Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals – Page 21

Green transition, dirty business: Europe’s struggle to tear loose from Chinese minerals – by Attila Kálmán and Amund Trellevik (Investigate Europe – October 26, 2023)

October 26, 2023October 26, 2023

https://www.investigate-europe.eu/

A global rush for minerals is underway. Europe wants to revive its mining industry to secure the lithium, nickel, copper and rare earth elements needed for a green future. Investigate Europe sieves fact from fiction in the hunt for critical raw materials.

“This has been 130 years of encroachment on our nature and abuse of us Sámi in this area,” says Karin Kvarfordt Niia. The ground is slowly caving in around Kiruna in northern Sweden, where Europe’s largest iron ore mine has operated since the late 19th century.

Excessive excavation has left Kiruna buckling under the strain of its mineral riches. There are fears that part of the town, with around 20,000 people, will literally sink into the ground. To avoid this, authorities are moving the whole city centre to new land, a mega operation paid for by the state-owned mining company LKAB.

$4b for mining companies to produce minerals for US renewables – by David Crowe and Farrah Tomazin (Sydney Morning Herald – October 24, 2023)

October 24, 2023

https://www.smh.com.au/

Mining companies will gain an extra $2 billion to expand the production of critical minerals needed for renewable energy and high-tech devices under a federal plan to meet soaring demand for the components tightly controlled by China.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will double the finance available to key exporters from $2 billion to $4 billion in the hope of unlocking vast reserves of lithium, nickel and other essential elements for batteries and other renewable technologies.

Battery metal prices driven down by slowing Chinese EV demand – by Harry Dempsey (Financial Post/Financial Times (October 18, 2023)

October 24, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Lithium, cobalt and nickel prices tumble as ‘irrational exuberance’ wears off and surge in supply hits markets

Prices for key battery materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel have sharply fallen this year as electric-vehicle sales in China cool off and a surge in supply hits the market.

Since the start of the year, lithium prices have fallen almost 70 per cent and nickel prices have dropped by 40 per cent, while the cobalt market is in a glut with prices hovering slightly above record lows, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Ltd., Refinitiv Ltd. and Argus Media Ltd.

China ups critical minerals heat with graphite controls – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 24, 2023)

October 24, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) – China is upping the critical minerals stakes by curbing exports of graphite, a key raw material in electric vehicle batteries. The West can’t say it wasn’t warned.

When China announced restrictions on exports of gallium and germanium in July, former Vice Commerce Minister Wei Jianguo was quoted in the China Daily as saying it was “just the start” if the West continued to target China’s high-technology sector.

How you can shape B.C.’s push to become a global supplier of critical minerals – by Chad Pawson (CBC News British Columbia – October 20, 2023)

October 20, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/

Province seeks feedback as it aims for official strategy in early 2024

B.C.’s provincial ministry responsible for mining is looking for input on a discussion paper to guide the province as it tries to become a global supplier of critical minerals, while also respecting First Nations’ rights and protecting the environment.

The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation wants to take advantage of minerals deemed critical for technologies such as batteries, electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels that are hoped to help the world slow the pace of climate change.

CMS: Friedland mocks lithium but touts battery tech – by Colin McCelland (Northern Miner – October 13, 2023)

October 17, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

Robert Friedland, billionaire founder and executive co-chair of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN), criticized lithium mining at a London conference, ridiculed the West’s green energy transition and urged prayer to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Researchers at Ivanhoe start-up Pure Lithium in Boston are going from lithium brine to lithium metal in a step that could radically transform the electric vehicle battery market valued at around US$50 billion a year, Friedland told The Northern Miner’s Canadian Mining Symposium on Friday.

The Age of Big Shovels – by Daniel Yergin (Project Syndicate.org – September 11, 2023)

October 17, 2023

https://www.project-syndicate.org/

The IMF recently warned that the pursuit of net-zero emissions by 2050 will “spur unprecedented demand for some of the most crucial minerals,” leading to “soaring costs” that could “derail or delay the energy transition.” The rising crescendo of alarm is justified: “crucial minerals” loom as the main bottleneck to decarbonization.

WASHINGTON, DC – Will a shortage of minerals short-circuit the clean-energy transition? National governments – including the United States, Japan, Britain, and Canada – the European Union, and international organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Energy Agency are raising the alarm.

As the IMF puts it, the pursuit of net-zero emissions by 2050 will “spur unprecedented demand for some of the most crucial metals,” leading to “soaring costs” that could “derail or delay the energy transition itself.”

