Lithium industry looks to Australia for refining, not just mining.
Companies want to reduce shipping waste and avoid China by investing in refining facilities in other countries, including Australia, where about half of all lithium is mined By Yusuf Khan
“Lithium companies are looking to refine the crucial battery metal in Australia, where much of it is mined, in an effort to reduce shipping waste and develop new supply chains that bypass China.
The market for lithium—used in the production of electric batteries—is tight and likely to get tighter. Demand this year is expected to be 910,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent, or LCE, exceeding the 900,000 tons in supply. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, which tracks the global battery supply chain, estimates that by 2030 around 2.7 million tons of LCE will be required annually, outstripping supply by 300,000 tons.
Around half of all lithium is mined in Australia, mainly in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Western Australia. Most is shipped to China in a raw form called spodumene, which is about 6% lithium. Chinese companies refine it into lithium sulfate and then process it into the lithium hydroxide used to make cathodes for batteries”.
Everyone can have their opinion.
My own is that battery powered cars were fun to have as a kid! Today’s new trend of electric cars powered by lithium batteries is not a future for me. It requires far too much energy that comes from other sources such as oil fuel and coal, which are not environmentally friendly. The host should wait for fusion power or water-powered engines, which will be significantly more climate friendly. Elon Musk, is a man who will continue to surprise the world with news, as he uses his fortune for development projects. The world’s politicians should follow in his footsteps.
I started writing articles about COP26 (Glasgow 2021) and have since followed developments up to date with COP29. Will there be major decisions made this time? In past meetings, it has only been about financial contributions, which have not contributed to improving the situation.
This year, 2024, COP29 will be hosted by Azerbaijan who is committed to developing its renewable energy potential, which is an important part of the country’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2050. The country intends to increase renewable power capacity to 30% by 2030 and diversify its existing energy system to become a leader in green energy. Azerbaijan is committed to leading by example and will update its national targets in its next 1.5-aligned Nationally Determined Contribution.
In reality all this is a coverup, the country has never met the environmental requirements, and it is hard to see that they will fulfill their beautiful promises.
Once again, over 40,000 participants will travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, most by air which contributes to air pollution. (they really should go in a hot air balloon!) All these participants first and foremost provide a financial contribution to the place where the conference is held, at the expense of all taxpayers.
Before the start of the meeting, several African countries have requested that their countries should not bear costs incurred to improve the climate, due to their poor economy. However, they will receive financial support. In addition, China’s president has recently said that China should be classified as a developing country, to avoid sharing the costs.
The meeting has just started, but I do not see bright possibilities that results will be achieved, but the important decisions will be moved to future COP meetings. This has also been the result of other previous Conferences of Parties (COP). The first (COP95) meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March 1995.
Are these COP meetings really on the right track? Shouldn’t one realize that our earth is undergoing a natural transformation, which is predicted by the annual cycles of the sun. Climate change has always existed, and it cannot be solved with financial coverage.
We don’t own the planet, we’re just visiting! Nature was here long before us and will be here after our time. But this the politicians cannot admit, because it can take away the power from them.
It is true that we, the population of the earth, have been greedy and in many ways destroyed nature for our own financial gain. But the decisions have always been made by politicians or other rulers, who now want to show at COP meetings that with economic measures, everything will be the same as before.
In my opinion, the COP is a farce. General responsibility towards nature should be taken by the population and not decided in Azerbaijan. We all must take responsibility for our future on earth, even though changes to the earth will happen through cosmic influence. Remember that it is not humanity that rules our earth.
Please read some of my previous posts, which can be found below
Water is a need for survival, but at the same time it can create chaos!
CLIMATE.
Recently, weather changes have dominated the news. But most journalists refer to climate change for which humanity is to blame.
Our Earth, Tellus, has entered a new era that is due to natural changes in the cosmos.
Today’s modern humans have forgotten the course of nature and now rely instead on technological developments, such as the recent AI.
When I grew up in the 50s, on a farm, there were also severe weather changes, but then people calculated that during the good years they saved crops to be prepared for the bad years to come.
The sun also has a foremost importance for our climate. Now in the month of October 2024, the sun has reached its climax with sunspots that mean strong solar storms, this will continue for another year before a slowdown begins. This means disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field, which affects ocean currents on the large oceans.
The global pole shift of atmospheric rivers is another phenomenon that few people know about.
