Galaxy Resources Ltd., aiming to be
the world’s fourth-biggest lithium carbonate producer, said
demand for the metal used in batteries may gain 18 percent this
year as consumption rebounds after the global economic crisis.
Global demand may rise to about 100,000 metric tons this
year, from 85,000 tons last year, Iggy Tan, managing director of
the Perth-based company, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s
Melbourne bureau.
Lithium demand is being driven by President Barack Obama’s
bid to push automakers into building more fuel-efficient cars
and get 1 million plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles on U.S. roads
by 2015. Prices may gain 10 percent by 2015 as Chinese demand
increases, Tan said.
“The world is changing, Obama is driving his green
policies and China is driving its green policies,” Tan said in
an interview yesterday.
Galaxy shares rose 12 percent to A$1.36 at the 4:10 p.m.
Sydney time close on the Australian stock exchange.
Lithium carbonate is used in batteries, electric vehicles,
mobile phones, computers, ceramics and pharmaceuticals.
The company said yesterday it signed sales accords with 13
unnamed Chinese lithium cathode producers for the balance of its
planned 17,000 tons output of lithium carbonate. It signed an
accord in February with Mitubishi Corp. for 30 percent.
Galaxy is spending A$145 million ($135 million) to build a
mine at Mt. Cattlin in Western Australia and the processing
plant in the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone in Jiangsu province.
The mine is scheduled to start in August and the plant in China
in December, Tan said.
The price of lithium carbonate, privately agreed by sellers
and buyers, may reach $6,757 a ton in 2015, from $6,120 now, Tan
said. Demand may increase three-fold to 300,000 tons in the next
decade, he said. Chinese demand is about 20,000 to 25,000 tons a
year, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Rebecca Keenan in Melbourne at
rkeenan5@bloomberg.net
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