Metals and Manufacturing – Page 4

Carmakers dream of clean, green, mean electric machines – by Nick Carey and Barbara Lewis (Reuters – April 4, 2022)

April 4, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON, England, April 4 (Reuters) – An electric car is a clean car, right? If only it were so simple. From motor magnets with toxic histories to batteries made using copious fossil-fuel power, many challenges face carmakers seeking to purge dirtier materials from their supply chains to satisfy regulators and investors.

These obstacles represent opportunities for a growing group of companies in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem that bet they can capitalise on that demand. They include Advanced Electric Machines (AEM) in northern England, which is working with Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) luxury brand Bentley and others in the auto industry to develop recyclable electric motors free of rare earth metals, which are often produced using polluting chemicals.

US looks to increase metals imports for EV batteries – by Saul Elbein (The Hill – March 29, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://thehill.com/

The United States will likely need to massively increase its reliance on imports of foreign metals if it is to meet the Biden administration’s goal of moving the country to mainly electric vehicles.

U.S. production of the key metals needed to make EV batteries is already only a small percentage of national demand, so increasing sales of electric vehicles to 50 percent of all new car sales by 2030 will require replacing one set of trading relationships — ones built on oil — for another.

Tesla inks secret multi-year nickel supply deal with Vale – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 30, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Electric vehicle giant Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is said to have secured a multi-year deal with Vale (NYSE: VALE) for the supply of nickel, one of the key ingredients in the batteries that power EVs.

The yet to be disclosed agreement, reported by Bloomberg News, will see the Brazilian miner supply nickel produced in Canada to the EV maker, which has spent the past year signing pacts with several producers of battery metals.

OPINION: With a giant new investment, Canada’s auto sector has proved it can survive the EV transition. The question now is whether it can thrive – by Adam Radnowski (Globe and Mail – March 23, 2022)

March 30, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s automotive industry is no longer facing an existential threat from the transition to electric vehicles, as it was just a year or two ago. Wednesday’s announcement that the automaker Stellantis NV will partner with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution to build a $5-billion EV battery-assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., is proof enough of the sector’s resilience.

Billed as the single largest investment in Canadian automaking since the 1980s, if not ever, it should not only provide an estimated 2,500 jobs at that new facility but help protect many existing ones, including in parts manufacturing and at Stellantis’s existing vehicle-assembly plants in Ontario.

America’s ‘Invisible Aircraft’- As Russia Controls Titanium Supply Chain, How US Secretly Sourced This Mineral To Build The Blackbird – by Tanmay Kadam (EurAsian Times – March 28, 2022)

March 29, 2022

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The Russia-Ukraine war has the aerospace companies worried as it may disrupt the supply of titanium, a key mineral used in the manufacture of various components of modern aircraft.

Kevin Michaels, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, a supply-chain consulting firm, has sounded an alarm by saying that Russian President Putin can shut down the commercial aerospace business if he chooses to do so.

VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation based in Verkhnyaya Salda, Russia, is the world’s largest titanium producer. It supplies 30-35% of the titanium used by the aviation sector globally. Aerospace giants such as Boeing and Airbus are heavily dependent on Russian titanium.

Stellantis and LG announce $5-billion EV battery plant in Ontario – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 24, 2022)

March 24, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Plant would eventually create more than 2,500 jobs within a key segment of the auto supply chain

European automaker Stellantis N.V. and South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution said on Wednesday they will invest $5 billion in a joint venture to build Canada’s first electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing plant, located in Windsor, Ont.

It would stand out as among the largest, if not the largest, investment in the Canadian auto sector in the country’s history and is expected to receive significant, if still undisclosed, financial support from the federal and provincial governments.

Ontario risks losing its auto crown as cheap, green power gives Quebec the EV edge – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 12, 2022)

March 14, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

As both provinces race to woo automakers and battery makers, a new quandary could arise

Ontario Premier Doug Ford this past fall spoke at a provincial construction industry conference and told his audience that his province would be at the vanguard of the next revolution in automotive production. “We’re going to be the No. 1 manufacturer of electric cars anywhere,” he said.

Similar things are said next door in Quebec. Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon regularly brags about the powerful combination of his province’s rich mineral endowment and the cheap, low-emission electricity produced by Hydro-Québec.

GM, POSCO Chemical partner for $500-Million EV battery supply chain plant in Quebec – by Adam Radwanski (Globe and Mail – March 7, 2022)

March 11, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian governments’ efforts to woo investment in electric-vehicle manufacturing are starting to bear fruit – especially with one aspect of the supply chain, in one corner of Quebec.