Atmospheric rivers (AR) are key factors in distributing extratropical precipitation and transporting moisture towards the poles.
Climate models formed by historical anthropogenic forcing indicate an increase in AR activity in the extratropic over the past four decades and is now becoming even stronger with the sun’s current activity.
These highlight AR’s sensitivity to large-scale circulatory changes driven by both internal variability and external forcing in the current and coming decades.
FLOODS.
The sharp increase in the world’s population has meant uncontrolled construction of cities and industrial areas, which means that soil has been converted into concrete that does not absorb moisture. Therefore, enormous floods are now occurring, which are partly due to the water not finding its natural flow.
In Tokyo, Japan, a race is underway against ever-heavier rainfall, and the existing flood system is soon reaching its pain limit. Their solution to the problem has resulted in the city building the world’s largest underground tunnel system to divert the water.
This simple solution should be performed in all countries’ urban planning, about 10 years ago, but technological development has unfortunately been prioritized and thus meant cost savings of logistical solutions.
Another measure that has been forgotten, or postponed, is dredging river mouths to the sea. This was made by the authorities at regular intervals in the past!
If you dug the estuaries out correctly, the flow of rainwater masses will have a natural route out to sea, instead of causing flooding.
DRY PERIODS.
Despite the amount of torrential rainfall, the problem is that there is a water shortage because the rainwater does not penetrate the soil enough to increase the level of groundwater. This usually occurs after extended periods of heat when the soil dries out so strongly that it does not absorb rainwater, which instead creates soil erosion. This mud, which later fills sewer pipes, worsens the flow of stormwater, and causes flooding in residential areas.
WATER SHORTAGE.
When the groundwater level decreases, there is a shortage of drinking water. Therefore, investments are needed to find solutions, such as ocean desalination plants or atmospheric water generation (AWG), which extracts drinking water from the moisture in the atmosphere.
There is always access to underground water reservoirs, but unfortunately so much of this natural reserve has already been extracted and in the worst case, it could put the Earth’s balance at risk in terms of rotation. This discussion has taken place in world health organizations, but unfortunately without results.
As for desalination plants, the investments are quite large, but overall, purified seawater will be cheaper than the current supply of drinking water.
AWG, the extraction of water from the air, also becomes cheaper after investments earn interest.
A new model of offshore desalination plants has proven to be a faster solution in case of water shortage, which at the same time means a lower investment. These facilities will be manufactured as floating vessels, anchored far from the coast without taking up precious land.
A Norwegian company with experience in the offshore industry, FOD, can offer an installation within a 2-year period, which in the case of an onshore facility takes over 5 years to build with a significantly higher investment.
#WATERSUPPLY.
A project that has arisen through collaboration with various experts in the field, named #Watersupply, has found solutions such as Atmospheric Water Generation (“AWG”), for production of drinking water, through the construction of SkyH2O stations.
We also made an agreement with Floating Offshore Desalination AS. FOD, an advanced system through offshore seawater desalination, for use as drinking water or irrigation for agriculture.
Our goal is to collaborate with local authorities and businesses to find the solutions that are best suited to affected areas.
Leader of the Water Supply Project, #Watersupply, as well as coordination between the various partners, conducted by Curt Bergsten, (Project Manager).
Did you know that In 1939, at the end of the Civil War, Spain had been devastated by drought?
Dams needed to be built and became a priority for the Regime, especially in the 1940s, when Spain witnessed a even more heavy drought. The storage of water became a priority for the Regime, for agricultural use as well as for energy production.
The task of building dams under Franco was huge, and 615 dams were inaugurated from 1939 to 1975. Further projects were planned by engineers to connect water reservoirs with water tunnels, all over the country. This project never became a reality after Franco’s death in 1975, for political reasons.
I had the rare opportunity to see drawings of this extensive project in 1976, when I was living in Madrid. But I have since searched without success for these blueprints, which were probably destroyed to keep it all quiet.
The Franco regime presenting on of the dam-constructions 1956.
Drought is a cyclical natural phenomenon that has always affected our country, a transitory rainfall anomaly that can lead to an inability to meet the demand for water for irrigation or consumption. In the USA the most severe drought in its history occurred between 1933 and 1940, while in Spain the worst took place between 1941 and 1946, when the Manzanares River dried up completely and the Ebro became a small stream.
