Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 61

What On Earth: As EV batteries consume more lithium, report warns against increased mining of it – by Jason Vermes (CBC Radio – February 25, 2023)

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whatonearth/

Reducing reliance on personal vehicles, more public transit can cut emissions faster: author

The growing need for lithium — a mined metal used in batteries to power electric vehicles (EVs) — could have significant international environmental and social impacts if the U.S. doesn’t reimagine its transportation policy, according to a recent report.

Lithium, listed as a “critical mineral” by several governments and agencies, is an integral part of the transition away from fossil fuels. While demand is exploding because of EVs, it’s also used in batteries for energy storage systems, and smaller products like smartphone and e-bike batteries.

How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier – by Royce Kurmelovs (BBC.com – November 10, 2022)

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023

https://www.bbc.com/

As demand soars for electric vehicles and clean energy storage, Australia is rising to meet much of the world’s demand for lithium. While this helps reduce the need for fossil fuels, it raises another question – how can we source lithium sustainably?

Roughly a three-hour drive south of Perth, Western Australia, off the South Western Highway and behind the historic mining town of Greenbushes, the land beyond the town’s primary school falls away to reveal a deep, grey scar.

This is the site of an old tin mine known as the Cornwall Pit. At roughly 265m (870ft) deep, the terraced wall of the pit represents a century’s worth of work that began in 1888 when a pound of tin was lifted out of a nearby creek. When the surface-metal was scoured from the landscape, methods changed eventually giving way to open-cut mining in the host pegmatite vein – an igneous rock with a coarse texture similar to granite.

Australian explorers rush to join Canada’s lithium boom – by Tim Treadgold (Small Caps – February 23, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://smallcaps.com.au/

The call of Canada is being heard clearly by Australian lithium hopefuls, with some of the best-known names from the Aussie mining boom heading north to ride a wave driven by the US Government’s trade protection policies.

Ken Brinsden, the key man in growing Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) from penny dreadful to $13 billion member of the ASX’s top 50, is the leading Australian lithium export as chairman of the Quebec-focussed Patriot Battery Metals.

Lithium Royalty Corp. plans $150-million IPO to boost investment in mines – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – February 23, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Five-year-old Lithium Royalty Corp. is going public with a planned $150-million-plus stock sale, raising money to fund the mines that feed a rapidly growing battery industry.

Lithium Royalty filed the paperwork on Wednesday for an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange, after tapping institutional investors for approximately $130-million and profitably investing in 27 projects.

General Motors Digs Into Mining Business to Lead Race for EV Metals – by David Welch (Bloomberg News – February 17, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg Businessweek) — General Motors is trying to speed ahead in the race for metals underpinning the industry’s shift to electric cars. The US automaker is competing for a stake in Vale’s base metals unit, people familiar with the matter said this month. A deal may give GM access to the Brazilian mining giant’s copper and nickel resources that are key to making EV batteries.

GM has made several such wagers recently, buying equity while rivals mostly sign supply deals. Last month, it bought a $650 million stake in Lithium Americas to help develop Nevada’s Thacker Pass mine, which may support output of as many as 1 million EVs a year.

Clean nickel or cheap nickel? You can’t have both – by Anthony Milewski (Northern Miner – February 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

Nickel price trends have become hard to predict. Ever since the London Metals Exchange (LME) crash, in March 2022, and the subsequent canceled trades, a number of banks pulled out and took with them the Exchange’s liquidity. Nickel prices on the LME have since become so volatile that suppliers no longer view them as representative of nickel’s market value.

Today, most of the nickel being sold – particularly by the Chinese – is direct to producers and at prices based on nickel sulphate and therefore disconnected from the disgraced LME. It’s possible that the LME may eventually recover.

4 things you need to know about lithium pegmatites – by Denedikt Steiner (Mining IR – December 11, 2018)

February 23, 2023

https://miningir.com/

Have you recently entered the lithium and battery metals space? Have you invested in a lithium pegmatite project and are wondering if your project is superior to those of your competitors?

In light of the recent ‘lithium boom’, I was asked by several interested parties what I consider the most important aspects in locating lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites and associated tin (Sn) mineralisation. Whilst geological parameters are the obvious ones to discuss first, I believe that overall tonnage, geomechanics and mineral processing, are of equal importance, particularly at early reconnaissance and drilling/ evaluation stages.

New emergency bid to appeal, block huge Nevada lithium mine – by Scott Sonner (Associated Press/ABC News – February 21, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://abcnews.go.com/

RENO, Nev. – Conservationists are seeking an emergency court order to block construction of a Nevada lithium mine after a U.S. judge directed a federal agency to revisit part of its approval of the plans but allowed construction to go forward in the meantime.

