Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 43

Ford Motor Co. unveils details of plan to spend $1.8B in Oakville to produce electric vehicles (Canadian Press/CBC News Canada – April 11, 2023)

April 12, 2023

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

Oakville Assembly Complex set to begin producing electric vehicles in 2025

Ford Motor Co. has revealed some details of its plan to spend $1.8 billion on its Oakville Assembly Complex to turn it into an electric vehicle production hub in the latest commitment by an automaker transitioning towards an electric future.

The automaker said Tuesday that it will start retooling the Ontario complex in the second quarter of 2024 and begin producing electric vehicles in 2025.The transformation of the Oakville site, to be renamed the Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex, will include a new 407,000 square-foot battery plant where parts produced at Ford’s U.S. operations will be assembled into battery packs.

The Drift: Nickel remains a key exploration driver in the Sudbury basin – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 11, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Two junior miners look to breathe new life into dormant metal properties

Nickel remains the driving force in Sudbury’s mineral exploration scene. A pair of local junior miners with big ambitions to put two former mine properties into production are posting some encouraging exploration results.

Magna Mining reported high-grade nickel and copper drill hits from a diamond drilling program carried out last fall at its Crean Hill property on the west end of the Sudbury basin. The last of the assay results were released last month.

Battery Metals Snapshot: Eight juniors on the hunt – by Marilyn Scales (Northern Miner – April 7, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

Without adequate supplies of battery metals, the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 cannot be reached. Here are eight companies who are on the hunt for the metals in North and South America.

Brunswick Exploration

Brunswick Exploration (TSXV: BRW) is a junior on a mission to find and develop a hard rock lithium source. This company concentrates its efforts on greenfield exploration, looking for new and undiscovered deposits. It has land packages in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces that host at least 125 pegmatite dykes.

Lithium: A white gold rush excites Cornwall – but who gains? – by Joshua Nevett (BBC.com – April 10, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.bbc.com/

Towering over a high street in a former mining heartland, a statue of a pitman reminds Cornwall of its industrial past. In this part of south-west England, the mining industry used to be an economic powerhouse and in recent years, it’s been making a tentative comeback.

A new generation of miners is hoping the natural resources that put Cornwall on the map will once again bring wealth to the county. This time, the miners are using cutting-edge technology to get their hands on lithium – a metal used to make batteries for everyday electronic devices we all rely on, from laptops to smartphones.

Exclusive: U.S. Role in Notorious Nickel Mine Deal Revealed – by David Brennan (Newsweek Magazine – April 6, 2023)

April 6, 2023

https://www.newsweek.com/

Guatemala may have become the latest battleground in America’s bid to gain a foothold in the race for strategic metals dominated by China amid a remarkable proposed acquisition of a notorious nickel mine worth $1 billion, Newsweek can reveal.

A memo obtained by Newsweek indicates that, with the support of the U.S. government, the Guatemalan assets of the Switzerland-based Solway Investment Group—which were put under U.S. sanctions amid allegations of Russian influence peddling and ecological devastation—are in line for acquisition by a Canadian company for a “substantial discount.”

Green energy tax credits a ‘game changer’ for N.L. operation, Vale CEO says – by Alex Kennedy (CBC News Newfoundland-Labrador – April 5, 2023)

April 6, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

Chrystia Freeland touts new budget’s incentives at nickel processing plant

The head of mining giant Vale Canada says the most recent federal budget will be a “game changer” for her company’s operations — including its nickel processing plant in Long Harbour, N.L., which Chrystia Freeland, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, toured on Wednesday.

Vale Canada president and CEO Deshnee Naidoo said the credits and announcements in the budget will be key for the mining industry’s race to lower carbon emissions even further. “It’s an absolute game changer for us,” Naidoo said.

Brazil’s Minas Gerais lures lithium investments with fast permitting – by Anthony Barich and Kip Keen (SP Global – April 2023)

April 6, 2023

https://www.spglobal.com/

Brazil’s Minas Gerais state is fast-tracking the development of a “lithium valley” that it hopes will rival Latin American “lithium triangle” jurisdictions Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

The state government’s lithium valley initiative aims to “make the connection between the potential production of lithium” and pro-mining policies, said Fernando Passalio de Avelar, economic development secretary of Minas Gerais.

Tesla lines up for lithium as North America’s sole large-scale mine opens in Quebec – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 4, 2023)

April 4, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Companies behind Sayona Quebec see a bright future for lithium, four years after original owner shuttered mine

Anyone looking for evidence of the green economy in Canada would do well to drive about six hours north of Montreal to the town of La Corne in the Abitibi region of Quebec, where the first — and for now the only — large-scale lithium mine in North America has begun operating.

