Metals and Manufacturing – Page 9

OPINION: Courtesy of Ford, Canada’s EV moment has suddenly arrived. Are governments ready for it? – by Adam Radwanski (Globe and Mail – September 27, 2020)

September 28, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Sarah Petrevan, policy director for the think tank Clean Energy
Canada, suggests that Canada could sell itself on ethical and
sustainable mining practices, which is a concern for some makers
of vehicles supposed to represent social responsibility. To get
to that point would likely require an expansive public-policy
tool kit – R&D, de-risking of capital, infrastructure in remote
areas – that governments have yet to formulate.

Suddenly, Canada has a foothold in one of the world’s fastest-growing and most pivotal clean-technology sectors.

Only days ago, being a player any time soon in making electric vehicles seemed preposterous. Ontario’s manufacturing heartland, despite its proud automaking history, had been passed over for new investments in the cars expected to take over global fleets.

Battery metal miners trying to tap electric car boom want Elon Musk to stop killing their buzz – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – September 26, 2020)

September 26, 2020

https://financialpost.com/

As investor anticipation mounted for Tesla Inc.’s much-hyped, self-proclaimed Battery Day on Wednesday, Trent Mell was upset just thinking about it.

Mell, chief executive of Toronto-based First Cobalt Corp., has spent three years trying to secure a ground floor seat in the burgeoning electric vehicle industry.

In 2017, his company bought a long-forgotten refinery in small-town northern Ontario that could, if everything goes right, produce five per cent of the world’s battery grade cobalt, about 25,000 tons, by 2021. It would be the first, and only, refinery in North America producing battery-grade cobalt.

Ford deal paves way for electric vehicles – by Josh O’Kane (Globe and Mail – September 22, 2020)

September 23, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Canadian and Ontario governments will partner with Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. to invest $1.8-billion in its auto plant in Oakville, Ont., Unifor president Jerry Dias said on Tuesday, a significant step toward creating an electric-vehicle industry in Canada that would include manufacturers and suppliers.

The deal is part of a tentative three-year labour contract that was signed at about 5 a.m. on Tuesday after marathon talks between the union and the automaker.

The $1.8-billion will be largely dedicated to retooling the Oakville plant to build five electric vehicle models, the first of which will be scheduled to roll off the line in 2025, Mr. Dias said. Batteries will also be assembled at the plant.

COMMUNITY VOICES: Mommy, where did my little Tesla come from? – by Jeff Vaughan (Bakersfield – September 20, 2020)

September 21, 2020

https://www.bakersfield.com/

Jeff Vaughan is an independent petroleum geologist who was born and worked in Bakersfield his entire career.

This is a take on the age old question that older siblings have been pondering forever. Surely the wise and elegant stork that delivered me home is not the same demented or inebriated one that delivered my defective younger brother?

So let’s take a look at electric vehicles and where they come from in comparing them to their internally combusted siblings.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. The following is a partial list of items in an electric vehicle that come from hydrocarbons (oil and gas). Hint – plastic is made from hydrocarbons, but it is not the only petroleum product used on electric vehicles.

Ford reveals plan for $700M plant, jobs at Rouge plus all-electric Ford F-150 secrets – by Phoebe Wall Howard (Detroit Free Press – September 17, 2020)

September 18, 2020September 18, 2020

https://www.freep.com/

Ford Motor Co. revealed Thursday an audacious plan to build a $700 million plant at the Rouge complex that would create the first all-electric F-150, the nation’s bestselling vehicle.

“This plant mirrors the story of America and American manufacturing,” said Bill Ford Jr., executive chairman, during an event at the manufacturing site livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.

“This is where the industrial revolution took hold, where the arsenal of democracy was forged, where parents and grandparents and great grandparents built not only cars and trucks but their own American dreams.

OPINION: Is Tesla’s gravity-defying valuation landing back on Earth? – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – September 12, 2020)

September 14, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

At some point, Elon Musk will hop into one of his SpaceX rockets and set up shop on Mars. His goal is to colonize the red planet as well as fill every road and highway on Earth with his electric Tesla cars, for he is a man with galaxy-sized ambitions.

No doubt he will leave an enormous statue of himself behind so that any investor in the distant future who misses his glorious presence can kneel before it, kissing the bronze feet of the dope-smoking executive who turned a low-volume maker of money-losing cars into a company worth more than all its competitors combined.

