EVALUATING NEW DIRECTIONS FOR THE LITHIUM MARKET

To determine new directions in the lithium international market, it is instructive to look at a few of the major features of the market 20 y ears ago and today and identify long-term trends. From this discourse, it seems that a decrease in the price of lithium carbonate is not lik ely to result in much increase in demand from existing end-uses, excep t possibly in the field of glass and ceramics. Growth is most likely t o come from the development of new end-uses or from the expansion of d emand for lithium batteries.