On Monday, General Motors Co. announced that, in partnership with the South Korean company POSCO Chemical Co. Ltd., it will begin construction on a new $500-million factory in Bécancour, Que. The plant, which GM says will be operational by 2025 and create about 200 jobs, will produce cathode active material (CAM) – a major component of EV batteries that GM will assemble in the United States.

Apple ‘Conflict Minerals Disclosure’ Says It Stopped Working With 12 Suppliers – by Audrey Carleton (Vice.com – February 10, 2022)

February 11, 2022

https://www.vice.com/en/

Apple has removed 12 smelters and refiners from its supply chain for failing to pass human rights and minerals standards, it told the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a Feb. 9 filing.

It’s the seventh year in a row that the corporation has required the smelters and refiners that provide and process the minerals that go into its products to go through a third-party audit for responsible sourcing practices. By the end of last year, all suppliers left in its supply chain had participated in the audit and passed it, the corporation says in the filing; those that did not were removed from the supply chain.

The Real Brake on America’s Electric-Vehicle Revolution – by Stephen Wilmot (Wall Street Journal – January 28, 2022)

January 31, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/

Capital is pouring into U.S. EV and battery plants, but not into the foundations of a domestic battery industry, leaving the supply chain uncomfortably dependent on China

Electric vehicles won’t get a “100% Made in U.S.A.” stamp for a good while yet.

U.S. auto makers are pouring billions of dollars into domestic EV factories and lithium-ion battery plants to supply them. General Motors this week announced $6.6 billion of EV investments into two Michigan plants, including $1.3 billion from its South Korean battery partner, LG Energy Solution.

RANKED: Top 20 EVs of 2021 – costs jump as lithium, cobalt, nickel prices surge – by Frik Els (Mining.com – January 13, 2022)

January 26, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Ranking of world’s 20 best selling electric cars and their battery metals show automakers grappling with soaring raw material prices

Sales of battery electric cars and plug-in hybrids are set to double in China this year and reach 5 million units in the world’s top auto market. In Europe, EVs have overtaken sales of diesel-powered vehicles for the first time ever, and now account for one out of every five cars driving off lots.

In North America last year, unit sales were 87% ahead of 2020 and will accelerate again this year, with the launch of all electric pick-up (and perhaps cyber) trucks.

Proposed northern Minnesota nickel mine signs deal with Tesla – by Mike Hughlett (Star Tribune – January 10, 2022)

January 11, 2022

https://www.startribune.com/

Under the deal, Tesla would buy about half of Tamarack Mine’s projected production.

Talon Metals, the company behind a proposed Minnesota nickel mine, said Monday it has made a major supply deal with Tesla.

The electric vehicle giant has committed to buy 75,000 metric tons of nickel concentrate over six years from Talon’s planned mine in Tamarack, about 50 miles west of Duluth. Tesla would also have rights to go above that amount.

Toyota to spend $35bn on electric push in effort to take on Tesla – by Eri Sugiura and Leo Lewis (Financial Times – December 14, 2021)

December 14, 2021

https://www.ft.com/

Toyota said it will pour $35bn into a shift towards electric vehicles as the world’s biggest carmaker sets itself up for direct rivalry with Tesla and joins other groups in a push for carbon neutrality.

It marks a major increase in its electric targets as it aims to sell 3.5m battery-powered vehicles annually by 2030, with the launch of 30 EV models by then in a line-up including sports cars and commercial vehicles.

Premier Doug Ford pitching Ontario as electric vehicle leader, but not reintroducing rebates – by Allison Jones (Canadian Press/Global News – December 13, 2021)

December 14, 2021

https://globalnews.ca/

TORONTO — Doug Ford is pitching Ontario as the next electric vehicle manufacturing powerhouse, seemingly a far cry from the premier who three years ago cancelled incentives for people to buy them.

Where some see contradiction, others see calculated election strategy. Shortly after coming to power in 2018, Ford’s government scrapped Ontario’s cap-and-trade system, and with it the electric vehicle rebates funded by that program.

Historic Monel: the alloy that time forgot – by James E. Churchill (The Nickel Institute – March 23, 2021)

December 14, 2021

https://nickelinstitute.org/

James E. Churchill believes that telling the history of Monel and renewing the scientific data will empower conservators to educate and preserve key metallurgical heritage.

In 2019 I was introduced to a material I had only heard of in passing, Monel®*. Having previously come across it through the wrought craft of Samuel Yellin, a field trip to the southern tip of Manhattan placed me in front of a gleaming Monel elevator in an art-deco lobby. My interest was piqued. What was this alloy, how was it used and was it still popular?

In an attempt to hunt down interiors, I found redevelopment of department stores and banks, where the metal had flourished, had sadly led to total loss. I also discovered I was not alone in my ignorance.