World’s top energy trader Vitol eyes metals as oil demand set to peak
CEO Hardy points to iron ore, copper, and aluminum as potential markets.
Every junior commodity market has its share of pretenders to go along with the contenders as prices and demand move up.
In striking contrast to internationally traded bellwether metals such as copper and gold, the market for lithium is murky. Analysts have noted recent variances in spot prices in China ranging to $20,000 a tonne. There’s barely a handful of producers and buyers and a popular production method — extracting lithium from underground saline water deposits — is not scalable in the tradition of a conventional hard rock mining operation.
Lithium is the consensus ‘metal of the future.’ It is the core component in the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars and the key to a global transition away from fossil fuels for transportation.
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