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Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles

Column: Shanghai squeeze revitalises flagging nickel market – by Andy Home (Reuters – September 9, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Nickel is making a comeback. London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month nickel hit a seven-year high of $20,225 per tonne on Thursday morning and has a new-found spring in its step after collapsing in February.

That is when Chinese steel group Tsingshan announced its Indonesian nickel operations would supply matte – a form of the metal used only for stainless steel production – to battery makers. That undercut a collective bet that only refined nickel would be sufficiently high grade for the electric vehicle sector.

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OPINION: Liberals, Conservatives suddenly agree on the need for EV sales quotas. How will they deliver post election? – by Adam Radwanski (Globe and Mail – September 8, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada is suddenly headed toward a national quota for electric vehicle sales. Mere months ago, the governing Liberals were still reluctant to commit to a so-called zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

They were deferring to an auto industry that strongly opposes the policy, claiming it would hurt both consumer choice and domestic manufacturing. Now, courtesy of an election campaign in which parties are trying to prove their climate credibility, a surprising cross-partisan consensus has emerged.

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Wyloo Metals makes formal bid for Noront – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 7, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Australian miner formalizes proposal at 70 cents per share

Wyloo Metals has made a formal bid to acquire Noront Resources and the company’s interests in the Ring of Fire. The Australian miner said it submitted its official proposal to Noront on Sept. 3.

According to the bid, Wyloo is offering 70 cents per share of Noront, a deal it calls “superior” to that of its rival bidder, BHP, which is offering 55 cents per share.

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Tribes lose bid to block digging at lithium mine in Nevada – by Scott Sonner (Elko Daily – September 6, 2021)

https://elkodaily.com/

RENO (AP) — A federal judge has denied tribal leaders’ bid to temporarily block digging for an archaeological study required before construction can begin for a Nevada lithium mine on what they say is sacred land where their ancestors were massacred more than century ago.

U.S. District Judge Miranda Du refused three tribes’ request for a preliminary injunction blocking the trenching planned to collect samples near the Oregon state line at the site of the largest known lithium deposit in the United States.

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How Afghanistan’s $1 trillion mining wealth sold the war – by Frik Els (Mining.com – August 27, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

After the fall of Kabul, US media regurgitates a 2010 New York Times frontpage story on Afghanistan’s mineral riches based on a secret Pentagon memo and a 1977 Soviet geologic map.

Search for Afghanistan minerals and you get dozens of articles written in the last few days quoting a magical $1 trillion number including gems like The Taliban are sitting on $1 trillion worth of minerals the world desperately needs (CNN), Afghanistan: Taliban to reap $1 trillion mineral wealth (Deutsche Welle), Biden Just Handed Afghanistan’s Mineral Wealth to China (Newsweek), China Eyes Afghanistan’s $1 Trillion of Minerals With Risky Bet on Taliban (Bloomberg) and so on.

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OPINION: The U.S. is out of Afghanistan, and China wants in, hunting for green revolution minerals – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – August 26, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Americans are leaving Afghanistan, quickly. The Chinese may replace them, slowly. China has never had much success in Afghanistan. Endless war, political and social instability, corruption and lack of infrastructure made the country largely unappealing to Chinese investors (and all other foreign players), even though they had never shied away from messy countries.

Their position could change for one compelling reason: Afghanistan is thought to hold boundless mineral treasures, especially those needed to underwrite the “green” revolution.

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NEWS RELEASE: Wyloo Submits Arrangement Agreement to Noront (Source: Wyloo Metals – September 6, 2021)

PERTH, Australia, Sept. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd (“Wyloo Metals”) confirms it submitted an Arrangement Agreement to the Board of Noront Resources Ltd (TSXV:NOT) (“Noront”) for consideration on September 3, 2021. In submitting the agreement, Wyloo Metals calls upon the Noront Board to act in the best interest of shareholders and progress the formalization of Wyloo Metals’ superior proposal in line with its fiduciary obligations.

Wyloo Metals restricted on due diligence

Wyloo Metals received a revised confidentiality agreement from the Noront Board on August 31, 2021. Wyloo Metals was surprised to learn that the removal of the standstill provision required the consent of BHP Western Mining Resources International Pty Ltd. (“BHP”).

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OPINION: Forrest and BHP go to war over a company no one has ever heard of – by Elizabeth Knight (Brisbane Times – August 31, 2021)

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/

BHP versus Andrew Forrest was once a David and Goliath fight confined to the Pilbara. Today the battle between the two titans of iron ore, has moved to the far reaches of Northern Canada and the quarry they both seek is a nickel company no one has ever heard of.

So small and financially embattled is Noront Resources, that nine months ago it was worth just around $70 million dollars – little more than the petty cash held in the head offices of BHP and Forrest’s Fortescue.

Thanks to the bidding war between Forrest and BHP, Noront is now capitalised at $380 million and counting. Forrest lifted his offer this week to C70 cents per share – trumping BHP’s C55 cents.

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Wyloo hikes bid for Ring of Fire explorer Noront Resources, trumps BHP offer – by Naill McGee (Globe and Mail – August 31, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd. has bumped up its offer for Noront Resources Ltd., trumping BHP Group Ltd.’s bid, and in a highly unusual move is proposing to keep the struggling Ring of Fire exploration company as a publicly traded entity.

