Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 166

Finnish nickel producer, Trafigura tap electric vehicle boom (Reuters – November 10, 2017)

November 13, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s Terrafame nickel mine is planning to start producing material for electric vehicle batteries by 2020, the company said on Friday, after securing $200 million more in funding from commodities trader Trafigura Group.

Trafigura, which will also increase its nickel and cobalt sulphides offtake agreement with Terraframe, is providing the funds with Galena Asset Management and Nordic fund Sampo Plc.

“The new funding package … is a significant factor enabling Terrafame to move from established industrial operations to investing in new business opportunities associated with the electric vehicle battery segment,” Trafigura said in a statement on Friday.

North American Nickel forecasts Greenland project launch by 2024 (Reuters U.S. – November 1, 2017)

November 8, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING, Nov 1 (Reuters) – North American Nickel should start producing at its flagship Maniitsoq project in Greenland by 2023 or 2024, when demand for nickel from electric vehicle (EV) batteries should be in full swing, the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) said on Tuesday.

The Toronto-based exploration company, which acquired the Maniitsoq licences five years ago, has invested over $50 million in exploration so far, CEO Keith Morrison told Reuters in an interview in Beijing, where he was attending the annual Greenland Day at the Danish embassy.

It will be at least another five years before it has finished exploration, completed feasibility studies and construction, and started selling its metals output.

Spare a Nickel for Vale? – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – November 8, 2017)

November 8, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Here’s a sign that 2017’s nickel boom is in full swing: Vale SA is looking to sell a slice of its New Caledonian unit, and seems to be attracting bidders.

The interest in Vale New Caledonia, or VNC, is surprising because the division — on a French-ruled island in the Pacific that’s due to hold a vote on independence next year — is one of the highest-cost mines in an industry that’s spent years losing money.

The existence of willing buyers is as strong a signal as you could want that the prospect of fresh demand from electric vehicle batteries is leading many to bet on a recovery from nickel’s three-year slump.

COLUMN-London Metal Exchange Week galvanised by electric dreams – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – November 3, 2017)

November 6, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) – The future is bright. The future is electric. The green technology revolution lit up this year’s London Metals Exchange (LME) Week. “Electric vehicles are a great long-term story” for industrial metals, according to Colin Hamilton, head of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets.

And this is a sector that has been looking for exactly that since the abrupt demise of the “super-cycle” story that accompanied the last big bull rally. Copper has traditionally been the talk of the LME Week cocktail parties and dinners because this is the time Chilean producer Codelco announces its premiums for the coming year.

But this year copper was rudely shoved out of the London limelight by new hot metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. Particularly nickel, another core metallic component of the lithium-ion batteries that are going to power all those electric vehicles (EVs).

Electric cars could give nickel a jolt (Bloomberg News/Sudbury Star – November 5, 2017)

November 6, 2017

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Glencore and Trafigura Group Pte are often at loggerheads, but one thing they agree on: The nickel market will be transformed by the rise of electric cars.

Nickel sulphate, a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, will see demand increase 50 per cent to three million metric tonnes by 2030, Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura, said in an interview. While other battery metals like cobalt and lithium have more than doubled since the start of last year, nickel prices have been subdued because of large inventories.

“When you look structurally, we should start to get bullish now,” Rahim said. “Are you going to be able to meet that demand when the time comes, given underinvestment in the supply side?”

The German Auto Industry’s Darkest Secrets – by Melanie Bergermann, Simon Book, Alexander Busch and Martin Seiwert (Handelsblatt Global – November 3, 2017)

November 3, 2017

https://global.handelsblatt.com/

German consumers purchasing a new electric car may be buying a few extras they didn’t reckon with – such as child labor, corruption and police brutality.

The young man shyly moves his T-shirt down over his belly, hiding the scars from the operation and the exit holes. His fellow South Africans call Mzoxolo Magidiwana, 24, “dead man walking” because he will never recover from the injuries he suffered when police opened fire on him and his fellow workers five years ago. Bullets tore into his stomach and his right arm no longer has any strength; nor can he walk properly anymore.

Mr. Magidiwana was one of the leaders of the 3,000 miners who went on strike on August 12, 2012 to protest poor working conditions and low pay at the Marikana platinum mine some 100 kilometers from Johannesburg in South Africa.

The workers were being paid just €400 ($464) per month for back breaking work. Below ground, they had to contend with constant accidents and dust that made them ill. Above ground, they were breathing the toxic fumes coming out of the platinum smelter.

BHP to step up copper exploration, expansions to meet electric vehicles sector’s rising demand – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 1, 2017)

November 3, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

World’s biggest miner getting ready to provide enough copper for the booming electric cars industry.

World number one mining company BHP (ASX, NYSE: BHP) (LON:BLT) plans to step up copper exploration and expansions as it wants to be ready to meet electric vehicles sector’s rising demand for copper.

“We want more copper resources in our portfolio. And we believe the most valuable pathway to achieving this is through exploration, the drill bit,” Danny Malchuk, president of operations at BHP’s Minerals Americas, said at Bloomberg’s LME Week forum on Wednesday.

Unlike most miners, which slashed exploration budgets during the downturn that ended last year, BHP has kept its copper exploration budget steady at an average of $60 million annually over the last four-to-five years out of its overall budget for exploration of around $1 billion, Reuters reports.

LME WEEK-BHP aims for more copper, oil; steers away from EV minerals – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.K. – November 2, 2017)

November 2, 2017

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – The world’s biggest miner BHP’s response to the electric vehicle debate is to hunt for new reserves of copper and oil, while seeking a buyer for its assets to produce battery-grade nickel and steering clear of lithium and cobalt.

