Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 113

EV makers’ battery choices raise questions about future cobalt demand – by Henrique Ribeiro (S&P Global – November 11, 2020)

November 11, 2020

https://www.spglobal.com/

The recent resurgence in the use of cobalt-free battery formulation, especially in the Chinese battery market, has raised questions about the future of cobalt demand in the electric vehicles (EV) sector.

The use of cobalt in lithium-ion batteries has always generated concerns due to its high cost, as well as the use of child labor in “artisanal mining” at the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where 60% of the world’s cobalt is produced.

However, market participants believe cobalt will remain key in the coming EV boom – even though Tesla has announced plans to completely get rid of cobalt in the near future.

Australia tells the world it is open for business when it comes to critical minerals – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – November 8, 2020)

November 9, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources recently published the second edition of the Australian Critical Minerals Prospectus, a document aimed at highlighting the country’s position on critical materials supply.

To prepare the report, the Australian government examined lists of critical minerals published in markets such as the United States, the European Union and Japan, and matched those against Australia’s known geological endowment.

The result is a list of 24 critical minerals that are either being produced or could be produced in Australia.

Raw materials: the missing link in Europe’s drive for batteries – by Frédéric Simon (Euractiv.com – November 9, 2020)

November 9, 2020

https://www.euractiv.com/

While Europe is rapidly catching up with China on investments into batteries for electric cars, it is still lagging behind when it comes to securing supplies of the critical raw materials that are needed to produce them.

Since the launch of the “European battery alliance” in 2017, the EU has made a leap forward in its quest to develop a full battery manufacturing value chain.

Investments in the EU battery sector reached €60 billion last year, while China invested only €17 billion, EU commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told EURACTIV in a recent interview. This year, Europe has so far invested €25 billion – again twice as much as China, he noted.

Mining for metals needed for electric cars faces obstacles in Canada due to low prices – by Dan Healing (Global News – November 8, 2020)

November 9, 2020

https://globalnews.ca/

There’s opportunity for Canada to help supply the world’s growing need for “energy transition metals” used in electric vehicle and power storage batteries but it faces stiff competition from other countries, especially China, observers say.

Last month, the federal and Ontario governments announced they will each contribute $295 million to help Ford Canada produce electric vehicles in Oakville, Ont., while also vowing to help Fiat Chrysler in its plans to invest up to $1.5 billion at its Windsor, Ont., plant.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk, CEO of EV manufacturer Tesla, has promised big contracts for miners around the world who increase nickel production for the batteries his vehicles are soon going to need.

Alaskan cobalt could supply EV demands – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – October 29, 2020)

October 29, 2020

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Whether it is the exponential growth in electric vehicles traveling global highways, the massive need for storing energy at solar and wind electrical generating facilities, or cutting the cords on our electronic devices, the world is becoming increasingly dependent on lithium-ion batteries.

And this is driving up the demand for cobalt, a critical safety ingredient in the cathodes of these energy storage cells.

“Globally, the leading use is in the manufacture of cathode materials for rechargeable batteries – primarily lithium-ion, nickel-cadmium, and nickel-metal-hydride batteries – which are used in consumer electronics, electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, energy storage units, and power tools,” the United States Geological Survey wrote in the cobalt section of a 2018 report on critical minerals.

Election Will Decide Fate of Alaska Gold Mine, Shift to E-Cars – by Jennifer A. Dlouhy (Bloomberg News – October 29, 2020)

October 29, 2020

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Oil drilling in the Arctic and the Pebble gold mine in Alaska aren’t actually on the ballot — but they might as well be.

The controversial projects are hanging in the balance of the presidential election, with Joe Biden’s vow to scuttle them. And dozens of other oil, gas and mining ventures planned across the U.S. face heightened risk of rejection or longer permitting times as the Democratic nominee focuses on promoting cleaner alternatives.

The threat extends even to some projects that already have federal permits. Lawsuits challenging government approvals create an opening for settlement agreements that result in more analysis and possibly canceled authorizations, said Height Securities LLC analyst Josh Price.

Canada Nickel CEO sees “multi-decade resource base” near Timmins – by Ian Ross – October 22, 2020)

October 26, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

New discovery, high grades at Crawford Project spur hope of a call from Elon Musk

Canada Nickel Company has made a new discovery on an already blossoming Timmins-area exploration property that’s being studied for an open-pit mine.

In talking about the Crawford Project’s open-ended potential, company chair and CEO Mark Selby said in an Oct. 22 web call to investors that they’re “just getting started” in unlocking the value of this project, and their other prospective properties, north of the city.

The Toronto junior miner released an updated mineral calculation, and its high-grade values, on Crawford’s Main Zone on Wednesday. It places the property into the world’s top 10 list of nickel sulphide projects, not including the strides they’ve made with recent discoveries to the east and west.

Nickel for Electric Vehicles Is a Dime a Dozen – by Stephen Wilmot (Wall Street Journal – October 26, 2020)

October 26, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/

Will the electric-vehicle industry run short of nickel? It is a possibility, but investors shouldn’t bet on a cobalt-style rally soon.

After stalling in the first half due to pandemic-related shutdowns, electric-vehicle sales are growing fast again. Market leader Tesla produced 51% more vehicles in the third quarter than in the same period last year.

Most of the raw materials required for electric vehicles are the same as those used in conventional ones, but the metals that make up lithium-ion batteries are exceptions.

