Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 79

Chinese Lithium Giant Pulls EVs Deeper Into Forced Labor Glare – by David Stringer and Annie Lee (Bloomberg News – July 17, 2022)

July 19, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A lithium producer for carmakers including BMW AG and Tesla Inc. is beginning work to assess battery metals projects in Xinjiang, deepening links between electric vehicle supply chains and a region at the heart of human-rights allegations against China.

Ganfeng Lithium Co., China’s top producer of the material, is partnering through a subsidiary with a state-backed entity to accelerate exploration for and potentially develop lithium, nickel and other critical metal assets in the region.

Chief Harvey Yesno: One of CIM Magazine’s 2022 Names to Know – by Tijana Mitrovic (CIM Magazine – July 18, 2022)

July 19, 2022

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

Chief Harvey Yesno and Donald Bubar first met 20 years ago as panelists focused on development opportunities in northwestern Ontario. At the time, Chief Yesno was representing the interests of the Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund, which provides financing and business support to Indigenous businesses in northern Ontario. Then, as now, Bubar was CEO and president of Avalon Advanced Materials.

Today, Yesno, a former Chief of the Eabametoong First Nation, past director of community relations for Ontario’s Ring of Fire Secretariat and Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation is the newest member of Avalon’s board of directors.

Rising EV demand puts America’s only nickel mine in the spotlight – by Garret Ellison (Michigan Live – July 16, 2022)

July 19, 2022

https://www.mlive.com/

ISHPEMING, MI — Right now, 3,200 feet below ground, explosives are blasting apart billion-year-old rock that, eventually, is going to wind up in an electric vehicle.

Broken into chunks, the rock, now called ore, takes a two-hour ride to the surface before getting trucked to a crushing mill, which separates the valuable minerals within through a flotation process that produces a clumpy gray filter cake. That concentrate is loaded onto trains and sent to Canada on its way to being smelted and refined into a sulphate used in lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars.

US losing ground to China, Russia in South American lithium rush – by Rafael Bernal (The Hill – July 19, 2022)

July 19, 2022

https://thehill.com/

U.S. companies are hitting speedbumps in the race to win contracts to extract lithium in the Americas, particularly as the Chinese and Russian governments throw their weight around to land such agreements.

While the most easily exploitable currently known lithium deposits are in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, the United States has so far not been able to capitalize on its influence in the Western Hemisphere to support its companies.

Wallbridge sells nickel assets to focus on gold – by Tasneem Bulbulia (MiningWeekly.com – July 14, 2022)

July 14, 2022

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Dual-listed Wallbridge Mining has entered into a definitive agreement with CSE-listed Archer Exploration through which Archer will acquire all Wallbridge’s nickel property, assets, rights and obligations, including the Grasset property, to create a publicly-traded nickel exploration and development company.

Archer is backed by Inventa Capital, a Vancouver-based merchant bank founded in 2017 with the goal of discovering and funding opportunities in the resource sector. The nickel assets consist of 2 046 mining titles covering about 67 000 ha and include a 100% interest in the Grasset nickel sulphide project located in Quebec.

Opinion: ‘Dr Copper’ has a worrying message about the energy transition – by Daniel Yergin (Financial Times – July 13, 2022)

July 14, 2022

https://www.ft.com/

The writer chaired the new S&P Global study ‘The Future of Copper: Will the looming supply gap short-circuit the energy transition?’

As countries try to figure out how to meet their targets for net zero emissions, minerals have become a big target of concern. Several governments and international organisations have expressed alarm about whether there will be sufficient supply to meet the needs of, as the International Energy Agency puts it, moving “from a fuel-intensive to a mineral-intensive energy system”.

There has been much discussion of the lithium and cobalt needed for electric vehicle batteries. But less attention has been given to copper, though it is the foundation for the energy transition, indeed the “metal of electrification”. A new report focuses on this key role.

Belgian battery company announces $1.5-billion investment in Ontario – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 13, 2022)

July 14, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Battery supply chain plant near Kingston, Ont., getting significant government financial support

Belgium-based Umicore SA on Wednesday announced plans to build a $1.5-billion battery supply chain plant near Kingston, Ont., powered entirely by renewable energy, with significant financial support from the federal and provincial governments.

The plant would produce battery precursor active material and battery cathode active material, filling in missing pieces and adding a new eastern terminus to Ontario’s emerging battery supply chain, which already includes a battery cell manufacturing plant.

