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As Canada builds its battery metals industry, can it compete with the world’s behemoths? – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 26, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s battery metals sector is showing signs of life, but impediments remain to this country gaining meaningful global market share in an industry dominated by China. Over the past few months, Canada has landed its first electric-car battery plant, and a new deep-pocketed owner has taken possession of Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining assets, which the province is hoping will supply battery-grade nickel.

The federal government delivered another potential boost to the battery sector when it said in its 2022 budget that it is prepared to spend $3.8-billion to fund the critical minerals industry over the next eight years.

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Apple, Tesla, Intel could be using conflict minerals due to faulty scheme – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 26, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Several of the world’s largest companies including Apple, Tesla and Intel may be using conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in their products as they rely on a certification scheme accused of helping “launder” irresponsibly mined metals.

According to the latest report from Global Witness, an international non-profit that challenges power abuses, several firms that use the International Tin Association’s Tin Supply Chain Initiative (ITSCI) scheme are allegedly at fault of fueling conflict.

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‘Mr. Lithium’ Warns There’s Not Enough Battery Metal to Go Around – by Gabrielle Coppola (Bloomberg News – April 22, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Batteries, and more precisely battery metals, are poised to replace chips as the new bottleneck for the auto industry.

While there’s been a lot of attention on nickel, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, another key metal — lithium — is a source of concern for manufacturers dealing with all manner of supply chain challenges.

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Renewable energy depends on rare metal, but can it be mined sustainably? – by Benjamin Powless (Welland Tribune – April 25, 2022)

https://www.wellandtribune.ca/

Long Point First Nation is calling for more comprehensive environmental reviews after an Australian mining company said it wants to expand operations in the area. The Anishinabek community situated in Winneway is concerned about the impacts of lithium mining, a key component in the global efforts to move towards sustainable energy.

As environmental initiatives push consumers towards electric vehicles, debates rage over how “green” is the production of key elements like lithium, as mining can devastate landscapes.

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European electric car makers have a Russian nickel problem – by (Grist.org – April 22, 2022)

https://grist.org/

Europe may need Russian nickel to meet its climate goals — and Indigenous activists may need Europe to hold a Russian mining giant to account.

About two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, a metal that plays a key role in batteries for electric vehicles, or EVs, was thrust suddenly into the spotlight. On March 8, the price of nickel doubled within hours on the London Metal Exchange, prompting the world’s leading metals market to shut down trading for the material.

The price spike occurred amidst fears that nickel from Russia, the world’s third-largest producer of the metal, would soon become “untouchable due to sanctions risk,” as one group of analysts put it.

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New Lithium-Extraction Technology Attracts Investors. But Is It Viable? – by Scott Patterson and Amrith Ramkumar (Wall Street Journal – April 21, 2022)

https://www.wsj.com/

Developing a domestic supply is an important part of the U.S. push to expand alternative energy sources

Lithium is a key component of rechargeable batteries, and developing domestic supply is seen as an important step in a broad push for the U.S. to transition to alternative energy sources.

In February, the Biden administration unveiled plans to invest $2.9 billion to boost production of advanced batteries and strengthen the battery supply chain in the U.S., including the development of domestic supplies of lithium. Last month President Biden also invoked the Defense Protection Act to increase production of battery metals.

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This Mining Executive Is Fighting Her Own Industry to Protect the Environment – by Aryn Baker (Time Magazine – April 13, 2022)

https://time.com/

In her 16-year career in the mining industry, Renee Grogan has battled hostile environments, arduous work conditions, and the perception that women don’t belong at a mine site—let alone in a mining-company boardroom. But her biggest battle has only just begun: getting climate-conscious car buyers to care as much about how the metals going into their new electric-vehicle (EV) batteries are mined as they do about their carbon emissions.

“Consumers don’t generally know what their metal footprint looks like,” says Grogan, the co-founder and chief sustainability officer of California-based Impossible Mining, a battery-metal mining startup.

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North has ‘unique opportunity’ to become part of Ontario’s auto sector – by PJ Wilson (Sudbury Star – April 23, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Provincial program strives to connect region’s mining and mineral expertise with southern Ontario’s manufacturing facilities

Northern Ontario is set to become part of the Ontario auto sector for the first time in 120 years.

The region, covering northeastern and northwestern Ontario, has been combined into the Northern Ontario Regional Technology Development Site, connecting the North’s mining and mineral expertise with southern Ontario’s manufacturing facilities.

