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Metals and Manufacturing

Samsung rumoured to invest half-a-billion in Chinese electric car company – by Andrew Topf (Mining.com – July 17, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) is looking to take the plunge into electric vehicle (EV) technology with a sizable investment into BYD Co., (HKG:1211) the world’s largest electric car manufacturer.

The division of Samsung, one of the most important “chaebols”, or conglomerates in South Korea, said investing in BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., (NYSE:BRK.A), is expected to bolster the South Korean company’s semiconductor business for cars. Samsung Electronics is the largest maker of cellular phones and memory chips in the world.

Talks between the two companies have apparently been underway the last few days. Korea Economic Daily reported on Friday that Samsung Electronics is about to pull the trigger on a 3-billion yuan (US$450 million) investment in Shenzhen-based BYD for a 4% share of the company.

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Honda Co-Developed a New Hybrid Car Motor in Order to Avoid Procuring Rare Earth Metals From China – by Katherine Tweed (Greentechmedia.com – July 12, 2016)

http://www.greentechmedia.com/

Japanese automaker Honda has co-produced the world’s first magnet for hybrid and electric cars that requires no heavy rare-earth metals.

The quest to find an alternative to heavy rare-earth elements in magnet manufacturing came after a 2010 dispute, during which China temporarily banned exports of rare-earth minerals. Even before that, however, Honda had been working to reduce the use of the materials in its manufacturing, as China began cutting back export quotas starting in 2006.

The motor is not completely without rare-earth elements. It still uses the light rare-earth element neodymium. But neodymium can be sourced from countries other than just China. Carmakers use neodymium magnets because they have the highest magnetic force of any magnet. Demand for these magnets is expected to soar in coming years as more consumers buy all-electric and hybrid vehicles.

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Canadian lithium-ion battery maker Electrovaya racks up orders, cranks up German subsidiary: ‘We’ve taken off’ – by Peter Kuitenbrouwer (Financial Post – July 9, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

The sprawling Electrovaya Inc. factory in Mississauga, Ont., looks more like a graveyard for prototype electric cars than the clean, green future of our battery-powered planet. The plant is about 90 per cent empty. A locker room for hundreds of workers lies abandoned. Nearby sit four green “Maya 2000” electric cars.

Further along languish more cars, including an SUV that Sankar Das Gupta, the rumpled, effusive electrochemist who is Electrovaya’s chief executive, proudly calls, “the first electric car in North America.” Asked why these cars are parked, Das Gupta blames Canadian investors’ historic aversion to risk and Transport Canada rules that forbid vehicle road tests.

In a corner of the quiet shop floor labelled New Product Introduction, two older engineers hunch over laptops connected to a network board plugged into black boxes containing hundreds of interconnected lithium-ion battery cells.

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Move Over Oil – Lithium Is The Future Of Transportation – by James Stafford (Oil Price.com – June 21, 2016)

http://oilprice.com/

Just a few years ago, we would have scoffed at the idea that electric vehicles could be mainstream anytime soon, or that the global appetite for lithium-ion batteries and mass power storage would be so voracious, and so sudden. Today, no one is scoffing, and lithium is being viewed as our new super-mineral that will catapult us firmly into the next century.

Now Tesla has started buying up Nevada and building its battery gigafactory, with competing gigafactories following suit and competing electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers all throwing billions at this fast-moving market that no one has been able to keep up with.

Not only has the EV taken its first major leap into the mainstream—most notably indicated by Tesla’s phenomenal advance sales of its affordable Model 3—but it’s gone beyond the mainstream.

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Should Chevy Have Held Its Fire With Silverado “Bed Wars” Ad – by Mark Williams (Pickup Trucks.com – June 18, 2016)

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/

Why would anyone want to drop more than 800 pounds of expensive landscape blocks into a pickup bed from five feet in the air? Nobody in his or her right mind would allow a guy at the local building supply store to dump a load into a bed like that. We understand that’s not the point; like many nonsensical commercials nowadays — the point is that you could if you wanted to.

As it relates to the tiresome game of one-upmanship in pickup truck advertising, that kind of self-promotion (or attack promotion) seen in the latest Chevy Silverado commercial is likely to be around for a long time to come. And don’t get us wrong; we like healthy competition and testing and we want to see the results.

In fact, on a related note, it wasn’t that long ago that we had our first chance to drive the redesigned Honda Ridgeline.