It is well known that the 40ºC threshold is surpassed every summer in some capital cities of Andalucia, such as Córdoba and Seville, as well as in other parts of the southern half of Spain. Even this value has been greatly surpassed on occasions. Thus, Écija (Seville) has recorded on different occasions the temperature of 47ºC (July 7th 1959, several days in July 1967, etc.). Likewise, in Seville 47ºC has been reached (August 6th 1946). During the heat wave in July 1995, Seville and Córdoba reached 46.6ºC. The record of 51ºC registered on July 30th, 1876!!
It is nothing new that Spain has had high temperatures, but which in today’s press hides the truth, by claiming that 2024 will have the worst heat period in history, and the global climate change is to blame. (information disseminated by the government).
Now in 2024, its tru that we are facing “similar” dry periods in large parts of southern Spain. Unfortunately, the current government has shown no greater interest in finding alternative solutions of this kind, as previously existed. Instead, responsibility is shifted to the EU Commission!
However, there are now a large number of solutions through desalination plants, land-based or floating, but this large costs that have not been prioritized in the state budget. The political governance is prioritized to meet social conditions, as well as the tourism industry, rather than adding costs to infrastructure. No one wants to complete previous projects either, for political reasons.
Imagine if Einstein’s theories were rejected for the same reasons
You cannot change history, even though many radicals have tried.
Temperatures in one part of the south Atlantic have cooled faster over the past three months than at any time on record since 1982. Are we exposed to FAKE information regarding global warming?
Temperatures are really dropping. A strange shift in temperatures from warm to cold has begun in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean since May, and it is happening at record speed. This emerging pattern, a kind of “Atlantic Niña,” appears to be occurring just before an expected transition to a cooler La Niña in the Pacific Ocean. A series of consecutive events that could have a domino effect on the global climate.
Comparing 2023. “We are starting to see that global average ocean temperatures are dropping, global sea surface temperatures last July were slightly cooler than in July 2023, ending a 15-month streak of record-breaking average ocean temperatures.
The year 2024 began with very warm ocean waters in the eastern equatorial Atlantic, but a rapid transition to relatively cooler waters was observed from late May, June and July. In fact, this was the fastest transition ever recorded.
Still unexplained. Interestingly, the cooling coincided with a weakening of the trade winds, which would normally result in the opposite. This is one of the reasons why the scientific community is unsure how or why this is happening. In fact, further research will be needed to understand the event.
Phenomena that influence each other. So, we have La Niña developing as we approach the peak hurricane season in 2024, which would favor an active season. However, we also have an Atlantic Niña that could delay what would otherwise be the long-predicted hyperactive season. That is, only if the Atlantic Niña actually develops.
For all that, experts say that at the moment it is difficult to predict exactly how, but there is reason to think that the Atlantic Niña could delay the development of the Pacific La Niña, slowing its cooling effects on the entire global climate.
One theory, which I have, is that the extremely cold air currents from the Antarctic and the South Atlantic have this year pushed the warm weather in North Africa up towards Southern Europe. We have therefore experienced the summer of 2024 as extremely hot. But the result in the end could be a very cold winter in southern Europe in 2024-2025. The future speaks for itself!
New York stock markets plummet, yesterday, 25/07/24, It has been sparked by Tesla and Alphabet’s reports, which has caused many to doubt whether the AI hype can continue with the same force.
Wednesday was the worst day on Wall Street so far this year. The broad S&P 500 index fell 2.3 percent, the biggest loss since 2022. Tesla fell a whopping 12.3 percent and Nvidia fell 6.8 percent.
What worries investors is, among other things, Google’s parent company Alphabet’s extreme investments in AI investments and Tesla’s lower profit, as well as the company’s robot taxi investment being delayed.
Is AI, starting to learn the stock market vulnerable value? And therefore, will be able to estimate the values of the stocks in the coming weeks.
This in my opinion sounds like a lottery, with the winners predicted. Will companies who use the AI in their prognostics, be favored by THE Big Brother AI, in the way its presented? Intelligence follow intelligence, is a well-known factor for centuries. But will the human intelligence be forgotten? I really hope not, after all the first computer was invented by a person’s intelligence.
You came out of your “Zero Zone”! The life had begun, without having an idea about what you were going to experience.
From this day the daily time routine started, eat, sleep, play, eat, sleep, play …. etc. While growing up, things were happening so fast, and you were not able to stop the time.
Later, thinking back, you wished that the time could have been slowed down, and being able to improve your lost time as young.