Clean energy, EVs and the two sides of the US election – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – October 25, 2020)

October 26, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

Market analyst Wood Mackenzie published a report laying the cards on the table as to what the future of clean energy and electric vehicles may look like following the November 3 election.

On one hand, President Donald Trump is promising to maintain the status quo somehow favouring oil, gas and coal and rejecting the idea of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Contender Joe Biden, on the other hand, promises to launch a “clean energy revolution” whose goal is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Biden campaign tells miners it supports domestic production of EV metals – by Ernest Scheyder (Regina Leader Post – October 22, 2020)

October 26, 2020

https://leaderpost.com/

Joe Biden’s campaign has privately told U.S. miners it would support boosting domestic production of metals used to make electric vehicles, solar panels and other products crucial to his climate plan, according to three sources familiar with the matter, in a boon for the mining industry.

The Obama administration enacted rigorous environmental regulations that slowed U.S. mining sector growth during its time in office. Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president and is well-regarded in conservation circles, has been expected to continue in that vein.

The U.S. Democratic presidential candidate also supports bipartisan efforts to foster a domestic supply chain for lithium, copper, rare earths, nickel and other strategic materials that the United States imports from China and other countries, the sources said.

Tesla’s move into mining aimed at energising battery supply chain – by Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – October 20, 2020)

October 21, 2020

https://www.ft.com/

When Tesla held its socially distanced “battery day” last month at an outdoor parking lot in California, it invited executives from the two big US lithium companies, Livent and Albemarle.

As they sat in their allotted Model 3s watching Elon Musk on their in-car screens, he dropped a bombshell: the electric car maker was becoming a competitor.

Tesla, Mr Musk said, had acquired the rights to a 10,000-acre plot in Nevada where it planned to extract the metal using simple table salt, and would build a lithium refinery to supply a new factory in Texas. The next day Albemarle and Livent lost a combined $1.7bn in market value as their share prices plunged.

Nevada Energy to buy BC nickel project, stock up – by Staff (Mining.com – October 20, 2020)

October 21, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

Nevada Energy Metals (TSXV: BFF) has entered into an option agreement on the Klone Group of mineral claims (1,400 ha) adjoining the Decar property owned by FPX Nickel (TSXV: FPX) located 100 km northwest of Fort St. James, British Columbia, in the Omineca mining division.

The optionor is Ursula Mowat, a professional geoscientist who has owned the property since 1987.

She is a recipient of the H.H “Spud” Huestis Award (2015), along with Peter Bradshaw and Ron Britten of FPX Nickel, for “excellence in prospecting and mineral exploration” in recognition of their efforts in identifying and commencing development of a new type of nickel deposit exemplified by the Decar project.

The Socialist Win in Bolivia and the New Era of Lithium Extraction – by Kate Aronoff (The New Republic – October 2020)

October 20, 2020

https://newrepublic.com/

An apparent victory for Evo Morales’s Movement Toward Socialism shows that tomorrow’s green energy won’t look much like the old oil empires

Just under a year after Evo Morales’s government was ousted by U.S.-backed far-right forces, his Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party looks almost certain to take back power after Sunday’s election.

Morales, the country’s first Indigenous president, remains in exile in Argentina. His election in 2019 remains hotly debated: While the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States challenged the result due to a gap between preliminary and final results, subsequent analyses have argued that the gap was explainable and legitimate and that the OAS assessment was “flawed” and highly political.

Now, with an estimated 52.4 percent of the vote, Morales’s former finance minister, Luis Arce, is on track to become the country’s new leader after a deadly year of racist state repression under interim President Jeanine Añez Chávez.

State holding to be Indonesia’s battering ram into global battery market – by Norman Harsono (Jakarta Post Jakarta – October 16, 2020)

October 20, 2020

https://www.thejakartapost.com/

Indonesia has mobilized three of its biggest state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and opened talks with two foreign multinationals to bring Southeast Asia’s largest economy into the world’s highly lucrative electric vehicle (EV) battery market.

The SOEs Ministry has ordered mining holding MIND ID, oil and gas giant Pertamina and electricity monopoly PLN to establish a holding company – tentatively “PT Indonesia Battery Holding” – that will develop an end-to-end domestic supply chain for EV batteries.

The trio are also in talks with China’s CATL and South Korea’s LG Chem, the world’s top two EV battery makers by output, to invest between US$12 billion and $20 billion in developing the dream supply chain.

Clean Energy Can’t Have Dirty Roots – by Ketan Joshi and Antony Loewenstein (Foriegn Policy – October 15, 2020)

October 16, 2020

https://foreignpolicy.com/

Securing human rights in the supply chain of critical minerals is vital for a green future.

On the face of it, the recent news that California will ban the sale of petrol cars in 2035 and favor electric vehicles is a positive development toward a greener, safer, and more sustainable world. And yet this announcement brings as many questions as answers, not least whether electric vehicles really are the best and easiest solution to the climate crisis.

The reality is far more complicated. The electrification of transport and the construction of new clean energy like solar are vital components of curing the carbon problem. But they come with their own novel and potentially show-stopping environmental and ethical costs, and these must urgently be grappled with by those of us who call for climate action at a rapid rate.

Everyone who expected climate policy to cool in the year of COVID-19 has been sorely disappointed. A flurry of announcements is increasing as the end of the year approaches, mostly relating to either general climate ambition, the accelerated deployment of mature technologies, or innovation to create new ones.