Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 2

U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber reintroduces bill that would open copper nickel mining near Boundary Waters – by Sydney Kashiwagi and Chloe Johnson (Minnesota Star Tribune – February 6, 2025)

February 7, 2025

https://www.startribune.com/

Sen. Tina Smith plans to oppose the legislation if it reaches the Senate.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican control in Washington could open the way for copper nickel mining efforts near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. GOP Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents northeastern Minnesota, has again introduced a bill that would reinstate mineral leases in the Superior National Forest.

With Republicans controlling the House and Senate, and President Donald Trump’s push to prioritize domestic mining, he likes his chances. Stauber said that “without question,” the president will sign it into law if it reaches his desk.

Uncertainty and hope in Thompson as mine owner considers sale – by Sanuda Ranawake (CBC News Manitoba – February 01, 2025)

February 3, 2025

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/

Vale says it has launched ‘strategic review’ of northern Manitoba operation, including potential sale

Ken Michaluk has lived in Thompson for decades. He worked at the mining operation in the northern Manitoba city, seeing it exchange hands several times, and undergo expansions and cuts. Now retired, he said things can’t get much worse for the operation, as Vale SA, a Brazilian company and the nickel operation’s owner, is considering a potential sale.

“Business is business,” said Michaluk. “They’ve laid off … pretty much all they can lay off. I don’t think that’s an issue. I don’t think they’re going to just shut it down. And it wouldn’t make much sense in that, that’s for sure.”

Bolivia’s Lithium Window Is Closing Rapidly – by Joseph Bouchard (Real Clear World – February 2025)

February 3, 2025

https://www.realclearworld.com/

In 2023, Bolivia signed multi-billion dollar deals for lithium extraction with Chinese and Russian state-owned companies, including the CBC consortium and Rosatom/Uranium One. Since then, despite these deals expanding further, very little progress has been made, with extraction and production stalling despite promises from all stakeholders about “rapid industrialization.”

Given Bolivia’s increasingly friendly relationship with American adversaries, the continuous problems plaguing Bolivia’s mining sector, and the growing alternatives for lithium development, it may be time for the U.S. and other democratic states to look elsewhere.

Indonesia, home to the world’s largest nickel reserves, struggles to achieve its EV dreams – by Michelle Anindya (Rest of World.org – February 3, 2025)

February 3, 2025

https://restofworld.org/

China’s growing involvement and the rapid shift to lithium batteries dissuade investors.

Karawang county, located about 90 minutes by road from Jakarta, has been a major automotive hub in Indonesia for decades, housing factories of companies like Yamaha and Toyota. Last July, the industrial area added another feather to its cap when Southeast Asia’s first electric vehicle battery factory was unveiled there.

Established as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor, LG Energy, and the state-owned Indonesia Battery Corporation, the factory has the annual capacity to make battery cells sufficient to power 150,000 EVs. The factory marked a key step in Indonesia’s ambition to become a hub of EV manufacturing in the region, and one of the world leaders in EV battery production by 2027.

Milestone agreement to strengthen Ring of Fire infrastructure – by Ashley Fish-Robertson (CIM Magazine – January 31, 2025)

January 31, 2025

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

The partnership between Ontario and Aroland First Nation marks the first time agreements are in place to build roads along the whole route to the Ring of Fire region

A historic agreement was signed on Jan. 28 in Toronto by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Aroland First Nation Chief Sonny Gagnon and Greg Rickford, Ontario’s minister of northern development and minister of Indigenous affairs and First Nations economic reconciliation.

The agreement will see the provincial government commit over $90 million to upgrading vital infrastructure in northern Ontario, which will both enable the mining of critical minerals in the Ring of Fire region—with improved roads facilitating the transport of materials to processing plants—and connect multiple First Nations communities to major highways.

Canadian Tariffs Will Undermine U.S. Minerals Security – by Gracelin Baskaran (Centre for Strategic and International Studies – Janaury 29, 2025)

January 31, 2025

https://www.csis.org/

Gracelin Baskaran is the Director, Critical Minerals Security Program.

As the United States races to reduce its reliance on China for minerals vital for national, economic, and energy security, tariffs with Canada may drastically undermine these efforts. Canada is the biggest source of the United States mineral imports, providing key sources of uranium, aluminum, nickel, steel copper, and niobium. To put it into perspective, in 2023, Canada accounted for $47 billion of United States mineral imports.

China followed with $28.3 billion. The consequences of tariffs would be particularly profound for the defense industry, nuclear energy, and heavy manufacturing. A 25 percent tariff on Canadian mineral imports could cost U.S. off-takers an additional $11.75 billion—a figure that would increase as base metal and uranium prices recover.

Automotive News: Critical minerals for EVs could provide Canada leverage amid Trump tariff threats – by David Kennedy (Automotive News – January 30, 2025)

January 31, 2025

https://finance.yahoo.com/

U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that the United States does not need Canadian imports would struggle to hold up in a trade war, with Canadian critical minerals for electric vehicles and other industrial uses among the products that would be tough to replace, according to recent analyses.

About $40 billion (CND) in critical minerals cross the Canada-U.S. border each year, according to Accelerate, an industry alliance advocating for Canada’s EV supply chain. That includes billions in copper, nickel and aluminum, and growing volumes of other metals vital to the automotive, defence and energy sectors.