Canada wants to be a global leader in critical minerals. Why is Australia eating our lunch? – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 13, 2023)

October 13, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

While domestic companies flounder, foreign behemoths have built a dominant position in the Canadian critical minerals sector – and few have benefited more than Australia

At the world’s biggest mining conference in Toronto earlier this year, two federal cabinet ministers engaged in a public discussion about Canada’s critical minerals industry. Conspicuously absent from the conversation was any Canadian mining company.

Instead, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson chatted amiably with Jakob Stausholm, chief executive officer of Rio Tinto PLC, a giant British-Australian multinational. Mr. Stausholm played up Rio’s Canadian credentials and trumpeted that it is the biggest mining company in Canada.

US Steps Up Efforts to Access Africa’s Critical Minerals – by Paul Burkhardt (Bloomberg News – October 12, 2023)

October 12, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The US is stepping up efforts to boost ties with African nations rich in critical minerals to help secure supply, according to a government official.

Workshops recently held in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, and Kinshasa in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo brought in US experts with the ultimate goal of setting up local battery manufacturing operations, Kimberly Harrington, deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Energy Resources, said at a conference in Cape Town on Thursday.

BHP calls for global collaboration on critical minerals – by Esmarie Iannucci (Mining Weekly – October 2, 2023)

October 3, 2023

https://www.miningweekly.com/

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining giant BHP has noted that global collaboration and a significant quantum of capital will be required in order to source the critical minerals needed to drive decarbonisation.

Speaking at the IEA Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Summit, BHP CEO Mike Henry said there was global recognition of the worked needed to significantly scale up the supply of certain metals, but that the hunt for these metals was encountering some significant challenges.

Are Green Resource Wars Looming? – by Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox (Earth Island – October 14, 2022)

October 3, 2023October 3, 2023

https://www.earthisland.org/

The burden of massive EV batteries will be borne by people and ecosystems.

Much of the excitement over the Inflation Reduction Act, which became law this summer, focused on the boost it should give to the sales of electric vehicles. Sadly, though, manufacturing and driving tens of millions of individual electric passenger cars won’t get us far enough down the road to ending greenhouse-gas emissions and stanching the overheating of this planet.

Worse yet, the coming global race to electrify the personal vehicle is likely to exacerbate ecological degradation, geopolitical tensions, and military conflict.

Questions linger a year after Canada placed curbs on foreign companies to protect critical minerals – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – September 24, 2023)

September 28, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Industry uncertainty remains with Ottawa’s divestment orders dominating discussions in the mining world over the past year

Canada shocked its mining sector a year ago with a policy that changed the way the industry viewed investment opportunities from foreign businesses. The policy, released in October, made it more difficult for foreign businesses, either owned or influenced by “non-like-minded” nations, to own or take a stake in Canada’s critical minerals sector, saying that such a situation could be considered “injurious to national security” under the Investment Canada Act (ICA) and, therefore, trigger an extended government review.

Canada considers 31 minerals, including lithium and copper, as critical due to the key roles they are expected to play in the gradual transition away from energy produced from fossil fuels.

Climate targets threatened by lack of mining investment: McKinsey – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 27, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

Soaring demand for metals and minerals needed to achieve a reduction in global emissions, paired with low commodity prices driving investors and mining firms to cut spending are set to cause major shortages of key elements for the world’s energy transition, a new report shows.

According to consultancy McKinsey & Company, looming supply gaps for rare earths, lithium, nickel, graphite, cobalt, boron and copper could lead to higher prices and market volatility, hindering emissions goals.

A recent report on DRC’s Kolwezi shows the cobalt capital’s dark side – by Chinedu Okafor (Business Insider Africa – September 26, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://africa.businessinsider.com/

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kolwezi town earned the moniker “cobalt capital of the world” due to its abundance of the material. One of the reasons the DRC contains over half of the world’s cobalt deposits and is responsible for 70% of worldwide production is the town in the country’s southern Lualaba Province.

In terms of copper deposits, the DRC ranks seventh in the world. According to the IEA, cobalt is a crucial mineral in most lithium-ion batteries, a key component in the energy transitions the world is moving toward, while copper is the mineral most frequently utilized in “clean energy” technologies.

Canada sees China as less ‘dependable’ partner on critical minerals, minister says (Reuters – September 26, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Canada wants to reach deals with countries that are more “dependable” trading partners than China for the supply and processing of the critical materials needed to power the energy transition, a Canadian minister said on Tuesday.

“Much of the critical mineral resources around the world is controlled by China … We are in a geopolitical universe where China is a trading partner that is probably not as dependable as the countries with whom we share values,” Canada’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said at a Canada-UK critical minerals investment forum in London.