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FORGET GAS PRICES. THE BILLIONAIRE CLUB’S RUN ON COBALT SAYS EVERYTHING ABOUT OUR BATTERY-POWERED FUTURE – by WILLEM MARX (Vanity Fair – April 21, 2022)

https://www.vanityfair.com/

Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and other masters of the universe are betting big on Greenland as mining in the Congo gets too dirty for even Elon Musk.

As the bankers from J.P. Morgan’s London offices stepped off the two-hour private flight from Johannesburg onto the hot runway, soldiers sporting sunglasses and semiautomatics watched them closely. The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s brutal civil war had ended several years earlier, but peace remained tenuous, and the Lubumbashi airstrip was still heavily militarized.

It was the summer of 2006, the height of a period that became known as the commodities “Super Cycle,” in which a hardy vanguard of investors sought to sate industrializing China’s seemingly endless appetite for raw materials, particularly metals. Relying on low-cost financing, dealmakers at Credit Suisse, First Boston, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley scoured the world for once state-owned mining assets in need of fresh funds or those primed for privatization.

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Musk’s tweets fuel mining industry’s hopes of a buyout by Tesla – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – April 19, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

Elon Musk’s recent musings that high lithium prices may force Tesla Inc to make its own supply of the electric vehicle battery metal have fueled hopes by some that the billionaire entrepreneur will instead opt for a buyout of an established mining company.

The auto giant already has supply contracts for nickel, lithium and a range of other EV metals from suppliers across the globe. But it needs more, and industry analysts say Tesla may soon realize that building a mine or processing facility from scratch is not as easy as it sounds and the automaker should instead consider a buyout.

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Australia Should Be a Green Mining Superpower: Expert – by Victoria Kelly-Clark The Epoch Times – April 19, 2022)

https://www.theepochtimes.com/

Australia needs to start focusing on utilising its abundant natural advantages to take advantage of the global financial push for green energy, an expert has said. Director of Climate Energy Finance (CEF) Tim Buckley told The Epoch Times he believes that Australia has the potential to become a world leader in the green revolution that is now he says, inevitable.

However, the country is lagging behind. “Australia should be a renewable energy superpower,” Buckley said. “We should be a renewable mining industry superpower.”

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Rivian CEO Warns of Looming Electric-Vehicle Battery Shortage – By Sean McLain and Scott Patterson (Wall Street Journal – April 18, 2022)

https://www.wsj.com/

Much of the battery supply chain isn’t built, challenging an industry aiming to sell tens of millions of EVs in coming years, RJ Scaringe says

NORMAL, Ill.—Rivian Automotive Inc. Chief Executive RJ Scaringe is warning that the auto industry could soon face a shortage of battery supplies for electric vehicles—a challenge that he says could surpass the current computer-chip shortage.

Car companies are trying to lock up limited supplies of raw materials such as cobalt, lithium and nickel that are key to battery making, and many are constructing their own battery plants to put more battery-powered models in showrooms.

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How mining for clean energy could undermine Biden’s EJ goals – by Jael Holzman and Scott Waldman (E&E News – April 19, 2022)

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The Biden administration has said it is activating all the levers of government to advance environmental justice for people of color. However, one of President Joe Biden’s own policies for climate action might challenge his commitment to racial equity.

Earlier this month, Biden invoked a wartime law to free up federal funds for domestic mining activities for five metals sought by manufacturers of zero-carbon energy products: lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and manganese. It was a move that, if successful, could help open mines across the country to support the production of electric vehicles and other technologies that are needed to reduce the country’s use of fossil fuels.

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GM and Ford Join Tesla in Race to Secure EV Battery Material Supplies – by Al Root (Barrons – April 13, 2022)

https://www.barrons.com/

Auto makers are trying to secure supplies of critical materials for meeting their electric-vehicle goals, particularly as prices rise . Ford Motor, General Motors, and Tesla have all made some recent strategic moves to shore up materials to produce EV batteries. On Tuesday, General Motors (ticker: GM) signed a cobalt supply deal with global mining giant Glencore (GLEN.London).

Cobalt is used along with metals such as lithium, nickel, and iron in rechargeable EV batteries. Cobalt gets more attention than other EV materials because most of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has a reputation for poor mining practices and a weak human rights record. The cobalt GM is buying from Glencore , however, will be sourced from Australia.

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Mexican president to fast-track nationalization of lithium if power reform thwarted – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 13, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is ready to send a bill to Congress next week declaring lithium a “strategic mineral” and reserving future exploration and mining for the government if lawmakers fail to pass his constitutional reform tightening state control of the electricity market.

The country’s lower house is set to vote on Sunday on a constitutional energy overhaul that includes nationalizing lithium and guaranteeing state-owned utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad, or CFE, 54% of the market.

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