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Forrest tops BHP bid in fight for Canadian nickel hopeful Noront – by James Thomson (Australian Financial Review – December 13, 2021)

https://www.afr.com/

Andrew Forrest’s private resources company Wyloo Metals has launched a third bid for Canadian nickel hopeful Noront Resources, after talks between Wyloo and rival bidder BHP failed to reach a compromise.

Wyloo has lifted its bid to $C1.10 a share, 47 per cent above the C75¢ bid BHP made in October. alks between BHP and Wyloo, which has a 37.2 per cent stake in Noront, had been running for about a month. Head of Wyloo Metals, Luca Giacovazzi, described the discussions as constructive but ultimately unsuccessful.

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NEWS RELEASE: Wyloo Metals Strongly Improves Offer for Noront (December 12, 2021)

PERTH, Australia, Dec. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd (“Wyloo Metals”) has today provided the board of Noront Resources Ltd. (TSXV: NOT) (“Noront”) with a letter outlining a further improved offer to acquire up to 100% of the shares in Noront that it does not already own for Cdn$1.10 per share (the “Revised Wyloo Offer”). This is 47% above the Cdn$0.75 per share offered under the take-over bid for Noront proposed by BHP Western Mining Resources International Pty Ltd (“BHP”).

The Revised Wyloo Offer is the only proposal to Noront shareholders that provides the following distinguishing features:

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In shadow of U.S. protectionism, Canada in heated battle for EV battery manufacturing – by Adam Radwanski and Laura Stone (Globe and Mail – December 8, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada is racing to close deals for new plants to produce electric-vehicle batteries amid an increasingly heated North America-wide competition for investment in EV manufacturing.

Government negotiations with at least three companies looking to make major battery-building investments have reached a critical stage, sources familiar with the talks confirmed on Wednesday.

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Developing Strong EV Supply Chains Will Mean Taking Environmental Mining Seriously – by Emily Pickrell (Forbes Magazine – December 6, 2021)

https://www.forbes.com/

The Biden administration’s plan to expand electric vehicle sales to more than half of all new car purchases by 2031 currently seems to hang on supply chains far from our shores. If we want to expand our EV fleets, revamping the supply chains for these critical minerals required is top priority.

The problem is partly the fallout for the U.S. policy move to encourage offshoring manufacturing for economic reasons in the last two decades. It has resulted in a neglect of the kind of materials large-scale batteries require.

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Team Canada trip to kill Biden’s EV tax credit advanced cause – by Charlie Pinkerton (iPolitics.ca – December 6, 2021)

https://ipolitics.ca/

A Canadian delegation sent to Washington to compel American lawmakers to kill a protectionist proposal by U.S. President Joe Biden says progress was made, even though it returned to Canada without any assurances from said lawmakers.

The electric-vehicle (EV) tax credit is part of the Build Back Better Act, an omnibus bill that Democrats passed through the House of Representatives and are now trying to get through the Senate.

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How the rise of electric cars endangers the ‘last frontier’ of the Philippines – by Karol Ilagan, Andrew W. Lehren, Anna Schecter and Rich Schapiro (NBC News – December 7, 2021)

https://www.nbcnews.com/

This article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

PALAWAN, Philippines – Jeminda Bartolome spends her days at the foot of a lush mountain range tending to her rice paddies. A mother of six, she leads a group of farmers and members of the Indigenous Palawan tribe who believe the crop is endowed with a human soul. “That,” she said on a recent afternoon pointing toward her farmland, “is our source of livelihood.”

Bartolome, 56, lives in one of the most biodiverse places on earth, a stunning island that draws legions of tourists to its crystal blue waters and pristine nature reserves. But these days, her livelihood, and the ancient rainforest system it depends on, are increasingly under threat.

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Motor Mouth: America’s rush to EVs might kill the entire Canadian auto parts business – by David Booth (Driving.ca – November 26, 2021)

https://driving.ca/

‘Build Back Better’ may stimulate the American auto industry, but it will kill Canada’s

“This discriminatory action” could be the “death knell” of the Canadian auto industry . So says Flavio Volpe, and he should know, since he’s the president of the Auto Parts Manufacturers’ Association of Canada, the organization tasked with, amongst other things, enticing automakers and their associated suppliers to build their production plants here in the Great White North.

And if he says something could adversely affect the Canadian auto manufacturing business — which employs some 135,000 Canadians directly and another 400,000 in related industries — we should all be concerned.

