Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

🔎 During Benchmark Week's Lithium Spotlight Panel, Joe Lowry, Rock Hoffman, Tara Berrie, and Anthony Tse joined Daisy Jennings-Gray to unpack the current price environment. “We’ve seen this movie before,” Tse told delegates. “This is the third price cycle I’ve witnessed in over a decade in the industry, and the script appears to be unfolding in a very familiar way.” The panellists highlighted that inherent volatility in the #lithium industry makes another price spike unavoidable this decade. Read more of the session takeaways ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eN4nrM5u Request a free trial for Benchmark Source ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eSG5_vuh

Benchmark Week 2024 | Navigating the US policy landscape 🌎 Rohan Patel, former Tesla VP, sat down with Rho Motion's Automotive Research Lead, William Roberts, to talk through industry implications of the new era of US #energy policy. 💡 Takeaways include: Patel offered an optimistic view of the #IRA under Trump, noting: "It’s super important to be humble about the fact this is a first-of-its-kind piece of legislation, and the Trump administration can do some great things with this". On Chinese manufacturers entering the US market, Rohan highlighted huge benefits. The potential for investment and technology transfer is significant.   Today, we close out another fantastic #BenchmarkWeek by shifting focus onto state-level policy, funding and sustainability.

⬇️ Watch a segment of JB Straubel's fireside discussion with Simon Moores and Andrew Miller, live from #BenchmarkWeek in Los Angeles. As Co-Founder of Tesla, Straubel commented on the importance of creating an ecosystem from the ground-up in the company's early days: "There was not a supply chain. We couldn't go out and buy a #battery module, or a motor, or a charger from any other companies." "So we were kind of forced to say well, we can't buy it. I guess we better figure out how to design and build it. And that led to a really inherent strength." It was an honour for Benchmark to host JB at our flagship conference.

Tesla Co-Founder and Redwood Materials Founder JB Straubel joins Benchmark’s Simon Moores and Andrew Miller to open Day 2 of Benchmark Week. In an exclusive fireside chat, JB shared his perspective on the future of #energystorage, how to strategically ensure supply security, the impact of policy incentives, and more. “We need to make sure we are scaling in the right direction and it’s balanced,” Straubel shared. “It will be really hard to meet all of our requirements from domestic mining alone.” ⚡ In recognition of his transformative impact on #EV and #battery industries, it’s a pleasure for us to present Straubel with this year’s Benchmark Lifetime Achievement Award.

💡 Dissecting innovations in DLE technology at #BenchmarkWeek Benchmark's Daisy Jennings-Gray joined Andrew Walker, Raef Sully, and Felix Wang to explore the opportunities and challenges ahead for Direct Lithium Extraction. Evove's Andrew Walker told delegates: "The first commercial challenge is taking it from lab stage to commercial processing." “DLE is a fairly new concept to the #lithiumion battery market; we know there is commercialisation to an extent in China and South America, however bringing all of the various #DLE technologies to commercial scale is a major hurdle" added Jennings-Gray. ➡️ Follow #BenchmarkWeek for event highlights, live from Los Angeles.

Benchmark Week | Charting the Rise of Gigafactories Rho's Head of Research Iola Hughes and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's Caspar Rawles sat down with industry participants to delve into the impact of US gigafactories on manufacturing and innovation. - “Regardless of the administration and the federal incentives that are in place, we’re long-term committed and our investment is in place. That’s not changing.” - Robert Winans, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Panasonic Energy of North America -“We're committed towards a $14 billion 35 GWh cell and module manufacturing facility in North Carolina in partnership with Toyota. That won’t just be for battery electric vehicles but will go across a variety of electrified powertrains.”- Evan Leon, Senior Project Manager at Toyota Tsusho America Read more of the session takeaways live from Benchmark's flagship conference: https://bit.ly/3Z2FnrJ

⚡ Benchmark Week is underway in Los Angeles Andrew Miller, Benchmark’s Chief Operating Officer, addressed delegates in an opening keynote: “2024 has marked the end of a defining chapter in the #lithiumion battery story, a chapter based on building a commercial platform for scale, cost reductions and global diversity of the supply chain.” Last week’s presidential election marks a new chapter of US energy policy, leaving #energytransition stakeholders with a lot to discuss. 💡 Stay tuned for live coverage of #BenchmarkWeek 2024

Uncertainty lingers around what Trump's second term could mean for #EV and #battery industries. On one hand, Benchmark expects EV adoption rates to slow and supportive policies to diminish, resulting in a weakened outlook for raw material demand. While elsewhere, the Republican administration may strengthen supportive policies directed at onshoring and domestic production across #mining and refining, to reduce reliance on #criticalmineral supply chains outside of the US. Request Benchmark's free Analyst Insights Report delving into the implications of Trump's victory on the EV battery supply chain ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eSHrx3h8

📣 Benchmark maintains its position as the world’s only Price Reporting Agency (PRA) dedicated to #lithium and #EV battery materials to complete a Type 2 IOSCO assurance engagement. This audit gives industry participants the confidence that Benchmark prices are assessed in line with rigorous policies, processes and controls. Benchmark’s commitment to maintaining the highest level of external audit demonstrates our founding principle of providing the most robust and reliable price data for #lithiumion battery and #energytransition supply chains. Read more ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e6-QHhfS 📩 Contact us to learn more about how Benchmark prices enable supply contract settlement, indexation and price risk management: prices@benchmarkminerals.com

♻️ Europe’s shrinking #gigafactory pipeline has had knock-on effects for the region’s recyclers. Benchmark’s Gigafactory Assessment shows that, since March 2024, Europe’s gigafactory capacity has dropped by 8%. This, along with delays to gigafactory ramp-ups, has led to a corresponding 12% drop in the size of the forecast 2030 European production scrap pool, according to Benchmark’s Recycling Forecast. Read more on Benchmark Source ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/enQ-b4R4 Not subscribed to Benchmark Source? Request a free trial ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eSG5_vuh