Jim Rogers Thinks Tesla Motors Could Pick Mason Graphite
James West: Okay so let’s talk a bit about the emerging electric automotive industry. BYOD and Tesla are at the forefront of battery-powered automotive transport. Where are the batteries going to come from to support mass adoption of cars and buses worldwide in your opinion?
Jim Rogers: Haa…I should ask you – you’re Canadian. It’s an extremely good question – yes! There’s going to be a huge bull market in something – if electric vehicles take the place of hydrocarbon engines – yes - there will be a staggering bull market in something, and batteries will be one of those things down the road. And it looks as though electric vehicles have a positive future as we go forward.
An interesting aside, Henry Ford’s wife used to love here electric vehicle. She hated all his combustion engine vehicles cause she liked her electric vehicle so much. There’s no question we’re going to have more and more electric vehicles, because governments like them, politicians like them. It’s a way to get vehicles without having to buy energy from those ‘evil’ Arabs or whoever those ‘evil’ suppliers are. So no…it’s going to happen.
But two things – one, it’s a long time before that happens. And secondly, electric vehicles take energy too. Electricity is made from energy – it doesn’t just drop out of the sky.
James West: Alright. So let’s talk about – Tesla mentioned that they’re going to build this giant ‘gigafactory’ and in view of the current technology in which greater than 50% of the electric battery is comprised of graphite, do you think that there are any companies out there that could supply natural graphite to Tesla for its Gigafactory?
Jim Rogers: Well, yes – the answer to your question is yes. I have a little bit of an interest in one that I think has the largest deposit of graphite in the world, and it’s run by an extremely knowledgeable group of people, and I know, that if graphite has a future, which it does, and graphene, then this company’s going to do extremely well. And I do know, from what the scientists tell me, that graphene has a huge future, whether it’s in automobiles – in everything. The scientists say – this is not Jim Rogers talking – the scientists say, graphene is going to be as important to the world as the internet. It’s going to be as important to the world as electricity. Now, I’m not a scientist, and I don’t know, but I do know a couple of guys won the Nobel Prize recently because they came up with graphene, so people who are more knowledgeable than me think that graphene, and therefore graphite, has a staggering future.
James West: Sure. Okay so what company is it you’re talking about that is in the graphite space?
Jim Rogers: It’s called Mason Graphite. My little bit of knowledge tells me that they are probably the best place because they know more about producing graphene than most other people, plus they also have a mine. And a lot of people are good at producing graphene from graphite, but it’d be good to have the graphite as well. So they have a mine, and they also have intellectual property. And the people who run it were running the largest graphite company in the world – they were French – and then they left, and took over this company.
James West: Are you talking about Imerys?
Jim Rogers: Yes. And by the way, for what it’s worth, Mason Graphite has the government of Québec as their partner, putting up a lot of the money. So that makes them a little different from many typical Canadian mining stocks – penny mining stocks. I mean, the government of Québec certainly makes mistakes, but they’re involved, and lots of other people are involved, so in my view, it’s probably the place to play graphite or graphene. But everybody has to make their own decision.
James West: Sure. So in your due diligence process, were you able to determine that Mason Graphite has the type and size of deposit and graphite present that would probably serve a gigafactory like Tesla?
Jim Rogers: It could, yes it definitely could, and maybe I have no idea who is going to provide Tesla. It certainly could be these guys. I have an interest, but it doesn’t mean other people should have an interest unless they do a lot of homework.
Important Disclosure: Both James West and Jim Rogers are shareholders of Mason Graphite LLC. No endorsement of Mason Graphite is herein expressed or implied, and readers are advised to consult a duly authorized investment advisor in their jurisdiction before considering any investment.