Increasing iPad sales are only one reason lithium is rising
Investors from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to BlackRock Inc. are looking for ways o make money from the exploding use of lithium in iPads and hybrid cars following a tripling of prices for the conductive metal since 2000 in a market now worth $1 billion a year. Apple Inc.and Toyota Motor Corp., maker of the Prius electric-gasoline car, are said to have few alternatives as they pursue higher performance and mobility, leading to a forecast that lithium demand will double by 2020. Talison Lithium Ltd., shares have gained 22% in the last month, and the company along with Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, Rockwood Holdings Inc. and FMC Corp., account for almost 95% of world supply. Rio Tinto Group is also contemplating a mine in Serbia it says will be capable of producing 20% of global output of the metal.