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Lithium

Serbia Drops Plans For Controversial Lithium Mine (Radio Free Europe – January 20, 2022)

https://www.rferl.org/

The Serbian government has dropped its plans to build a massive lithium mine following weeks of public protest over the $2 billion project’s environmental impact.

The Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto had been tapped to develop the mine in western Serbia in an effort to attract foreign investment and boost economic growth. The lithium mine, which was slated to be one of the world’s largest, was seen as a way to capitalize on rising global demand for the element, which is widely used in the batteries that power electronics and electric vehicles.

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Ottawa looks on as China buys Canadian lithium operations – by Jeff Kucharski (Toronto Star – January 20, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

Given Canada’s own critical minerals list, and what we already know about China’s determination to achieve global high-tech dominance, there were clear reasons for reviewing the Neo Lithium purchase.

Efforts to strengthen Canada’s supply chains for critical minerals were undermined last week when our own government decided not to conduct a national security review into the purchase of a Canadian lithium producer by a Chinese state-owned enterprise.

The decision is bizarre. Lithium, which is on a list of 31 minerals that Ottawa says are critical to Canada’s economy, is imperative to modern manufacturing, including large-scale battery storage needed for clean energy transition and, significantly, batteries for the flourishing electric vehicle (EV) industry. Now the Zijin Mining Group Ltd is cleared to buy Toronto-based Neo Lithium Corp.

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MPs want Chinese purchase of lithium-mining company reviewed – by Jeff Labine (iPolitics.ca – January 18, 2022)

https://ipolitics.ca/

Conservative and New Democrat MPs are demanding an emergency committee meeting to review the sale of a Chinese business takeover of a Canadian lithium mining company.

In October, China-based Zijin Mining Group announced plans to purchase Toronto-based Neo Lithium, which was approved by shareholders in December. The sale price was reported to be $960-million by the Globe and Mail.

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Biden’s green agenda requires batteries, but building them is dirty business – by Jordan Wolman (Politico.com – January 18, 2022)

https://www.politico.com/

To win the war on global warming and triumph in an economic showdown with China, President Joe Biden needs an essential weapon — lithium. But before he can count on vast U.S. reserves of the critical metal, he has to win multiple smaller fights on his home turf.

In Nevada, conservationists and Indigenous activists are camped at the site of a proposed open-pit lithium mine as the project is challenged in court. A rare wildflower has a second mine in the state at a standstill. Maine’s mining laws, some of the strictest in the nation, will make it nearly impossible to extract lithium from a large deposit there without changes by the legislature.

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‘White gold’: Europe wants to to get in on lithium rush as cars go green (News 24.com – January 13, 2022)

https://www.news24.com/

Europe is seeking to expand its lithium mining and refining capacity and wean itself off imports as the “white gold” becomes a vital resource in the fight against climate change.

Alongside nickel and cobalt, lithium allows electricity to be stored and transported, making them essential in electric battery production as car manufacturers move away from polluting fossil fuels.

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Conservatives call on Trudeau government to conduct formal security review on Chinese takeover of Canadian lithium firm – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 14, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Conservative Party of Canada is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to conduct a formal national security review on the pending acquisition of Canadian lithium development company Neo Lithium Corp. by Chinese state-owned Zijin Mining Group Ltd.

In October, Zijin announced its intention to buy Toronto-based Neo Lithium for $960-million. Neo Lithium is developing a mine in Argentina and hopes to eventually supply the silvery white mineral to the electric-vehicle industry for batteries.

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Canada is playing catch-up in global frenzy for lithium, as China’s grip on critical clean energy mineral tightens – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 13, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A global move to zero-emissions electric vehicles is fuelling a once-in-a-generation boom in lithium, a critical component in EV batteries. But Canada is struggling to establish a foothold in one of the world’s most vital minerals as China’s vise grip on global supplies tightens.

Canada has already had one kick at the lithium can, and it wasn’t pretty. About five years ago, lithium prices exploded based on unrealistic anticipated EV demand. Then prices crashed to earth in 2019 and 2020.