“Once I asked a good friend of mine if he knew what a Time Zone meant to him. He turned to me with a surprised look and told me, GMT+1 and when working in New York – 6 hours/CET.”
“This is an answer you expect from a person that travel a lot and works in different geographic time zones.”
But my way of describing Your Time-Zone, is different!
When you snap a finger, one second past and you will never be able to recover it again. It is Gone!
Your Time-Zones are, present, past, and future!
The history books learn you about the eras geological as, the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. But you can also read about the birth of Universe how it all started with a Bang and that it is still expanding. All this is hard to understand, but it is all about Time-Zones! All You have to do is to find your Time Zone and start to make goals how to manage your time.
When I discovered that my life was divided in Time-Zones, I started a new way of thinking and planning. Have you always used the time the way you wanted? If so, you are incredibly lucky!
Your time can be like a “black hole” in universe, slowly dragging it until the end, if you do not control your Time-Zone!
“A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing—no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole”.
Bill Gates is having some interesting toughs in his last Podcasts (2020). He talks about how we believe things that we have little knowledge of.
“Why do we believe lies? Most modern societies place a high value on truth and honesty, but people don’t seem to resist falsehoods, from little white lies to vast conspiracy theories. Take Denmark, for example. No animal on Earth knows that Denmark exists in addition to humans. Denmark, like all other countries, including the United States, is an elaborate myth that we have collectively decided to believe. But this myth allows the Danes to organize a society that benefits their people. I also talk about COVID conspiracy theories, the role social media plays in spreading misinformation, and the only lie I choose to believe even though I know it’s not always true. We have a lot of fun trying to find out the truth about the truth.”
Conclusion: Do we really know what Time is, or is it something that we have been told as a conspiracy theory?
The following story about Machu Picchu, are from one of my many travels as a youngster, #curtbergsten.
Our ship M/s Broland would visit smaller ports in the year1964, one of them, San Juan de Marcona which was south of Lima/Callao. This was also the closest city on the coast to Cuzco, the city you pass through to get to Machu Picchu. I had decided to travel there.
My boss ad given me 3 days leave for the journey, which would take approximately 48 hours round trip, by bus and donkey ride.
The journey up to Cuzco went well, although it was an old bus with open windows, and it got cold before we arrived. Then there was a trip with a long Jeep, where we had to sit on hard wooden benches on the flatbed. I was devastated when we came to a mountain wall, which we were now to climb with the help of donkeys. But first we were to have a meal served in a shed attached to an old brown and tattered tent, I went in, but it was with doubts. The surprise came when the food that came at the long wooden tables in this strange restaurant. It was, Peruvian “Pollada” which is a traditional dish and characterized by its unique taste. It was chicken marinated in a special blend of chicha de jora, black beer, red chili, and spices. It was delicious. I have later tried to cook this dish, but never managed to get the same good taste.
Now it felt better, after the long muddy journey, with food in the stomach. Now we should start to prepare for the ascent of the mountain wall. I bought myself a locally made poncho woven from llama wool, by an old lady who promised it would keep me warm.
I can promise that the path was no more than half a meter wide at some places after only half an hour’s ride, and when I looked down it was a vertical drop about 200m, so it was better to look forward up to the driveway. It took 2 hours on the donkey’s back before we reached the top where these impressive buildings constructed of large stone blocks. Most buildings were overgrown, with green creeping plants, but there were large open walking spaces where you could overlook this historic city and at the same time imagine how people had lived here in Inca times. I walked around and felt these old walls, while experiencing a closeness to how the people had felt at that time, it was an eerie feeling.
The view of the mountains of Los Andes, around us, was stunning with great eagles (or Condors) circling the mountaintop on which these buildings with some ruins were located.
There was a mystery about the area, which is difficult to explain, but easier to understand after I learned what had happened to the inhabitants. Namely, there had been a bloodbath during the conquest of Machu Picchu in 1532 by the Spaniard, Francisco Pizarro
It was with a sad feeling that we left the place and started the descent. This was something I would never experience again, but I have had so many thoughts visit the place, over the years. Memories that cannot be erased!
I can recommend everyone to visit Machu Picchu, even if nowadays it has been converted into a tourist attraction.
What is the difference between to be a traveler or a tourist?
