Lithium company executive seeking federal backing was key figure in Alberta Energy Regulator spending scandal – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 21, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Zeeshan Syed, a former Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) executive who was engulfed in a public sector spending scandal in Alberta only four years ago, welcomed two Liberal cabinet ministers to the Thunder Bay site of his junior mining company’s proposed lithium refinery last week, and is optimistic he can attract taxpayer funding for the venture.

The visit, which was widely publicized by Mr. Syed’s company to attract media and investor attention, saw both François-Philippe Champagne, the Federal Industry Minister, and Patty Hajdu, Indigenous Services Minister, heap praise on his struggling penny stock mining company, Avalon Advanced Materials Inc..

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China ups critical minerals heat with graphite controls – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 24, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) – China is upping the critical minerals stakes by curbing exports of graphite, a key raw material in electric vehicle batteries. The West can’t say it wasn’t warned.

When China announced restrictions on exports of gallium and germanium in July, former Vice Commerce Minister Wei Jianguo was quoted in the China Daily as saying it was “just the start” if the West continued to target China’s high-technology sector.

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‘What’s the point of a boat if there are no fish?’ – by Hellena Souisa (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – October 21, 2023)

https://www.abc.net.au/

“The company” — a sprawling nickel industrial area better known as the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) — is a site of national strategic importance to Indonesia and one of the first minerals processing mega-developments that has enabled the country to emerge as the biggest refiner of nickel in the world.

Built with billions of dollars of mostly Chinese money over the last decade, IMIP in Central Sulawesi now spans more than 20 square kilometres with infrastructure including an airport, seaport, and worker accommodation that supports 52 enterprises. IMIP primarily processes nickel ore for stainless steel but now is increasingly producing higher-grade nickel for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

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Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Nipissing area shortlisted for lithium processing site by German mining company – by Ian Ross (Sudbury.com – October 18, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Rock Tech Lithium looks to place its second lithium refinery in Northern, Eastern Ontario

Rock Tech Lithium, a German-Canadian company with a Lake Nipigon-area lithium deposit, is scoping out processing sites in Northern and Eastern Ontario. Sudbury, Thunder Bay, the Nipissing District covering the North Bay-Temiskaming area, and Leeds Grenville in the Brockville area are on Rock Tech’s shortlist, according to a company news release issued today.

The company, which recently opened an office in Toronto to oversee its Canadian operations, has ambitious goals to build “several lithium converters.” Its first lithium hydroxide processing site will be in Guben, Germany, and is targeted for production in 2026.

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Codelco to buy Lithium Power for $244 million – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 18, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Chilean state-owned copper miner Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, has reached a deal with Lithium Power International (ASX: LPI) to buy the Australian producer of the battery metal for A$385 million ($244 million).

The deal reached by the parties, which have been involved in negotiations for weeks, involves a cash offer of 0.57 Australian dollars per LPI share.

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EVs Are on a Lithium Roller Coaster – by Stephen Wilmot (Wall Street Journal – October 17, 2023)

https://www.wsj.com/

Prices of the key battery metal have fallen by roughly 70% this year, easing battery-cost worries but casting doubt on longer-term supply

High oil prices deter people from buying gas guzzlers: What is good for Exxon Mobil XOM 1.18%increase; green up pointing triangle is bad for Ford. But 100 years ago, both companies were growing rapidly: More cars meant more fuel.

Both dynamics are at play in the relationship between electric vehicles and lithium, the key ingredient of electric-vehicle batteries. More EVs will require more lithium, but only at the right price. This makes it a tough market to time for investors—and indeed for lithium producers such as Albemarle.

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Glencore to shut Australia’s Mount Isa copper mines in second half of 2025 – by Nausheen Thusoo (Reuters – October 17, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

Oct 18 (Reuters) – Mining giant Glencore (GLEN.L) said on Wednesday it was set to close its copper operations at Mount Isa mines in Queensland, Australia by the second half of 2025.

The decision followed studies and reviews that it is not possible to further extend the life of the underground mines, the Swiss miner and trader said.

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OPINION: Reasonable Republicans understand the value of trade relationships – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – October 17, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo finished off a recent trade mission to Ontario and Quebec by hosting a reception in downtown Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame. The evening was marked by two striking moments. The first was the sight of the Nevada delegation, decked out in their Vegas Golden Knights jerseys, posed around the Stanley Cup, while Mr. Lombardo said, with a smile: “We waited a long time for this.”

He said this to a room full of Toronto Maple Leaf fans, who’ve been waiting a little longer than the Knights’ six years for a championship.

