Lithium – Page 16 – Republic of Mining

Chile to nationalize its lithium industry – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 21, 2023)

April 21, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric announced on Thursday night his government would nationalize the country’s lithium, applying a model in which the state will partner with companies to develop the local industry.

The long-awaited policy in the world’s second-largest producer of the battery metal includes the creation of a national lithium company, Boric said on national television. State copper giant Codelco, the world’s No.1 producer of the metal, will be initially in charge of signing up partners for new contracts.

Why crashing lithium prices will not make electric cars cheaper (The Economist – April 20, 2023)

April 21, 2023

https://www.economist.com/

The race to secure enough of the battery metal is just getting started

Among the commodities that are key to decarbonisation, lithium is in the driving seat. Dubbed “white gold”, the metal is needed to produce nearly all types of batteries powering electric vehicles (evs). A single pack typically includes ten kilograms of the stuff.

In the past two years turbocharged ev sales worldwide helped boost prices twelve-fold, prodding miners to invest, carmakers to sign supply deals and governments to label it a strategic material. Most commodity prices stalled this winter, but lithium continued to ride high.

Chile Unveils Public-Private Model to Share Vast Lithium Riches with Mining Industry – by James Attwood (Bloomberg News – April 20, 2023)

April 21, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chile delivered its long-awaited lithium policy late Thursday, giving the state a majority stake in all new contracts and sending shares in the two current producers in the South American nation — SQM and Albemarle Corp. — tumbling.

While the government will respect existing arrangements with the two companies, both would move to the state-controlled model once contracts expire in 2030 and 2043, respectively. Alternatively, they could opt to give up a majority stake in their operations before then. SQM shares were down a record 20% at 3:35pm in New York, while Albemarle lost 10%.

Australian junior miner grows its lithium bank in northwestern Ontario – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 19, 2023)

April 20, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Green Technology Metals boasts two lithium deposits as Sioux Lookout-area project shows growth potential

Green Technology Metals, an Australian exploration upstart, is boosting its storehouse of lithium resources in northwestern Ontario. The company posted a first-time resource estimate for its Root Project, situated northeast of Sioux Lookout, and one of their two leading properties.

The maiden estimate for Root is 4.5 million tonnes at 1.01 per cent lithium oxide, along with 110 parts per million tantalum pentoxide, all in the inferred category. It stems from an almost 15,000-metre drilling program that the company kicked off on the property last August.

Mining Lithium in Abandoned Oil Fields for Tomorrow’s EVs – by Jacob Lorinc and Robert Tuttle (Bloomberg News – April 20, 2023)

April 20, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chris Doornbos pulled up to Alberta’s foundational oil field in a baby-blue Tesla Model Y, a not-so-subtle nod to a new world order. It was a crisp January afternoon in Canada’s top-polluting province and a biting -5C (23F), and the 40-year-old mining executive squinted at a patch of dirt that midcentury prospectors had once scoured for oil. It doesn’t look like much now, he admitted, but what counts is the lithium beneath the soil.

The Leduc oil field was discovered in the 1940s, when a group of Imperial Oil Ltd. workers stumbled upon a well so profuse with petroleum that, on first drill, it burped a gaseous fireball almost 15 meters (49 feet) into the air.

Yellowknife emerging as EV metals hub – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – April 10, 2023)

April 18, 2023

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

The Northwest Territories capital city of Yellowknife is emerging as a northern link in North America’s electric vehicle supply chain. Already home to Canada’s only rare earths mine, a 160-kilometers (100 miles) area around this northern mining town happens to be enriched with the lithium and cobalt that is in massive demand for EV batteries, along with numerous other minerals critical to both Canada and the United States.

A roughly 9,600-square-kilometer (3,700 square miles) area that extends 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Yellowknife to Vital Metal Ltd.’s Nechalacho rare earths mine is riddled with hardrock lithium sources known as pegmatites.

Major drop in lithium prices could mean cheaper electric vehicles – by Philippe de Montigny (CBC Sudbury – April 17, 2023)

April 18, 2023

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

Key ingredient in batteries down more than 65 per cent after two-year rally

The significant drop in lithium prices since the beginning of the year could mean cheaper electric vehicles (EVs) down the road. After soaring for two years, the price of lithium carbonate — a key ingredient in EV batteries — sank by more than 65 per cent since January, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

“Prices peaked at over $85,000 US in November,” mining industry analyst Jean-Charles Cachon said, a level he deemed “unsustainable.” Today, one metric tonne of the battery-grade lithium salt sells for less than $30,000 US.

Canada is sitting on a critical minerals mother lode. But is it ready for the new gold rush? – by Christian Paas-Lang (CBC News Politics – April 8,2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/

Proponents say Canada must do more to turn aspiration into action

Drive two hours north of Ottawa, put on a hard hat and bright orange vest, descend into a pit — and you find yourself on the frontline in the fight to be part of the new, green economy.

A mining project might not be what comes to mind when you think of the transition to a lower emissions economy. But embedded in electric vehicles, solar panels and hydrogen fuel storage are metals and minerals that come from mines like the one in Lac-des-Îles, Que.

Battery Metals Snapshot: Eight juniors on the hunt – by Marilyn Scales (Northern Miner – April 7, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

Without adequate supplies of battery metals, the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 cannot be reached. Here are eight companies who are on the hunt for the metals in North and South America.

Brunswick Exploration

Brunswick Exploration (TSXV: BRW) is a junior on a mission to find and develop a hard rock lithium source. This company concentrates its efforts on greenfield exploration, looking for new and undiscovered deposits. It has land packages in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces that host at least 125 pegmatite dykes.

Lithium: A white gold rush excites Cornwall – but who gains? – by Joshua Nevett (BBC.com – April 10, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.bbc.com/

Towering over a high street in a former mining heartland, a statue of a pitman reminds Cornwall of its industrial past. In this part of south-west England, the mining industry used to be an economic powerhouse and in recent years, it’s been making a tentative comeback.

A new generation of miners is hoping the natural resources that put Cornwall on the map will once again bring wealth to the county. This time, the miners are using cutting-edge technology to get their hands on lithium – a metal used to make batteries for everyday electronic devices we all rely on, from laptops to smartphones.

Brazil’s Minas Gerais lures lithium investments with fast permitting – by Anthony Barich and Kip Keen (SP Global – April 2023)

April 6, 2023

https://www.spglobal.com/

Brazil’s Minas Gerais state is fast-tracking the development of a “lithium valley” that it hopes will rival Latin American “lithium triangle” jurisdictions Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

The state government’s lithium valley initiative aims to “make the connection between the potential production of lithium” and pro-mining policies, said Fernando Passalio de Avelar, economic development secretary of Minas Gerais.

Tesla lines up for lithium as North America’s sole large-scale mine opens in Quebec – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 4, 2023)

April 4, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Companies behind Sayona Quebec see a bright future for lithium, four years after original owner shuttered mine

Anyone looking for evidence of the green economy in Canada would do well to drive about six hours north of Montreal to the town of La Corne in the Abitibi region of Quebec, where the first — and for now the only — large-scale lithium mine in North America has begun operating.

Last week, Sayona Quebec, a joint venture between Australia’s Sayona Mining Ltd. and North Carolina’s Piedmont Lithium Inc., restarted North American Lithium’s mine, which shuttered four years ago when lithium prices crashed.

Lithium is becoming more crucial in a warming world, but Maine’s huge deposits may never be mined because of environmental concerns – by David Abel (Boston Globe – April 1, 2023)

April 4, 2023

https://www.bostonglobe.com/

NEWRY, Maine — Five years ago, after much of their land had been logged in Western Maine, Gary Freeman and a colleague were bushwhacking through a thicket of raspberry shrubs and maple saplings, searching for a treasure they suspected could be buried beneath the mud and moss carpeting the sloped ground.

Following coordinates cited in a decades-old geological survey of the area, the veteran gem hunters began clearing the bramble and digging. Soon after, they hit something solid. They used hoes to scrape away the dirt and were astonished by their discovery: enormous, flaky white crystals the size of telephone poles.

Exclusive: Chinese lithium producers set price floor as demand evaporates, sources say – by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton (Reuters – March 31, 2023)

April 4, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING, March 31 (Reuters) – China’s top lithium producers agreed this week to set a floor price of 250,000 yuan ($36,380) per tonne of lithium carbonate, six people familiar with the matter said, in an effort to slow a plunge in the price of the battery raw material.

The price was agreed on Tuesday by around 10 companies including Tianqi Lithium (002466.SZ) and Ganfeng Lithium (002460.SZ) that met on the sidelines of a conference in Nanchang in southern China, said one person who attended the meeting and five others briefed on the discussions.

How China is winning the race for Africa’s lithium – by Harry Dempsey and Joseph Cotterill (Financial Times – April 2, 2023)

April 3, 2023

https://www.ft.com/

The country already dominates processing of the metal for use in electric vehicle batteries and is now investing heavily in mines, leaving western operators scrambling to keep up

The settlement of Uis in a remote part of Namibia seems an unlikely hotspot for a mineral cold war over the future of electric vehicles.

Uis lies in the arid hills of Erongo, a large and sparsely populated province of the south-west African country. For decades the only signs of its mineral wealth were the gemstones sold to tourists by artisanal miners, who scrabbled a living in the shadow of a disused tin mine.