Since May, Toronto-based Noront has been the subject of a takeover tussle between Australian private equity firm Wyloo and BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, which is also based in Australia.

Both are extremely well funded. BHP’s market valuation is US$165-billion. Wyloo is backed by Andrew Forrest, founder and chair of Fortescue Metals Group, and one of the richest individuals in Australia.

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Chanticleer: Forrest won’t let BHP snatch his nickel prize – by James Thomson (Australian Financial Review – August 31, 2021)

https://www.afr.com/

Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has hit back at BHP in their battle for a Canadian nickel explorer with big dreams and big challenges.

He might have a $27.5 billion fortune and a $2.35 billion dividend cheque coming from Fortescue Metals Group, but Andrew Forrest still has plenty of the underdog mentality that’s marked his career.

So having watched BHP waltz in and try to pinch Canadian nickel junior Noront Resources out from under him, Forrest was never going to take things lying down.

On Monday night, he launched a fresh bid for the Canadian business, beating BHP’s offer of C55¢ a share with a C70¢ pitch – and throwing in a history lesson to boot.

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The dangers of understating the magnitude of the battery material supply/demand imbalance – by Matt Fernley (Kitco News – August 20, 2021)

https://www.kitco.com/

Matt Fernley is Head of Research, Volta Fund; MD of Battery Materials Review.

I wanted to talk about the Nature article on battery raw materials that’s been doing the rounds this week. The article, Electric Cars: The Battery Challenge (Nature, 19 August 2021), is an otherwise excellent discussion of a lot of the issues with sourcing materials for electric cars. Unfortunately there’s a big “but”. And that “but” is in its treatment of primary battery raw materials.

While the author, Davide Castelvecchi, has clearly spoken to a lot of experts on batteries, recycling and other elements of the supply chain, maybe he hasn’t known exactly which questions to ask, because we get a discussion almost entirely on ternary batteries with little to no mention of LFPs (and their ability to lower demand for Nickel, Cobalt and Manganese) and we also get only three paragraphs on the impact of extractive industries on the battery industry.

All the “analysis” on raw materials is effectively based on BNEF’s Long-Term Electric Vehicle Outlook for 2021 and the general conclusion, based on a quote from the BNEF analyst, is that “temporary shortages [of battery raw materials] and dramatic price swings… [will] work themselves out”.

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Massive expansions won’t hurt cobalt price as supply shifts to oligopoly – report – by Staff (Mining.com – August 16, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Cobalt hydroxide (feedstock material generally produced at mines as part of the primary processing of ores) has been on a tear, up 15% in July to $46,375 a tonne (midpoint 100% Co basis CIF Asia) bringing gains so far this year to 64%, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

China Molybdenum announced last week it will invest just over $2.5 billion to double copper and cobalt production at its giant Tenke Fungurume mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which it bought from Freeport McMoRan five years ago.

That announcement comes on the heels of China Moly’s acquisition of another Freeport property in the Congo, Kisanfu, for $550 million in December.

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For lithium, party like its 1790 – by Jack Lifton (Investor Intel – August 17, 2021)

https://investorintel.com/

The demand for Green Energy Metals (GEMs) as processed fine chemicals and high purity metals and alloys, ready for use in both consumer and military goods, already exceeds their supply.

A good example of this is Tesla’s decision to put back its pickup truck introduction, originally scheduled for Fall 2021, until sometime in 2022 due to a “shortage” of the correct type of battery cells.

This is explained as a shortage of processing capacity, but, in fact, is obscuring an even more important shortfall, that of the supply of mineral raw materials, such as those of lithium, cobalt, and the rare earths – the heavy rare earths.

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Electric cars and batteries: how will the world produce enough? – by David Castelvecchi (Nature.com – August 17, 2021)

https://www.nature.com/

Reducing the use of scarce metals — and recycling them — will be key to the world’s transition to electric vehicles.

The age of the electric car is upon us. Earlier this year, the US automobile giant General Motors announced that it aims to stop selling petrol-powered and diesel models by 2035.

Audi, based in Germany, plans to stop producing such vehicles by 2033. Many other automotive multinationals have issued similar road maps. Suddenly, major carmakers’ foot-dragging on electrifying their fleets is turning into a rush for the exit.

The electrification of personal mobility is picking up speed in a way that even its most ardent proponents might not have dreamt of just a few years ago. In many countries, government mandates will accelerate change. But even without new policies or regulations, half of global passenger-vehicle sales in 2035 will be electric, according to the BloombergNEF (BNEF) consultancy in London.

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EDITORIAL: Environmentalists vs. electric vehicles (Las Vegas Review-Journal – August 15, 2021)

https://www.reviewjournal.com/

Despite their shrill alarmism over global warming, environmentalists are perhaps the biggest obstacles to increasing U.S. production of the minerals needed to make batteries for electric vehicles.

This month, President Joe Biden signed a symbolic executive order urging that half of new vehicles be electric by 2030. In announcing the move, the Biden administration lamented that China is in the pole position on EV manufacturing.
“China is increasingly cornering the global supply chain for electric vehicles and batteries with its fast-growing electric vehicle market,” a White House fact sheet stated.

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