Lithium – Page 32 – Republic of Mining

Before Invasion, Ukraine’s Lithium Wealth Was Drawing Global Attention – by Hiroko Tabuchi (New York Times – March 2, 2022)

March 4, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/

Deep below the ground in Ukraine, where Russia continues to mount an aggressive attack, lies vast, untapped mineral wealth that could hold the keys to a lucrative, clean-energy future for the Eastern European nation.

Ukrainian researchers have speculated that the country’s eastern region holds close to 500,000 tons of lithium oxide, a source of lithium, which is critical to the production of the batteries that power electric vehicles. That preliminary assessment, if it holds, would make Ukraine’s lithium reserves one of the largest in the world.

Chinese electric vehicle battery king urges Beijing to speed up lithium mining as global scramble for ‘new oil’ intensifies – by Iris Deng (South China Morning Post – March 3, 2022)

March 4, 2022

https://www.scmp.com/

Zeng Yuqun, chairman of China’s largest electric-vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer, has suggested that the Chinese government speed up “exploration and development” of lithium resources in the country to ensure supply chain security amid a global shortage of the rare earth metal as more people move to EVs.

Zeng, chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), included lithium development as one of his proposals submitted to authorities in his capacity as a delegate of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top political consultative body.

Lithium production: Two new ways of extracting lithium from brine (The Economist – February 26, 2022)

February 25, 2022

https://www.economist.com/

How to increase the supply of an increasingly valuable metal

Around 60% of the world’s lithium, a metal in high demand for making batteries, comes from evaporation ponds, like that pictured overleaf, located in deserts in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

These ponds, which can have individual areas of 60km2 or more, are filled with lithium-rich brine pumped from underground. That brine, as the ponds’ name suggests, is then concentrated in them by evaporation, after which it is treated to purge it of other metals, such as sodium and magnesium, and the lithium is precipitated as lithium carbonate.

Biden says commercial-scale lithium extraction possible in Imperial Valley by 2026 – by Erin Rode (Palm Springs Desert Sun – February 22, 2022)

February 24, 2022

https://www.desertsun.com/

As the Imperial Valley begins its transformation into what some are calling Lithium Valley, one company says it could have lithium production at commercial scale by 2026, President Joe Biden said Tuesday at an event with Gov. Gavin Newsom, industry executives, community representatives and labor leaders.

Biden met with the group to announce several investments in domestic production of critical minerals and materials, including lithium extraction in Imperial County.

U.S. lawmakers blast Canada over sale of lithium mining company to Chinese firm – by Richard Madan (CTV News – February 23, 2022)

February 24, 2022February 24, 2022

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

A trio of U.S. lawmakers are blasting Canada’s “complicit approval” that allowed the sale of a Toronto-listed lithium mining company to a Chinese state-owned firm, and are urging Biden administration officials to investigate the acquisition.

In a letter to several U.S. Cabinet secretaries obtained by CTV News, Rep. Michael Walz (R-Florida), Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Lance Gooden (R-TX) describe the takeover of Neo Lithium Corp by China’s Zijin Mining Group Ltd. as “highly concerning,” and accuse the Canadian government of underestimating “the threat imposed by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Is China’s lithium quest fuelled by business or politics, and how far will it go to secure ‘white gold’? – by Ji Siqi (South China Morning Post – February 22, 2022)

February 22, 2022

https://www.scmp.com/

South America’s Lithium Triangle contains more than half of the world’s reserves of the critical metal that is used in batteries, and China is looking to carve out a bigger piece of the pie

Just days after Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez signed his country up for China’s Belt and Road Initiative during a high-profile trip to Beijing this month, the spot price of lithium metal in the Chinese market reached 2 million yuan (US$315,000) per tonne for the first time – more than four times what it cost a year ago.

The two countries happen to be the world’s major players in the supply chain of the metal – an essential material used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Rising Lithium Prices Could Derail The EV Boom – by Ag Metal Miner (Oil Price – February 17, 2022)

February 18, 2022

https://oilprice.com/

As the price of lithium has skyrocketed over 400% in the past year, the demand for lithium-ion batteries appears more intense than ever. Lithium has earned the ‘white petroleum’ label due to its dramatic need for supplies from the rise of battery giga-factories, electric vehicles, powerwalls and energy storage businesses.

Battery makers including Tesla, Panasonic and LG Chem, have to budget for the rising cost of lithium. Batteries that go into electric cars require lithium. More battery makers will need to expand production to keep up with demand from electric cars.

