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Lithium

Serbia suspends lithium mine plans after protests – by Dusan Stojanovic (Associated Press – December 16, 2021)

https://apnews.com/

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Local authorities in western Serbia on Thursday suspended a plan that would allow mining giant Rio Tinto to operate a lithium mine, following protests by environmentalists that shook the country’s populist leadership.

The mining had been expected to start in the near future, but a town council in Loznica voted to suspend a regional development plan that permitted the excavation of lithium. The vote followed the suspension last week of two key laws in Serbia’s parliament that ecologists said would help the multinational mining company start the project.

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Green-Energy Race Draws an American Underdog to Bolivia’s Lithium – by Clifford Krauss (New York Times – December 16, 2021)

https://www.nytimes.com/

SALAR DE UYUNI, Bolivia — The mission was quixotic for a small Texas energy start-up: Beat out Chinese and Russian industrial giants in unlocking mineral riches that could one day power tens of millions of electric vehicles.

A team traveled from Austin to Bolivia in late August to meet with local and national leaders at a government lithium complex and convince them that the company, EnergyX, had a technology that would fulfill Bolivia’s potential to be a global green-energy power. On arriving, they found that the conference they had planned to attend was canceled and that security guards blocked the location.

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Column: Europe’s green deal needs to get round anti-mining roadblock – by Andy Home (Reuters – December 16, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Protesters took to the streets in Serbia again on Saturday. It was the third consecutive weekend of marches and road blockades against the government’s push to develop its mining sector.

Opposition groups have coalesced around one project in particular – Rio Tinto’s (RIO.L) proposed lithium mine in the Jadar Valley. In Portugal’s Serra d’Arga mountains lithium is also the target of environmental resistance, with five local mayors leading a demonstration in October to protest a mine project.

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Lithium Prices Soar, Turbocharged By Electric-Vehicle Demand and Scant Supply – by Amrith Ramkumar (Wall Street Journal – December 13, 2021)

https://www.wsj.com/

The lithium price surge is setting off a scramble for supply and fueling fears about long-term battery metals shortages

Lithium prices are rising at their fastest pace in years, setting off a race to secure supplies and fueling worries about long-term shortages of a vital ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to smartphones.

An index of lithium prices from research firm and price provider Benchmark Mineral Intelligence doubled between May and November and is up some 240% for the year. The index is at its highest level in data going back five years.

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Geothermal brines in California’s Salton Sea could be future source of lithium in the US – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – December 12, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

A literature review prepared by Berkeley Lab scientists found that geothermal brines in the Salton Sea region of California are expected to be a major source of domestic lithium for the United States in the future but that significant technical challenges have to be overcome.

One of the main obstacles is that brine is extremely hot when it comes out of the subsurface, and it contains a rich stew of many dissolved minerals in addition to lithium.

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Thousands of Serbians block roads to protest lithium mine project (Al Jazeera.com – December 11, 2021)

https://www.aljazeera.com/

Protesters fear mining by multinational companies will cause huge damage to local environment.

Environmental protesters have blocked roads in Serbia for a third consecutive weekend to oppose plans for lithium mining, despite a bid by the country’s populist government to defuse the demonstrations by agreeing to the key demands of organisers.

Several thousand people braved rain and cold weather on Saturday to halt traffic in the capital, Belgrade, and in other cities and towns in the Balkan nation.

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Rio Tinto’s past casts a shadow over Serbia’s hopes of a lithium revolution – by Daniel Boffey (The Guardian – November 19, 2021)

https://www.theguardian.com/

A battery sign, flashing dangerously low, appears superimposed over a view of the globe as seen from space. “Green technologies, electric cars, clean air – all of these depend on one of the most significant lithium deposits in the world, which is located right here in Jadar, Serbia,” a gravel-voiced narrator announces.

“We completely understand your concerns about the environment. Rio Tinto is carrying out detailed analyses, so as to make all of us sure that we develop the Jadar project in line with the highest environmental, security and health standards.”

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The Scramble for EV Battery Metals Is Just Beginning – by Stephen Wilmot (Wall Street Journal – December 2, 2021)

https://www.wsj.com/

Making the global economy more environmentally sustainable will require a lot more natural resources. This is an irony the mining industry will need both to exploit and to defuse.

