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Lithium

Thunder Bay edges closer to building a lithium processing plant – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 23, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Avalon Advanced Materials in talks to secure supply agreement with South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solutions

South Korean lithium-ion battery maker LG Energy Solution (LGES) is looking to Northern Ontario to secure its raw material supply chain.

Hours after inking a three-year cobalt deal with Electra Battery Materials to source cobalt sulfate from its Temiskaming refinery starting next spring, LGES has entered into negotiations with Kenora lithium mine developer Avalon Advanced Materials to supply them with battery-grade lithium hydroxide by 2025.

It could secure a funding partner that will help Avalon build a much anticipated lithium refinery in Thunder Bay by next year.

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Australia ‘too far behind’ to make EV batteries: lithium giant – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – September 19, 2022)

https://www.afr.com/

Albemarle boss Kent Masters says it will be hard for Australia to make the leap from mining key ingredients to making batteries for electric vehicles.

That’s despite the company having just built one of the world’s biggest and most advanced lithium hydroxide plants – estimated to have cost more than $2 billion – at an industrial park south of Perth.

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Lithium price smashes new record as supply struggles to feed EV growth – by Annie Lee (Bloomberg News – September 16, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

The surge in prices of lithium, the key battery material used to power electric cars, is seemingly unstoppable.

Lithium carbonate hit a fresh record of 500,500 yuan ($71,315) a ton in China Friday, according to data from Asian Metal Inc. Prices more than tripled in the past year, inflating the cost of batteries used in electric vehicles, with recent gains driven by strong demand and disruptions at a domestic producing hub.

Consumer support for new-energy vehicles has been gathering pace amid a global transition away from fossil fuels.

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The timing is finally right for Quebec’s lithium miners – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – September 14, 2022)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Quebec, more than any other province in Canada, has been ahead of the curve in working to join the EV economy. Its vast hydroelectricity infrastructure gives it an advantage in clean, low-carbon energy that is essential to “green” manufacturing, and it has supported the nascent battery industry with significant public investment.

It was also the first to outline plans for critical minerals exploration and production as well as for the development of a complete battery supply chain in-province — from mining through processing to manufacturing.

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Charging up lithium mines in Canada – by Eric Niemi (Canadian Mining Journal – September 2, 2022)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The world is starting to see the beginning of a transformational phase in mining especially as it comes to lithium, a new hot commodity. While lithium has been used in some ceramics and glass, lubricating greases, continuous casting fluxes among others, its demand is growing with the rise of electric cars that use lithium-ion batteries.

In fact, electric vehicles, are now responsible for 71% of global demand for lithium, according to Natural Resources Canada. Before the battery rush over the past decade, lithium carbonate prices have been notoriously volatile. However, the winds are beginning to change in response to new demand from the green technology and automotive sectors.

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Standard Lithium retools operations after short seller’s attacks – by Ernest Scheyder (Yahoo Finance/Reuters – September 7, 2022)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

Standard Lithium Ltd is trying to become the first new U.S. source of lithium for electric vehicle batteries in decades, a bullish target fueled in part by technical and engineering changes the company is making in response to accusations that its technology does not work.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Standard is among a wave of companies, including mining major Rio Tinto Ltd, trying to use direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/new-lithium-technology-can-help-world-go-green-if-it-works-2022-04-07 to supply the battery metal to the EV industry.

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The Race for US Lithium Hinges on a Fight Over a Nevada Mine – by Daniel Moore (Bloomberg News – September 5, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The high-desert mountain pass overlooking alfalfa fields and RV parks doesn’t look like a battleground that will shape the country’s clean energy future.

But when the rock samples here are pulverized, pulled apart and mixed with chemicals, they yield a metal increasingly seen as white gold: lithium, a critical ingredient for batteries used in electric vehicles, solar energy storage, and consumer electronics.

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‘We don’t have enough’ lithium globally to meet EV targets, mining CEO says – by Akiko Fujita (Yahoo Finance – September 5, 2022)

https://finance.yahoo.com/

Climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act put the U.S. back on track toward significant emissions reductions, potentially reducing greenhouse gas output by 40% of 2005 levels.

But one miner warned that when it comes to the transportation sector, domestic resources for lithium, the most critical mineral used for electric vehicle production, may not be sufficient enough to meet some of the most ambitious targets. The Biden administration, for instance, aims to slash the sale of gas-powered vehicles to 50% of all new purchases by 2030.

