Byron Securities Lithium analyst Mr Hykawy quickly becomes a star in mass media hunger for hot stories in the markets.
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TORONTO, ONTARIO -- 08/05/09 -- Byron Capital Markets, a division of Byron Securities Limited, is pleased to introduce Dr. Jon Hykawy as our new Lithium Industry analyst."
Media reports are driving hot market in the sleepy summer month of vacations:
Byron Securities has just closed financing with TNR Gold TNR.v:
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TNR Gold Closes $500,000 Flow Through Private Placement
Press Release
Source: TNR Gold Corp.
On Friday August 14, 2009, 1:26 pm EDT
TNR GOLD CORP. (Tier2)VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 14, 2009) - TNR Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:
TNR -
News; "TNR" or the "Company") is
pleased to announce the closing of a brokered private placement previously announced on August 4th, 2009 and led by Byron Securities Limited (the "Agent"), which has resulted in gross proceeds to the Company of $500,000 (the "Offering"). The offering consisted of the issuance of 2,000,000 flow-through shares of the Company at a price of $0.25 per flow-through share for gross proceeds of $500,000. As consideration for acting as agent, the Agent received a cash commission of 7% of the gross proceeds raised. In addition, the Agent was issued 200,000 agent's warrants (the "Agent's Warrants"). Each Agent's Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one non-flow through common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.25 per common share until February 14, 2011.
All of the securities issued pursuant to the Offering are subject to a four month hold period expiring on December 15, 2009.
Proceeds of Offering will be used to fund TNR's exploration projects in Canada.
ABOUT TNR
TNR is a diversified metals exploration company focused on identifying and exploring existing properties in Argentina and Alaska and new prospective projects globally. Upon approval of pending licences in Ireland, TNR will have a total portfolio of 32 projects, of which 16 will be included in the proposed spin-off of International Lithium Corp.
It is anticipated that TNR shareholders of record will receive one share and one full tradable warrant of International Lithium Corp. for every 4 shares of TNR held as of the yet determined record date. This will result in TNR shareholders owning shares in both TNR and International Lithium. For further details of the spin-off please refer to TNR's April 27, 2009 news release or visit
http://www.internationallithium.com.The recent acquisition of lithium projects in Argentina, Canada, USA and Ireland confirms the Company's commitment to project generation, market diversity and building shareholder value.
On behalf of the board,
Gary Schellenberg, President"
Peter Koven, Financial Post Published: Thursday, August 13, 2009
Little-known lithium has emerged as the hottest commodity of the moment as investors look for a way to cash in on the anticipated flood of electric cars into the marketplace.
The lithium mania swept up a number of Bay Street institutions Thursday, which were buying anything for clients that happened to have the magic L-word in its name. By the end of the day, Canada Lithium Corp. was up 41%, Western Lithium Corp. was up 28%, and First Lithium Resources Inc. was up 67%, all on massive volumes.
"I just think people are realizing there are going to be an awful lot of lithium batteries used in electric vehicles over the next while," said Jon Hykawy, an analyst at Byron Capital Markets. He said that if a couple of million electric cars are sold in the next five years, that alone would equate to about 10% to 15% of current lithium demand.
The market for lithium, a very light silver-white metal, has grown steadily over the past decade thanks to rising demand for batteries in consumer electronics such a mobile phones and laptop computers.
But it is the pending release of the Chevy Volt, the Nissan Leaf, and other electric vehicles that is getting investors most excited about the metal. Some auto companies are already speculating that pure-electric cars could make up 10% of vehicle purchases by 2020, which could put major strain on lithium supplies if it happens.
"The real inflection point is that an automobile needs about 3,000 times as much lithium as a cell phone. This is where we've got a very large potential supply requirement," said Jay Chmelauskas, president of Western Lithium.
The fact that the electric car build-out is getting billions of dollars of subsidies and strong political support, particularly in the United States and China, only adds to the excitement for lithium. In the United States, the support comes as no surprise given the government controls General Motors. But China has also emerged as a leader in electrification. It is the world's largest car market, and experts said that almost every company producing lithium-ion batteries for cars has a plant in China.
The lithium industry is small, with annual production of only about 120,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate. There are also very few ways for investors to get involved in the sector, as it is dominated by four companies: SQM SA of Chile, Rockwood Holdings Inc., FMC Corp., and Talison Minerals Pty Ltd., a private Australian company. "And then you've got a whack load of juniors that are doing anything from the sublime to the ridiculous to come up with lithium," Mr. Hykawy said.
He said that the price of lithium, which is not widely published, reached about US$6,600 a tonne this month. That compares with about US$2,500 a tonne at the beginning of the decade.
The biggest source of lithium is Chile, and Argentina and Australia are major producers as well. Bolivia is described by some as the Saudi Arabia of lithium, but experts said that a lot of the deposits there are contaminated with magnesium and are too costly to mine. Political risk has also kept many companies out."