Arnoud Balhuizen, chief commercial officer at BHP, has said 2017 marks a “tipping point” for electric vehicles in that they have entered the mainstream of metals demand forecasting. In terms of sales, however, the mass move is further off as hybrids and conventional cars stay on the roads for a transition period.

Balhuizen estimates that shift would be around 2030, which is also when BHP expects demand for oil from light vehicles to peak. Other forms of oil demand, including from industry and heavy goods transport, are likely to be more sustained.

Could EV demand cause a shortage of battery-grade nickel? – by Andrew Topf (Stockhouse Publishing – November 2, 2017)

November 2, 2017

http://www.stockhouse.com/

FULL DISCLOSURE: North American Nickel is a paid client of Stockhouse Publishing.

Nickel: The dark horse in the EV battery race

Without a doubt, the barn door that has been cracked open on electric vehicles (EVs) is only going to swing further. One recent projection puts EVs at 16% market penetration by 2030 and 51% by 2040. Several countries including China, France and the UK have signalled they will eventually ban gas-powered vehicles, and one automaker, Volvo, recently announced that starting in 2019, all models will be hybrids or electrics.

This has investors flocking to companies that mine lithium and cobalt – two key ingredients of batteries used in EVs. But it’s a lesser-known fact that nickel, a cheaper, up-to-now industrial metal used primarily in stainless steel, will also be needed for EV batteries.

In fact, so much nickel could be demanded in the next few years that analysts are predicting a shortage of battery-grade nickel. Investors who can identify companies with properties that contain this type of nickel stand to make a bundle, especially those in the early exploration stages.

Battery tech is the new gold for Kirkland Lake – Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 2, 2017)

November 2, 2017

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

California’s Artisan Vehicle Systems chooses northeast town for Canadian assembly, R & D hub

A leading edge California manufacturer of battery-powered underground mining vehicles is putting down roots in Kirkland Lake.

Artisan Vehicle Systems announced Oct. 31 that it’s building a 60,000-square-foot Canadian headquarters featuring a service centre, vehicle assembly shop, and product research facility in the northeastern Ontario gold mining town to be closest to its biggest customer, Kirkland Lake Gold.

The company is talking about creating 60 jobs over the next two years as they put shovels in the ground within a year-and-a-half to build a state-of-the-art “Centre of Excellence” in the Archer Drive business park.

One Metal Will Be Transformed by the Electric Car Boom – by Mark Burton and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – October 31, 2017)

November 1, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc and Trafigura Group Pte are often at loggerheads, but one thing they agree on: the nickel market will be transformed by the rise of electric cars.

Nickel sulphate, a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, will see demand increase 50 percent to 3 million metric tons by 2030, Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura, said in an interview. While other battery metals like cobalt and lithium have more than doubled since the start of last year, nickel prices have been subdued because of large inventories.

“When you look structurally, we should start to get bullish now,” Rahim said. “Are you going to be able to meet that demand when the time comes, given underinvestment in the supply side?”

LMEWEEK-Codelco’s lithium a magnet for more than 10 firms – chairman – by Pratima Desai (Reuters U.S. – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) – More than 10 companies have expressed interest in partnering with Codelco, one of the world’s largest copper producers, to exploit its lithium assets in Chile, the firm’s chairman told Reuters.

The chairman, Oscar Landerretche, was speaking during LME Week, a gathering of the metal industry in London. Lithium is a key component in rechargeable batteries that fuel electric vehicles, a segment of the auto industry expected to grow exponentially in coming years.

Companies with lithium assets are attracting huge investor interest, as can be seen in an exchange-traded fund comprised of lithium firms, up nearly 60 percent so far this year. Lithium in Chile is found in brine deposits, which can take seven years or more to develop.

The Canadian Ghost Town That Tesla Is Bringing Back to Life – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com

Renewed demand for cobalt, the metal, is breathing new life into Cobalt, the town.

Ironically, Cobalt, Ontario—population 1,100—was built on silver. Remnants of a boom that transformed the town more than a century ago are everywhere. A mine headframe still protrudes from the roof of the bookstore, which was previously a grocery.

The butcher used to toss unwanted bones down an abandoned 350-foot shaft in the middle of the shop floor and keep meat cool in its lowered mine cage.

While the last silver mines closed almost 30 years ago, a global push for the village’s namesake metal is promising to breathe new life into the sleepy town 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Toronto.

Electric cars set world’s nickel miners on new course – by James Regan and Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – October 31, 2017)

October 31, 2017

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Battery makers are increasingly turning to nickel to help power growing global electric car sales, but only half of the world’s producers of the metal are likely to benefit, mining analysts and executives say.

Lithium batteries containing nickel, which helps keep a charge over longer distances, are being installed in electric cars from Tesla’s top-of-the-line Model X to General Motors Co modestly-priced Chevy Bolt.

The battery boom promises a new and growing market for miners producing high-grade nickel products. However, half the world’s supply of the metal, comprised of so-called ferronickel and nickel pig iron grades, is unsuitable for battery production, according to analysts at UBS.

LMEWEEK-Electric cars yet to turn cobalt market into gold mine – Nornickel – by Polina Devitt (Reuters U.K. – October 30, 2017)

October 30, 2017

https://uk.reuters.com/

MOSCOW, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Demand for cobalt used to make rechargeable batteries that power electric cars has not yet translated into a tighter market, according to Russia’s Norilsk Nickel, a major producer of the metal.

Materials used to make the batteries will be a key topic of discussion during LME Week, a gathering of the metal industry in London this week.

“The price is higher but there is no tense situation with cobalt supply now,” Anton Berlin, Nornickel’s head of strategic marketing, told Reuters in an interview.