Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 97

Documentary shines a light on lithium mining and conflicts in Argentina – by Fermin Koop (Dialogochino.net – August 3, 2021)

August 5, 2021

Years in the making, the film tells the story of the communities of Salinas Grandes, Jujuy province, who resist the arrival of mining companies for lithium extraction in Argentina

Clemente Flores lives in the El Moreno community in Salinas Grandes, Jujuy, Argentina, where indigenous communities are trying to prevent mining companies from extracting lithium. The amount of water needed to obtain the mineral, used to power electric car and phone batteries, would radically alter their way of life, Clemente argues.

In the name of lithium, a new documentary directed by Cristian Cartier and Martín Longo, tells the story of a conflict generated by lithium extraction. The film, which took more than five years to make, is available online for free until 9 August and is then scheduled for release in cinemas across Argentina.

Lithium boom could be coming to Salton Sea area, and residents need to be included – by Mariela Loera (Desert Sun – August 4, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.desertsun.com/

Mariela Loera is a policy advocate with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability.

Will the dream of renewable energy in the “Lithium Valley” around the Salton Sea be a nightmare for surrounding communities?

The area contains huge amounts of lithium, and demand for electric cars — which use lithium-ion batteries — is booming. So we are at a vital moment to meaningfully engage residents and ensure that future decisions and actions not only prevent harm but also benefit local communities.

Early community involvement before the work to extract the lithium begins in earnest will enable preventative action that considers the existing circumstances of surrounding communities and ensures no further harm, which is essential for equitable progress and true climate resilience.

Rosatom subsidiary plans for lithium mining on the Kola Peninsula – by Thomas Nilsen (Barents Observer – July 29, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/

The world’s hunger for lithium-ion batteries is sky-rocketing as the car industry rapidly changes from combustion engines to electric powertrains. A carbon-free future will additionally require huge amounts of batteries to store wind and solar power on the grid.

Data collected by Bloomberg shows how demand for lithium-ion batteries will surge from roughly 526 gigawatt hours in 2020 a predicted 9,300 gigawatt hours by 2030. To meet the demand, annual production of lithium carbonate should be boosted from today’s 520,000 metric tons existing mining capacity up to 2,8 million metric tons by 2028, a study by Rystad Energy suggests.

The study warns of the risk of a significant supply deficit from 2026-2027 unless new minings are started.

Hyundai, LG To Build $1.1 Billion Electric Vehicle Battery Plant In Indonesia To Tap Nickel Supply – by Ralph Jennings (Forbes Magazine – August 2, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.forbes.com/

South Korean conglomerates Hyundai and LG will jointly build a $1.1 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Indonesia to take advantage of the Southeast Asian country’s potentially vast consumer market and rich natural supply of nickel.

The 50-50 joint venture, slated to operate in the Karawang regency, Indonesia’s West Java province, will break ground this year and start production in 2024 with annual capacity for 10 gigawatt hours of battery cells, Hyundai said in a statement on Thursday.

Hyundai and LG can churn out 150,000 battery-run electric vehicles at that capacity, the statement says. The factory built on 330,000 square meters of land will help Hyundai and its subsidiary Kia “secure a stable supply of EV batteries at a competitive price” for future electric vehicles, it adds.

Why the ‘brains behind Tesla’ is betting his fortune on urban mining – by Patrick McGee and Henry Sanderson (Australian Financial Review – August 4, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.afr.com/

Few people have had the sort of front row seat to the rise of electric vehicles as JB Straubel. The soft-spoken engineer is often considered the brains behind Tesla: it was Straubel who convinced Elon Musk, over lunch in 2003, that electric vehicles had a future.

He then served as chief technology officer for 15 years, designing Tesla’s first batteries, managing construction of its network of charging stations and leading development of the Gigafactory in Nevada. When he departed in 2019, Musk’s biographer Ashlee Vance said Tesla had not only lost a founder, but “a piece of its soul”.

Straubel could have gone on to do anything in Silicon Valley. Instead, he stayed at his ranch in Carson City, Nevada, a town once described by former resident Mark Twain as “a desert, walled in by barren, snow-clad mountains” without a tree in sight.

BHP to expand nickel operations to meet soaring demand – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 3, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) will make a final investment decision on a major expansion of the processing plant at its Mt. Keith nickel mine in Western Australia as it invests further in battery metals to meet expected soaring demand.

Nickel is a key component for EVs cathodes, and the world’s no. 1 miner sees nickel demand growing faster than anticipated due to a spike in the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), as governments commit to decarbonizing their economies and set end dates for combustion engine sales.

“We believe that over 2020 to 2030, overall nickel demand will grow at 5% compound annual growth rate, and that nickel-in-battery demand will grow at a rate of 21% CAGR,” BHP Nickel West president Eddy Haegel told the annual Diggers and Dealers conference on Tuesday.

Vancouver-based miner’s deep sea mining request may force moratorium from international authority – by Gwynne Dyer (London Free Press – August 1, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://lfpress.com/

A month ago, it seemed to be just another tale of ruthless miners and desperate poor people conspiring to wreck the environment while distant regulators failed to get a grip. But it turns out to be more complicated than that, and rather more hopeful.

The mining company is DeepGreen, and the poor people are the 11,500 inhabitants of Nauru, a tiny independent island in the Western Pacific.

The regulators are the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN agency that governs the seabed in areas beyond the reach of national laws (i.e. most of the planet).

