Video News/Kitco Mining

Author and investor Gianni Kovacevic says electrification is entering a new stage as governments race to secure critical minerals. He pointed to China’s rapid adoption of EVs: “Everyone would know now that over 50% of the cars that are sold in China are electric.” By contrast, he said the U.S. rollout has been held back by charging infrastructure. “Epic fail. You had a very bad experience. It’s clumsy. You have to sign up for all these different things. Sometimes they don’t work, they’re not well situated.” He noted rising U.S. government involvement, including the Department of Energy taking a 5% stake in Lithium Americas and its Thacker Pass joint venture in Nevada. Kovacevic framed the push as strategic: “This is predominantly a military thing, to have this dependence on certain items and certain technologies.” On lithium’s market setup, Kovacevic said the LIT battery ETF has risen 85% in five months, and demand growth of roughly 20% annually will double the market within about four years. Meeting that scale, he said, will require dozens of new operations across North America and beyond, with Big Oil and major miners moving in on direct lithium extraction. “DLE is direct lithium extraction, and this is something that’s been embraced by Rio Tinto, Exxon, Chevron, Occidental Koch Industries.” He added, “This is the future of lithium mining.” Kovacevic also flagged graphite, copper, and uranium as key parts of the supply chain, citing synthetic graphite competition, tariff and refining bottlenecks, and energy-security concerns.