Alex Laugharne

Principal Consultant

CRU
Alex leads CRU Consulting's services related to battery materials and is at the forefront of CRU's understanding of this rapidly evolving space. He has led numerous consulting projects for major players across different battery materials, regional markets, and parts of the battery value chain from mine to EV.

Alex has more than 16 years of consulting experience, the last ten of which have been primarily focused on battery materials, delivering strategic advisory services, financing due diligence, niche sector research, technoeconomic analysis and expert witness reports. He co-founded CRU's New York office in 2015 and was based there until he returned to CRU's London headquarters in 2022.

Alex was CRU's Lithium Market Outlook editor for two years and is a recognised expert in nickel and lithium markets, regularly speaking at international conferences on related subjects. Over his long tenure at CRU Consulting, he has led consulting projects across numerous commodities, building up experience in the iron ore, stainless steel, nickel, and ferroalloy sectors. Alex has extensive experience in cost and value-in-use modelling, having created several models for various commodities in the course of conducting consulting studies, including iron ore, stainless steel, manganese ore, vanadium products, nickel raw materials and intermediates.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Strategy development
  • Metals and mining
  • Financing and due diligence support
  • Industrials
  • Negotiation support
  • Automotive
  • Chemicals
  • Expert witness

Education/Qualifications:

  • MEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nottingham (2007)