Jekyll Island Series – Mike Beck: Uranium Superstar Goes All In on Battery Metals – Cobalt, Nickel, & Lithium
Mike discusses his investments and his background in uranium. He got started in the uranium sector back in 2005 when he helped acquire a project in Africa. Two years later the price of uranium went up almost ten-fold, and they sold the asset for 2.5 billion which was driven entirely by the uranium price. They see something similar happening today with battery metal materials.
The consensus view is that electric vehicles are getting close to parity in price with combustion engine vehicles. The E.U., USA, and China will all reach price parity within six years and possibly sooner. Continued improvements to battery technology are further reducing costs. Many car companies and governments are looking at ending combustion engines in passenger vehicles within the next few years.
Mike and his team have focused on three metals that go into the battery packs. These are lithium, cobalt, and nickel. A Tesla S requires 63kg of lithium carbonate. If you assume that 25% of passenger vehicles move to electric the world will need some six times current lithium and cobalt mine supply and three times current class one nickel supply. These are pretty staggering numbers for an industry that normally has very slow growth. A lot of capital will need to be allocated to this space.
He discusses three companies that provide opportunity in each of the metal spaces. LSC Lithium (VSE:LSC.CA), Cobalt 27 (CVE:KBLT) and Gigametals (TSX.V:GIGA).
Talking Points From This Week’s Episode
• Price parity is getting close with electric cars nearing the prices of gasoline passenger vehicles.
• Electric vehicle requirements will create huge demand for battery metals.
• Mike believes battery metals companies will make excellent investments.
Mike Beck is the founder and Managing Director of Regent Advisors LLC, a corporate finance advisory and investment firm. He has advised on equity and debt financings for private and public companies in the natural resources sector, including Signet Petroleum Limited, West African Minerals Corporation, Polo Resources Limited, Direct Petroleum Exploration Inc., Titanium Resources Group, Copper Development Corporation, UraMin Inc., Diamond Fields International Ltd., Weda Bay Minerals Inc., Regent Pacific Group Limited and CCEC Ltd.
Mr. Beck was a Managing Director at N M Rothschild & Sons with responsibility for the firm’s mining, oil and gas advisory and investment activities. Prior thereto, Mr. Beck was the founder and President of Librion Group Inc., a corporate finance boutique. He also was with the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, where he oversaw the structuring and financing of a large number of natural resource projects in Africa. Mr. Beck has also been a founder or co-founder of a number of companies listed on the Canadian, Australian and London stock exchanges. He has an M.S. in Engineering from Princeton University and a B.S. (High Honors) in Engineering from Rutgers University.