Korea Gets Serious About Lithium Carbonate
pOn Saturday, a South Korean consortium consisting of private, public, and government agencies announced that they would invest $15 million in an exploration and a strongemfeasibility study/em/strong at the Sal de Vida a title=lithium brine href=http://www.lithium-stocks.net target=_blankstrongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong strongembrine/em/strong/a deposit for a 30 percent stake in a joint venture withnbsp;strongstrongememLithium/em/em/strong/strong One (strongemTSX-V/em/strong:LI).nbsp; According to strongstrongememLithium/em/em/strong/strong One, the site of this strongembrine/em/strong project is located at Salar del Hombre Muerto, currently the only commercial strongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong producing salar in strongemArgentina/em/strong and the source of approximately 10 percent of the worldrsquo;s production of strongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong./p
pImage via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia/p
pThe South Korean venture consists partly of privately ownednbsp;GS Caltex, the second largest Korean oil refiner, which also operates 3,400 gas stations and is the worldrsquo;s largest plant producing benzene, which is used in the production of unleadednbsp;gas.nbsp;nbsp; The balance of the South Korean strategic alliance is formed bynbsp;LG International Corp. (SEO:001120), a publicly traded and broadly based commercial enterprise, as well as government owned Korea strongemResources Corp/em/strong., ornbsp;strongemKores/em/strong ./p
pstrongemKoreas/em/strong indicated that the Korean consortium will decide on whether to participate in the development of the deposit after the exploration study. If developed, strongemKores/em/strong said that the Korean consortium will be able to secure up to half of the annual production of 12,000 tons of a title=lithium carbonate href=http://www.lithium-stocks.net target=_blankstrongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong carbonate/a from the site over the course of more than 50 years. A long term objective of strongemKores/em/strong is to become a global top 20 strongstrongememmining/em/em/strong/strong company by 2020 via participation in world class overseas resource development projects with suitably qualified strategic partners. strongemKores/em/strong will have the right to buy up to half of the minersquo;s output at market prices and certain rights to market the strongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong in Korea, Japan, and China./p
pstrongemSouth Korea/em/strong imports 97 percent of its energy and mineral resources, therefore, the development of stable long-term supplies is a key strategy for the nationrsquo;s economic development.nbsp; This move to secure a reliable a title=lithium stocks href=http://www.lithium-stocks.net target=_blankstrongstrongememlithium stocks/em/em/strong/strong /aand lithium supply adds to a wave of Asian strongem/em/strongstrongemcompanies/em/strong developing projects in the strongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong rich salt lakes in the north of strongemArgentina/em/strong./p
pA press release on Friday indicated that strongstrongememLithium/em/em/strong/strong One will retain the rights to sell thepotash and strongemboron/em/strong produced as a byproduct of strongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong extraction.nbsp; The Chairman of strongstrongememLithium/em/em/strong/strong One, Martin Rowley issued very optimisticnbsp;comments, ldquo;This is a landmark agreement for strongstrongememLithium/em/em/strong/strong One that confirms Sal de Vida as a world-leading strongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong and potash strongembrine/em/strong projecthellip;With our Korean partners, our team now has all the resources necessary to ensure delivery of an outstanding new operation that can supply a low-cost product to the global battery market in a timeframe to meet the rapidly growing demand for strongstrongememlithium/em/em/strong/strong battery packs for electric and hybrid vehicles.rdquo;/p
