holdings is equivalent to only approximately 30 percent of the fund's assets, based on the reported segmented revenue from the latest annual company filings.