Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 49

Another ASX-listed lithium explorer is poised to roll the dice in Canada’s battery ecosystem – by Josh Chiat (Stockhead.com – January 27, 2023)

February 16, 2023

https://stockhead.com.au/

The new CEO of ASX lithium hopeful Battery Age Minerals (ASX:BM8) Gerard O’Donovan has seen it all since he first stepped into lithium in 2015, eventually becoming the project manager on the concentrator at Pilbara Minerals’ (ASX:PLS) Pilgangoora mine.

From there he saw the downturn as the new supply brought on by WA miners like Pilbara flooded the market, before leaving to work on Rio’s Winu’s copper-gold discovery, and returned to oversee the rebuild of the Ngangaju plant at Pilgangoora, acquired from PLS’ collapsed neighbour Altura, as the lithium market rose like a phoenix to new heights.

Once-Hot Battery Metals Set to Slide, Leading China Group Warns (Bloomberg News – February 13, 2023)

February 16, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Battery-metals prices are set to retreat from highs this year as surging supplies trigger gluts, a leading Chinese industry group warned following a similar note of caution from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Nickel prices are likely to drop in the second half as the global market may see a surplus on rising supply led by mines in Indonesia, according to Chen Xuesen, a spokesman for the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.

Northwestern Ontario sees the green lithium rush – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 14, 2023)

February 14, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Lithium exploration activity starts to surge in Nipigon, Red Lake

Northwestern Ontario is becoming a popular place find new sources of lithium as the electric vehicle revolution starts to accelerate. This region hosts a handful of established junior mining players ready to take the next step into mine production with some new players on the scene with more grassroots projects.

Hard-charging Green Technology Metals is running two simultaneous drilling programs at two properties . Since last fall, the Western Australian company has been releasing a steady flow of high-grade lithium results at its Seymour and Root Projects.

BOOKS: The horrors behind the mining industry that powers your life – by Russ Mitchell (Los Angeles Times – February 13, 2023)

February 14, 2023

https://www.latimes.com/

You, the smartphone addict. The modern nomad, lugging your fancy laptop. The electric car driver, smug in your certainty that you’re making the world a better place. Look over here, under this rock; look at what you’d rather not see.

That’s what Siddharth Kara invites you to do in his damning new book, “Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives.” Maybe you already know our booming battery-based economy depends on cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. You’ve heard things are bad there. But I’d guess that, like me — smartphone addict, laptop lugger, owner of an electric car — you had no idea just how bad.

War and subsidies have turbocharged the green transition (The Economist – February 13, 2023)

February 14, 2023

https://www.economist.com/

They may have knocked as much as ten years off its timeline

To many activists, Lutzerath, an abandoned hamlet in Germany, encapsulates the nightmare of the global energy crisis. For months campaigners blocked the site’s demolition, after Robert Habeck, the country’s energy minister, allowed a utility firm to mine for lignite—the dirtiest form of coal—under its graffitied houses.

As a giant excavator swallowed its way closer, hundreds of police, unfazed by the pyrotechnics propelled at them, dragged protesters from their stations. Now the village is empty; its last buildings gone.

Metals are the new oil — with all the geopolitical and environmental complications – by Daniel F. Runde (The Hill – February 11, 2023)

February 14, 2023

https://thehill.com/

For good or for ill, metals are the new oil. We need more “rare earths” and “everyday earths” to build the technologies of the future and make real a carbon transition. The geopolitics around mines, minerals, and the processing of metals are heating up. For that reason, the U.S. needs a more sophisticated strategy to ensure that the U.S. and our allies have access to mines and minerals.

The amount of minerals needed for a carbon transition will require a vast expansion of mining and the processing of minerals. For example, given current technologies and techniques, we will need to increase the production of cobalt and lithium by 40 times for the electric batteries needed to move from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.

Lithium stock bubble pops for retail investors – by Tom Richardson (Australian Financial Review – February 14, 2023)

February 14, 2023

https://www.afr.com/

Benchmark lithium carbonate prices fell for an eleventh straight day in China on Monday to an 11-month low, as short sellers raised their bets on Australian lithium stocks falling in 2023.

The latest ASIC data shows that five of the 16 most shorted stocks on the ASX are lithium hopefuls, after a younger demographic of retail investors hooked on mobile share trading apps made the same businesses the most popular stocks to own in 2022.

In Bolivia, China Signs Deal For World’s Largest Lithium Reserves – by Joseph Bouchard (The Diplomat – February 10, 2023)

February 14, 2023

https://thediplomat.com/

Members of the Bolivian opposition have questioned whether the deal, which was signed last month between the state firm YLB and three Chinese companies, will benefit the country.

In late January, Bolivia’s Luis Arce government signed a $1 billion agreement with the Chinese firms CATL, BRUNP, and CMOC (CBC) and the Bolivian state company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) to explore lithium deposits in the South American nation.

The CBC are Chinese firms with past involvement in lithium extraction, battery recycling, and metal mining, respectively.

Caution urged as mining companies eye critical minerals below Quebec boreal forest – by Stéphane Blais (Toronto Star/Canadian Press – February 8, 2023)

February 10, 2023

https://www.thestar.com/

MONTREAL – About one million square kilometres of Quebec is covered by boreal forest, roughly 70 per cent of the entire province. In the north, where ecosystems are less likely to have been altered by human activity, those forests have been accumulating and sequestering immense quantities of carbon for centuries.

“In the boreal environment, the forest decomposes very slowly, even more slowly than in the tropics,“ said Xavier Cavard, who holds a research chair in forest carbon management at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

Canadian manufacturers urge Freeland to align EV incentives with those in the U.S. – by Bill Curry (Globe and Mail – February 10, 2023)

February 10, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s automakers are urging Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to use her upcoming federal budget to better align electric vehicle incentives with recently announced policies in the United States.

In a letter to Ms. Freeland obtained by The Globe and Mail, the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association says the 2023 budget “is a watershed moment for Canada’s automotive industry and the hundreds of thousands of Canadians it employs.”

Volvo in Advanced Talks on Possible Lithium Mining – by William Boston (Wall Street Journal – February 9, 2023)

February 10, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/

BERLIN—Volvo Car AB is in advanced talks with some of the biggest mining companies, including over potential stakes in lithium mining or processing operations, Chief Executive Jim Rowan said, joining the auto-industry-wide race to secure the minerals and metals needed to power electric vehicles.

“Right now, we already have advanced conversations with some of the big miners, as well as the processing factories that process lithium,” Mr. Rowan said, adding that Volvo would decide in the coming months whether to engage in “long-term deals and long-term price negotiations for supply, or whether you want to make an equity investment.”

Ottawa to invest $50 million to build Canada’s largest battery storage facility – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – February 10, 2023)

February 10, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

250-megawatt project will provide enough power to meet the peak demand of a small city like Oshawa

The federal government says it will provide $50 million to fund the construction of Canada’s “largest battery storage” facility as it looks to boost the country’s sources of clean electricity.

The 250-megawatt Oneida Energy Storage in southern Ontario will draw and store electricity from the provincial grid — more than 80 per cent of which is emissions-free — when power demand is low and return the power to the system when the demand is high.

Tesla Deal for Lithium From Quebec Could Intensify Housing Shortage in Northern Mining Towns – by Kristian Gravenor (CoStar News – February 6, 2023)

February 10, 2023

https://www.costar.com/

Though surrounded by endless expanses of land, northern mining towns in Quebec are running out of permissible space to build much-needed housing and other property types required for growing cities.

It’s a problem expected to intensify as the region faces an influx of anticipated workers from a major new contract with U.S. manufacturer Tesla and an increase in mining for materials used to make batteries for electric vehicles. Tesla announced a deal last month to buy spodumene concentrate, a source of lithium and important raw material needed for electric vehicle batteries, from the Sayona Mine 560 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

General Motors Competes for Stake in Vale’s Base Metals Unit – by Dinesh Nair and Cristiane Lucchesi (Bloomberg News – February 8, 2023)

February 9, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — General Motors Co. is competing for a stake in Brazilian mining giant Vale SA’s base metals unit, people familiar with the matter said, underscoring automakers’ desire for easy access to the materials needed for electric vehicle batteries.

Detroit-based General Motors has advanced to the next round of bidding for a minority stake in the business, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Vale could raise more than $2 billion from a deal, according to the people.

Thacker Pass lithium mine clears most legal challenges, minus a judge ordered waste rock review – by Jeniffer Solis (Nevada Current – February 7, 2023)

February 9, 2023

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A federal judge on Monday ordered regulators to reexamine a state permit allowing Lithium Americas Corp.’s Thacker Pass mine to produce and store mining waste on more than a thousand acres of public land.

Chief Judge Miranda M. Du, however, rejected opponents’ claims that the project would cause “unnecessary and undue degradation” to the environment or wildlife, meaning construction of the mine can continue.