Skip to main content

LITHIUM is About to Wake Up - Massive Upside for Prices & Stocks in 2026

Commodity Culture Jun 22, 2026

Summary

Lithium carbonate prices up around 170% year over year, with battery energy storage systems overtaking EVs as the main demand driver.

Global lithium demand (LCE — lithium carbonate equivalent) is about 1.5 million tons and projected to double by 2030, while North America supplies under 1%.

Government support is accelerating: the US is stockpiling critical minerals and Canada is championing lithium in CUSMA trade talks.

LithiumBank's Boardwalk brine project in Alberta pairs an 8-million-ton resource with grid power, highway access, and fast provincial permitting.

A development agreement with SLB (Schlumberger) covers the full direct lithium extraction flow sheet, reducing execution risk for a modular 10,000-ton start.

Rob Shewchuk's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rob Shewchuk argues the lithium market's driver has shifted from EV penetration to battery energy storage systems paired with new solar, with lithium carbonate prices up around 170% year over year as of the interview.
  • He frames the supply problem: global lithium supply and demand is about 1.5 million tons of LCE and projected to double by 2030, while North America is 30% of global GDP but less than 1% of global lithium supply, requiring roughly 50 Boardwalk-sized projects to close the deficit.
  • He says LithiumBank's strategy is to develop Boardwalk for its combination of scale, grade, exceptional flow rates, 100%-owned Crown land tenure, and repurposable infrastructure, aiming for a cost-effective and timely project.
  • He emphasizes the cap table: 68 million shares outstanding with almost 40% insider ownership, protected by partnering with SLB on DLE rather than funding in-house technology development.

Paul Matysek's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Paul Matysek lays out his exit formula: ride a metal trend early (uranium at $10/lb, lithium salars in Argentina in 2010, potash), pair it with a top-notch resource, find the intangible that unlocks value, and target companies capitalized between $50 and $100 million where valuations can multiply.
  • He recounts selling Potash One to K+S for $450 million after securing control of half the water resource beside the deposit, which he says attracted interest from Rio Tinto and Zijin.
  • He argues LithiumBank fits the same pattern: one of the largest in situ lithium resources in North America, DLE from oil-and-gas-style reservoirs that can reach production quickly rather than taking 10 years, and compelling infrastructure 120 miles from Edmonton in the brownfield Leduc oilfield area.
  • He notes lithium's price window from around $5,000-6,000/ton up to $80,000 at its peak two years ago was the right time to sell lithium companies, and says his past exits were typically built around a PEA or feasibility study that showed the value cheaply.

Kevin Piepgrass's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Kevin Piepgrass says lithium has become a headline item at the trade-policy level, citing Premier Danielle Smith championing lithium in Alberta around the CUSMA renegotiation and restocked Canadian federal funds under Mark Carney's government, with which LithiumBank has had favorable funding conversations.
  • He details the resource: Boardwalk holds about 8 million tons LCE (5.2 Mt M&I, 2.8 Mt inferred) and Park Place about 15 million tons, together about 23 million tons at roughly 80 mg/L — the highest grades in Alberta — plus two Saskatchewan projects the company may monetize or joint venture to focus on Alberta.
  • He explains the May 28 feasibility study and FEED will move the whole area to measured category and redesign the project around two 5,000-tonne SLB modular units (10,000 tonnes per annum) instead of the earlier 34,000-tonne PEA based on inferred resources and different technology, with pilot optimization work expected to wrap up around the first half of 2027.
  • He highlights location advantages: beside a major substation with grid access, rivers through the project, Alberta Energy Regulator permitting without federal approval (wells in weeks, everything possible in under two years), a single flat government royalty, and no overlapping carbon sequestration claims because the reservoir is too far from major CO2 emitters.
  • He describes the 230-meter-thick reservoir with strong porosity and permeability, consistent grade and impurities from a single formation, and recent test work recycling about 93% of process water.

Jesse Day's takeaways

  • Top takeaway As host, Jesse Day frames the discussion, noting grid storage has become a dominant lithium demand driver alongside EVs and that lithium carbonate prices are up around 170% year over year.
  • He raises the resource-nationalism theme, pointing to the US stake in Lithium Americas, Project Vault stockpiling, and Premier Danielle Smith's comments tying lithium to Alberta's trade future under CUSMA.