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Ontario and Ottawa put up nearly $1 billion for EV battery parts plant – by Rob Ferguson (Toronto Star – October 16, 2023)

https://www.thestar.com/

Ontario is going bigger on the electric vehicle battery business, joining the federal government in providing almost $1 billion in subsidies toward a $2.7-billion parts plant near Kingston employing 600 workers to start.

Ontario is going bigger on the electric vehicle battery business, joining the federal government in providing almost $1 billion in subsidies toward a $2.7-billion parts plant near Kingston employing 600 workers to start.

The factory, to be operated by Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials Canada Inc., will make cathode materials crucial for producing EV batteries, which a Volkswagen subsidiary near St. Thomas and a Stellantis joint venture in Windsor will soon be assembling at plants now under construction.

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CMS: Friedland mocks lithium but touts battery tech – by Colin McCelland (Northern Miner – October 13, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Robert Friedland, billionaire founder and executive co-chair of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN), criticized lithium mining at a London conference, ridiculed the West’s green energy transition and urged prayer to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Researchers at Ivanhoe start-up Pure Lithium in Boston are going from lithium brine to lithium metal in a step that could radically transform the electric vehicle battery market valued at around US$50 billion a year, Friedland told The Northern Miner’s Canadian Mining Symposium on Friday.

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How China Left the World Far Behind in the Battery Race – by Akshat Rathi (Bloomberg News – October 12, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — This is one of the stories in Akshat Rathi’s new book Climate Capitalism, which is out today. Akshat explains the origin of China’s dominance in the battery market through the lens of CATL, now the world’s largest battery company. This is an adapted excerpt from the book.

It was an admission of defeat. But you would never know it looking at the mild-mannered smiles that morning. Angela Merkel, then German chancellor, was standing next to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. On a partially cloudy summer morning in Berlin in July 2018, both leaders made small talk in between posing for the cameras.

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‘We were not consulted’: Native Americans fight lithium mine on site of 1865 massacre – by Michael Sainato (The Guardian – October 13, 2023)

https://www.theguardian.com/

Indigenous groups say huge project in northern Nevada threatens environmental, cultural and historical destruction

The rugged and beautiful Thacker Pass in the desert mountains of northern Nevada has long been a sacred site for Native American tribes in the region.

It has witnessed bloody and terrible history. On 12 September 1865, US federal soldiers in the 1st Nevada cavalry committed a massacre of Native Americans, the Numu, across Thacker Pass, named Peehee Mu’huh – Rotten Moon, in the Numu language. Thirty to 50 Native Americans are believed to have been killed, including women and children.

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The Age of Big Shovels – by Daniel Yergin (Project Syndicate.org – September 11, 2023)

https://www.project-syndicate.org/

The IMF recently warned that the pursuit of net-zero emissions by 2050 will “spur unprecedented demand for some of the most crucial minerals,” leading to “soaring costs” that could “derail or delay the energy transition.” The rising crescendo of alarm is justified: “crucial minerals” loom as the main bottleneck to decarbonization.

WASHINGTON, DC – Will a shortage of minerals short-circuit the clean-energy transition? National governments – including the United States, Japan, Britain, and Canada – the European Union, and international organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Energy Agency are raising the alarm.

As the IMF puts it, the pursuit of net-zero emissions by 2050 will “spur unprecedented demand for some of the most crucial metals,” leading to “soaring costs” that could “derail or delay the energy transition itself.”

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China’s Tsingshan Gets Access to Chilean Lithium in Battery Metal Race – by James Attwood (Bloomberg News – October 16, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — China’s latest investments in South America’s lithium triangle show the challenges for US efforts to counter the dominance of the world’s second-largest economy in key parts of battery metal supply chains.

On Monday, Chile unveiled a deal that gives Tsingshan Holding Group preferential lithium prices for a project to make value-added products in the South American nation. It was announced as part of President Gabriel Boric’s trip to China, where he met with Xiang Guangda, the metal group’s billionaire owner.

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EV battery plant investments needed to stem auto industry’s decline, says Champagne – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – October 12, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Canada had to jump on ‘generational opportunity’

Canada’s decision to invest in battery plants and tilt its focus towards the electric-vehicle industry during the past few years was required to prevent a “decline” in the country’s lucrative auto sector, says Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.

“I don’t know if it was by choice or by design, but when I entered the role of industry minister, some were even looking at the demise of the auto sector in Canada,” he said while speaking at the Toronto Global Forum on Oct. 11. Champagne said Canada would have seen a “decline” in the auto sector, which supports about 500,000 people, if it hadn’t taken advantage of this “generational opportunity.”

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