Electric vehicles highlight the problematic opportunity for miners. Although a Tesla or Porsche Taycan doesn’t have a tailpipe and usually generates much less carbon than a traditional car over a multiyear lifespan, its big lithium-ion battery requires more metal than an internal combustion engine.

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EV industry must work closer with lithium suppliers, executives say – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – December 1, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

Automakers must work closer with lithium producers to guarantee supply of specialized types of the white metal that boost an electric vehicle’s range and performance, Albemarle Corp and Livent Corp executives told Reuters.

As EVs go mainstream, automakers are planning models that can run longer before recharging and handle different weather conditions. Batteries for such EVs typically are made with a type of lithium known as hydroxide that cannot be stored for long periods of time and thus must be made in custom batches.

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How Congo could become low-cost, low-emissions producer of battery materials – report – by Staff (Mining.com – November 25, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

In a report launched at the DRC-Africa Business Forum 2021 taking place this week in Kinshasa, BloombergNEF (BNEF) states that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could leverage its abundant cobalt resources and hydroelectric power to become a low-cost and low-emissions producer of lithium-ion battery cathode precursor materials.

The research paper estimates that it would cost $39 million to build a 10,000 metric-tonne cathode precursor plant in the DRC. This is three times cheaper than what a similar plant in the US would cost, whereas if it were to be built in China or Poland, it would cost $112 million and $65 million, respectively.

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Chinese Miners in Talks to Access Vast Afghan Lithium Reserves – by Eltaf Najafizada (Yahoo Finance/Bloomberg – November 24, 2021)

https://finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — Chinese firms are showing interest in exploiting Afghanistan’s vast untapped mineral resources as Beijing seeks a role in reconstructing the nation’s war-ravaged economy.

Afghanistan is sitting on deposits estimated to be worth $1 trillion or more, including what may be the world’s largest lithium reserves, a vital component for the energy-storage batteries that are driving the world’s transition away from fossil fuels.

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Northern Ontario plays integral part in auto supply chain – Fedeli – by Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles (North Bay Nugget – November 19, 2021)

https://www.nugget.ca/

Northern Ontario has become an integral part of the auto supply chain, says Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli. The industry, mostly centralized in southern Ontario, is moving north thanks to the increase in production of electric cars.

The provincial government released the next phase of its auto strategy Wednesday that is expected to secure production mandates for hybrid and electric vehicles, to create a domestic battery ecosystem, and position Ontario as a North American automotive innovation hub.

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Profiling the Greenbushes lithium mine in Western Australia – by Andrew Fawthrop (NS Energy Business.com – April 17, 2021)

NS Energy

Western Australia’s vast Greenbushes lithium mine is the world’s largest operation to extract hard rock deposits of the mineral critical to the energy transition

At the southern tip of Western Australia, around 250 kilometres south of Perth, lies the Greenbushes lithium mine – the world’s largest project to extract the increasingly critical mineral driving the clean energy transition.

The operation, which claims its name from a nearby town, is owned by Talison Lithium, a joint venture between China’s Tianqi Lithium and US chemicals firm Albemarle – although recent reports have emerged that the Chinese producer is seeking to offload some of its 51% stake in the project amid financial difficulties.

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Lithium Shortage May Stall Electric Car Revolution And Embed China’s Lead: Report – by Neil Winton (Forbes Magazine – November 14, 2021)

https://www.forbes.com/

The electric car revolution will stall in the West if supplies of crucial battery elements like lithium fail to keep up with the forecast huge increase in demand.

This will drive battery prices higher, decimate profit margins, and the coveted $100 per kWh battery, which would have signaled the arrival of affordable green vehicles, will remain on the launch pad.

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Minister celebrates ‘beautiful irony’ of lithium brine in Sask. – by Arthur White-Crummey (Regina Leader Post – November 9, 2021)

https://leaderpost.com/

Saskatchewan’s energy minister celebrated the first targeted lithium well drilled in Saskatchewan at a Tuesday event where she said the element is “having a moment” that can help the province diversify its mineral sector.

“I just held a jar of the first lithium carbonate produced here in the province of Saskatchewan out of 400-million-year-old lithium brine water,” Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre told media gathered at a Prairie Lithium facility in Emerald Park, just east of Regina.

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