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New GM ads hit Ford hard over aluminum pickup trucks – by Brent Snavely (U.S.A. Today – June 8, 2016)

http://www.usatoday.com/

Detroit Free Press – Chevrolet launched a new, national ad campaign Wednesday for its Silverado pickups that revives the often testy battle with crosstown rival Ford over who makes the biggest, best or toughest truck.

The ad campaign touts the results of lab tests that it says show how the Silverado’s roll-formed, high-strength steel bed suffers far less damage than the Ford F-150’s aluminum truck bed when a load of concrete blocks are dumped into the back of the trucks.

The ads debuted today with four-page wrap-around print advertisements in several major newspapers, including USA TODAY. General Motors also posted a 3-minute video that shows the cinder block demonstration with the F-150 truck bed getting gashed by the concrete blocks and the Silverado truck bed only being dented.

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WAR OF IDEAS: GM’S MIXED-MATERIAL STRATEGY VS. FORD’S BET ON ALUMINUM – by Alisa Priddle (Motor Trend.com – May 24, 2016)

http://www.motortrend.com/

Ford made headlines when it gutted body shops at two pickup truck plants to build the new 2015 F-150 with an aluminum body instead of heavier steel, convinced the cost and risk were worth it for a lighter and better truck. General Motors is equally committed to reducing the weight of future vehicles but has taken a different approach. It quietly pursued ways to use existing body shops, tools, and equipment to spot weld future vehicles with a mix of materials, including aluminum — a strategy deemed less costly and disruptive.

After years of development and testing, engineers at GM are on the verge of putting a couple parts for the Cadillac CT6 sedan into production that are notable because they require welding steel to aluminum. GM is only months away from assembling seat backs and hood reinforcements using spot welding to join the two metals.

It is potentially a game-changer for an industry seeking the fastest and cheapest way to make lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Others have expressed interest in GM’s technology. Ford’s strategy, so far, is not being emulated by others.

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Richest Lithium Nation Risks Being Left Behind in Tesla-led Boom – by Eduardo Thomson (Bloomberg News – May 20, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The electric-car revolution is here and Chile is looking to ramp up production of the lithium the industry needs for batteries. Or it would be, but for a bitter dispute between the government and the former son-in-law of a military dictator.

After Chile’s government moved to withdraw its license to exploit one of the world’s largest deposits, Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA opted to invest in a lithium project across the Andes in Argentina and is trying to block a project by Albemarle Corp. in Chile. SQM is controlled by Julio Ponce, the former husband of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet’s daughter.

Demand for lithium is soaring as Tesla Motors Inc. prepares to start production of its mass-market Model 3 battery-powered car and Chevrolet prepares an all-electric “Volt”. The soft, silver-white metal is also used in cell phones.

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What the rise of electric vehicles means for lithium and PGMs – by Prinesha Naidoo (Mineweb.com – May 20, 2016)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Growing interest in electric vehicles is set to shake up the automotive industry and cause ripple effects across commodity markets. Lithium is set to skyrocket, oil is to crash and platinum group metals (PGMs) are said to be safe… for now.

Although the electric vehicle market is still in its infancy, tighter emissions regulations coupled with a research and development-driven decrease in production and sales costs are expected to support demand.

Data from EV-Volumes shows electric vehicle sales made up just 0.6% of global vehicle sales in 2015 – despite rising 70% year-on-year to nearly 540 000 vehicles. The total electric vehicle population grew to one million in September 2015. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects 20 million electric vehicle to be on the road by 2020.

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Why Lithium Isn’t the Big Worry for Lithium-Ion Batteries – by Jason Deign (Green Teck Media.com – June 23, 2015)

http://www.greentechmedia.com/

Why Lithium Isn’t the Big Worry for Lithium-Ion Batteries – Cobalt and nickel bottlenecks are a much bigger threat.

Lithium-ion battery production is more likely to be constrained by cobalt or nickel supplies than by lithium availability, experts believe.

Li-ion battery makers use both metals in greater quantities than lithium, which has been the subject of significant supply concerns as battery production ramps up. In fact, none of these minerals are worryingly scarce in nature.

What troubles some observers, however, is that cobalt and nickel are susceptible to greater supply-chain risks because of the countries that control the resources.

