Mali : Bientôt Deuxième Producteur Africain de Lithium Le Mali est en passe de devenir un acteur majeur sur le marché mondial du lithium grâce à la mise en production récente de deux mines importantes : Kodal et Goulamina. Face à une demande croissante de lithium, composant essentiel des batteries de véhicules électriques, le Mali ambitionne de diversifier l'offre globale. La mine de Kodal, opérée par Kodal Minerals, a déjà commencé à produire hier le 11 Février 2025. Quant à la mine de Goulamina, gérée par Ganfeng Lithium, elle détiendrait les plus importantes réserves de lithium d'Afrique. Les deux mines devraient générer des revenus importants pour le gouvernement malien, qui détient des participations dans les deux projets (35 % dans Kodal et potentiellement 35 % dans Goulamina). Il est important de préciser que le Mali ne détient pas plus de 20 % des parts dans aucunes de ces mines d'or. Cependant, grâce au nouveau code minier, le pays espère augmenter ses revenus du secteur extractif de 250 milliards de FCFA par an, soit une augmentation de 40 %. Avec ces deux mines, le Mali devrait devenir le deuxième producteur de lithium en Afrique, juste derrière le Zimbabwe.

Our DMS processing plant at the Bougouni #Lithium Project is up and running as we continue to optimise and ramp up the circuit over the coming weeks! Here is the final product conveyor delivering spodumene concentrate to the bagging area. #kod

Had a good Lunar New Year break which got even better after some unplanned discussions on #Lithium #Graphite and #Vanadium. Lithium - There are still companies in #China looking to secure supplies. They've recognised FIRB as a big barrier for investment+ offtakes so they've set their sight to African lithium projects. Graphite/Graphene - CCP pushing and backing #graphene industry. Funding projects and commercialising some of the lower specs market. Companies who have the IP are also looking to license their IP overseas. Vanadium - #VRFB demand is popping off the chart. Lots of activities(deals, agreements and projects) within the space. Vanadium production is growing at a similar pace locally(unverified).

Kodal Minerals CEO on Bougouni lithium production milestone @KodalMinerals #AIM #KOD

Have been asked for my my take on CATL's Jianxiawo (0.29% grade) coming back online at a reported 3500t of LCE a month so here it is. The only logical reason for bringing this back on is to keep the lithium price suppressed (which CATL have openly stated) and also because they are anticipating a quicker than expected supply deficit. They are pulling the lever early this time. I'm certain this mine is running at a HEAVY loss at today's prices. The whole lepidolite mining has never made logical sense to me and I've made many posts on it. Mainly due to the massive amount of tonnes required (see below). I think every cost curve I've seen has been far too generous with lepidolite, especially the sub 0.5% stuff. I believe these mines are running are much greater losses that any analyst believes. 40.74/(0.27% * 70% *85%) = 253 tonnes of 0.27% lepidolite ore needed for 1 tonne of LCE. The 70% above is assumed recoveries from ore to concentrate. I think its extremely generous given LTR is at ~ 59%, PLS ~ 72.1%, SGML ~ 70%, Greenbushes ~70%). You've then got losses in the conversion of the concentrate to lithium carbonate which I've adopted another very generous number of ~85% ($PLS modelled 82% with POSCO for their SC5.2 product) 3500t * 253t * 12months = 10.62Mt of 0.29% ore per year. Now, regardless as to whether the Chinese have unlocked some magical way to turn the concentrate into LCE, making concentrate out of the ore is a universal process. Blast it, crush it, DMS/Float it into a concentrate. What's the cost to mine a tonne of ore in China? Forget the processing to a concentrate and then to lithium carbonate. What about just mining that amount of tonnes to get 1 tonne of LCE. 253 tonnes is an outrageous number. In Sigma's feasibility report (I couldn't find their latest mining cost numbers), they listed their mining costs as US$215/t for SC5.5. Their ore grade is 1.44%. So at 65% recoveries, you need 5.87 tonnes. $US215/5.87 = $US36.3/t of ore and this is just mining costs (no processing, transport, etc.). The Chinese probably can do it cheaper than they can in Brazil, but by how much? Even if they are doing it 50% cheaper, it's still huge. Mining costs using Sigma as a reference = 253 * US$36.3 = $9184/t of LCE. No processing or other costs added at all. Just mining portion. I believe its bullish for lithium because this (the above) screams desperation to me. Logically speaking, the spodumene price has moved about ~$130 from point of shutdown of Jianxiawo to the restarting of it in the span of 6months. Why would the Chinese turn on a source that they will make huge losses on when the spodumene price hasn't moved that much? Why wouldn't the Chinese just simply suck more tonnes out of one of their "underutilised" high grade spodumene mines in Africa? I think that's because you'll find they are probably squeezing every last drop out of these. Demand is most likely expected to catch up to supply earlier than anticipated, and the lepidiolite lever needed to be pulled. I think you'll also find that these deposits aren't easy to track down (most mines have been found off 100 years of geological mapping of tin and tantalum mines). This may also becoming more apparent as time goes on. Thanks for reading!