Data compiled by Allied Market Research suggests that the global lithium-ion battery market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8% to reach USD 46.21 Billion by 2022. The increasing application in the electric vehicle industry, growing demand for electronic devices, stringent regulation on pollution levels and the enhanced efficiency of lithium-ion batteries are factors that will drive the growth of the market. Lithium-ion batteries are an alternative to nickel metal batteries and have gained more traction due to their small size and lightweight.
According to another report published by Roskill, lithium demand from automotive applications is expected to reach more than 34,000t LCE in 2017 and is expected to more than double by the end of the decade. The report indicated that the capacity of lithium-ion batteries in automotive applications is expected to exceed 1TWh in 2027. The supply of raw material lithium also changed in 2017. Production capacity is increasing as raw material availability for mineral conversion facilities has improved. Refined lithium capacity reached 340ktpy LCE in 2017. Most of the capacity came from China-based mineral conversion facilities and lithium brine operations in South America.
Blue Eagle Lithium Inc. (OTCQB: BEAG) last week, the Company announced breaking news that it, “is pleased to provide a detailed overview on its initial property. The Company’s Property covers 4,000 acres (1,619 hectares) within Railroad Valley, Nevada, approximately 100 miles (161 km) northeast of Tonopah, Nye County, Nevada and can be accessed directly from U.S. Route 6. Railroad Valley is one of the largest trapped drainage basins in North America and was first identified as Lithium rich by the US Geological Survey with the potential to host lithium-bearing brines in its extensive subterranean aquifers beneath the valley floor.
As an enclosed, fault-bounded basin valley, centered by a dry lakebed (aka playa) with significant amounts of evaporation and with documented soil samples containing elevated concentrations yielding up to 500 ppm Li2O, Railroad Valley exhibits all the major ingredients for a potential Lithium discovery. The Company’s property marks its first move into the lithium-rich region of Nevada. (Further details on the Property can be found at: http://www.blueeaglelithium.com/projects).
Railroad Valley fits the current geological model and understanding of lithium brine deposit occurrences, (as defined by US Geological Survey Open File 2013-1006), and is considered analogous to nearby Clayton Valley, which hosts North America’s only Lithium producing mine owned by Albemarle Corp and in production since 1966. Furthermore, the Company’s highly prospective green-field brine target area features many of the similarities to Clayton Valley and it believes that an extensive exploration program is warranted.
Within Railroad Valley, the Company’s Property is focused within the deep Southern Gravity Low and within the zone of high electrical conductivity. Unlike Clayton Valley, however, this region of Railroad Valley is a relatively unexplored virgin resource that offers opportunities to expand its footprint without competition for water rights and fractious competition from established companies. Furthermore, the size of Railroad Valley is significantly larger than that of Clayton Valley, thus offering the Company substantial potential upside as it progresses forward.
Railroad Valley is essentially the only oil and gas region of any consequence in the state of Nevada. It was home to the first oil and gas field discovered in Nevada, one of the most productive wells in United States history, still in production today. As a result of its historic activity, hundreds of well logs and seismic data are available to provide clues to the basin’s structure and geologic picture in light of current lithium brine-formation theories. Many of the wells drilled have penetrated brines, but very few have been analyzed for Lithium. The presence of this data is unique to Railroad Valley and offers a distinctive advantage for a discovery over other prospective Lithium projects, including those within Clayton Valley.