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Lithium

Frontier announces $20M bought deal to fund PAK exploration – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – October 20, 2022)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Frontier Lithium (TSXV: FL; OTC: LITOF) is raising $20 million with which to continue exploration of the PAK lithium project in northwestern Ontario. The bought deal is underwritten by a syndicate led by RBC Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs.

The underwriters have agreed to purchase 9.1 million units of Frontier at a price of $2.20 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one-half of one purchase warrant. Each full warrant will entitle the holder to purchase a common share at a price of $2.75 within a period of 36 months following the closure of the bought deal. Closing is expected on Nov. 8, 2022.

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Europe joins the ‘white gold’ rush for lithium and faces an energy transition challenge – by Cyrielle Cabot (France24.com – October 19, 2022)

https://www.france24.com/en/

Shortly before arriving at the Paris Motor Show on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron told the financial daily Les Echos that his administration wanted to make electric vehicles “accessible to everyone”.

Macron then proceeded to announce a series of measures to enable households to acquire electric vehicles. With the EU seeking to ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles from 2035, France is trying to gradually phase out fossil-fuel cars. While the move is seen as an essential step on the road to energy transition, it also poses a serious problem: it will require massive quantities of metals needed to manufacture batteries, especially lithium.

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In the search for the lithium that will power our future, these three women see a bigger lesson – by Dennis Wagner (Techxplore.com – October 10, 2022)

https://techxplore.com/

Three women trek into the barren Nevada desert, boots crunching down a wash until one of them stops at an overhang, pulls out a geology pick, and chips away a chunk of rock. Over the next few minutes, and during hours of interviews, they explain the relationship between this stone and the battery that powers your electric car.

They talk about prehistoric volcanoes, subterranean brine lakes, advanced technology and the mineral that is changing the future of our planet. Lithium. This curiosity of the periodic table is an element so sensitive it can’t be found alone in nature. The pure white metal, when exposed to air, promptly oxidizes and turns black.

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Princeton sells most holdings in Lithium Americas, Protect Thacker Pass argues not enough – by Lia Opperman and Miriam Waldvogel (Daily Princetonian – October 6, 2022)

https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/

The University sold the majority of its stake in the Lithium Americas Corporation during the second quarter of 2022, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings released over the summer. As of last filing, the University’s holdings in the company are around $4.5 million, down from $92 million earlier this year.

Still, Protect Thacker Pass, a Nevada-based coalition of activists, has argued that the University’s holdings in the company remain unacceptable. Max Wilbert, the co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass, said, “We need far deeper and more significant change, including an end to car manufacturing, to stop the [ecological] crisis we’re in.” According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lithium is used in most of today’s electric vehicles.

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Australia could grab 20% of the world’s lithium refining by 2027 – by James Fernyhough (Bloomberg News – October 3, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Australia is poised to grab a fifth of the world’s lithium hydroxide refining capacity within five years as demand grows for battery metals that bypass China, Canberra said in a report.

China produces more than 80% of the world’s lithium hydroxide, a processed form of the in-demand metal, according to the International Energy Agency. However, several companies are building refineries in Australia that would turn locally-mined lithium ore into battery-grade chemicals.

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Surging coal, lithium prices can’t stem sell-off in top 50 mining stocks – by Frik Els (Mining.com – October 5, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Volatility on metal and mining markets continued in the third quarter with copper losing sight of record prices hit in March, gold’s bounce back sputtering, lithium doubling in price year to date, coal surging to unprecedented levels, potash advancing to a 14-year peak and uranium experiencing the best market since Fukushima.

The MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners lost $134 billion – based on primary exchange share price movements converted into US dollar – over the course of the third quarter and are now worth $1.22 trillion.

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U.S. steps away from flagship lithium project with Buffett’s Berkshire – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – October 5, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

Oct 5 (Reuters) – In a February meeting with mining executives, President Joe Biden laid out an aggressive goal for the United States to produce more of its own minerals for the electric vehicle revolution in ways that respected the environment.

A “big part” of those efforts, the president said, was a plan by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc to filter lithium from superhot geothermal brines swirling beneath California’s Salton Sea, something that had never been done before.

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Canadian-based International Battery Metals claims to have better way of extracting lithium – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – September 27, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The head of a Canadian-listed company that’s developed a new system for extracting lithium, a critical mineral for electrification of the global economy, says it has proven it can tap smaller concentrations of the substance with minimal environmental disturbance.

