Worlds largest, pure lithium producer, going public!

Talison Lithium Ltd, the largest, pure lithium company in the world, will go public on Thursday, Sept 23rd, on the Toronto Stock Exchange!

Right: Talison currently operates two lithium plants in Greenbushes Australia which have been operating for 25 years and currently supply 300 companies with lithium and lithium carbonate. Talison, up until now, a privately owned company, supplies approx 66% of Chinas imports of lithium.
 

A very light metallic element, lithium is mainly used as lithium compounds that act as fluxes in the ceramics and glass industries, and in lubricants. The metal is an important alloying agent in in the manufacture of primary aluminium. Lithium is increasingly being used in rechargeable batteries used in all aspects of the mobile web, from laptops to cell smart phones. Now lithium is the primary resource used in batteries for the hybrid and electric vehicle markets.

Image by gmeurope via Flickr

Lithium is mined from spodomen (hard rock) , clay deposits and more promisingly, from salars or brine lakes. Mining from Salars, (salt lakes) is much less expensive and less labour intensive. The Puna plateau in South America which spans Chile, Argentina and Bolivia holds much of the worlds salars. Junior miners have flocked to the region over the past two years to stake claims to what is, without argument, the worlds richest lithium deposits.
In July, Talison Lithium announced a merger with publicly traded, junior miner, Salares Lithium which owns the Salares 7 project in the Atacama Desert on the Puna Plateau of Chile which is, we believe, one of the largest, pure lithium deposits in the world, encompassing over 116 hectares in 7 Salars or salt lakes, of which Salares owned 100% of five of those salars.
In doing so, Talison kills two very big birds with one stone. Firstly, they now own one of the largest pure brine properties on the market today. As Talison has, up until now, been a spodomen or hard rock miner, the jump into brine production will enhance significantly, their lithium footprint in todays market, especially in the cheaper to produce (and more lucrative) brine deposits.
Also, as a result of the merger, Talison will become a publicly traded company, TLH. Its strike price should be between $3.50 and $4  per Talison share, which will return a premium to current Salares Lithium shareholders of 98.6% as the merger of shares is 2.81 Salares shares for one Talison share.

Image via Wikipedia

This year, the electric vehicles market is ramping up from California to Tokyo (see the Tesla roadster and other EVs parked at a charging station - right) Every major auto company on the planet has an EV in some stage of production at this writing.
With the advent of the Global X Lithium EŦF and lithium indexes popping up around the market, I believe that the strike price mentioned is very low as these ETFs and indexes will have to include Talison at or near the top of their lists (you cannot ignore a world leader in any market).


On Sept 17th 2010, Salares shareholders approved the merger with Talison by a 99.9% vote.
The hearing for the final court order to approve the Arrangement is scheduled to take place on September 21, 2010, with the completion of the Arrangement expected to occur on or about September 22, 2010. The TSX has conditionally approved the listing of the Talison ordinary shares under the symbol "TLH", and trading is expected to commence on the TSX at the market open on September 23, 2010.


As Talison goes public I am making it my conviction stock pick. Look for Talison Lithium Ltd to double the above price by Christmas (if not the first day of trading) and double again by Spring 2011.


HP 


Associated articles:
Talison and Salares Lithium merge 
U.S. Government  assists in Lithium Battery research
The Gold in TNR Gold Ltd is actually Lithium! 
As electric metal market heats up, juniors take the lead! 

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