Clown World Engages the Turbo Boosters

Reuters: Top producer Albemarle risks shutting German plant if EU declares lithium a hazard

Top lithium producer Albemarle Corp (ALB.N) may have to shut its Langelsheim plant in Germany if the metal used in electric vehicle batteries is declared a hazardous material by the European Union, its finance chief told Reuters.

Can't type much because I'm laughing too hard.

Interested in Lithium?

Many hybrid cars use lithium-ion batteries and this has spawned intense interest in lithium as an investment. Most importantly, China is pushing its automakers to move to electric, a topic I covered back in April. I did some quick research and came up with a few names (symbols from Yahoo Finance).

Chemical & Mining Co. of Chile (SQM)
FMC Corporation (FMC)
Admiralty Resources (ADY.AX)
Canada Lithium (CLQ.V)
Western Lithium Canada (WLC.V)
Lithium One (LI.V)
Rodinia Minerals (RM.V)

It clear that investors are late to this party if they're looking for the easy gains. I haven't dug into this sector, but in pure psychological terms, if I was very bullish on the stock market I would expect this sector to attract a lot of speculative activity, while it would be hard hit during another panic. As an investor I would prefer lower prices, but recent gains are partially due to favorable comparisons due to last year's panic. A longer view shows a less extreme move from pre-crash levels.
Most of the more speculative names have risen to new highs, while the diversified SQM and FMC are still off their highs. Whether current levels are attractive is another question, in addition to the question of whether lithium will prove to be part of any winning technology.