Hello there, and we are here with the Fast Markets Live Lounge, coming to you live from the Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference in Las Vegas. It is where the industry's key conversations are happening, and I'm thrilled to be joined today by Ken Brinsden, who is one of the most recognized names in global lithium. Now, Ken first made headlines as the CEO who helped transform Pilbara Minerals into a powerhouse of hard rock lithium production in Australia. Now he's bringing that playbook to Patriot Metals with really big ambitions to help shape the next phase of North American supply. And just before I turn to Ken to sort of dig into those aims, just a quick reminder that this episode is brought to you by Aquatech. Now, they're a global leader in industrial water treatment and sustainable process technologies. They're really helping some of the companies across the battery and mining sectors address some of their most critical challenges. Ken, thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks for the introduction, Georgia. Nice to be with you.
It's a pleasure. Okay, let's start at the beginning with your career story in many ways. I'm going to sort of focus on you first and then on the companies second. How did you find your way into the lithium space?
Well, I fell into it, I think, is probably the best way to describe it, Georgia. I was involved in iron ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and I was lucky enough to be connected to some geos that had made an amazing discovery in the lithium world that went on to become the Pilgangoora mine as part of Pilbara Minerals, or now PLS. And I just consider myself really lucky to have had those connections and coming into the lithium world at a time when it was starting to gain some preeminence, and I've been very lucky to be involved in the journey since.
And I mean, Pilbara Metals is one of those huge success stories. You were there for the sort of transformational period of that company. How's that shaped your career going forwards?
Well, it was one of the longest overnight success stories I could have possibly imagined, Georgia, because there was quite a few highs and lows amongst it all. Lithium can be a challenging, you know, a challenging environment to build a mining company, and we definitely experienced a few of those lows in the process of building Pilbara Minerals. But in the end, you know, great team, fantastic project, and a bit of resilience, and hence you have the powerhouse that you've described that PLS is today. So yeah, I consider myself really lucky to have been a part of it.
It must have taught you that ability to sort of sit back, hold council, and ride it out.
Well, lithium is still a young industry, and I look at that and think that represents opportunity because it's a young industry. There's a chance to innovate, to insert yourself into the market in a way that might not have been imagined, you know, even just a couple of years ago. And it's also an industry that's growing a global footprint. So why wouldn't you want to be a part of that? Yeah, with the benefit of hindsight, it's probably one of the best things that happened in my career was to be, well, firstly in the Pilbara and then be introduced to some geos who had some exploration success. Lithium is one of those commodities that's changing the world. It's decarbonizing the global economy. And as a simple mining engineer, I look at that and think, well, for one of the first times in my career, I can say we're now part of the solution as compared to being part of the problem.
And now you've taken that sense of purpose to Patriot Metals. What are you hoping to... well, are you hoping to recreate the same success? I imagine you must be.
Yeah. Well, yes. And to me, what it comes down to, actually, in the scheme of things, it's a pretty simple idea. It all starts with great geology, and that was definitely the case in the discovery I described earlier in the Pilbara that became Pilbara Minerals and now PLS. And at Patriot, we have many similar characteristics, but arguably even better. And that's what's motivated me to move all the way from Perth. You know, you can't get much further from Perth to Montreal.
It takes a lot of flying, and it literally is the other side of the earth. But it's worth going there because the geology at our project, Shaka Jawan, and it's a bit of a mouthful, but the geology there is absolutely spectacular, and I just felt I had to be a part of it. It's the sort of thing that has the potential to make for another great company, and hence, you know, my hope is that's what we can ultimately achieve.
I'm interested to know how a mining company becomes a success. So, you start with great geology. What happens next? What's the secret sauce?
Yeah. Secret sauce? Well, it's one of those situations where you honestly, you do have to innovate, but again, I think there's room for that in the lithium industry. That's one of the things that's attracted me to staying the course. It's an opportunity to attract great talent. Now, in the lithium world, it's pretty small in mining. If you compare it to the rest of mining, you'd still say it's a relatively small industry. But because of those characteristics that represent opportunity, it's new. It's part of changing the global economy, the new energy economy is becoming really important. So that affords an opportunity to attract great talent and build an excellent team. And they're the sorts of things that just honestly motivate me. And I love the idea that I could work with a great team on a great piece of geology and ultimately turn that into a great mining company.
There's quite a lot of pressure on sort of North America, Canada to really sort of catch up and build up its domestic lithium supply chain. You know, there's this sense of sovereignty, the importance of sovereignty when it comes to these critical minerals and also rare earths, of course. What's your take? Do you think the region is starting to catch up?
Yeah. Yeah. We're a long way behind, though.
Yeah. It's actually a big issue for the West as a whole, let alone, you know, the US and Canada. The raw material supply base that's required for critical minerals is completely different to most historical norms in mining. And the West sort of fell asleep at the wheel, would be my suggestion, in the period of time that the new energy economy has been rising, and China, and arguably a little bit more about Northeast Asia generally, has been at the forefront for probably easily 15 to 20 years now. So that represents a significant lead. What do we do? Well, I think, I don't think we have much choice but to catch up, and that means a lot more effort, and especially at the front end of the supply chain where we're physically mining and doing that in useful locations around the world. I'd certainly put Canada on the map and Quebec on the map in that regard. But we've got to get busy with the downstream pieces of the supply chain as well, the chemicals, the value-added products, and ultimately the critical metals that make for the new economy that the West honestly is just not really ready for. The concentration risk through Northeast Asia is a huge issue for industry and for government. And we've got no choice but to have a red-hot crack now at catching up.
I'm just going to mention that if you can hear clattering plates in the background, that's because it's nearly lunchtime here at the conference. So, they're bringing out lunch, which is great for the delegates, but it does mean there's a little bit of background noise. So, I just wanted to mention that. Back to our conversation. You know, what is something that people don't maybe fully appreciate about the lithium sector? You know, are there still misunderstandings, do you think?
I think most people get the link between, you know, the lithium and what it means to the newer formats of batteries. The lithium-ion battery has become the rechargeable battery of choice. The bit that's often missed, though, is what it means to electrify everything. So as the global economy decarbonizes, you know, the replacement energy is electricity. And for the most part, I think over time that's going to become renewable. If the bulk of your energy is generated through renewable resources, there's a reasonable chance that you have to establish energy storage solutions to capture the excess energy when it may not be available, like it's nighttime or the wind's not blowing.