Last week, Sayona Quebec, a joint venture between Australia’s Sayona Mining Ltd. and North Carolina’s Piedmont Lithium Inc., restarted North American Lithium’s mine, which shuttered four years ago when lithium prices crashed.

Lithium is becoming more crucial in a warming world, but Maine’s huge deposits may never be mined because of environmental concerns – by David Abel (Boston Globe – April 1, 2023)

April 4, 2023

https://www.bostonglobe.com/

NEWRY, Maine — Five years ago, after much of their land had been logged in Western Maine, Gary Freeman and a colleague were bushwhacking through a thicket of raspberry shrubs and maple saplings, searching for a treasure they suspected could be buried beneath the mud and moss carpeting the sloped ground.

Following coordinates cited in a decades-old geological survey of the area, the veteran gem hunters began clearing the bramble and digging. Soon after, they hit something solid. They used hoes to scrape away the dirt and were astonished by their discovery: enormous, flaky white crystals the size of telephone poles.

Exclusive: Chinese lithium producers set price floor as demand evaporates, sources say – by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton (Reuters – March 31, 2023)

April 4, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING, March 31 (Reuters) – China’s top lithium producers agreed this week to set a floor price of 250,000 yuan ($36,380) per tonne of lithium carbonate, six people familiar with the matter said, in an effort to slow a plunge in the price of the battery raw material.

The price was agreed on Tuesday by around 10 companies including Tianqi Lithium (002466.SZ) and Ganfeng Lithium (002460.SZ) that met on the sidelines of a conference in Nanchang in southern China, said one person who attended the meeting and five others briefed on the discussions.

Australia sees lithium exports matching thermal coal by 2028 – by James Fernyhough (Bloomberg News – April 2, 2023)

April 3, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Australia sees its booming lithium sector matching thermal coal’s importance within five years as the world increasingly shifts from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Exports of the battery metal are seen at A$19 billion ($13 billion) in the year to June 2028, matching the record seen for the current financial year, according to government projections released Monday. Meanwhile, the value of power station coal shipments will drop 71% in the period.

Ford signs nickel smelter deal with Vale Indonesia, Huayou (Nikkei Asia – March 31, 2023)

April 3, 2023

https://asia.nikkei.com/

Equity investments are part of $4.5bn development of Sulawesi block

JAKARTA — Ford Motor has signed a definitive agreement with the Indonesian unit of Brazilian mining giant Vale and Chinese battery materials producer Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt for joint investments in a nickel smelter project in Indonesia.

The three companies are making equity investments in the development of a high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) plant in Pomalaa Block, Vale’s nickel mining and processing complex on the southeastern part of Sulawesi island that broke ground in November. Vale earlier said that investments are estimated to reach up to 67.5 trillion rupiah ($4.5 billion) to develop the block’s mining operations and refinery.

Copper is the missing ingredient of the energy transition (The Economist – March 30, 2023)

April 3, 2023

https://www.economist.com/

Where on Earth will it be found?

At 76, richard adkerson is an elder statesman of the copper industry. For two decades he has been ceo of Freeport-McMoRan, one of the world’s biggest copper producers, valued at $55bn. He has seen it all, from short-term booms and busts to the China-led supercycle, and from industry fragmentation to consolidation. Freeport itself has pioneered some of the trends.

In 2007, when it paid $26bn for Phelps Dodge, an Arizona-based company dating back to the Wild West days of the 19th century, it was the biggest mining transaction ever. It was also a masterstroke. Not so the company’s ill-fated diversification into oil and gas less than half a decade later, which he says was not his idea. That caused a near-death experience and had to be swiftly unwound after both energy and metal prices crashed in 2016.

Exclusive: Indonesian president pledges nickel mining clean up amid EV-led boom – by Gayatri Suroyo (Reuters – March 30, 2023)

April 3, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

SOROWAKO, Indonesia, March 30 (Reuters) – Indonesia will improve monitoring of environmental standards for nickel mining, amid concerns over production of the metal which is increasingly used in electric vehicle batteries, the country’s President Joko Widodo told Reuters on Thursday.

The Southeast Asian country, which has the largest nickel reserves in the world, will step up scrutiny of mining and order companies to manage nurseries to reforest depleted mines, said the president, who is widely known as Jokowi.

Canadian budget contains over $15 billion for clean technologies and critical minerals – by Colin McClelland (Mining.com – March 28, 2023)

March 29, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

Ottawa plans to spend C$21 billion ($15.4bn) over five years on clean technology in one of the main platforms affecting the mining industry contained in Tuesday’s annual federal budget.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the amount, including a 30% investment tax credit to boost clean-tech manufacturing, especially in the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain, could expand to C$80 billion ($59bn) by 2034.