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Canada must once again grab its share of the auto industry, despite U.S. protectionism – by Dimitry Anastakis (The Conversation – December 2, 2021)

https://theconversation.com/

Dimitry Anastakis is Professor and LR Wilson/RJ Currie Chair in Canadian Business History, University of Toronto.

The news that Tesla recently reached the extraordinary valuation of US$1 trillion shows yet again that the automobile industry remains a huge economic force shaping the planet.

Tesla’s growth also reflects how the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) marks the fifth great wave of automotive investment since 1900. Despite not owning any car companies, Canada has benefited immensely from every previous wave thanks to shrewd policy-makers who used every tool possible to gain a fair share of the auto market.

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EV industry must work closer with lithium suppliers, executives say – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – December 1, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

Automakers must work closer with lithium producers to guarantee supply of specialized types of the white metal that boost an electric vehicle’s range and performance, Albemarle Corp and Livent Corp executives told Reuters.

As EVs go mainstream, automakers are planning models that can run longer before recharging and handle different weather conditions. Batteries for such EVs typically are made with a type of lithium known as hydroxide that cannot be stored for long periods of time and thus must be made in custom batches.

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Green Upheaval: The New Geopolitics of Energy – by Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan (Foreign Affairs – January/February 2022)

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/

It is not hard to understand why people dream of a future defined by clean energy. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow and as extreme weather events become more frequent and harmful, the current efforts to move beyond fossil fuels appear woefully inadequate.

Adding to the frustration, the geopolitics of oil and gas are alive and well—and as fraught as ever. Europe is in the throes of a full-fledged energy crisis, with staggering electricity prices forcing businesses across the continent to shutter and energy firms to declare bankruptcy, positioning Russian President Vladimir Putin to take advantage of his neighbors’ struggles by leveraging his country’s natural gas reserves.

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Battery pack prices fall but commodity boom may drive them back up – report – by Staff (Mining.com – December 1, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

A new report by BloombergNEF shows that lithium-ion battery pack prices fell 6% from 2020 to 2021 and 89% in real terms to $132/kWh from the $1,200 per kilowatt-hour registered in 2010.

“Continuing cost reductions bode well for the future of electric vehicles, which rely on lithium-ion technology. However, the impact of rising commodity prices and increased costs for key materials such as electrolytes has put pressure on the industry in the second half of the year,” the dossier reads.

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Why raw materials could impact speed of energy transition – by Sergio Matalucci (DW.com – November 29, 2021)

https://www.dw.com/en/

Decarbonization is a complicated process as it implies a rethinking of how our economies can function smoothly. Currently, climate-neutral energy systems require significant amounts of critical raw materials for renewable energy installations and storage solutions.

As climate goals get more ambitious, prices of raw materials are going up, making renewable investments marginally more expensive and more exposed to geopolitical tensions.

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Hunt for the ‘Blood Diamond of Batteries’ Impedes Green Energy Push – by Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton (New York Times – November 29, 2021)

https://www.nytimes.com/

KASULO, Democratic Republic of Congo — A man in a pinstripe suit with a red pocket square walked around the edge of a giant pit one April afternoon where hundreds of workers often toil in flip-flops, burrowing deep into the ground with shovels and pickaxes.

His polished leather shoes crunched on dust the miners had spilled from nylon bags stuffed with cobalt-laden rocks. The man, Albert Yuma Mulimbi, is a longtime power broker in the Democratic Republic of Congo and chairman of a government agency that works with international mining companies to tap the nation’s copper and cobalt reserves, used in the fight against global warming.

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N.W.T. mining projects eye roads to get them up and running (CBC News North – November 26, 2021)

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

Two mining projects in the Northwest Territories looking to cash in on the growing demand for batteries that are key in the battle against climate change are inching forward.

Robin Goad, the president and CEO of Fortune Minerals, the company that owns the NICO project, a cobalt, bismuth, gold and copper deposit about 50 kilometres northeast of Whatì, provided an update on the project during a virtual appearance at a geoscience conference held in Yellowknife Thursday.

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How Congo could become low-cost, low-emissions producer of battery materials – report – by Staff (Mining.com – November 25, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

In a report launched at the DRC-Africa Business Forum 2021 taking place this week in Kinshasa, BloombergNEF (BNEF) states that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could leverage its abundant cobalt resources and hydroelectric power to become a low-cost and low-emissions producer of lithium-ion battery cathode precursor materials.

The research paper estimates that it would cost $39 million to build a 10,000 metric-tonne cathode precursor plant in the DRC. This is three times cheaper than what a similar plant in the US would cost, whereas if it were to be built in China or Poland, it would cost $112 million and $65 million, respectively.

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