Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 82

How Russia’s War Is Putting Green Tech Progress in Jeopardy – by Paul Hockenos (Yale Environment 360 – June 16, 2022)

June 16, 2022

https://e360.yale.edu/

The European Union relies heavily on Russia to supply nickel and other metals for electric vehicle batteries and other renewable technologies. War-related price increases and shortages of these metals could hinder Europe’s drive to sharply cut emissions by 2030 and beyond.

Volkswagen might as well hang a “sold out” sign on the doors of its European and U.S. factories. The world’s second-largest manufacturer of electric automobiles announced last month that any plug-in ordered after May won’t find its way to customers’ garages before 2023.

The German carmaker’s sales of nearly 100,000 battery electric models in the first quarter landed it behind only Tesla, but far from the pace needed for the 700,000 it planned to roll off its assembly lines this year. And Tesla, too, like almost all other EV carmakers, says it is highly unlikely to hit 2022’s sales targets.

Chile at risk of missing lithium boom amid political, policy instability – by Marta Lillo (SP Global – June 16, 2022)

June 16, 2022

https://www.spglobal.com/

Chile may miss out on the lithium price boom if it cannot set policy to allow development of its vast reserves. With lithium prices soaring through most of 2021 and 2022, major miners have been eyeing Chile as a potential new source of the white metal.

But Chile has been flailing for half a decade to create a legal framework to sell concessions to developers to extract its 19.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, and the country has only issued a handful of permits.

Greater Sudbury ‘the epicentre for mining,’ mayor says – by Staff (Sudbury Star – June 16, 2022)

June 16, 2022

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

City has ‘critical minerals, a strong industrial base and a highly skilled workforce’

Many people know Greater Sudbury as a relatively small northern Ontario mining community, but it is also a community that should be on everyone’s radar, city officials say.

Nearly 80 Sudbury-based companies were showcasing themselves as global leaders at the annual conference of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. It is North America’s largest mining industry event and wrapped up Wednesday in Toronto.

Deal-Hungry Miners Return to Toronto With EV Metals in Focus – by Yvonne Yue Li and James Attwood (Bloomberg News – June 13, 2022)

June 15, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — As the mining industry gathers in Toronto this week for one of its biggest annual events, the focus will be on two groups of metals: one that’s seeing soaring demand across the world, and another with almost no industrial utility.

Thousands of investors, executives, bankers and government officials are set to converge on the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference at the biggest mining hub in the Americas.

Column: Goldman sparks bear-bull battle in the lithium market – by Andy Home (Reuters – June 15, 2022)

June 15, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) – Is the white-hot lithium market about to be dowsed in a cold cyclical shower of oversupply? Goldman Sachs thinks so.

“We expect lithium prices to continue to correct for the rest of the year and remain under pressure from increasing supply over the next few years,” the Wall Street heavyweight argued in a May 29 battery metals research note. (“The end of the beginning”). It’s a bold call, given the supply-chain stresses that have caused spot lithium carbonate prices to surge over 900% since the start of 2021.

US increases production to catch China in global battery race – by SHARON UDASIN, ZACK BUDRYK AND CAITLIN MCLEAN (The Hill – June 9, 2022)

June 10, 2022

https://thehill.com/

As battery-powered electric vehicles become a mainstay on the nation’s highways — and a key piece of President Biden’s environmental policy — the U.S. is facing a formidable challenge in its efforts to compete in the global battery race.

“The problem is, we’re just pretty far behind here,” Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, told The Hill.“We should have been planning for this a decade ago,” he added. “But I think we can get things moving, now that there’s bipartisan support for it.”

Benchmark: Here’s what Goldman got wrong about lithium prices – by Frik Els (Mining.com – June 9, 2022)

June 10, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

At the end of May, Goldman Sachs rattled lithium stocks after the investment bank declared the battery metals bull market “over for now”.

Goldman called today’s lithium levels a “fundamental mispricing [that] has in turn generated an outsized supply response well ahead of the demand trend.” Goldman predicted an average around $55,000 a tonne for this year, but its forecast for 2023 was particularly eye-raising – a very precise $16,372 a tonne.

You may be stuck paying high gas prices for years as a global metals shortage sabotages the electric car revolution – by Tristan Bove (Fortune Magazine – June 10, 2022)

June 10, 2022

https://fortune.com/

Metals are quickly becoming the new oil as fossil fuels are phased out and replaced with clean energy and electric cars. The green energy transition relies on mining to produce enough lithium, cobalt, and nickel for the expected boom in solar panels, wind turbines, and electric car batteries over the next decade.

The only problem is that most of those metals are already in short supply. Paltry investments by governments in mining, the complexity of recycling rare metals, and geopolitical trade squabbles are already hampering metal production.

