No, Pavel.  You are not wrong.  The LCE price is hovering just a little over $10,000 per metric ton:

https://www.dailymetalprice.com/metalpricecharts.php#google_vignette

Of course China is pushing the price down in order to gain dominance, but even with that strategy they did have to pull back recently on some of their own production that was far below the market price as opposed to the higher cost of production.  Chinese strategy in regards to dominance in lithium production is no different from what they have done in other areas as the Chinese companies took advantage of State subsidies to offset the difference regarding what they would otherwise lose in a free market system for their product.  Whether or not China will be able to continue with this common strategy in the Lithium market, or for that matter in regards to production of any other item, is a big question given the economic uncertainty in various aspects for the Chinese economy. 

One of the biggest problems facing Chinese society and the Chinese economy is the unnatural age distribution of their population with China having an overabundance of elderly who are not participating in sufficient numbers or abilities to fill all the occupation vacancies in the various aspects of the Chinese economy.  The social security payments to the elderly in China keep heading South, but even with that maneuver by the CCP they still have a huge amount of money that they have to pay out to their very large elderly population component and there are not enough younger workers to bring in the revenue to their economy to compensate for the hole in the economic bucket driven by their large elderly component.

  This all stems from decisions made in China in the 1970's to implement a 1 Child policy and the Chinese government is still paying for that disastrous decision.  The origin of the 1 Child policy was a subsequent policy by the CCP to try and curb a population explosion in the second half of the 20th century and the concommitant concern of the CCP that China was overpopulating its available food supplies.  There was, in fact, some large scale starvation during the early years of the CCP and the CCP initially turned to promoting voluntary birth control measures in all of its forms available to them to attempt to slow down their population growth.  When that did not succeed they abandoned birth control active promotion in its initial presentation with trying to provide oral contraceptives and condoms while promoting their use amongst the population and moved on to the 1 Child Policy.  Anyone who violated that policy was fined or otherwise penalized and the birth rate finally declined to a level that slowed the population growth. 

In the process this distorted the population sectors and followed with what now is a disproportionate number of elderly that the CCP is not able to fully tap for either its military recruitment or in order to fill all of the job vacancies in its industries.  To make matters worse things like the "Lay Flat" social movement in China have further reduced the number of qualified workers looking to fill the needs of Chinese industry and its commercial world.  When you throw in major economic disasters such as the burst in China of the Real Estate market and add the effects of that bursted bubble on the financial losses experienced by the middle class Chinese who prior to Covid 19 enthusiastically invested in the domestic Real Estate market in China it just boils down to a situation whereby the Chinese economy is in a real precarious strait at this juncture of time.

All of that discussion above is simply to illustrate that China may not be in a position to continue its plan to dominate the lithium market or, for that matter, any other section of the overall market.  An economic collapse in China is currently a real possibility and the question remains as to how would that effect the overall world market for lithium?  China domestic production of EVs is greater than any other country in the world, so if Chinese people are not able to purchase the EVs that China produces this may have a significant downard push on world lithium prices.  On the other hand, in that event it might have somewhat of an opposite effect and create an even stronger domestic demand by shifting the domestic market for higher priced EVs to the wide array of budget priced EVs being currently made by a plethora of Chinese EV companies and ironically contribute to an overall increase demand for EVs in China with the demand focused on the more affordable low priced EVs.

There are so many market forces in play overall that influence the lithium demand situation and that situation is critical to the success of any lithium mining company, LAC and LAAC not being exceptions. 

Imagine that you are the CEO of XYZ lithium mining company that is one of the herd of Wannabees located in or around Clayton Valley, Nevada and the XYZ company is out hustling for the attention of both retail and institutional investors.  The survival of your nascent company is dependent on finding investors who believe that the price of lithium will rise, like a Phoenix, from the ashes so that they have a real "opportunity" to make a ROI on their investment.  As Mr. CEO of XYZ right about now you are pulling your hair out because in the world of competion you have plenty of it and you are faced with the real possibility that your small Wannabee will go under.  Now, contrast that with the position that Jon Evans is in whereby GM has announced a 625 million dollar deal with LAC and within the next 2 months LAC is supposed to learn about the finalization of a more than 2 Billion Dollar low interest loan from DOE.  Which CEO would you rather be:  Jon Evans or Mr. CEO of XYZ?