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How The U.S. Is Losing The Lithium Industry To China – by Robert Rapier (Forbes Magazine – January 11, 2022)

https://www.forbes.com/

In the early days of the oil industry, the U.S. quickly established dominance as the world’s most important producer and consumer of petroleum. But over time, depletion in the U.S. and discoveries abroad caused U.S. dominance of the petroleum industry to fade. Although the U.S. remained the world’s largest consumer of petroleum, it became increasingly dependent on foreign oil.

It became clear many years ago that U.S. dependence on other countries for petroleum was a national security issue. The issue came to a head in 1973, when various members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) initiated an oil embargo against the United States and certain U.S. allies.

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Beardmore-area mine developer cashes up to process Ontario lithium material in Europe – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – Janurary 6, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Rock Tech Lithium, owners of a lithium deposit in northwestern Ontario, are poised to start construction this year on a processing plant in Germany that will be fed by its mine project near Lake Nipigon.

The Vancouver-based junior miner, with strong European connections, announced Dec. 30 that it has raised U.S.$39.6 million (Cdn$50.7 million) of which a portion is earmarked to develop of its spodumene deposit, the Georgia Lake Project, in the Beardmore area. Spodumene is the most widely used lithium because of its high lithium content.

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Lithium: A year of progress and protests – by Timothy Burmeister (Elko Daily Free Press – January 1, 2022)

https://elkodaily.com/

With the anticipated need for a lot more lithium to put into batteries to help power a greener future, you might think environmentalists would give a pass to some of the negative effects of the proposed lithium mines that are being planned at sites around Nevada. That’s not the case. The opposition to some of the proposed mines has been strong and may even be ramping up.

Thacker PassLithium Americas’ Thacker Pass lithium mine may be the biggest project on the horizon, and it is facing lots of opposition. Lithium Americas has been working for years on plans for Thacker Pass, which is about 60 miles northwest of Winnemucca.

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U.S. faces tough choices in 2022 on mines for electric-vehicle metals – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – December 22, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

Dec 22 (Reuters) – The United States has enough reserves of lithium, copper and other metals to build millions of its own electric vehicles (EVs), but rising opposition to new mines may force the country to rely on imports and delay efforts to electrify the nation’s automobiles.

The tension underscores the dilemma facing the United States going into 2022, a year in which U.S. policymakers hope to see groundbreakings on a raft of EV manufacturing facilities from Ford Motor Co(F.N), General Motors Co(GM.N) and others.

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Sudbury junior miner raises $12 million for northwestern Ontario lithium project – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – December 17, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Frontier Lithium seeks to mine PAK project to supply electric vehicle sector

A Sudbury junior mining company has cashed up to do more exploration of its high-grade and open-ended lithium property in northwestern Ontario.

Frontier Lithium announced Dec. 15 that it’s raised $12 million in flow-through shares to boost the resource numbers at its PAK project, 175 kilometres north of Red Lake, near the Manitoba border.

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The World Wants More Lithium But Doesn’t Want More Mines – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Misha Savic (Finacial Post/Bloomberg News – December 18, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

(Bloomberg) — Prices for lithium, the building block of electric-vehicle batteries, shot to a record this year, amplifying concerns there won’t be enough of the metal to fuel the switch away from combustion engines. In that climate, now should be a prime time to build a mine.

Rio Tinto Group is finding out otherwise. Within months of unveiling plans for a $2.4 billion mine in western Serbia, local opponents organized a movement that’s rocked the government and brought cities to a standstill as thousands of protesters march in the streets. Authorities subsequently suspended a land-use plan for the proposed mine, though they didn’t reject the project completely.

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China is buying up the critical green-revolution minerals sector in Canada and elsewhere. Enough already – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – December 18, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A week ago, the shareholders of Canada’s Neo Lithium approved the sale of the TSX Venture Exchange-listed company to China’s Zijin Mining for about $960-million. The announcement received little coverage and appears to have bothered almost no one in the federal government. It should have.

While Neo Lithium is hardly a household name, and the company is relatively small, its purchase should have raised a stink not just in Ottawa but in Washington and among North America’s electric-car makers.

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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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