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Driving to lower carbon living: Elon Musk and his electric car (Nickel Magazine – July 2014)

https://www.nickelinstitute.org/

Tesla Motors and the driving force behind it, Elon Musk, have captured the attention of the world. Tesla is taking a 20th century idea and shows every sign of turning it into a disruptive force in the automotive world in the 21st century. The man and the machine collectively constitute a game changer, for which nickel is essential.

Battery Evolution

The battery industry is in a prolonged period of research, development and end-use specialization. At the same time, ‘nickel’ is disappearing from the name of the dominant battery chemistries in favour of ‘lithium’.

That, however, disguises the reality that nickel continues to contribute its unique qualities to most lithium-ion chemistries. Sometimes it will be a supporting role (the electrode tabs, for instance) but sometimes it is an essential component of the chemistry itself.

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Top Palladium Miner Rebuffs Risk of Tesla Electric Car Boom – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – May 16, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The rise of Tesla Motors Inc.’s electric cars won’t be enough to change the market for conventional vehicles or dent demand for the precious metals used to filter exhaust fumes, according to GMK Norilsk Nickel PJSC.

The lack of infrastructure to charge them and the pressure on power grids means that in the long term, the vehicles may comprise just 15 percent of the total auto market, according to Anton Berlin, head of analysis and market development for Norilsk. In the next five years, the market’s size will be limited to about 2 percent.

Norilsk is the world’s biggest producer of palladium, which are used along with platinum in catalytic converters that reduce car pollution. While the company would lose some business if electric cars, which don’t produce toxic emissions, becomes a significant part of the auto industry, it would benefit from more demand for nickel, which is used in the batteries.

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Can Elon Musk reinvent the wheel with Tesla’s Model 3? – by David Olive (Toronto Star – May 14, 2016)

https://www.thestar.com/

The excitement over the Model 3 has no equivalent since the anticipation of Lee Iacocca’s Mustang more than half a century ago. For weeks now, lineups several metres long have formed at the Tesla Motors Inc. kiosk at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. These are Tesla enthusiasts putting down a $1,000 (U.S.) deposit on an advance order for Tesla’s latest electric vehicle (EV), the Model 3.

The excitement over the Model 3, which holds the potential of making EVs a mass-market product for the first time, has no equivalent since the anticipation of Lee Iacocca’s Mustang more than half a century ago.

And the upfront cash from the faithful at Yorkdale and Tesla’s other sales outlets worldwide meant that when Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk took the wraps off three Model 3 prototypes at a convention centre last month, he already had $115 million in advance-order cash in his back pocket. By now, that figure is about $400 million.

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Lithium juniors outperform on expected future demand – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – April 19, 2016)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – In the wake of Tesla Motors’ introduction of the ‘Model 3’ mass-market electric vehicle (EV), lithium development and exploration company share prices have exploded.

This was despite Tesla not having sold (or even built) a single Model 3 yet. Tesla would also not have it on the road for years, and the company continued to haemorrhage money, according to Chris Berry, writer of the Disruptive Discoveries Journal.

“The $1 000 refundable reservation fee is simply a free option for a potential car buyer and gives Tesla an opportunity to defray dilution,” he stated in a recent market commentary. Berry noted that in the wake of this news, lithium developers were “making hay while the sun shines” through some truly impressive capital-raising efforts.

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IN DEPTH: Tesla electric car demand energizes plans for N.W.T. lithium and cobalt mines – by Ollie Williams (CBC News North – April 17, 2016)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Companies hope to mine N.W.T. for vital elements in electric car batteries

Can the buzz around electric vehicles inject new energy into Northwest Territories mining? As pre-orders for Tesla’s latest electric car surpass 300,000 in a week, owners of N.W.T. lithium and cobalt projects — two elements found in Tesla’s batteries — say their time has come.

Getting these projects off the drawing board would mark an increasingly rare mining good-news story for the territory. But there are unique challenges ahead. Tesla calls it a “gigafactory.” Billionaire Elon Musk’s car manufacturer is constructing a vast production facility for its vehicles’ lithium-ion batteries outside the aptly-named Sparks, Nev.

Tesla boasts this one factory will, by 2020, make more such batteries in a year than the entire world produced in 2013. More factories, serving more companies, are planned. “Now is the time. If there was ever a time, now is the time,” says Adrian Lamoureux, who wants to start a lithium mine in the N.W.T.

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