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Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles

South Korea, Africa leaders pledge deeper ties, critical mineral development – by Hyonhee Shin (Reuters – June 4, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

GOYANG, South Korea, June 4 (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the leaders of African countries agreed on Tuesday to forge deeper trade and business cooperation and launched a “critical minerals dialogue” aimed at sustainable development of the continent’s resources.

Hosting a first-ever summit with the leaders of 48 African nations, Yoon said South Korea would increase development aid for Africa to $10 billion over the next six years as it looks to tap the continent’s rich mineral resources and potential as a vast export market.

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Mining tour allows Sudbury to show off expertise, technology – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – June 3, 2024)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Municipality and MineConnect team up to show off mining points of interest for out of town reporters and VIPs who attended the battery electric vehicle conference

The Sudbury-based MineConnect organization showed off during last week’s battery electric vehicle conference. MineConnect, in collaboration with the City of Greater Sudbury, hosted out-of-town mining journalists and others connected with mining and battery electric vehicles as part of the conference.

The mine supply and services association is a not-for-profit agency that represents hundreds of Northern Ontario businesses and services that provide supplies and support to every sector of the mining industry.

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Ottawa’s EV mandate is in trouble and that’s a good thing – by Gwyn Morgan (Financial Post – June 4, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

All the new electrical generation and metal mining required means EVs

The federal government has mandated that all new light duty vehicles be electric by 2035. Achieving that goal would require vastly more electrical generation capacity and an enormous expansion of charging stations.

A Fraser Institute study published in March found that handling the higher load would require either 13 large new gas plants or the equivalent of 10 new mega-dams the size of B.C.’s $16-billion hydro Site C. Just one problem: almost all viable hydro sites have already been dammed. Plus: it took 10 years to get environmental approval for Site C and another 10 to build it. That leaves the natural gas plants. But powering EV’s with natural gas puts the kibosh on zero emissions.

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Low nickel prices exerting drag on Sudbury economy: Report – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – June 4, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Employment should surpass pre-pandemic peak next year, however, and construction seems to be picking up

Nickel prices are down and the residential market in Sudbury has cooled, but the city’s population is expected to keep growing and lower interest rates will eventually spur more housing starts, a new report predicts. “The slowing national economy and soft commodity prices foreshadow weakness in Sudbury, home of the Big Nickel,” states an economic outlook from the Conference Board of Canada.

Worries about the near-term prospects for electric cars and their nickel-consuming batteries, along with rising Indonesian supply, have “pummelled nickel prices,” the board states. “Prices peaked in March 2022 and were roughly half that in March 2024.”

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Editorial: Mining EV halo dims – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – May 31, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Mining’s association with planet-saving EVs was supposed to make mining, if not cool, at least more acceptable. Maybe even virtuous.

But EVs have come under attack from both the political left and right — showing that mining can’t count on a halo effect from EVs to rehabilitate its image.

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Mining skills shortage looms as Ontario gears up for EV boom – by Darius Snieckus (National Observer – June 4, 2024)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Ontario’s mining industry risks a shortfall of over 3,500 skilled green-collar workers by 2040, unless it jump-starts education and training for the new generation of technicians needed as Canada’s critical minerals-hungry electric vehicle (EV) sector gears up this decade, according to a new strategy report unveiled by the government.

The province last week launched its Critical Minerals Talent Strategy, a multi-department initiative developed by the government’s Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) to head off this employment bottleneck as mining deepens its focus on extracting the cobalt, lithium, nickel and other materials key to manufacturing EV batteries.

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Mineral processing plant will bring hundreds of jobs, business opportunities to Sudbury area – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – May 29, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

First-of-its-kind $800-$900 million facility, processing Ring of Fire nickel, will give Wyloo an edge in electric battery manufacturing

Hundreds of jobs and economic development opportunities will be created in the region when Wyloo Canada builds its multi-million-dollar minerals processing plant in the City of Greater Sudbury.

Announced on May 29, the facility will be the first in Canada to process nickel sulphate and nickel-dominant precursor cathode active material (pCAM) — minerals needed to make the batteries used in electric vehicles.

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Anglo American refuses to extend takeover talks with BHP, signalling end of mining megamerger attempt – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – May 30, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

BHP Group Ltd. BHP-N, the world’s biggest mining company, is seeing its megamerger proposal with Anglo American PLC fall apart, with the smaller company rejecting BHP’s call to extend the takeover talks.

Anglo’s rejection almost certainly kills BHP’s proposal to put the two companies together, which would have created the world’s biggest producer of copper, a metal considered critical to the transition to a low-carbon economy. Only a few days ago, it seemed the two sides were on the verge of an agreement.

