The conference floor at PDAC is covered with junior lithium companies this year. While that is not a surprise given the growing demand from hybrid vehicles, it does raise an obvious red flag for anyone thinking of investing in the stuff.
But Peter Secker, president and chief executive of Canada Lithium Corp., is not worried about it.
“Ultimately, it will come down to quality,” he said in an interview.
He said that Canada Lithium can produce 99.6% pure lithium carbonate. Other companies will not be able to match that purity level, and thus their product will not be in demand by auto companies.
Canada Lithium controls a project in Quebec that was producing back in the 1950s and 1960s. The company plans to get it back into production in 2012. It recently released a report showing the project holds 31.6 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources, and another 39 million tonnes in the inferred category. A pre-feasibility study is expected by the end of the month.
“As the electric vehicle market takes off, the lithium market gets interesting,” Mr. Secker said.
Peter Koven