China's Ganfeng Files for IPO in the Mass Scramble for Lithium

LOS ANGELES, May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

USA News Group - Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium, the country's largest producer of battery raw material, threw its hat in the ring recently with the announcement that it is filing for an Initial Public Offering.

Lithium demand is already a driving force for companies hoping to tap greater supplies including LSC Lithium Corp. (TSX-V:LSC) (OTC:LSSCF), Critical Elements Corporation (TSX-V:CRE) (OTC:CRECF), Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC) (TSX:LAC) and NRG Metals Inc. (TSX-V:NGZ) (OTC:NRGMF).

The EV revolution is already proving to be an unstoppable force that will completely revolutionize the transport industry. With that transformation, lithium is emerging to take the place of petroleum as the king of the energy industry.

Forecasters are already predicting that the increase in demand by automakers, power storage systems and new high tech applications will create a potential significant shortfall and major players are gearing up.

Leading lithium companies are seeing their share values also increase based on the new demand and outlook for metal including LSC Lithium Corp. (TSXV: LSC.V) (OTC:LSSCF), Critical Elements (TSX-V: CRE.V) (OTC:CRECF), and Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC) (TSX:LAC.TO).

NRG Metals Inc. (TSX-V: NGZ) (OTCMKTS: NRGMF) is one of the junior companies making significant exploration progress in South America. The Company just released drill results from it's strategically located Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project, and preliminary test results are exciting. In addition, NRG is also drilling a 29,000 hectare project called the Salar Escondido. They presently have three drill rigs turning, two at Hombre Muerto, and one at Salar Escondido.

GANGFENG LITHIUM A HUGE PLAYER 

The scramble for lithium resources, which is already in full swing, is definitely a race to control the future and China seems to have taken an early leap ahead of the rest of the pack.  Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium, the country's largest producer of battery raw material, is seeking to raise $1 billion worth of capital through an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company is among a host of miners looking to quickly identify lithium projects that can be developed into production, in order to meet growing demand from electric car makers.  German carmaker BMW is also reported to be in the process of signing a lucrative five to ten-year supply deal for lithium and cobalt as it looks to change its fleet into hybrid and electric cars.

According to insiders familiar with the deal's unfolding, Ganfeng could overshoot their target by up to half a billion dollars.  The company plans to use the money to finance acquisitions, further exploration of lithium reserves and expansion of capacity to meet growing demand of the metal.

The deal is being spearheaded by financer Citi Group.

Ganfeng, which is headquartered in Shanghai, is the third largest producer of lithium behind American company Albemarle and SQM of Chile. The company also produces batteries and recycles lithium from discarded gadgets.

Aside from exploration activities, Ganfeng is contributing to the EV revolution by developing solid state batteries in which the liquid electrolyte is replaced with solid lithium metal. These batteries promise faster charging times and higher driving range, and could also be safer than conventional li-ion batteries.

Ganfeng could use some of the proceeds from the IPO to fund Lithium Americas, with whom the company has a $125 million line of credit and is developing a project in Argentina. Creating lithium production is their priority.

CREATING CONFIDENCE IN LITHIUM PLAYS 

NRG Metals, a player focused on the exploration and potential development of lithium brine assets in Argentina, has recently attracted a Chinese battery material producer, Chemphys Chengdu. Through closing on a $1.4 million private placement to fund ongoing exploration activities in Argentina, Chemphys became the largest single shareholder of NRG. In addition, NRG and Chempys agreed to an off-take agreement on all potential future lithium production at the Hombre Muerto North project.

NRG Metals has two projects, with the most significant project being the "Hombre Muerto North Project" or HMNP. HMNP is located in the Salta and Catamarca provinces within the Hombre Muerto Salar, the location of FMC's lithium producing Fenix Mine. The project comprises a total property package of over 3,000 hectares encompassing six concessions. NRG has two drill rigs working on this project right now. One is drilling a core hole to test for lithium grade. The second is drilling a large diameter pumping well hole to test for flow, if warranted by results. And results from the first 100 meters of the core hole are in, and quite interesting. The first 100 meters averaged 905 miligrams per liter lithium, with a low magnesium ( a contaminant that needs to be removed ) to lithium ratio. The NRG lithium team, well experienced in the exploration and development to production of lithium projects in Argentina, are very excited by the initial results.

Chief Operating Officer, Jose de Castro, stated: "We are very excited about the exceptional results from the initial sampling. The lithium grades and low Mg to Li ratios exceeded our expectations. The high grades and favorable Mg to Li ratios have the potential to have a very positive impact on any future capital and operating costs should the economic viability and technical feasibility of the project be established. Mr. De Castro has actually mined lithium, having managed the Olaroz Salar to production for Orocobre, an Australian producer.  

