Cal:  " I think China purposely decreased Li prices to squeeze world Li manufacturing and run young mines out of business, or make them completely uninvestable. 

I have a very good understanding of how the communist economy works, China does not have to make any money from their mines, it belong to the government anyway and they can make a profit in the end by selling EVs. We reached the bottom, so things should get better, I hope."

Cal said that "China doesn't have to make any money from their mines".  That is a very perceptive point, Cal.  At least in the short run.  Political motivation, China's 5 year plan economics, and setting "strategic goals" for establishing a monopoly in an industry may temporarily supercede the motive of profit for the leadership in the CCP.  Temporary goals may have the effect of squeezing out foreign competition in order to build up a particular industry in China that otherwise might linger on the vine and maintain an "also ran" status amongst the other industries of the overall Chinese economy.

The "Poster Child" for gaining suzerainity in a particular industrial niche for China most recently has been the entire solar industry.  Up until about 2013 and starting about 1990, the Chinese Solar industry started from having a minor role in the Chinese economy to a point where Chinese solar panels dominated the world in the eniche of solar panel construction and sales, but only in foreign countries.  During that time period China built its now dominating role in producing solar cells and solar panels upon the financial backs of OTM.  Perhaps it would be better to characterize that rise to the top as being on OCM, OTM being Other People's Money and OCM as a more revealing characterization and standing for Other Countries Money.  They built a world wide solar domination by exporting cheaper and cheaper solar panels on the world market, while concurrently domestic sales to Chinese people lagged behind and experienced only a minor increase.  Howver, in about 2015, after foreign manufacturing of solar panels had been reduced to a miserable "also ran" status on the world stage, THEN the CCP determined that China should take this giant solar panel and solar cell industry built by knocking foreign competitors to their knees back on China and provide the now dirt cheap solar panels made in China to Chinese business and Chinese individual household consumers.  The next phase of the CCP plan was to change China into the leading country in the world regarding domestic solar instillations in both industry and consumer applications, something that they continually expand upon at record rates.

Some quotes and links below give more insight into how China rose to the top in both production and consumption in an industry that was almost a cottage industry back in the 1980's in China and only a figment of anyone's imaginationat that time if we are referring to dominating worldwide the solar industry.  Pay close attention in these linked articles to the effect that Chinese economic planning had on competitive manufacturing of solar panels and solar equipment in other countries, particularly in the U.S. and in Europe:

A 19 December 2016 article from Scientific American had these salient observations to make:

“If there was ever a situation where the Chinese have put their whole governmental system behind manufacturing, it’s got to be solar modules,” Zweibel said. “I think they think they can wipe out all the competition in the world. It makes all kinds of sense if you have the staying power.”

Whatever the reasoning was behind China’s massive investment in solar module manufacturing, the impact on its U.S. competitors has not been benign. SunEdison of Belmont, Calif., filed for bankruptcy in April. The stocks of two other leading companies, First Solar and SunPower, were in the triple digits a decade ago. Now they are treading water, floating between 13 and 6 percent of their former values.

“[W]hat’s left of the solar universe is showing severe signs of stress, and given the tricky accounting and the prevalence of China-based companies among the panelmakers, that stress may very well be understated,” wrote Jim Collins in a recent market analysis for Forbesmagazine.

“People tend to view negatively that China has taken over [solar] module market share,” said David Mooney, director of NREL’s strategic energy analysis center. “It would have been better if that capacity had stayed in the U.S.”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-china-is-dominating-the-solar-industry/

https://www.marketplace.org/2021/07/07/china-dominates-solar-energy-industry-can-us-catch-up/

Best Diplomats has an excellent article on "The Rise of China in the Solar Industry: A Global Revolution

https://bestdiplomats.org/why-china-is-dominating-the-solar-industry/

Be sure to peruse that section titled:  

Ambitious Targets of China 

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  And there is an aggressive 5 Year Plan of the CCP and another one after that and another one after that and Chinese domination of an entire world economic niche came about because of the planning by "Central Planning" that started back over 30 years ago in China.  Could they recreate their success in the area of solar technology and solar product manufacturing by applying those same principles to some other area of the economy?  Well, duh!

Will they attempt to do the same when it comes to lithium mining and lithium processing into battery grade lithium production?  Well, in respect to that first part, lithium mining, they won't find the answer to that problem within the confines of the boundries of the country of China, not even with elastic boundries and building islands from atolls.  However, by esablishing "parternships" with other countries who are fortunate to have significant lithium mineral assets they will be able to achieve a significant impact on the world of lithium mining, a point already proven by SOE (State Owned Enterprises) and non-SOE mining companies from China.

What about in the world of battery grade lithium production from minerals shipped to China from other countries that have higher grade lithium ore?  That is certainly on their radar screen and look at the success they are already having.  Australia, home of vast hard rock lithium assets, already ships most of its preliminary processed hard rock lithium to China where it is refined into higher grade products.  Anyone here heard of Ganfeng Lithium Ltd?  The presence of Ganfeng Lithium Ltd in Argentina alone, and we all should be aware of that presence, shows that China isn't limiting its economic tentacles for obtaining lithium minerals to just "Down Under" Australia.  And the list goes on.  The BRI, the Belt and Road Initiative, has an over abundance of complexities in its composition and when applied to obtaining mineral resources then acquisition of more lithium minerals fits quite nicely into that super example of Chinese economic planning.  China has the capacity to increase its domestic refining of lithium minerals in an acceleration not possible in countries where the economy is subject to the vicissitudes of a democracy.

OK, I have said enough on this subject, but I want to extend my appreciation to Cal for recognizing this little bump in the road, China, as that bump applies to any "foreign" country trying to achieve success fairly in an economic niche vs that same niche if it becomes a target of the CCP.

My guess is that the reason China has not already achieved domination in lithium mineral mining and the production of battery grade lithium, not to minimize their sizeable presence in both areas, is because most of the lithium found in China is of low grade composition in comparison to that of the other lithium mineral mining countries throughout the world and because new significant mineral deposits of lithium are being discovered outside of China in mostly democratic countries.

This concludes my random, and possiblly somewhat rambling, thoughts on what I believe to be an important issue.

Okiedo