As lithium is an oligopoly, it was thought that the market leaders such as SQM or Albemarle could easily add production capacity to
meet any future demand driven by electric vehicle adoption, so broad - based capital injections were not necessary.
The main reason, however, is that the difference between the
futures price and the spot price is
driven by arbitrage and, in all commodity markets except the gold market, the extent to which current production is able to satisfy current
demand (in the gold market there can never be a supply shortage because almost all of the gold mined in world history is still available to
meet current
demand).
New large developments adjacent to existing or
future transit corridors will dramatically
drive transit
demand and these developments should be contributors to investments needed to
meet increased usage.