Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals – Page 55

Will America Trade Energy Independence for China Rare Earth Extortion? – by Larry Bell (KMJ Now – February 2021)

February 23, 2021

https://www.kmjnow.com/

The Biden administration’s feckless “Build Back Better” plan to throttle back U.S. fossil energy needed to reliably power our industry, air condition our homes and fuel our transportation in exchange for literally charging forward with a transition to intermittent and unreliable “green energy” reliance upon China for vital rare earth material-dependent electronics will not end well for America.

Rare earths are 17 indispensable metals used in an endless variety of 21st Century technologies, including, the manufacturing of domestic and strategic military airplanes, computers and smart phones, electricity generation and transmission systems, advanced weapon guidance systems, and yes, “Green New Deal” priorities like solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries for utility-scale energy storage and electric vehicles (EVs).

U.S. automakers are racing to China as an opportunity to cash in on the Democrat plan to transform America’s transportation to 100% EVs.

Battery metals are critical over the next decade, Roskill says – by Carl A. Williams (Northern Miner – February 18, 2021)

February 19, 2021

https://www.northernminer.com/

The growing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is driving the increasing demand for lithium, nickel and cobalt – critical metals used as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries in the automotive, energy and electronics industries.

According to Deloitte’s Electric Vehicle Trends, EV sales are forecast to grow from 2.5 million in 2020 to 11.2 million by 2025, and to 31.1 million by 2030. Analysts from Roskill, a commodity research firm and a leader in critical materials supply chains, provide an outlook on battery metals’ markets over the next decade.

Lithium

Global demand for lithium carbonate — one of two primary forms of lithium used in EVs — is expected to exceed one million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) in 2026, according to David Merriman, an expert on EV and battery materials at Roskill.

WORLD BANK NEWS RELEASE: Mineral Production to Soar as Demand for Clean Energy Increases (May 11, 2021)

February 19, 2021

For Report: https://bit.ly/3bl6pkb

The more ambitious climate targets, the more minerals needed for a clean energy transition

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2020 — A new World Bank Group report finds that the production of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, could increase by nearly 500% by 2050, to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies. It estimates that over 3 billion tons of minerals and metals will be needed to deploy wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as energy storage, required for achieving a below 2°C future.

The report “Minerals for Climate Action: The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition” also finds that even though clean energy technologies will require more minerals, the carbon footprint of their production—from extraction to end use—will account for only 6% of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by fossil fuel technologies.

The report underscores the important role that recycling and reuse of minerals will play in meeting increasing mineral demand. It also notes that even if we scale up recycling rates for minerals like copper and aluminum by 100%, recycling and reuse would still not be enough to meet the demand for renewable energy technologies and energy storage.

Legacy mine tailings present mineral recovery opportunity for junior miner – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 17, 2021)

February 18, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Avalon Advanced Materials acquires closed Kapuskasing mine, Matheson processing plant as part of $16-million property package deal

A lithium exploration company wants to dig into a mine waste pile to recover valuable critical minerals that are used in fertilizer applications.

Avalon Advanced Materials is picking up four industrial minerals properties in Northern Ontario, including a former phosphate mine near Kapuskasing and a processing plant in Matheson.

Toronto-based Avalon announced Feb. 17 that it has signed a binding letter of intent to acquire a privately owned numbered company, 2333382 Ontario Inc.

We need raw material diplomacy, not conflict – by Günther Maihold (IPS Journal – February 18, 2021)

February 18, 2021

https://www.ips-journal.eu/

Trade in valuable minerals often fuels violent conflicts. The EU’s new approach to raw material diplomacy could change that

While blood diamonds are certainly the most well-known ‘conflict raw material’, they are by no means the only one. The proceeds from their sale have, for example, been used to finance and prolong violent conflicts in Africa.

But if the European Commission should get its way, the banning of such raw materials would be expanded to strategic ones – through a new EU regulation on conflict minerals.

Raw materials are an indispensable part of modern economies and geopolitical competition. Naturally, that leaves them in high demand. However, mining and exploiting them is often linked to high social and environmental costs in many countries of the Global South.

China eyes rare earth export curbs for US defense – FT – by Staff (Mining.com – February 16, 2021)

February 17, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

China is looking into curbing the exports of rare earth minerals that are crucial to US defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin for the manufacture of sophisticated weaponry and F-35 fighter jets, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Industry executives said government officials had asked them how badly companies in the US and Europe would be affected if China restricted rare-earth exports during a bilateral dispute, FT reported.

China currently accounts for 70% of global production of rare earths, controlling 90% of the $4 billion global market.

Why Rare Earths May Leave Europe and U.S. Vulnerable – by Joe Deaux and Justina Vasquez (Bloomberg News – February 17, 2021)

February 17, 2021

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — Rare earths are among the most critical raw materials on the planet, yet few people can name them or know what they do. They are used to make so-called permanent magnets that create a field for motors to run in perpetuity.

These are in everything from lithium-ion batteries to electric vehicles, wind turbines and missile guidance systems. They’re fundamental as they help transfer energy into movement.

They represent a vulnerability for the U.S., which is 80% reliant for rare earths on imports from China, and also for Europe. Now they risk becoming a contentious issue in U.S.-China trade itself.

10 Top Manganese-producing Countries – by Melissa Pistilli (Investing News – February 2, 2021)

February 3, 2021

https://investingnews.com/

Manganese market volatility has become the norm for the top manganese-producing countries in recent years, and 2020 was no different.

