Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 60

Princeton sells most holdings in Lithium Americas, Protect Thacker Pass argues not enough – by Lia Opperman and Miriam Waldvogel (Daily Princetonian – October 6, 2022)

October 7, 2022

https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/

The University sold the majority of its stake in the Lithium Americas Corporation during the second quarter of 2022, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings released over the summer. As of last filing, the University’s holdings in the company are around $4.5 million, down from $92 million earlier this year.

Still, Protect Thacker Pass, a Nevada-based coalition of activists, has argued that the University’s holdings in the company remain unacceptable. Max Wilbert, the co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass, said, “We need far deeper and more significant change, including an end to car manufacturing, to stop the [ecological] crisis we’re in.” According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lithium is used in most of today’s electric vehicles.

Sulawesi islanders grieve land lost to nickel mine – by Eko Rusdianto Mongabay.com – October 6, 2022)

October 7, 2022

https://news.mongabay.com/

WAWONII ISLAND, Indonesia — The coconut palm has been a source of food and identity for centuries among the people of Wawonii Island. In the local language wawo means above and ni’i is the word for coconut — Wawonii is an island crowned by coconuts. “Now it has become a mine,” said Abdul Latif, a farmer born here in Roko-Roko village. “Wawonii should just be renamed.”

Like many areas of Indonesia’s nickel-rich Sulawesi region, Wawonii is caught in the tension between international demand for green energy and the need to preserve landscapes. Indonesia accounts for both some of the world’s largest reserves of nickel and its third-largest tropical forests.

Australia could grab 20% of the world’s lithium refining by 2027 – by James Fernyhough (Bloomberg News – October 3, 2022)

October 7, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Australia is poised to grab a fifth of the world’s lithium hydroxide refining capacity within five years as demand grows for battery metals that bypass China, Canberra said in a report.

China produces more than 80% of the world’s lithium hydroxide, a processed form of the in-demand metal, according to the International Energy Agency. However, several companies are building refineries in Australia that would turn locally-mined lithium ore into battery-grade chemicals.

When it comes to Canada’s EV dominance, less may be more – by David Olive (Toronto Star – October 1, 2022)

October 7, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

The existing Canadian EV supply-chain infrastructure might have sufficient momentum to provide enormous economic benefit without immediate additional public funds, David Olive writes.

“Batteries are fast becoming the engines of the global economy,” say the authors of a report this month that urges Canada to accelerate its progress in a new industry that will define the 21st-century clean-energy economy more than most.

The energy and economic analysts who prepared the report, called Canada’s New Economic Engine, believe Canada can become a global leader in developing, manufacturing and exporting advanced electric vehicle (EV) technology, with an emphasis on the ever-more-sophisticated batteries that power EVs.

Surging coal, lithium prices can’t stem sell-off in top 50 mining stocks – by Frik Els (Mining.com – October 5, 2022)

October 7, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Volatility on metal and mining markets continued in the third quarter with copper losing sight of record prices hit in March, gold’s bounce back sputtering, lithium doubling in price year to date, coal surging to unprecedented levels, potash advancing to a 14-year peak and uranium experiencing the best market since Fukushima.

The MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners lost $134 billion – based on primary exchange share price movements converted into US dollar – over the course of the third quarter and are now worth $1.22 trillion.

Nickel primed for another price bounce amid fears of Russian nickel ban – by Tim Treadgold (Small Caps – October 6, 2022)

October 7, 2022

https://smallcaps.com.au/

Nickel is unlikely to soon test its all-time high of US$50,000 a tonne reached earlier this year when a Chinese billionaire was caught in a spectacular short squeeze, but there are early signs of conditions developing which point to a price bounce.

The major issues with nickel are reliability and quality of supply, with both stoking a slow-burning fire under a metal once used mainly in the production of stainless steel but increasingly as an ingredient in batteries.

U.S. steps away from flagship lithium project with Buffett’s Berkshire – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – October 5, 2022)

October 7, 2022October 7, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

Oct 5 (Reuters) – In a February meeting with mining executives, President Joe Biden laid out an aggressive goal for the United States to produce more of its own minerals for the electric vehicle revolution in ways that respected the environment.

A “big part” of those efforts, the president said, was a plan by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc to filter lithium from superhot geothermal brines swirling beneath California’s Salton Sea, something that had never been done before.

Mining battery vehicle expert speaks to importance of training – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – October 3, 2022)

October 4, 2022

https://www.sudbury.com/

If you plan on running battery vehicles in mining, you will need properly trained maintenance technicians and vehicle operator

Sudbury’s Mike Mayhew, a leading consultant on the role of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) in mining, said education and training are the next key steps to the evolution of implementing BEVs in global mining operations.

