America wanted to make a deal with Ukraine for basically 5 critical elements in exchange for a half trillion US dollars.The five elements are titanium,lithium,graphite,nickel and cobalt.One of these 5 was the increasingly in demand element, lithium.Lithium,according to this blog will be more,not less,in demand at least until 2030.The increase in demand will chiefly come from electric vehicles but also from cell phones and renewable energy transmission.Most analysts and most studies show that U.S.A. has quite low reserves of lithium.Several analysts peg the total reserves at only 750,000 tons.Although it is true that some esoteric studies have shown American deposits of several million tons.It has not been substantiated.
Estimates are that the annual American requirements of lithium are about 500,000 tons for electric vehicles alone.This blog believes that another 100,00-200,000 tons could be required for these other uses.
Imports of lithium
At the present time U.S.A. has to satisfy it's lithium needs by imports from primarily 3 exporters.The 3 exporters are Chile,Argentina and Australia.Canada exports a meagre $194 million, mostly to the growing American market.However Chile,the second biggest exporter exported much more.Although information on Chile exports are hard to get some estimates are that Chile exported from $10 to $14 billion of lithium to the American market.However Chile is in the process of nationalizing the lithium industry and this complication may create a chance to increase Canada's share.As often nationalized companies are difficult to deal with and may be very sticky with their prices. And because of it's closeness to American market, Canada may well be able to increase it''s market share at the expense of the other 3(Chile, Argentina and Australia) who export to the American market from a considerable distance. 
Status of Canadian producers
The Canadian lithium industry is presently quite fragmented.12 to 18 months ago there were only 3 lithium mines in Quebec.Now there are 12 to 18 mines in Quebec of various sizes and the largest of these (North American Lithium)exported the entire $120-$140 million of total Canadian exports in 2024. Much of it went to France.But recently NAL has discovered 3 other mines near their main NAL mine.This complex is now called the Abitibi hub and there is the potential to increase production significantly. There are also 3 or 4 mines in Manitoba but they produce very little and mostly to meet local demand for lithium.However as has been written in my blog on January 11 in Wordpress (Econothon) there has been a new 100 million ton mine discovered in Yellowknife (NWT).But at present it is still being developped as there is no production yet from this mine north and east of the Manitoba mines.This blog sees that lithium could be trucked down the Demeter highway in convoys to the American market relatively cheap.But there is no doubt that the present owner LYFT Power. needs outside investment Someone like Brookfield Resources or more likely another miner such as Tech Resources or Hudson Bay Minerals would be beneficial to both parties.There would be a substantial cost in order to start production but at the time of writing lithium sells for $21800 USD per metric ton and up to $65,000 per metric ton for battery grade metal and it has been higher.
The NAL mine in Quebec is owned by a company called Sayona Mining and it could become a nice acquisition for one of the large gold miners in Quebec.
Dale Mcintyre (M.A. (Economics) is a freelance writer that writes for several financial brokers including Zacks and Yahoo Finance
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