Australia joins global critical minerals partnership – by Esmarie Iannucci (MiningWeekly.com – July 13, 2022)

July 13, 2022

https://www.miningweekly.com/

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Australia has joined the Minerals Security Partnership in its quest to develop and secure global supply chains for critical minerals that are crucial to clean energy technology and the global transition to clean energy.

Australia joins the US, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, the UK and the European Commission on this mission.

Umicore metals refiner to build $1.5-billion Ontario factory for EV battery components – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – July 13, 2022)

July 13, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Belgian metals refiner Umicore SA is building a $1.5-billion factory near Kingston, Ont. to produce components for electric vehicle batteries, the latest in a series of Canadian investments by automotive manufacturers.

Once operational, Umicore’s facility will see approximately 700 employees transform raw materials, including nickel, cobalt and lithium, into battery parts, creating what Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne described in an interview as a “supply chain ecosystem for electric vehicle manufacturing.”

Major project status: Ardea on the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project – by Jason Mitchell (Mining Technology – July 13, 2022)

July 13, 2022

https://www.mining-technology.com/

Boasting around 830 million tonnes of nickel, the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project is one of the most exciting in Australia.

In March, the Australian Government awarded the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP), located in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, ”major project status”, streamlining potential government approval for one of the country’s most exciting nickel projects.

The new status will make it easier for Ardea Resources, the Perth-based mining company behind the project, to get permits approved and to access additional sources of funding.

Nationalize LATAM’s Lithium to Become Global Power: Evo Morales – by Fernando Mares (Mexico Business – July 13, 2022)

July 13, 2022July 13, 2022

https://mexicobusiness.news/

Former President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, urged lithium-producing countries to take advantage of what he calls the decline of the US as a superpower to nationalize the lithium industry. By doing so, the Latin American region could play a major role in the world’s economics.

“The west does not want us to add value to our natural resources. If we industrialize the peoples’ lithium in the hand of the state, we could be global powers, at least in this environment,” Morales said at a conference at the El Rosario University in Argentina.

China’s Ganfeng Lithium buys lithium mines in Argentina – by Harry Dempsey (Financial Times – July 11, 2022)

July 12, 2022

https://www.ft.com/

Purchase of Lithea comes as global competition for metals needed to power electric vehicles hots up

Ganfeng Lithium has agreed to buy Argentina-focused mining group Lithea for up to $962mn, as China steps up its battle for the metals needed to power electric vehicles.

The deal will give Shenzhen-listed Ganfeng rights to Pozuelos and Paston Grandes, two salt lake brines in Argentina that can produce lithium carbonate, a key material for batteries used in electric vehicles.

Russia-Ukraine conflict creates uncertainty for high-grade nickel supply – by Darren Parker (MiningWeekly.com – July 11, 2022)

July 12, 2022

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has created uncertainty over global supply of mined nickel – particularly high-grade nickel, which is used as battery-grade nickel in the electric vehicle (EV) industry – market research firm Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research (Fitch Solutions) said in its ‘Global Nickel Outlook’ report on July 8.

To illustrate the impact, last year, Russian mining company Norilsk Nickel alone provided about 17% of the global supply of class one nickel. In total, Russia accounts for about 21% of global class one nickel production, followed by Canada at 17%, Australia at 14% and China 10%.

VOLT RUSH THE WINNERS AND LOSERS IN THE RACE TO GO GREEN, REVIEWED – by Simon Cocking (Irish Tech News – July 8, 2022)

July 8, 2022

https://irishtechnews.ie/

EVs has been touted as the technological solution that will help to save our planet, and, potentially to save us from ourselves. The switch to electric vehicles would reduce CO2 emissions, pollution, keeping (potentially) fossil fuels in the ground. Henry Sanderson however takes us on a carefully considered and well explained journey to show that it may not be as simple a transition as we hoped for.

Sanderson has chapters specifically analysing the key elements, often rare earth minerals, that are vital to the creation of the necessary batteries to drive these vehicles. Lithium, cobalt and nickel among others are all forensically considered, with often concerning impacts on people and planet.

Tycoon whose bet broke the nickel market walks away a billionaire – by Alfred Cang, Jack Farchy and Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – July 6, 2022)

July 8, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — By 2:08 p.m. Shanghai time on March 8, it was clear that Xiang Guangda’s giant bet on a fall in nickel prices was going spectacularly wrong. Futures had just skyrocketed above $100,000 a ton and his trade was more than $10 billion underwater.

It was threatening not only to bankrupt Xiang’s company, but to trigger a Lehman Brothers-like shock through the entire metals industry and possibly topple the London Metal Exchange itself.