Four environmental groups want U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Reno to temporarily halt any work at a subsidiary of Lithium Americas’ mine near the Oregon border until they can appeal her ruling earlier this month to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Tesla scales back German battery plans, won over by U.S. incentives – by Victoria Waldersee (Reuters – February 22, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

BERLIN, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) has begun assembling batteries in Germany but will focus cell production in the U.S. in light of Inflation Reduction Act incentives, the company said, making it one of the first firms to declare a strategy shift prompted by the package.

The U.S. electric-vehicle maker is also preparing to produce cell components such as electrodes, some of which will be sent from its site in Gruenheide in the state of Brandenburg, to the United States, Tesla said on Wednesday.

Exploitation Of Illegal Nickel Mines In Indonesia – OpEd – by Silvanah (Eurasia Review – February 19, 2023)

February 20, 2023

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Indonesia has abundant natural resources, especially nickel. Nickel is the raw material for making electric vehicle batteries. Electric vehicles are predicted to be low in emissions or environmentally friendly.

Developed countries are currently competing to produce electric vehicles. Indonesia is not left behind with big plans to form a company producing electric vehicle batteries. This has attracted the interest of foreign mining companies including China to enter and explore for nickel in Indonesia.

Indonesia’s uncertain climb up the nickel value chain – by Kyunghoon Kim (The Interperter/Lowy Institute – February 20, 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/

Demand for is driving domestic and foreign direct investment in the country’s minerals sector. But caution is needed.

Indonesia has historically had limited success with industrial policy. That may now be changing, with recent interventionist policies targeting the nickel sector suggesting initial success in developing downstream segments of the value chain. So successful have these industrial policies been that the government is planning to target other minerals in a similar fashion, despite the objections of major trading partners.

After a period of liberalisation following the Asian financial crisis, Indonesia saw strong economic nationalism emerge again in the late 2000s. Nationalistic policies have been particularly strong in the natural resource sector.

Nevada’s vast lithium deposits offer economic opportunity, difficult decisions – by Daniel Rothberg (The Nevada Independent – February 19, 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://thenevadaindependent.com/

Nevada, as with other arid parts of the globe such as Chile and Argentina, is awash with lithium. The soft, silvery white mineral is in high demand as a key component of batteries used to power electric vehicles in the transition away from fossil fuel-based economies.

For years, state officials have positioned Nevada as the central node in the domestic lithium supply chain, a place to extract, recycle and market the metal. But the new increasing demand — how it plays out and where mining is permitted — could have major consequences for local communities, the environment, public land and the management of a critical resource: water.

Alberta miner replaces Chinese investor that Ottawa barred from owning Canadian assets – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – February 16, 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Lithium Chile regrets losing ‘an incredible shareholder,’ COO says

Lithium Chile Inc., one of three Canadian miners affected by Ottawa’s snap decision to block Chinese investment in critical minerals, said the order has been satisfied, although it regrets losing an “incredible shareholder” that supplied valuable expertise.

Chengze Lithium International Ltd. had purchased a 19.4 per cent stake in Lithium Chile, making it one of the Calgary-based company’s largest shareholders. Chengze sold its shares to Gator Capital Ltd., a Toronto-based firm that focuses on investment consulting and asset management. The transaction was completed for about $34.5 million, or 91 cents per share.

Magna investing $470 million to build new Ontario battery assembly plant, retool factories – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – February 15, 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Will build a 500,000 square foot factory in Brampton, Ont., to help Ford keep up with surging demand for its F-150 Lightning

Canada’s biggest maker of automobile parts is set to assemble batteries for Ford Motor Co.’s F-150 Lightning pickup trucks — the electric version of the best-selling vehicle in North America and perhaps the most hotly anticipated EV since Teslas hit the market more than a decade ago.

Magna International Inc. said Feb. 15 that it will invest $470 million to build a 500,000 square foot factory in Brampton, Ont., to help Ford keep up with surging demand for its F-150 Lightning and also to retool five existing factories in the province. Aurora-based Magna said the expansion will create more than 1,000 jobs.

Column: The devil’s metal strikes again in Trafigura nickel fraud case – by Andy Home (Reuters – February 19, 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Another year, another nickel scandal as the devil’s metal lives up to its reputation. When German miners first came across the stuff in fifteenth century Saxony, they dubbed it “Kupfernickel”, or “Devil’s Copper” because it looked like copper but wasn’t.

Appearances can be deceptive when it comes to nickel, as Trafigura has just found out half a millennium later. The commodity trader will take a $577 million charge in the first half of 2023 against potential losses arising from what it called a “systematic fraud” involving cargoes of nickel that were not nickel.