International Battery Metals Ltd. said on Tuesday an independent engineering review has concluded the company’s modular, mobile lithium extraction plant obtains more than 65 per cent of the lithium from brine, which is saline groundwater enriched with dissolved lithium. It also recycles and reuses 94 per cent of the water in the process, according to a report by SLR Consulting Ltd.

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Can lithium be produced with a lower environmental impact? – by Javier Lewkowicz (Dialogo Chino – September 28, 2022)

Dialogo Chino

Lithium production is facing a transformation. Mining, automotive and chemical companies around the world are in a race to improve the efficiency of production processes and reduce the environmental impact of the dominant methods of lithium extraction, in order to meet the exponential growth in demand associated with the scale-up of electric vehicles.

“Traditional brine processes have a high environmental impact, due to high levels of water evaporation,” says researcher Michelle Lee Yin of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. “There are different alternative technologies with the potential to replace and/or support the current production method, with the aim of achieving a more sustainable industry over time.”

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Manitoba juniors look to capitalize on lithium fever – by James Snell (Northern Miner – September 27, 2022)

https://www.northernminer.com/

With lithium prices at a record high – around US$71,000 a tonne for lithium carbonate – and demand for green technology surging, a cadre of exploration and development companies is looking to Manitoba as a source for the essential battery metal – and governments are signalling their approval.

Snow Lake Lithium (NASDAQ: LITM), which is drilling and expanding historical spodumene pegmatite deposits on its 223.8-sq.-km Thompson Brothers project in northwest Manitoba, is leading the charge. It plans to enter production by 2026 using the province’s 99% renewable hydroelectric power grid.

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How the U.S. fell behind in lithium, the ‘white gold’ of electric vehicles – by Jeniece Pettitt (CNBC.com – January 15, 2022)

https://www.cnbc.com/

The United States has a lithium supply problem. Nearly every major automaker has announced a transition to electric vehicles, Tesla delivered almost one million cars in 2021, and a handful of new electric vehicle companies like Rivian and Lucid are rolling new models off the line.

In order to power all of these EVs, we will need batteries — lots of them. Electric vehicle growth will be responsible for more than 90% of demand for lithium by 2030, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. But lithium is also in our phones, computers, ceramics, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, and is essential for solar and wind energy storage.

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‘This is a very, very big deal for Manitoba’ – by Martin Cash (Winnipeg Free Press – September 24, 2022)

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Snow Lake Resources working with LG Energy Solution to establish lithium supply chain in province

An important first step was taken on Thursday for Manitoba to aggressively insert itself into the global supply chain for lithium ion batteries, a product that is in red hot demand from vehicle manufacturers around the world.

LG Energy Solution, the second largest battery maker in the world, signed a memorandum of understanding with Snow Lake Resources to work together to potentially build Canada’s first lithium hydroxide processing plant in Winnipeg.

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Australian explorer aims to be Ontario’s first lithium miner and refiner – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 26, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Green Tech Metals strikes strategic alliance with LIthium Americas to establish a northwestern Ontario supply chain for the automakers

An Australian lithium explorer operating in the Armstrong-area is teaming up with a Canadian multi-national to develop a lithium mining and processing business in northwestern Ontario.

Green Technology Metals (GT1) has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC) of Vancouver to start a lithium supply chain for the auto sector.

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Canadian miners eye more lithium deals after LG Energy signs three deals in 24 hours – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – September 24, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

The deals paint a hopeful picture at a time when demand for EVs has increased and the world looks to shift away from coal

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. announced three agreements in a span of 24 hours with Canadian miners to source materials required to make batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) as it looks to boost its focus on North America.

After announcing its three-year cobalt deal with Toronto-based Electra Battery Materials Corp. on Thursday morning, the Tesla Inc. supplier announced agreements to source lithium from Toronto-based miner Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. and Winnipeg-based Snow Lake Resources Avalon Advanced Materials Ltd., which is developing a lithium project in Manitoba.

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How a Quebec Lithium Mine May Help Make Electric Cars Affordable – by Jack Ewing (New York Times – September 20, 2022)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The project also illustrates how difficult it is to get lithium out of the ground and break China’s dominance in processing the metal and turning it into batteries.

About 350 miles northwest of Montreal, amid a vast pine forest, is a deep mining pit with walls of mottled rock. The pit has changed hands repeatedly and been mired in bankruptcy, but now it could help determine the future of electric vehicles.

The mine contains lithium, an indispensable ingredient in electric car batteries that is in short supply. If it opens on schedule early next year, it will be the second North American source of that metal, offering hope that badly needed raw materials can be extracted and refined close to Canadian, U.S. and Mexican auto factories, in line with Biden administration policies that aim to break China’s dominance of the battery supply chain.

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