China funnelled $57 billion to control critical mineral supply chain – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – January 29, 2025)

January 30, 2025

https://www.mining.com/

China has systematically extended its control over critical minerals essential for the global energy transition and net-zero emissions, using a network of at least 26 state-backed financial institutions over the past two decades, a new report shows.

The database, compiled by AidData at the College of William & Mary in the United States, reveals how Beijing has leveraged an intricate web of financial mechanisms to dominate the global supply chain for critical minerals. These minerals — including copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium and rare earth elements — are vital for emerging technologies such as electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.

Winsome Resources begins permitting for Adina lithium project in northern Quebec – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – January 27, 2025)

January 28, 2025

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Australia-based Winsome Resources (ASX: WR1) – a lithium exploration and development company – has submitted the preliminary information statement for its Adina Lithium Mining project with the proper provincial authorities that oversee mining project developments located in self-governing Indigenous communities in Northern Quebec that are signatories to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA).

Winsome’s filing represents a milestone as it formally commences the provincial regulatory process in the James Bay region associated with permitting the proposed mine at Adina, as well as the proposed modifications to the Renard operation. Indigenous communities in the region refer to the James Bay region as Eeyou Istchee.

Trump’s EV Policy Reversal Threatens Indonesia’s Nickel Industry and Green Energy Transition (Jakarta Globe – January 28, 2025)

January 28, 2025

https://jakartaglobe.id/

Jakarta. A recent executive order by US President Donald Trump rolling back electric vehicle (EV) mandates is likely to disrupt Indonesia’s burgeoning EV ecosystem, according to the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios). The policy could significantly impact demand for critical minerals, foreign investment, and global financing for green energy projects, while strengthening China’s grip on Indonesia’s nickel downstream industry.

Bhima Yudhistira, Executive Director of Celios, said reduced global demand for EV batteries could pressure prices for commodities such as nickel, copper, and bauxite—key components in EV manufacturing.

Nevada’s Lithium Could Help Save the Earth. But What Happens to Nevada? – by Meg Bernhard (New York Times – January 24, 2025)

January 28, 2025

https://www.nytimes.com/

Many climate experts see its deserts as a place to build the green-energy future. For two local activists, the price is too great.

Few Americans follow the nation’s lithium-mining industry as closely as Patrick Donnelly. Since 2021, he has set up 30 or so Google Alerts for variations on the word “lithium,” and he uses the findings to populate an online map of projects across the West. It is so useful that one industry insider has referred to it as “an investor’s handbook.”

This is paradoxical: Donnelly, who works at an environmental nonprofit called the Center for Biological Diversity, is one of the industry’s most vigilant watchdogs. The true spirit of his monitoring and mapping efforts comes through in a Twitter exchange he had with one mining firm, Rover Critical Minerals, a few years ago.

Chile Keeps Faith in Lithium Expansion Even as Glut Worsens – by James Attwood (Bloomberg News – January 23, 2025)

January 24, 2025

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chile, home to the world’s biggest lithium reserves, is confident that investors will compete for licenses to drill new deposits even amid a worsening global glut that’s squeezing the battery-metal industry.

“We’re convinced that there’s interest,” Mining Minister Aurora Williams said in an interview late Wednesday — a day before Chile warned that global oversupply is set to increase this year, despite some industry cutbacks.

Column: Only Indonesia can help nickel recover from price bust – by Andy Home (Reuters – January 22, 2025)

January 24, 2025

https://www.reuters.com/

Nickel ended 2024 trading at four-year lows, a spectacular reversal of fortune for a metal that soared so high in 2022 it almost broke the London Metal Exchange (LME). There is no mystery to this dramatic tale of boom and bust.

Indonesia has flooded the world with more metal than it can absorb, crushing the price and leaving a trail of casualties among the rest of the world’s producers. The market’s fortunes this year depend on whether Jakarta can tame the excesses of its nickel sector and align supply more closely with demand.

NEWS RELEASE: Vale Base Metals launches strategic review for Thompson mine as part of global optimization (January 23, 2025)

January 24, 2025

TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ – Vale Base Metals has launched a strategic review to explore and evaluate a range of alternatives, including the potential sale, for its mining and exploration assets in Thompson, Manitoba, the Canadian-based subsidiary of Vale SA (NYSE: Vale) announced today.

The Thompson review is part of a process to optimize Vale Base Metals’ global mining portfolio to enable copper growth in the Carajas region and ensure the competitiveness of its vertically integrated nickel portfolio to create long-term value for its shareholders and stakeholders. Vale Base Metals has engaged an external advisor to lead the Thompson review, which is expected to conclude in 2H 2025.

Ontario’s big EV gamble just lost everything to Trump – by Randall Denley (National Post – January 24, 2025)

January 24, 2025

https://nationalpost.com/

Ford placed a big bet on increasing American demand for EVs, but the new president’s moves almost certainly ended that possibility

U.S. President Donald Trump hasn’t imposed any tariffs on Canada yet, but he’s already dealt a potentially devastating blow to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s signature industrial policy.

Ford has heavily touted his plan to make the province a major player in the electric-vehicle industry, especially in the production of batteries. Ontario has promised billions of dollars in government support to make it happen. With the stroke of a pen this week, Trump undermined that plan, perhaps fatally.