- Prevalence of electric vehicles is increasing demand for lithium
- Significant increase in lithium price and demand is projected for the years beyond 2020
- Employing a more reliable extraction method, QMC Quantum Minerals is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these market dynamics
The demand for lithium from battery makers is anticipated to nearly double in the years up to 2027. The automobile industry is expected to play a huge role in driving demand, as the world makes an increasingly pronounced shift toward electric vehicles. Companies like QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (OTC: QMCQF) (TSX.V: QMC) (FSE: 3LQ) are positioned to benefit from the opportunities created by these new market dynamics.
Demand for lithium stemming from lithium-ion battery manufacturers increased by 46 percent in 2017 and is anticipated to nearly double to 83 percent by 2027 (http://nnw.fm/0qCBr). A Roskill market outlook report says that “beyond 2021, the research firm expects lithium prices to rise above 2018 levels again as continued demand growth” will contribute to the depletion of the currently available resources. Prices in 2019 are expected to briefly fall back from 2018 levels, mainly due to oversupply, with a bottom floor of $11,000 per ton of battery grade lithium carbonate, but they are forecast to bounce back and surpass the rates reported last year. Lithium hydroxide prices have stayed steady at $15,000-$18,000 per ton.
Throughout 2018, car manufacturers have continued making announcements about the upcoming development and release of electric vehicle (“EV”) models. Experts anticipate that EV market penetration will grow from two percent in 2018 to approximately 15 percent in 2025 (http://nnw.fm/b7GER).
Thus, the demand for lithium in 2019 alone is expected to increase 13.5 percent. Some analysts believe that 2019 is going to be a transition year for the lithium market, after which sustainable growth will follow over the next years, starting in 2020 or 2021.
This is good news for QMC Quantum Minerals Corp., a British Columbia-based company engaged in the business of acquisition, exploration and development of resource properties, with a focus on lithium extraction. QMC is currently exploring the Irgon Lithium Mine Project, a historically-productive lithium property, and, as exploration continues, the company sees great potential to expand the in-ground resource well above the current, historical resource estimate of 1.2 million tons at 1.51 percent Li2O.
The company is focusing on the development of a domestic source of lithium through the exploration of the Irgon Lithium Mine Project in southeastern Manitoba. This historic resource estimate on the property of 1.2 million tons of lithium oxide grading 1.51 percent is measured over a strike length of 365 meters and to a depth of 213 meters. QMC is working toward producing a current, NI 43-101-compatible resource estimate in the coming months. In addition, QMC has identified spodumene-bearing outcrops of pegmatite directly on strike with the Irgon Dike and up to 400 meters west of the current westernmost surface exposure of the Irgon Dike. If, as expected, this mineralization proves to be continuous, QMC intends to double the strike length of the Irgon Dike.
In January 2019, QMC announced the results of a mobile metal ion (“MMI”) soil geochemical orientation survey that was carried out over the Irgon Dike. The results identified the position of the unexposed portion of the western extension of the Irgon Dike and strongly suggested that there are two additional, buried lithium-bearing pegmatite targets – one located north and one south of the Irgon Dike. QMC plans to carry out exploration and subsequent drilling of these two new targets, which is anticipated to also significantly expand the historical lithium resource estimate for the Irgon Project.
QMC’s Irgon exploration focuses solidly on hard rock lithium mining. This method is considered to be more reliable than the brine evaporation technique upon which top market players like Chile and China are currently reliant.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.QMCMinerals.com
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