Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 89

Investments in Canadian assets by authoritarian states should trigger national security review: Commons committee – by Anja Karadeglija (National Post- March 30, 2022)

March 30, 2022

The industry minister’s decision not to launch a formal national security review over the sale of Neo-Lithium to China led to controversy in January

Canada should launch a full security review for every investment by a state-owned company from an “authoritarian state,” a parliamentary committee says.

On Tuesday, the House of Commons industry committee released its report on the acquisition of Canadian-owned mining company Neo-Lithium by a Chinese enterprise. It said “all investments by state-owned enterprises from authoritarian states” meet the Investment Canada Act’s threshold of potentially being “injurious to national security.”

Nickel markets may be chaotic, but long-term outlook very strong, analysts say – by Darren MacDonald (CTV News Northern Ontario – March 30, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

It’s been a wild ride for nickel prices this month. After soaring to almost US$22 a pound, the London Metals Exchange (LME) halted trading for several days March 8, outraging many investors.

A major reason the LME intervened was a major Chinese nickel producer stood to lose billions because it had bet prices would be lower. Investors sometimes try to protect themselves from volatile prices by betting prices will be lower in the future, a process known as short selling.

US looks to increase metals imports for EV batteries – by Saul Elbein (The Hill – March 29, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://thehill.com/

The United States will likely need to massively increase its reliance on imports of foreign metals if it is to meet the Biden administration’s goal of moving the country to mainly electric vehicles.

U.S. production of the key metals needed to make EV batteries is already only a small percentage of national demand, so increasing sales of electric vehicles to 50 percent of all new car sales by 2030 will require replacing one set of trading relationships — ones built on oil — for another.

Tesla inks secret multi-year nickel supply deal with Vale – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 30, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Electric vehicle giant Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is said to have secured a multi-year deal with Vale (NYSE: VALE) for the supply of nickel, one of the key ingredients in the batteries that power EVs.

The yet to be disclosed agreement, reported by Bloomberg News, will see the Brazilian miner supply nickel produced in Canada to the EV maker, which has spent the past year signing pacts with several producers of battery metals.

Frontier Lithium successfully pilots spodumene concentrate for hydromet conversion – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – March 30, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Frontier Lithium (TSXV: FL; OTC: LITOF; FRA: HL2) has successfully concluded a pilot-scale campaign to produce 500 kg of spodumene concentrate that will be used to conduct piloting of a hydrometallurgical conversion process.

A 7,800-kg sample of blended material from the Spark (89%) and PAC (11%) deposits was collected. It averaged 1.57% lithium oxide and 0.8% iron oxide. The Spark material is fine-grained, which necessitated desliming, magnetic separation and gravity concentration before flotation.

OPINION: With a giant new investment, Canada’s auto sector has proved it can survive the EV transition. The question now is whether it can thrive – by Adam Radnowski (Globe and Mail – March 23, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s automotive industry is no longer facing an existential threat from the transition to electric vehicles, as it was just a year or two ago. Wednesday’s announcement that the automaker Stellantis NV will partner with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution to build a $5-billion EV battery-assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., is proof enough of the sector’s resilience.

Billed as the single largest investment in Canadian automaking since the 1980s, if not ever, it should not only provide an estimated 2,500 jobs at that new facility but help protect many existing ones, including in parts manufacturing and at Stellantis’s existing vehicle-assembly plants in Ontario.

From VW to JPMorgan, the Unlikely Cast Behind Nickel’s Big Squeeze – by Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – March 28, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Furious investors and traders. Evaporating liquidity. A market that many veterans simply describe as “broken.” It’s been three weeks since nickel was suspended on the London Metal Exchange after a 250% price spike and while trading has resumed, the market remains all but paralyzed.

As the crisis plays out, accusations are already beginning to fly. Investors are preparing lawsuits; the LME and its regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, are likely to run investigations. It’s far from clear that any party broke any rules — it may be that the rules just weren’t fit for purpose.

U.S. seeks new lithium sources as demand for clean energy grows – by Patrick Whittle (Associated Press/PBS News Hour – March 28, 2022)

March 29, 2022

https://www.pbs.org/

NEWRY, Maine (AP) — The race is on to produce more lithium in the United States. The U.S. will need far more lithium to achieve its clean energy goals — and the industry that mines, extracts and processes the chemical element is poised to grow. But it also faces a host of challenges from environmentalists, Indigenous groups and government regulators.

Although lithium reserves are distributed widely across the globe, the U.S. is home to just one active lithium mine, in Nevada. The element is critical to development of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that are seen as key to reducing climate-changing carbon emissions created by cars and other forms of transportation.