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Wyloo Canada to build Ring of Fire facility in Sudbury (updated) – by Staff (Sudbury Star – May 29, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Wyloo CEO Canada Kristan Straub says the facility would provide the missing piece in Canada’s aspirations to develop a domestic EV battery supply chain

Wyloo Canada announced this morning that it plans to build a downstream battery materials processing facility in Sudbury. It will cost up to $900 million to build and will create several hundred jobs, officials said at the EDome this morning.

It will cost up to $900 million to build and will create several hundred jobs, officials said at the EDome this morning. Wyloo said it has an agreement with the City of Greater Sudbury to secure land to build the battery materials processing facility. The new facility will fill a critical gap in Canada’s electric vehicle battery supply chain by establishing Canada’s first mine-to-precursor cathode active material (pCAM) integrated solution.

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EU Policy. Commission clinches raw materials deal with Australia – by Marta Pacheco (Euronews Green – May 28, 2024)

https://www.euronews.com/

The European Commission today (28 May) announced it has forged its 13th trade partnership designed to source critical raw materials from outside the bloc, with Australia.

Valdis Dombrovskis and Thierry Breton, respectively commissioners for trade and the internal market, appeared alongside signatory Australian trade minister Don Farrell, claiming the deal was “based on mutual benefits” — enabling the EU to diversify supply, and the development of Canberra’s domestic critical minerals sector.

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New Caledonia unrest pushes nickel sector deeper into crisis (France 24 – May 28, 2024)

https://www.france24.com/en/

Noumea (AFP) – Weeks of unrest in New Caledonia have plunged the archipelago’s nickel industry, already on government life support, closer to catastrophe, sector representatives say. The French Pacific territory is the world’s third-biggest producer of nickel, behind Indonesia and the Philippines, and ahead of Russia and Australia.

Nickel, a silver metal used as an alloy to make stainless steel, electronic components and jewellery, is also a key ingredient for electric vehicle batteries, making it critical for a transition towards cleaner energy.

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Nigeria Is Emerging as a Critical Mineral Hub. the Government Is Cracking Down on Illegal Operations (Associated Press/U.S. News – May 26, 2024)

https://www.usnews.com/

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s government is cracking down on illegal mining, making dozens of arrests of unlicensed miners since April for allegedly stealing the country’s lithium, a critical mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones and power systems.

The recent arrests come as Nigeria seeks to regulate its mining operations of critical minerals, curb illegal activity and better benefit from its mineral resources. The clean energy transition, a shift away from coal, oil and gas and toward renewable energy and batteries has spiked global demand for lithium, tin and other minerals.

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Indonesia buying record amounts of Philippine nickel ore due to quota delays, sources say (Reuters – May 29, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Indonesia has bought record volumes of nickel ore from the Philippines since April as smelter demand increases, while delays by Jakarta in issuing mining quotas and heavy rains have hurt local supply, people familiar with the matter said.

Indonesia’s nickel ore imports from the country likely hit around 500,000 metric tons in April and will again in May, more than double March volumes, two local smelters and a trader told Reuters. Such monthly totals would also top imports from the Philippines for all of last year which came in at 374,454 tons.

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WYLOO NEWS RELEASE: Canada’s First Downstream Battery Materials Processing Facility to be Built in Sudbury (May 29, 2024)

GREATER SUDBURY, May 29, 2024 – Wyloo has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Greater Sudbury to secure a parcel of land to build a downstream battery materials processing facility. The new facility will fill a critical gap in Canada’s electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain by establishing Canada’s first mine-to-precursor cathode active material (pCAM) integrated solution.

Wyloo CEO Canada Kristan Straub said the facility would provide the missing piece in Canada’s aspirations to develop a domestic EV battery supply chain, by producing low-carbon nickel sulphate and nickel-dominant pCAM, key ingredients for EV batteries.

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America is determined to keep Chinese electric vehicles out. Should Canada follow suit? – by David Olive (Toronto Star – May 25, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

Canada is determined to create a comprehensive EV supply chain whose viability could be diminished by Chinese EV imports, David Olive writes.

Canada’s place in a global electric vehicle (EV) industry that will be worth an estimated $12 trillion by 2030 is at risk of becoming a flashpoint in the U.S.-China trade war. U.S. President Joe Biden last week roughly quadrupled tariffs on imported Chinese EVs to 102.5 per cent.

That puts Canada in an awkward position. Canada can join Biden in defending a Fortress North America, imposing high tariffs that put otherwise low-priced Chinese EVs out of reach of Canadian buyers. Or it can potentially undermine a nascent Canadian EV ecosystem by not protecting it from a surge of cheap Chinese imports.

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