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Mercedes-Benz signs lithium supply deal with Nipigon mine developer – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – August 24, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Rock Tech Lithium will ship northwestern Ontario lithium concentrate overseas to German refinery

Mercedes-Benz is signing a supply deal with a Nipigon-area mine builder to provide lithium needed to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

Vancouver-based Rock Tech Lithium announced it intends to enter into agreement with the German luxury car maker to provide up to 10,000 tonnes of processed lithium hydroxide annually over a five-year period, starting in 2026. The Canadian-German mining company delivered the news on Aug. 23 amid much fanfare of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Canada.

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Environmentalists Have Turned On The Lithium Industry – by Felicity Bradstock (Oil Price.com – August 25, 2022)

https://oilprice.com/

The world is preparing for a lithium boom, mainly due to the anticipated increase in EV production and uptake over the coming decades. Several celebrities and tech billionaires are backing lithium mining in a bid to support a green transition.

In addition, many countries are rapidly developing their mining capabilities to establish their place in the global minerals and metals market, which is expected to expand significantly over the next decade.

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Lithium Monopoly in the Making? Beijing Expands in the Lithium Triangle – by Daniel A. Peraza (Geopolitical Monitor – August 23, 2022)

https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/

China aims to expand its influence in the “Lithium Triangle” as a component of a broader campaign to construct a near-monopoly in the global lithium market. The Lithium Triangle, comprising Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, accounts for approximately 56% percent of global lithium supply.

Beijing’s acquisition of multiple Argentinian, Chilean, and Bolivia lithium mining operations enables China to dominate regional lithium operations. From 2018- 2020, China invested approximately $16 billion on mining projects in the Lithium Triangle and will likely continue to invest in the region.

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Indigenous construction venture clears space for Kenora-area lithium pilot plant – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – August 22, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Avalon Advanced Materials looks to install demonstration-scale plant this fall for 2023 startup

A First Nations-participating construction consortium has been handed the job to do the site preparation for the pilot processing plant and haul road at a proposed northwestern Ontario lithium mine.

Toronto’s Avalon Advanced Materials said in a news release that SOW Construction Ltd. Partnership has been awarded the contract. In a project update of its Separation Rapids lithium project, north of Kenora, Avalon said the site work by SOW is underway and will be completed later this summer.

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Why Lithium Power Politics Are Playing Out Very Differently in Chile and Bolivia – by Vijay Prashad and Taroa Zúñiga Silva (Counter Currents.org – August 19, 2022)

https://countercurrents.org/

In late July, a large sinkhole appeared near the town of Tierra Amarilla in Chile’s Copiapó province in the Atacama salt flat. The crater, which has a diameter of more than 100 feet, emerged in one of Chile’s most lucrative regions for copper and lithium extraction.

The nearby Candelaria mining complex—80 percent of the property is owned by Canada’s Lundin Mining Corporation and 20 percent is owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd. and Sumitomo Corporation—had to halt its operations in the area.

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China Lithium Prices Near Record as Power Cuts Squeeze Market – by Annie Lee (Bloomberg News – August 23, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Prices of lithium in China are close to a record high as a power crisis in the nation’s major hub for the vital electric-vehicle battery ingredient threatens an already-tight market.

Sichuan, home to more than a fifth of China’s lithium production, extended industrial power cuts this week amid the most intense heat wave in more than a half century. The supply disruptions in the province are set to add fuel to the battery metal’s stunning rally in the past year, with lithium carbonate prices on Monday reaching the highest level since April at 484,500 yuan ($70,610) a ton.

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China has encroached on Canada’s critical minerals industry, with almost no obstruction from Ottawa – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 13, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

For the past two decades, China has built up a powerful position in Canada’s critical minerals and mining sector, with little oversight from Ottawa

Three years ago, Sinomine Resource Group Co., a Chinese company, quietly bought the Tanco mine in Manitoba. At the time, Tanco was one of the world’s few sources of the critical mineral cesium, a key input in atomic clocks and radiation detectors. The mine had previously produced lithium, a battery metal used in electric cars.

Even though Tanco was owned by an American chemicals company, Cabot Corp., Canada’s federal government had the authority to block the acquisition on national security grounds. But far from blocking the deal, Ottawa appears not to have given it a second glance.

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