Especially considering that the downward push on LCE contributed to by the CCP is a situation with no guarantee for it to be capable of onward continutation when you take into consideration the precarious economic situation in China.  I am not saying that the Chinese economy will fail, but I am saying that anyone who thinks of China's economy in 21st century pre Covid Pandemic terms has not kept current with the reverse in direction since the booming Real Estate days of the Chinese  Economy prior to Covid 19.  Today is a totally different ball game.

On another subject, Pavel, you can't imagine why Reno would be selected by a Gigabattery plant for its location.  Perhaps todays publication from the Reno based Desert Research Institute and the University of Nevada, Reno will help you see a little clearer as to why the largest population center in Northern Nevada might be considered as advantageous to deciding on where a new Gigabattery plant might be close to real and potential lithium supplies:

 https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b890a5ffc0c44e1fbb733ee3a4e68f05

It is titled:  Nevada's Lithium Landscape   An overview of lithium in the state

The link I included is only a brief "storymap" of Nevada's Lithium Landscape, the full report having a far greater detail in both scope and detail.  Unfortunately I don't have access to the full report, but this small window does give credence to at least one of the fundamental factors that might have influenced Lyten to locate its Gigafactory here:  proximity to the supply for LCE.

Lyten will be located at the Reno Air Logistics Park. 

"Reno AirLogistics Park will be a two-building logistics park located just north of Reno, adjacent to Reno-Stead Airport. Its location offers access to many amenities and as well as major arterials and distribution hubs.

The location of Reno AirLogistics Park is just 13.5 miles from Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The property offers immediate access to U.S. Highway 395 and is only 10 miles to Interstate 80.

Reno, Nevada provides access to all of the Western states within a one-day truck drive and is within a 50-mile radius of nearly 693,000 residents."

The above description is no longer accurate since the addition of Lyten has changed the scale from just a 2 building site for the Reno AirLogistics Park to a much larger area in order to incorporate Lyten's plans:

"The Reno factory is part of Lyten’s plan to support its entry into the micromobility, space, drone, and defense markets starting in 2024 and 2025. The company says it already has a robust pipeline of potential customers, and it sees this new gigafactory as a crucial step toward meeting growing demand.

Lyten’s gigafactory will cover 1.25 million square feet on a 125-acre campus in the Reno AirLogistics Park. Initially, it will employ around 200 people, eventually expanding to more than 1,000 jobs. These positions will include roles for researchers, engineers, technicians, and more. The company plans to break ground in early 2025.

Lyten is also working closely with the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR), Truckee Meadows Community College, and Nevada Native American and Tribal members to develop a workforce pipeline. The goal is to create local jobs and train a talented workforce that can support the factory’s advanced manufacturing needs."

https://electrek.co/2024/10/15/nevada-is-getting-the-worlds-first-lithium-sulfur-battery-gigafactory/

I admit to episodic bouts of despair considering the roller coaster ride of LAC and Thacker Pass.  Keeping your optimism up for more than a decade is not something everyone can do easily.  When I get into one of those moods where I am asking myself why did I invest in Western Lithium and then continue for years more as Lithium Americas I keep coming back to things like the successful navigation through all of the beaurocracy and legal hurdles,  overcoming the radical environmentalists, the caving of the price of LCE and the concomitant drop in the price of lithium, the challenge of trying to work out a successful partnership with Native Americans beneficial to both parties, obtaining the GM deal and the almost complete DOE loan... then that despair turns into optimism.  We have, indeed, come a long way and there is really no comparison to where LAC is today vs where Mr. CEO of XYZ is today.

JMO? or fact

Okiedo