Read this most recent News issued by NRG Metals in its entirety including tables at:  http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/nrg.html

LITHIUM STILL VERY ATTRACTIVE 

Lithium plays a critical role in the development of rechargeable batteries, with li-ion varieties being most popular with electronics manufacturers and EV makers. As demand for use in EV batteries continues to rise, lithium prices are poised to rise even further due to a constricting supply.

The price of lithium has already doubled in the last two years alone and industry experts believe the trend will continue for some time to come.  Since mining is generally an expensive and extremely complex undertaking, response to demand spikes is never instantaneous.

In order to ensure that their investments are adequately covered, mining juniors tend to allow demand forces to push up prices up before making a capital outlay on mining operations expansion. This results in cycles of supply constriction followed by corrective investment that are referred to by industry experts as supercycles.

Following this trend, and with the lithium industry poised to grow by leaps and bounds, investors are betting heavily on the lithium demand making miners and juniors in the space even more attractive.

Technical Disclosure: The preparation of this article was supervised by Mr. William Feyerabend, a Certified Professional Geologist and a member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists, and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Feyerabend approves the scientific and technical disclosure contained within this article.

POTENTIAL COMPARABLES 

LSC Lithium Corp. (TSX-V: LSC.V) (LSSCF)

LSC Lithium Corp. is an emerging lithium producer that has amassed a large portfolio of prospective lithium salars in Northern Argentina and is focused on becoming a significant player in the supply of high quality lithium product to global markets. On August 16th, the company announced that it will complete its previously announced private placement of common shares at an offering price of $1.10 or $0.87 U.S. per common share. In the aggregate, the offering is expected to consist of the issuance and sale of up to 18,181,818 common shares for gross proceeds of up to $20-million. The funds raised in the offering will allow LSC to further pursue the promising exploration results to date by the implementation of an accelerated and expanded exploration program for 2017.

Critical Elements (TSX-V: CRE.V) (OTCQX:CRECF)

Critical Elements Corporation, a junior mining company, acquires, explores, and develops mining properties in Canada. It primarily explores for copper, zinc, gold, silver, nickel, lead, lithium, niobium, tantalum, and platinum group elements. Its flagship project is the Rose lithium-tantalum property that consists of 500 claims covering a total area of 260.90 square kilometers, located in the Eastmain greenstone belt. The company was formerly known as First Gold Exploration Inc. and changed its name to Critical Elements Corporation in February 2011. Critical Elements Corporation is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC) (TSX:LAC.TO)
Lithium Americas recently announced the filing of a technical report (the "Technical Report") for the Thacker Pass lithium project (the "Thacker Pass Project"), formerly Stage 1 of the Lithium Nevada project. The Thacker Pass Project in Nevada, United States, is 100% owned by Lithium Nevada Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lithium Americas. The Technical Report supports the scientific and technical disclosure in the updated mineral resource estimates contained in the Company's press release dated April 5, 2018. The Technical Report entitled, "Independent Technical Report for the Thacker Pass Project in Humboldt County, Nevada, USA" was prepared by "qualified persons" from Advisian Americas, a division of the WorleyParsons Group, in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Technical Report is available on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at http://www.lithiumamericas.com.

For a more in-depth look into NGZ you can view the in-depth report at USA News Group: http://usanewsgroup.com/2017/10/10/how-south-americas-lithium-triangle-is-gearing-up-to-feed-our-battery-addiction-1-3/

Article Source:  

USA News Group

http://usanewsgroup.com

[email protected]

Legal Disclaimer/Disclosure: This piece is an advertorial and has been paid for. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. No information in this Report should be construed as individualized investment advice. A licensed financial advisor should be consulted prior to making any investment decision. We make no guarantee, representation or warranty and accept no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of USA News Group only and are subject to change without notice. USA News Group assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, we assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information, provided within this Report.

DISCLAIMER: USA News Group is Source of all content listed above. FN Media Group, LLC (FNM), is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with USA News Group or any company mentioned herein. The commentary, views and opinions expressed in this release by USA News Group are solely those of USA News Group and are not shared by and do not reflect in any manner the views or opinions of FNM. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination and financial marketing solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM was not compensated by any public company mentioned herein to disseminate this press release but was compensated forty five hundred dollars by a non-affiliated third party to distribute this release on behalf of NRG Metals Inc..

FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Media Contact Information:
FN Media Group, LLC
e-mail:  [email protected] 
U.S. Phone: +1(954)345-0611

SOURCE USA News Group