Candace MacGibbon: Canadians need to stop demonizing mining – by Candace MacGibbon (Financial Post – June 10, 2022)

June 10, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

We need to persuade Canadians to stop being ashamed of the riches our great nation holds

With Doug Ford winning a second term as premier of Ontario, the province is poised to enter a mining renaissance. Between the commitments made to the sector during the provincial election and those set out in the federal budget this spring, Ontario has an unprecedented opportunity to become a global leader in mining again. Just one thing stands in our way: Canadians’ negative perception of mining.

To change that, government money alone won’t be enough. We need to persuade Canadians to stop being ashamed of the riches our great nation holds to being proud of Canada’s resource heritage and its potential to be a leader in the shift to a more prosperous and carbon-neutral world. From solar panels to electric vehicles, Canadian minerals are essential to a greener future.

Toronto company looks to extract billions in value from Sudbury mine waste (CBC News Sudbury – June 7, 2022)

June 8, 2022

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

BacTec estimates there is $27 billion worth of nickel in Greater Sudbury’s mine waste

A Toronto-based environmental technology company is working on a pilot project in Sudbury to separate valuable minerals from mine waste with bacteria.

BacTech Environmental Corporation plans to have its pilot plant in Sudbury operational by July, and will use a process called bioleaching to extract minerals like nickel and cobalt from mine tailings. Tailings are the waste material that’s left over after minerals are extracted from a mine.

American OEM automotive industry’s big problem with lithium … and why Elon Musk is wrong. – by Jack Lifton (Investor Intel – June 7, 2022)

June 8, 2022June 8, 2022

https://investorintel.com/

There isn’t enough lithium mined, and there can never be enough lithium mined and processed into end-user forms economically, to replace the use of fossil-fueled internal combustion engines in the powertrain systems of the current one and one-half billion personal and mass transportation vehicles with electric motors powered by rechargeable lithium-ion type storage batteries.

I think that most of the managers of the global OEM automotive, aerospace, and shipbuilding industries know this, but they are powerless in the face of the demands of politicians who have given in to the greens who are unaware of the limitations of physical natural resource production and processing for non fuel minerals, and who rely on the advice of narrowly and poorly educated and just plain dumb “experts” who have credentials but no experience of business operations, real-world economics or even rudimentary geology.

How the “demon metal” gave Canadian mining a bad name – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – June 2, 2022)

June 4, 2022

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The word cobalt came from kobold, a variant of the German word kobalos, a satyr and shape-shifter of Greek mythology who mocked the work of humans. By the Middle Ages, miners in the dark depths reported that touching the metal burned their fingertips, a sure sign that demons were watching them. And so the “demon metal” it became.

Cobalt – with a capital C – is synonymous with the silver rush of over a hundred years ago in northern Ontario. The town of Cobalt got its start when silver was discovered in 1903, and that mining rush outshone any gold rush in the previous 200 years.

Lithium mining stocks plunge after Goldman sees “sharp correction” – by Frik Els (Mining.com – June 1, 2022)

June 3, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Goldman Sachs rattled lithium stocks after the investment bank declared the battery metals bull market “over for now”. Goldman calls today’s lithium levels a “fundamental mispricing [that] has in turn generated an outsized supply response well ahead of the demand trend in focus.”

In this context, Goldman sees prices on a downward trajectory over the course of the next two years, with a sharp correction in lithium from today’s levels to an average of just under $55,000 this year. For 2023, the forecast is for an average price of just $16,372.

Congo Sees Surge in Mining of Metals for Green-Energy Transition – by Michael J. Kavanagh (Financial Post/Bloomberg – June 3, 2022)

June 3, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

(Bloomberg) — Democratic Republic of Congo could see about 10 new mines for metals key to powering the green-energy transition within four years, according to the director of the country’s mining registry.

About 500 of the nation’s mining permits are in advanced development and will soon lead to new projects for lithium and cobalt — battery metals driving the electric vehicle revolution — while mines for copper, tin, tantalum and tungsten will also be built, Jean Felix Mupande told a conference in the southeast city of Lubumbashi. Congo is already the world’s No. 1 cobalt producer and Africa’s biggest copper miner.

One-time tourist hotspot to supply key electric car battery ingredient for Stellantis – by Eric D. Lawrence (Detroit Free Press – June 2, 2022)

June 3, 2022

https://www.freep.com/

Chrysler parent Stellantis plans to get a substantial amount of the lithium needed for its electric vehicle batteries from a former tourist mecca in California. The automaker announced a deal Thursday with Controlled Thermal Resources, which has offices in California and Australia, to supply “battery grade lithium hydroxide” for use in EV production in North America.

That means Stellantis, which also controls the Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands, will join General Motors, which announced a similar agreement last year, in tapping Controlled Thermal’s expected lithium production in the Salton Sea Basin, an area near the U.S. border with Mexico.