Mayhew was one of the key speakers at the Maintenance, Engineering and Mine Operators Conference in Sudbury, where part of the focus was discussing the role of BEVs in the Canadian mining industry. The event was hosted by the Sudbury branch of CIM (Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) and was held at Science North.

Trudeau’s Industry Minister Pushes for Toyota-Panasonic EV Deal – by Mathieu Dion (Bloomberg News – October 3, 2022)

October 4, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Canada ranks “very high” in strategic plans for electric vehicles produced by Japanese manufacturers, according to the North American nation’s industry minister.

Francois-Philippe Champagne met last week in Tokyo with Hiroaki Koda, the head of Prime Planet Energy & Solutions Inc., an automotive battery joint-venture between Toyota Motor Corp. and Panasonic Holdings Corp.

Column: London Metal Exchange ducks Russian sanctions pressure – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 4, 2022)

October 4, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) – It’s clear the London Metal Exchange (LME) isn’t going to be rushed into any decision on whether to continue accepting Russian metal against its contracts.

A discussion paper on the possibility of suspending Russian brands is “an option currently under active consideration,” it said. But the exchange hasn’t actually decided yet whether to issue such a paper. Given the LME’s protracted rule-making process – a discussion paper followed by a consultation paper followed by legal notice – there seems little prospect of an imminent change in the status of Russian metal.

Why Canada needs an EV battery strategy – now – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – September 27, 2022)

September 29, 2022

https://biv.com/

For half a century, oil production has been a major economic engine for Canada.

But just as the internal combustion engine is starting to give way to the battery-powered electric vehicle (EV), so too does Canada need to develop a new industrial engine, says a new report by Clean Energy Canada and Trillum Network for Advanced Manufacturing.

Minerals like copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, manganese, graphite and rare earths promise to become the new oil. Canada’s New Economic Engine argues the case for Canada to act quickly to leverage the country’s vast mineral resources, clean electricity and Eastern Canadian manufacturing capacity to become an EV battery-producing powerhouse.

Canadian-based International Battery Metals claims to have better way of extracting lithium – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – September 27, 2022)

September 29, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The head of a Canadian-listed company that’s developed a new system for extracting lithium, a critical mineral for electrification of the global economy, says it has proven it can tap smaller concentrations of the substance with minimal environmental disturbance.

International Battery Metals Ltd. said on Tuesday an independent engineering review has concluded the company’s modular, mobile lithium extraction plant obtains more than 65 per cent of the lithium from brine, which is saline groundwater enriched with dissolved lithium. It also recycles and reuses 94 per cent of the water in the process, according to a report by SLR Consulting Ltd.

Can lithium be produced with a lower environmental impact? – by Javier Lewkowicz (Dialogo Chino – September 28, 2022)

September 29, 2022

Dialogo Chino

Lithium production is facing a transformation. Mining, automotive and chemical companies around the world are in a race to improve the efficiency of production processes and reduce the environmental impact of the dominant methods of lithium extraction, in order to meet the exponential growth in demand associated with the scale-up of electric vehicles.

“Traditional brine processes have a high environmental impact, due to high levels of water evaporation,” says researcher Michelle Lee Yin of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. “There are different alternative technologies with the potential to replace and/or support the current production method, with the aim of achieving a more sustainable industry over time.”

Manitoba juniors look to capitalize on lithium fever – by James Snell (Northern Miner – September 27, 2022)

September 27, 2022

https://www.northernminer.com/

With lithium prices at a record high – around US$71,000 a tonne for lithium carbonate – and demand for green technology surging, a cadre of exploration and development companies is looking to Manitoba as a source for the essential battery metal – and governments are signalling their approval.

Snow Lake Lithium (NASDAQ: LITM), which is drilling and expanding historical spodumene pegmatite deposits on its 223.8-sq.-km Thompson Brothers project in northwest Manitoba, is leading the charge. It plans to enter production by 2026 using the province’s 99% renewable hydroelectric power grid.

We’ll ‘set the bar high’ on Ring of Fire environment assessment, First Nation chief says – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – September 27, 2022)

September 27, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Ontario government has described the Ring of Fire as one of the ‘most promising’ regions for developing critical minerals

Indigenous groups who support building an all-season pathway into Ontario’s mineral-rich Ring of Fire region say they hope to allay concerns of neighbouring First Nations by conducting strong environmental assessments (EA).

The First Nations of Marten Falls and Webequie are currently conducting EAs for three proposed roads that would provide access to the region situated in northern Ontario’s James Bay Lowlands, about 500 kilometres from Thunder Bay.