Russia’s War in Ukraine Reveals a Risk for the EV Future: Price Shocks in Precious Metals – by Marianne Lavelle (Inside Climate News – March 28, 2022)

March 29, 2022

Home

After the nickel market goes haywire, the United States and its allies launch a critical minerals energy security plan, with stockpiling an option.

A silver sedan rolled off of the General Motors assembly line in Spring Hill, Tennessee, last Monday that represented the $35 billion bet the company is making on the future inside the chassis of its most storied brand.

It was GM’s first all-electric Cadillac Lyriq, launched nine months earlier than scheduled and signaling that the automaker is charging full-speed-ahead on its transition to electric vehicles, despite tumultuous times.

INTERVIEW: Ontario ‘all in’ to develop full EV, battery supply chains: minister – by Nick Lazzaro (S&P Global – March 28, 2022)

March 29, 2022

https://www.spglobal.com/

Ontario aims to propel its leadership in automotive electrification by continuing to attract key industrial investments that will establish a complete electric vehicle and battery supply chain in the region, according to a government official.

“Quite frankly, we are all in with our chips on electric vehicle production in Ontario,” Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade, said in an interview with S&P Global Commodity Insights.

China’s Influence Over Metals Trading Creates Advantage for Its Domestic Enterprises – by Kathleen Li (The Epoch Times – March 27, 2022)

March 29, 2022

https://www.theepochtimes.com/

Chinese stainless steel giant Tsingshan Holding Group (THG) has for many years relied on short selling to reduce its future costs for nickel, a key component of stainless steel and a major ingredient in lithium-ion batteries. But rather than nickel prices falling as hoped, the price skyrocketed to over $100,000 per ton on March 8, one day before THG’s 200,000-ton short sell contract was due on March 9.

The price of nickel went up even before Russia invaded Ukraine, reflecting the increasing demand for electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel. The price soared after the war started, since Russia produces 23 percent of the world’s high-quality nickel and has been sanctioned finacially. The price rocketed as THG bought large amounts of nickel to reduce those short bets and its exposure to costly margin calls.

A $1.5 billion lithium deposit was discovered near Newry; excavating it poses a challenge (Maine Monitor/Sun Journal – October 25, 2021)

March 29, 2022

https://www.sunjournal.com/

The find, one of the richest on Earth, could test Maine’s 2017 metallic mining laws, considered the strictest in the nation.

NEWRY — The richest known hard rock lithium deposit in the world lies a few miles northeast of the ski slopes of Sunday River and not far from Step Falls, where swimmers can wade in shallow pools formed by hundreds of feet of cascading granite ledge. Smaller deposits have been known in Maine for decades, but this recent discovery, just north of Plumbago Mountain in Newry, is the first to have a major resource potential.

And that potential is staggering: At current market prices, the deposit, thought to contain 11 million tons of ore, is valued at roughly $1.5 billion. Measuring up to 36 feet in length, some of the lithium-bearing crystals are among the largest ever found.

Nipigon-area lithium hunter inks exploration agreement with First Nations – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 22, 2022)

March 24, 2022

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Imagine Lithium defining and expanding deposit first discovered in the 1950s

A Vancouver lithium outfit has signed an exploration agreement with three northwestern Ontario First Nation communities – Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek, Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek. and Red Rock Indian Band – in the Lake Nipigon area.

A March 21 news release from Imagine Lithium said the document sets up a framework with the communities for ongoing consultation and accommodation around the company’s exploration work at its Jackpot Lithium Project, 140 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

Nickel turmoil is back as prices spike 15% again to hit limit – by Mark Burton and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg/Mining.com – March 24, 2022)

March 24, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Nickel surged by the 15% exchange limit for a second day in London, putting the spotlight back on bearish position holders just two weeks since the market was roiled by an historic short squeeze.

Nickel futures remained locked at the price limit by Thursday afternoon on the London Metal Exchange, as the latest spike extends a period of unprecedented turmoil for the market. Prices soared over 250% over two trading sessions in early March during the short squeeze centered on China’s Tsingshan Holding Group Co., before the market was suspended.

Stellantis and LG announce $5-billion EV battery plant in Ontario – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 24, 2022)

March 24, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Plant would eventually create more than 2,500 jobs within a key segment of the auto supply chain

European automaker Stellantis N.V. and South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution said on Wednesday they will invest $5 billion in a joint venture to build Canada’s first electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing plant, located in Windsor, Ont.

It would stand out as among the largest, if not the largest, investment in the Canadian auto sector in the country’s history and is expected to receive significant, if still undisclosed, financial support from the federal and provincial governments.