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It’s the most enduring thematic of our times, and now investors can get exposure at a significantly lower price thanks to the recent impact of rising rates and global strife.

Pilbara Minerals has reinforced analysts’ bullish lithium predictions after securing a record price for 5000 dry metric tonnes of the critical battery raw material sold on its unique digital auction platform (reports The Australian Financial Review)

Elon Musk wants to mine it, China is scouring Tibet for it, battery makers are crying out for it (reports Bloomberg).

Lithium bulls looking for analyst support need not look much further than UBS, with the investment bank expecting demand more than double consensus numbers by 2030 (reports MiningNews).

Chalice Mining has confirmed an institutional placement to raise A$100 million (reports MiningNews).

Develop has completed the acquisition of the Woodlawn zinc-copper mine in New South Wales (reports MiningNews).

Bill Beament’s Develop has entered into an agreement to acquire Premium Mining & Civil and Premium Mining Personnel (reports MiningNews).

A battery metals explorer backed by some big-name identities in the WA mining industry has defied volatile equity markets to make a strong debut on the Australian Securities Exchange (reports The West Australian).

Two leading lights of the WA resources industry have emerged as major shareholders of battery minerals explorer Bellavista Resources (BVR), which makes its eagerly-awaited share market debut today (reports Stockhead).

Kerry Harmanis isn’t the first practising lawyer to throw in the towel (reports The Australian Financial Review).

Bellavista to hits the boards on Wednesday. Plus, PVW ready to put its strong bank balance to work in rare earths hunt and Battery Minerals sees plenty of smoke at gold prospect just 10km from rich Stawell mine

Buy the dip theory took hold among Australian investors earlier week as they helped the all-ordinaries index claw back 200 of the 700 points lost since early April but by Thursday they discovered the meaning of “dead cat bounce”.

Bill Beament’s Develop Global has flagged a significant upgrade in the resource at its Sulphur Springs copper-zinc-silver project in the Pilbara following another batch of high-grade drilling intersections (reports The West Australian).

He’s back!

The Australian government has awarded Pilbara Minerals and partner Calix a A$20 million grant under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative for a lithium salts demonstration plant at Pilbara’s Pilgangoora operation in Western Australia (reports MiningNews).

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Uranium Production Specialist Dr Adrienne Hanly has flagged that uranium inventories are precariously low (reports Stockhead).

The maiden diamond drill hole at Catalyst Metals (51%) and Navarre Minerals’ (49%) Lawry prospect, within Victoria’s prolific Bendigo Zone, has delivered a stunning high-grade intercept (reports MiningNews).

Analysis from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence has shown the lithium industry needs a massive US$42 billion in investment to meet projected 2030 demand (reports MiningNews).

Plus, Chalice stablemate Minerals 260 hunting for a Julimar of its own.

One decent discovery was not enough to totally wash away the negative sentiment that pervaded most sections of the Australian stock market this week, though Galileo Mining’s palladium strike near Norseman in WA went some way to improving the overall mood.