ST. PETERSBURG, May 22. /TASS/. Global supply of lithium currently exceeds demand, despite forecasts of rising consumption, while the price of the metal has plummeted sevenfold over the past 18 months, Head of the Russian Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra) Oleg Kazakov said. Although Russia is well endowed with lithium reserves, it is important to begin gradually developing new deposits, he emphasized.
"Over the next 10 years, we will see global lithium consumption increase from roughly 200,000 tonnes to 800,000 tonnes. However, such forecasts must be treated with great caution. Just a few years ago, all industry analysts were predicting a dramatic surge in lithium consumption and were confidently asserting that supply would not be able to keep pace, painting apocalyptic scenarios. As a result, the mining sector rushed en masse into lithium projects, alongside the launch of numerous hydromineral lithium initiatives. Now we have an oversupply relative to demand, and within just a year and a half, the price of lithium has dropped sevenfold. Naturally, this has prompted many to reconsider the situation," he said.
According to Kazakov, Russia currently possesses "a very large amount" of lithium. The country is home to 18 lithium deposits with total reserves estimated at approximately 3.5 mln tonnes.
"However, the available forecasts are so aggressive and suggest such a rapid rise in consumption that, if they prove accurate (and we have reasons to doubt them as even the authors themselves express skepticism, although the projections have been formally documented), then sometime after 2042 we may begin to face a lithium shortage," the Rosnedra chief stated, adding that it is therefore essential to gradually prepare new deposits to replace those that will be depleted.