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Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles

Top Bid for Lithium Up 140% After Musk’s ‘Insane Levels’ Call – by Annie Lee (Bloomberg News – April 28, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The highest bid for lithium at an online sale surged by 140% in just six months, an indication the stampede for supplies of the main ingredient used in electric vehicle batteries could get even more intense.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd.’s auction of spodumene concentrate — a partly-processed form of lithium — attracted a top bid of $5,650 a ton on Wednesday for a cargo of 5,000 tons. That compares with $2,350 at the previous sale in late October on the Australian miner’s Battery Metal Exchange.

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Column: Europe urgently needs an accelerator in critical metals race – by Andy Home (Reuters – April 29, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) – Europe is running out of time to secure the metals it needs to power the energy transition. The region’s import dependency for enabling metals was already high and has turned critical since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has historically been a major supplier of aluminium nickel and platinum to the European market, while the European Union had high hopes of folding Ukraine into its battery sector build-out. Even worse, what Russia calls its “special operation” has sent European power prices soaring, forcing energy-intensive aluminium and zinc smelters to close or reduce output.

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Ontario budget promises billions for infrastructure, critical minerals; could eliminate deficit sooner than expected – by Barbara Shecter (Financial Post – April 28, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Doug Ford’s government said the economic recovery plan could eliminate Ontario’s deficit two years earlier than projected

In a budget delivered just over a month before voters head to the polls, in what amounts to an election platform, the Ontario government is promising to invest billions of dollars during the next three to five years to shore up infrastructure, boost the supply of critical minerals and commercialize promising technologies.

Despite the spending, the government said the economic recovery plan laid out Thursday could eliminate Ontario’s deficit two years earlier than projected in the 2021 budget.

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Battery-mineral shortage likely to impede Canada’s goals for electric vehicles, industry expert says – by Jonathan Migneault (CBC News Sudbury – April 28, 2022)

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

Steve LeVine says the world only produces enough nickel to meet half the demand for EVs

It’s unlikely automakers will be able to meet their projections for electric vehicles (EV) as demand for the critical minerals that make up the batteries for them continues to rise, according to a noted business journalist.

Steve LeVine is editor of The Electric, a publication that focuses on electric vehicles and the lithium ion batteries that power them. LeVine, who’s based in Washington, said the world’s mines only produce around half of the critical minerals necessary to meet the auto industry’s EV goals.

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U.S. Energy Secretary touts continental alliance to thwart ‘petro-dictators’ – by Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – April 26, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The United States backs a continental approach to clean energy that would see the U.S. and Canada working together on critical minerals and other resources to bolster security against threats such as the war in Ukraine, says U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

“One thousand per cent,” Ms. Granholm said when asked if she envisioned a dual-nation, continental approach to energy concerns, including securing minerals needed to make batteries for electric vehicles.

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With critical minerals budget, Liberals finally embrace natural resources – by Heather Exner-Pirot (Toronto Star – April 27, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

To see the federal Liberals finally aligning with our much-maligned resource sector in such a big way is a game changer.

One of the biggest ticket items from this month’s federal budget was $3.8 billion for critical minerals — the mining products we need to produce everything from fertilizer to windmills to touch screens.

The timing is great, as commodities are booming. The demand for some of the minerals required for the energy transition, for example, is set to quintuple. Public funds will be directed toward supports for mineral surveying, processing and recycling, as well as tax credits for digging new mines and subsidies for infrastructure.

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Column: Automakers go back to the future to secure battery metals – by Andy Home (Reuters – April 27, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) – Henry Ford was right all along, it turns out. After decades of honing just-in-time global supply networks, car companies are going back to Ford’s founding principle of self-sufficiency. Ford’s iconic River Rouge complex in Dearborn Michigan made its own iron and steel, supplied by company freighters from its own iron ore and coking coal mines in Michigan and Kentucky.

World War One had created material shortages and disrupted logistics. Ford’s answer was to take full ownership of the automotive supply chain from mine to product. Auto companies are facing up the same problems today, compounded by the need to go electric, which means creating totally new metallic supply chains.

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Iron man Elon Musk places his Tesla battery bets – by Hyunjoo Jin and Paul Lienert (MSM.com/Reuters – April 2022)

https://www.msn.com/

(Reuters) – As Tesla’s profits and prices grabbed headlines last week, a potentially pivotal development for the global car industry flew largely under the radar.

The U.S. electric pioneer disclosed that nearly half of the vehicles it produced in the first quarter were equipped with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries – a cheaper rival to the nickel-and-cobalt based cells that dominate in the West.

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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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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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