Albemarle says ‘not impossible’ to meet surging lithium demand – by Nick Lazzaro (S&P Global – February 17, 2022)

February 18, 2022

https://www.spglobal.com/

The lithium industry may be able to narrow the gap between tight supply and expanding market growth by 2030, even as demand forecasts continue to rise and analysts warn of a large deficit, Albemarle executives said Feb. 17.

“I think you’re seeing that we’re getting through some of those growing pains,” CEO Kent Masters said during a call with analysts. “It is a stretch, and it does require some new technology and operating in some places where historically the lithium industry hasn’t done that, but it’s not impossible.”

Between a rock and a hard place: The energy transition is sparking America’s next mining boom (The Economist – February 19, 2022)

February 17, 2022

https://www.economist.com/

About 16m years ago, a supervolcano that straddled the borders of what is now Oregon and Nevada erupted, forming the McDermitt Caldera. The volcanic activity pushed lithium-rich rock up near the Earth’s surface, creating the largest known lithium deposit in the United States.

Today, the same terrain around the Montana Mountains is carpeted with sagebrush, and coyotes are heard more often than people. But that may soon change. Lithium Americas, a Canadian company, has plans to build a mine and processing plant at Thacker Pass, near the southern tip of the caldera in Nevada. It would be America’s biggest lithium mine.

The China lithium question: a clash of the West’s corporate and strategic interests (Yahoo Finance/South China Post – February 13, 2022)

February 15, 2022

https://finance.yahoo.com/

The deal went through swiftly – and almost immediately prompted calls for a national security review. Just three months after Chinese-state-owned Zijin Mining Group announced its US$960 million plans to buy Canadian miner Neo Lithium, the proposal was signed, screened and delivered.

At a corporate level, the deal made sense. Neo Lithium’s biggest mine operation is in Argentina, where Zijin already has interests and plans to build a lithium carbonate plant. Canadian officials also said carmakers in North America were unlikely to use lithium produced so far away.

Column: Lithium supply crunch Part II – this time it’s for real – by Andy Home (Reuters – January 15, 2022)

February 15, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) – The lithium supply crunch has arrived in full force. The price boom of 2016-2017, it’s now clear, was just the dry run. This is the real deal.

Back in November 2017 the spot price for battery-grade lithium carbonate in China peaked at 175,000 yuan per tonne. Fastmarkets currently assesses it at 400,000-430,000 yuan, up 47% on the start of the year and eight times higher than it was at the start of 2021.

Chile’s Green Dream to Reinvent Itself Is Spooking Investors – by Valentina Fuentes and Ethan Bronner (Bloomberg News – February 10, 2022)

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The country’s efforts to create a new constitution could serve as a model or warning for tackling climate change and inequality.

Constanza San Juan is feeling optimistic. She sits on a committee of Chile’s constitutional convention that on Feb. 1 voted to nationalize the country’s mineral wealth—its deep veins of copper, lithium, magnesium, and silver—a notion that has mining companies and markets hyperventilating.

The idea is sufficiently radical that few believe it will be endorsed by the required two-thirds of the full convention. But San Juan, a 36-year-old historian, not only hopes it will—she wants it to go further.

Lithium’s Feast-or-Famine Future Keeps EV Makers Guessing – by Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – February 8, 2022)

February 10, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Lithium’s vital role in electric-vehicle batteries means automakers, miners and investors are racing to figure out how much supply the world will need in the coming years — and also how much it’s going to get. The problem is the predictions vary wildly.

The metal’s price has surged fivefold in the past year, reflecting mounting worries about availability. For years, batteries and EVs have become cheaper to make as the technology improved and production stepped up. But now there’s a risk that rising costs of raw materials — and lithium in particular — could hobble the transition just as momentum picks up.

‘Gone ballistic’: lithium price rockets nearly 500% in a year amid electric vehicle rush – by Royce Kurmelovs (The Guardian – February 9, 2022)

February 9, 2022

https://www.theguardian.com/

Lithium prices have “gone ballistic” as surging electric vehicles sales worldwide create massive demand for the critical component of lithium-ion batteries.

According to figures from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI), the price of the lithium-rich raw material spodumene rose 478.3% between January 2021 and January 2022.

U.S. lawmaker calls Chinese takeover of Canadian lithium firm ‘very alarming’ – by Andy Blatchford (Politico.com – February 4, 2022)

February 7, 2022

https://www.politico.com/

A Florida congressman says he’s pressing the Biden administration on Canada’s decision to skip an extended national security review of a Chinese state-owned company’s takeover of a lithium mining firm.

“It was quite surprising to me to hear of this acquisition, given there’s a clear national security nexus and I would think there’s clear national security concerns,” Florida Rep. Michael Waltz (R) told POLITICO. “Not just any acquisition — but from a Chinese state-owned firm is, again, very surprising and very alarming.”