BHP was rebuffed twice by Noront’s biggest shareholder before making takeover bid – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 31, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

BHP Group Ltd. had designs on Ring of Fire exploration company Noront Resources Ltd as early as the spring, but on two occasions its plans were stymied by Wyloo Metals Ltd., Noront’s biggest stakeholder.

Melbourne-based BHP on Tuesday made a $0.55 a share takeover offer for Noront, obliterating a previous $0.315 approach by fellow Australian company Wyloo Metals.

A regulatory filing this week shows that BHP first approached Toronto-based Noront in April with a proposal to acquire a 9.9 per cent stake in the company.

EV Batteries Won’t Be Enough to Save the Mining Industry – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – July 30, 2021)

July 30, 2021

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Rio Tinto Group’s decision to push the button on a project in Serbia to produce lithium for electric vehicle batteries is a sign of how the mining industry is working to embrace the transition to net-zero emissions.

It’s also emblematic of just how difficult that transition is going to be. The company said Tuesday it will commit $2.4 billion to the Jadar project, which will produce lithium carbonate as well as boric acid, a material used in cockroach poison and high-strength magnets, with an aim to produce 58,000 metric tons of lithium a year starting in 2026.

Lithium is undoubtedly a boom market. Demand will increase from around 400,000 tons last year to around 2 million in 2030 as electric cars start to take over from gasoline, according to BloombergNEF.

Column: Rio’s lithium project will test mining’s ESG credentials – by Andy Home (Reuters – July 29, 2021)

July 30, 2021

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Rio Tinto’s decision to invest $2.4 billion in developing the Jadar lithium mine in Serbia is big news. For the company with its heavy exposure to the iron ore sector, it’s a major strategic pivot to the fast evolving battery metals space.

For the lithium market, it marks the first entry of a big international mining company into what is a supply landscape dominated by specialty incumbents.

It’s hugely significant for Serbia, which is trying to attract investment to its mining sector, and it’s hugely important for the European Union, which has identified its Balkan neighbour as a key link in its mineral securities chain.

BHP and Forrest may be better together on nickel play (Australian Financial Review – July 28, 2021)

July 28, 2021

https://www.afr.com/

BHP might have trumped Andrew Forrest’s bid for a Canadian nickel miner, but there’s no reason the pair can’t form a partnership on this project.

The prospect of iron ore titans Andrew Forrest and BHP duking it out over a Canadian nickel junior is obviously delicious. But the rational move is for the old foes to get into bed together on what both clearly see as a great opportunity amid a broader rush for battery minerals.

BHP announced on Tuesday night a $C325 million ($351 million) bid for Noront, which has a highly rated nickel project called Eagle’s Nest in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region (how Game of Thrones is that?) some 1200 kilometres north of Toronto.

The Big Australian’s bid, which has the support of the Noront executive team (which owns 9.9 per cent of the company), is pitched at a 75 per cent premium to the takeover bid by Forrest’s Wyloo Metals in May.

Fight over nickel assets heats up with BHP’s $258m Noront bid – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 27, 2021)

July 28, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) has offered C$325 million ($258.45 million) for Canadian nickel miner Noront Resources (TSX-V: NOT), trumping a bid by Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals, as top miners race to secure supplies of battery metals.

The world’s largest miner is offering C$0.55 per share of Noront, representing a premium of 129% to the firm’s closing price on May 21, a day before Wyloo’s proposal.

Noront is recommending that shareholders accept the bid, which comes through BHP Lonsdale, a subsidiary that already owns 3.7% of the Canadian nickel producer.

BHP strikes friendly deal to buy Ring of Fire explorer Noront for $325-million – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 28, 2021)

July 28, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

BHP Group Ltd. has reached a friendly agreement to acquire Ring of Fire explorer Noront Resources Ltd. for $325-million, trumping an earlier unsolicited approach from Australian private equity firm Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd.

Melbourne-based BHP said it intends to pay 55 cents a share in cash for Toronto-based Noront, 69-per-cent higher than the company’s closing price on the TSX Venture Exchange on Monday. The offer is also significantly higher than the $0.315-a-share proposal made by Wyloo, currently Noront’s largest shareholder, in May.

The Ring of Fire, situated 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay in the James Bay Lowlands in Ontario’s Far North, has had an almost mythical hold on the Canadian mining industry for more than a decade, but so far no company has succeeded in building any mines in the region.

Australian company BHP makes takeover bid for Canada’s Noront Resources (CBC Thunder Bay – July 27, 2021)

July 28, 2021

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Another Australian company is moving forward with a takeover bid for Noront Resources, with a cash offer for all outstanding and issued shares of the Canadian company.

Noront’s board of directors is recommending shareholders accept the offer from BHP, which would pay 55 cents cash for each share.

This is the second Noront takeover bid by an Australian company this year. In May, Wyloo Metals offered 31.5 cents cash for Noront shares.

BHP beats Forrest in takeover battle for prized nickel project – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – July 27, 2021)

July 28, 2021July 28, 2021

https://www.afr.com/

BHP has made a sensational bid to snatch a high-grade nickel project in Canada from the clutches of Andrew Forrest in another sign of how determined it is to secure a future in battery metals.

The BHP bid for Noront Resources unveiled on Tuesday night trumps a takeover offer lobbed by Dr Forrest’s privately-owned Wyloo Metals in May.

How Dr Forrest will react to the BHP raising the takeover stakes by a substantial premium remains unclear, with Wyloo controlling about 37 per cent of Noront stock.