In my youth, our family traveled together to find unknown places, we were seen as a traveling family. We looked in history books to find places of interest. Each town had their information office, with free maps, so you could find the most exiting places. Food was many times prepared at home, for the first day’s consumption, later road bars/restaurant was an economical alternative as most of them had excellent homecooked food. We met very nice people and were often invited to their homes. That’s what it was like to be a traveler.
Today, when a family travels for a holiday, they are categorized as tourists. So, what is the difference?
A travel Agency has become an important business for people to decide where to go, but this agency is often controlled by tour operators and airplane companies. They will now sell you an idea where your family owe to go, and what to see. Most alternatives are 3-4 star hotels with all included.
The opening of tourism-related businesses leads to a revitalization of poor, unindustrialized regions by creating jobs and entrepreneurial activities, which especially benefit young people. Tourism can also be a powerful force for inclusion, empowering local communities and distributing benefits among regions.
I will to show you the expansion of attractive tourist destination, that I visited for 60 years ago and show the different in photos, how it looks today. Its up to you to judge what way of traveling is for you and your family.
1964 I visited Panama City, and this was the famous Long beach Resort, where the local population spend their weekends with the whole family. It was also extremely cheap to eat and drink at the beachfront
60 years later 2024 the same beach has changed into an urban living on the front line. This is now a place for American high category tourists. As well it has also been transformed to a tax heaven! From year 2000 the cost of living has multiplied by 5-7 times.
Another example is Valparaiso, Chile, a few thousand km south of Panama, where I signed of a cargo ship in 1965, to later travel across Los Andes, to Argentina. There was hardly any beach at all around Valparaiso at that time, but you could always find a small beach to enjoy.
Nowadays in 2024 it has grown into a resort and another, 10/12 new beaches have been created for the tourist boom, south of Valparaiso. It has now become a very popular coast for international tourism. With the result of booming prices.
When I immigrated to Australia, 1968, I lived for some time in Surfers Paradise, a small costal town with just one large fur star hotel, Chevron, where I worked. There were a lot of small hostels and motels, mostly used by Australians on vacation.
Now in 2024, it has grown into a Miami style beachfront. Tourists from all over the world like to visit the famous Gold Coast. They even have a F1circut in town, with lots of gambling possibility, as casinos. I liked it as it was, but this is big money for the tourist business, but my Surfers paradise will never come back. Only in my memories.
This example of places to visit, is just a few of my favorites, after my travels to over 50 countries. Maybe I will continue to write about other places, if my audience find it interesting.
Upcoming elections to EU parliament and secrets that you should know before voting the 9th of June 2024.
Around 32,000 has salaries are being paid by the union country members. That’s all of us!
A commissioner’s basic monthly salary is fixed at 112.5% of the top civil service grade. As of June 2023, this works out to be €25,910.19 per month. The president is paid at 138% (€27,436.90 per month), vice-presidents at 125% (€24,852.26 per month) and the High Representative at 130% (€25,846.35 per month).
All this people, plus another 30.000 functionaries, with salaries around 4.800 euro/month, are working for us, the EU-citizens.
But what many of us don’t know, is what happens, in secrets, at these parties in the city with all these our trusted voted members.
One voice from a politician on the “gambling” in the EU: “An incredibly privileged life”.
“Burning cocktails and a parliamentarian who gets slapped”. That’s the headline in an article in which Politico journalist Eddy Wax has taken the pace of the partying among EU parliamentarians in Strasbourg. And that there is a lot of free alcohol and food, former EU parliamentarian “Jakop” testifies.
“Materially it’s an incredibly privileged life, so I really can’t complain in that way, but mentally it’s a rather strange life that’s not very healthy”.
It is not parliamentarians who sit down in the Place du Luxembourg, who get drunk on beer and wine there, I have been told. It is the staff, and the administrators, who has this behavior.
“You can have opinions on that, but they put a lot of effort into their tasks so they can be worth a beer from time to time, says one of the MP´s”.
The members of parliament, party in their own way behind closed doors, or in luxury restaurants, because the accounts of the representative office are almost unlimited. A good living at the expense of the taxpayers.
When it comes to the important decisions at parliament meetings, most agreements are made through lobbying in the wide corridors. It is ultimately a system of give and take, so that everyone is satisfied within this privileged group of our highest-ranking politicians.
Now it is also voting for parliamentary elections on June 9, 2024, and in a near future we will all hear big and broad promises about what needs to be improved in Europe.