After a sharp decline in 2019, COVID-19 lockdowns sent the manganese price soaring in May of last year before a crash brought it down in the second half of the 12 month period.

Looking forward into 2021 and beyond, the metal is strongly dependent on demand from China, which requires large amounts of electrolytic manganese to produce steel for construction. Interest in battery applications for manganese could also be a positive force moving forward.

Biden DOE pick ‘enthusiastically supportive’ of US critical mineral policies – by Jacob Holzman (S&P Global Market Intelligence – January 2021)

January 27, 2021

https://www.spglobal.com/

In a signal of how the Biden administration will tackle U.S. mining, U.S. Energy Secretary nominee Jennifer Granholm voiced unerring support for marshaling the powers of the federal government to ensure steady domestic supplies of critical minerals, including lithium and cobalt.

Granholm, a former governor of a state legendary for its auto industry, said at her Jan. 27 Senate confirmation hearing that she was “enthusiastically supportive” of policy efforts geared toward boosting U.S. mining of materials integral to national security, including those used to produce lithium-ion batteries.

Her words echoed a national policy first set forth under the Trump administration then enacted by Congress to bolster domestic supplies of minerals in order to combat foreign influence over supply chains.

[Kabanga Nickel/Tanzania] Green technology boost for African mining – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – January 26, 2021)

January 27, 2021

https://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The key to unlocking value of Kabanga Nickel and enabling the full beneficiation of new era metals in Tanzania is an environment-friendly hydrometallurgy process that eliminates smelting and thus slashes the need for electricity.

The Kabanga Nickel Hydromet process – which takes ore to refined metals at lower capital and operating costs cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emission by 80% and eliminating sulphur dioxide (SO2) emission altogether – is seen as a game changer for Tanzania, by providing the maximum in-country value-add to the East African nation.

Once developed, Kabanga will produce class 1 nickel and cobalt products – two of the key elements used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries – and London Metal Exchange grade A copper cathode.

Developing a market for scandium oxide – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – January 21, 2021)

January 22, 2021

https://www.northernminer.com/

If you blinked you might have missed the news last week but it was extraordinary: Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO) and the Quebec government announced they are building a commercial-scale demonstration plant to produce scandium oxide in Canada – the first scandium oxide plant in North America.

As Alisha Hiyate, the editor-in-chief of the Canadian Mining Journal and Diamonds in Canada magazine pointed out in her article about the new plant on Jan. 14, scandium oxide is used to make high-performance aluminium alloys for the aerospace, defence and 3-D printing industries, and in the production of solid oxide fuel cells. Scandium-enriched alloys are stronger, lighter, corrosion-resistant and weldable.

Rio Tinto will be extracting the critical material from tailings it has generated from processing titanium dioxide. The mining company discovered the scandium oxide in mineralized material from its Lac Tio ilmenite mine in the French-speaking Canadian province five years ago, figured out a way of producing scandium oxide at a purity level of over 99.99%, and last year produced its first aluminum-scandium master alloy.

Lynas shares jump on deal for US rare earth plant – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – January 22, 2021)

January 22, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp’s (ASX: LYC) shares jumped on Friday after it announced a deal with the US government to build a commercial light rare earths separation plant in Texas.

The facility, expected to produce about 5,000 tonnes of rare earths a year, would help Washington’s push to secure domestic supply of essential minerals used in magnets and motors that power phones, wind turbines, electric vehicles and military devices.

It would house processing facilities for both heavy rare and light rare earths, directly sourced from Lynas’ cracking and leaching plant under development in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

Gowganda silver, cobalt explorer starting pilot plant to make electric vehicle battery material – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 19, 2021)

January 19, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A junior mining company with ambitious plans to be a Northern Ontario supplier of material for electric vehicle manufacturers said it’s a step closer to realizing those plans.

Toronto’s Canada Silver Cobalt Works announced last week that a first-stage pilot plant of its cobalt extraction technology will be built by SGS Canada at its metallurgical and analytical labs at Lakefield in southern Ontario.

The cobalt sulphate and refined material produced from their proprietary and environmentally friendly Re-20X process is used in the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles.

China’s Rare Earths ‘Slump’ A Sign Of Domestic ‘Hoarding’ For EV Batteries, And More – by Kenneth Rapoza (Forbes Magazine – January 17, 2021)

January 19, 2021

https://www.forbes.com/

China loves to be in everybody’s strategic supply chains. Rare earths is one of them. These are the minerals, often dug out of mines in Africa, that China controls. They go into your iPhone. They go into the Panasonic battery that powers your Tesla.

China’s rare earth exports fell to 35,448 tons last year from 46,330 tonnes in 2019, customs data showed on Thursday. China blamed the pandemic for weak demand. The 2020 exports were the lowest since 2015, according to Reuters.

But there may be more to it than the pandemic. For those China watchers, and competitors, looking for tears in the fabric, the slump has a little less to do with the pandemic than Beijing may be letting on.

What China’s increasing control over cobalt resources in the DRC means for the West – report – by Staff (Mining.com – January 17, 2021)

January 18, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

Market analyst Roskill published a report where it states that China’s increasing control over copper and cobalt resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could pose a threat to western market participants.

The threats are related to the security of supply, as increasingly close ties between the two countries could pose problems to those in the West looking to build up self-contained localized battery supply chains.

Back in early January, China announced that it would cancel an estimated $28 million of loans to the DRC, repayment of which were due by the end of 2020, and would provide $17 million in other financial support to help the country overcome the sanitary crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic.