It is time for electric-vehicle makers to go beyond lithium off-take agreements and get more involved in mining and processing, industry observers said.
Recent price increases for certain metals showed their vulnerability to supply chain disruptions, which threaten to boost the cost of clean energy technologies and slow their deployment, the International Energy Agency, or IEA, said in its World Energy Outlook 2022, published Oct. 27.
Early test results are promising at the Kraken project near Burgeo
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — When people think mining in Newfoundland and Labrador, iron ore, nickel and, in recent years, gold, tend to come to mind.
Gold was actually what Tim Froude, CEO of Sokoman Minerals Corp., and his mining partners, Benton Resources Inc, were looking for at their Golden Hope project in southwestern Newfoundland when something else caught their eye. “We were flying along in a helicopter when we noticed a white outcrop in the distance, so we landed to take a look,” Froude said.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Less than a year after the federal government approved the takeover of Neo Lithium by China’s Zijin Mining without a full national security review under the Canada Investment Act, it has signalled an entirely new approach to Chinese investment in Canada’s critical minerals sector.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson issued new guidelines on Oct. 28 regarding foreign investment in the sector, which is key to Canada’s competitiveness in a future low-carbon global economy. Had they been in place at the time of the Neo Lithium takeover, which closed in January this year, it’s probable — if not 100% certain — that the deal would have been rejected.
Ottawa has just shown tangible resolve in declaring Canada off-limits to Chinese ownership of Canadian critical minerals. These are minerals essential to the production of electric vehicles (EVs), cellphones, laptop computers, and power from alternative energy technologies.
It’s by no means certain that this recent prohibition is in Canada’s interests. More on that later. Last week, Ottawa ordered Chinese companies to divest their ownership in three junior mining firms based in Canada. The firms plan to develop lithium deposits in Canada, Argentina and Chile.
Lithium exploration companies react to Canada ordering Chinese investors out
A junior exploration company in the critical minerals space says it is considering its legal options in response to the Canadian government ordering one of its investors to divest from the company.
Ultra Lithium Inc. (TSX-V: ULT) is one of two B.C.-headquartered companies that has Chinese investors ordered to divest their equity positions in the Canadian companies, based on national security concerns over control over critical minerals.
Lithium is proving to be largely immune from the volatility that has rocked commodity markets as prices soar in the face of a looming global recession, prompting Macquarie to deliver another round of upgrades for producers and developers of the battery metal.
Lithium prices have continued to hit record levels this year with spodumene, carbonate and hydroxide surging 243 per cent, 124 per cent and 152 per cent respectively.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Frontier Lithium (TSXV: FL; US-OTC: LITOF) reports progress towards completing a resource update and prefeasibility study for its PAK project in northwestern Ontario by the first quarter of 2023. The prospective lithium pegmatite project is 170 km north of the famed Red Lake Gold Camp in an emerging lithium mineral district in the Canadian Shield dubbed the ‘Electric Avenue.’
Having already outlined one of the largest and highest grade spodumene resources in North America, the project has the potential to crystalize the vision of Frontier becoming Canada’s ‘lithium champion,’ as owner, president and CEO Trevor Walker tells The Northern Miner in an interview.
The Canadian government this week ordered Chinese companies to divest their holdings in three Canadian-listed junior mining companies planning to develop lithium deposits.
The ban comes within days of Canada announcing a tougher policy on investment in the minerals sector by state-owned entities, particularly those from China, which dominates the processing of key energy transition metals such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Power Metals and Hong Kong partner plan to appeal federal divestment order
A junior miner searching for cesium and lithium in northeastern Ontario said its Hong Kong financing partner intends to appeal a Canadian government order to pull its investment from the critical minerals exploration project.
In the meantime, it’s business as usual Power Metals said of its ongoing exploration drilling at its Case Lake Project site, 80 kilometres east of Cochrane, near the border with Quebec.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Beijing is accusing Canada of “suppressing Chinese companies” by forcing three of its state-controlled corporations to sell their stakes in Canadian critical minerals businesses.
On Wednesday, Ottawa ordered Chinese state-owned companies to immediately divest their interests in three Canadian critical minerals companies. The federal government had faced an avalanche of criticism earlier this year for allowing too much investment from the Asian superpower in Canada’s domestic mining sector.
Increasing global demand for the mineral could benefit countries with the world’s largest reserves.
BUENOS AIRES – Nearly 55% of the world’s lithium deposits lie in Latin America’s lithium triangle, the swath of territory encompassing Chile’s and Argentina’s northern regions and Bolivia’s southwest.
But as hopes of a windfall from increased electric vehicle production rise, anxieties are rising too over which country will come out on top—or whether cooperation between the three can help secure more advantageous deals.
LOGAR, Afghanistan — Somewhere in the Logar Mountains, overlooking the highway to Kabul, Asadullah Massoud trudged up to a four-story-tall cleft. Before him was a monochromatic pattern of gray stone, save for a seam of dull, almost-black rocks. “Look there. See that black line?” he said. “That’s chromite.”
An explosion thumped in the distance. Massoud looked up at the sound, but appeared unconcerned. That’s not fighting. We’re mining with the open-surface method, putting explosives and going from hill to hill,” he said.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — It is the new gold rush, and China is leading the hunt as prices surge. Only it’s not gold everyone’s looking for, it’s lithium. Many say the future of electric vehicle production and, more broadly, combatting climate change, depend on the rare metal.
Prices for the “green metal” have seen an almost 500% increase in the past year, according to Bloomberg. Sung Choi, a metals analyst at BloombergNEF, told VOA, “The cost of lithium has risen because virtually all automakers have jumped onto producing electric vehicles.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Ottawa is ordering Chinese state-owned companies to immediately divest their interests in three Canadian critical minerals companies, after the federal government faced an avalanche of criticism earlier in the year for allowing too much investment from the Asian superpower into the domestic mining sector.
The government’s order marks the second time in a week it has taken a more aggressive stand against China, after allowing it to acquire a Canadian critical minerals company earlier this year amid little scrutiny.
https://thenevadaindependent.com/
There is an otherworldly feel to the crystalline-blue evaporation ponds that sit in Clayton Valley, an arid area in Nevada’s least populated county, Esmeralda. From above, the ponds look like a grid of pooled water arranged in a gradient that moves from a deep-sea blue to a light-sky tone. The man-made desert pools contain what is naturally underneath the ground: water.
Pumps, drilled deep into the Earth, pull brine from an underground aquifer, and pipes move the salty water into the expansive holding ponds. This is not just any water. It is rich in lithium, a mineral needed for electric cars and large-scale storage batteries, technologies in high demand as countries and industries seek to decarbonize national economies and electric grids.
