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The Lithium Supplement 2010: Talison

July 27, 2010 - 00:00 GMT

Last month’s lithium merger between Talison Minerals Pty Ltd and Salares Lithium Inc. was met with a bout of surprise. But while the immediate short term challenges seem significant, on longer term the move makes sense

The biggest surprise was Talison’s decision to enter the brine industry this is essentially different business from mining and refining hard rock spodumene. Talison doesn’t sell lithium chemicals such as lithium carbonate and hydroxide but rather the feedstock concentrates to chemical companies.

Just ask Chemetall GmbH and SQM SA why they don’t own mines the two leading carbonate producers are chemical not mining companies. Here, we are referring to mining in the traditional sense. The facilities in the Atacama are essentially a plumbing system of pumps and wells.

The titanium industry is an apt comparison: in a mature and established industry, only two chemical makers (titanium dioxide pigment producers) own feedstock mineral mines. This is in an industry which produces 6m. tpa of titanium dioxide compared with the 60-80,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate produced last year.

The reason: its...

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