An insight into the extent to which environmental issues have faced push-back in 2023 is the performance of lithium.

The raw element, a key component in batteries for EVs (electric vehicles), has plunged in value in 2023. It’s an opaque market but most sources suggest prices have dropped by at least three quarters and are down nearly 80% from their peak in November 2022.

Understandably this has had a knock-on effect on lithium miners and seen a lot of investor excitement in the space die down, conversely making it worthy of attention once again.

Down Under there are signs the industry remains enthused about lithium’s potential. As the Financial Times has flagged, in September US outfit Albemarle (ALB:NYSE) – the world’s leading producer – attempted to buy Aussie-based firm Liontown Resources (LTR:ASX) in a $4.3 billion deal. Chile’s SQM (SQM:NYSE) also looked to snap up Azure Minerals (AZS:ASX) in a $1 billion deal.

Both transactions, targeting developers in the Western Australian Pilbara mining region, were foiled by native iron ore magnate Gina Rinehart who had quietly built up spoiling stakes in both Liontown and Azure.

The man behind Australia’s Mineral Resources (MIN:ASX), Chris Ellison, is also invested in several lithium projects in the Pilbara.

As this land grab plays out in Australia, US energy giant ExxonMobil (XOM:NYSE) has unveiled its own plans to invest in lithium.

In early 2023 it acquired the rights to 120,000 acres in southern Arkansas and, as it drills its first well, it aims to be in production by 2027 and to have the requisite output to supply the manufacturing needs of more than one million EVs per year by 2030.

ExxonMobil plans to employ DLE (direct lithium extraction) technology — which is less polluting and has a smaller footprint — to obtain the lithium. DLE uses an absorbent to extract lithium from brine water without the need for evaporation, meaning the water can be reinjected into the underground basins once the lithium has been extracted.

This use of DLE creates a link to a much smaller UK-listed company, Cleantech Lithium (CTL:AIM), which aims to employ DLE powered by renewable energy to be a leading supplier of ‘green’ lithium into the EV market.

Operating in Chile, the company recently raised £8 million to help fund the completion and running of a pilot plant to fine-tune the DLE process as it looks to advance its Laguna Verde and Francisco Basin developments.

Fellow AIM-quoted lithium play Atlantic Lithium (ALL:AIM) is in the process of building Ghana’s first lithium mine, Ewoyaa, and is targeting first concentrate in 2025. The company recently rebuffed a 33p per share offer from major shareholder and mining holding company Assore International.

Atlantic’s executive chair Neil Herbert tells Shares this is ‘the simplest project I’ve worked on in 25 years’. Noting the infrastructure is in place, it’s in a good jurisdiction with no issues with staff, and equipment is readily available as the company looks to break ground on the development next September.

Much of the work will be funded by partner Piedmont Lithium (PLL:ASX) and investment from a Ghanaian sovereign wealth fund, with offtake agreements likely contributing to Atlantic’s estimated remaining $38 million share of capex.

Herbert is relaxed about current lithium prices thanks to the low-cost nature of Ewoyaa, and notes prices this time last year hit ‘insane’ levels. ‘Low-cost mines win, every time. I’d rather be lucky than smart,’ he observes.

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