Well, he did for a few moments. The question is whether those moments will return, given Tesla’s outlandish, gravity-defying valuation. This week, Tesla shares finally cracked after one of the most stupendous rallies ever seen in the tech sector.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS MOUNT OVER USE OF NICKEL IN EVS – by Kieran Ahuja (Sunday Times Driving – September 7, 2020)

September 8, 2020

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OF COURSE, as something that has been widely touted as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, the green credentials of pure-electric vehicles have often been called into question.

A large amount of the conversation around this has revolved around the use of cobalt, which is used to aid conductivity and structural stability in lithium-ion batteries, enabling them to last for as long as they do.

However, production of cobalt is sometimes conducted in territories where a blind eye is turned to ethical mining practices, in places such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which produces around 60% of the world supply.

COMMENTARY: Rebuilding America’s supply chains can’t wait – by Rich Nolan (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star – August 20, 2020)

August 21, 2020

https://fredericksburg.com/

Rich Nolan is president and chief executive officer of the National Mining Association.

TESLA’s announcement of a new, 2,100-acre gigafactory in Texas has rightly generated a great deal of excitement. In this time of economic crisis, news of 5,000 new jobs assembling the world’s most celebrated electric vehicle is an important step toward strengthening domestic manufacturing.
In fact, the move has prompted Elon Musk and others to look further up the supply chain—to the raw materials that will make the production of these vehicles possible.

On a call last month, Musk highlighted his concerns about the front end of the supply chain: “Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.”

Timmins mine developer heeds Elon Musk’s call – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 27, 2020)

July 28, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Elon Musk’s plea for mining companies to “mine more nickel” had an apparent effect on Canada Nickel Company.

The Toronto-based exploration company is pitching its future mine project, north of Timmins, as a zero-emissions operation.

The Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur and electric vehicle maker promised a whopper of a Tesla contract for those producers that mine nickel “efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way” as lithium-ion battery demand starts to pick up.

COLUMN: Advice to Elon Musk About Potential Nickel Shortages – Stan Sudol (July 23, 2020)

July 25, 2020July 23, 2020

Elon Musk is practically begging nickel miners to boost production as potential future shortages would severely impact his ability to manufacture electric vehicles as the metal is a key component for the batteries Tesla Inc. depends on.

Historically, nickel has always been a boom/bust metal due to the fact the world only produces about 2.1 million metric tonnes of the material a year as opposed to a more commonly used metal like copper at 20 million metric tonnes. And roughly only half of nickel production is of the Class-1 type that is used in batteries that run electric vehicles.

Currently the cost of nickel is nearing a cyclical bottom, hence the reluctance of nickel miners to invest the possible near billion it takes to bring on a new mine.

Musk is a multi-billionaire and his company stock is at an all time high. Instead of whining to the mineral industry to invest “their shareholder money” in new nickel production at a time of low returns here are some suggestions to calm his fear of future shortages:

Electric Vehicles Are Starting to Buoy the Global Metals Market – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – July 7, 2020)

July 8, 2020

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

The market gloom over the metals that will power the cars of the future is starting to lift. Supply overhangs and then the coronavirus pandemic had crushed short-term prospects for the minerals used to make rechargeable batteries.

But new government commitments to green transport in China and Europe, as well as curtailments to mining and future investments, have led to a growing consensus the markets are bottoming out.

Add in the fact that battery technologies are continuing to get cheaper, and there’s reason to be bullish “over the next few years once we get through the current predicament,” said Chris Berry, president of House Mountain Partners, an industry consultant.

Tesla is the world’s top carmaker on the back of a tech boost and huge Chinese sales – by Gareth Hutchens (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – July 5, 2020)

July 6, 2020

https://www.abc.net.au/

It’s a sign of the times. Electric car manufacturer Tesla became the world’s most valuable carmaker last week, overtaking Toyota, despite never having made an annual profit.

In the past 12 months, Tesla shares have surged over 400 per cent to reach a market value of $US210 billion ($302 billion). In July last year, its share price was $US233. Last week, it closed at $US1,208.

According to the financial firm Refinitiv, Tesla is now trading at 69 times its estimated 2022 earnings. What’s behind the eye-watering rally? A broader improvement in the tech sector has helped.

Nevada’s “Lithium Valley” – by Charles Morris (Clean Technica – May 13, 2020)

May 14, 2020

https://cleantechnica.com/

No, lithium isn’t going to become “the new oil,” regardless of what the pandering pundits of the popular press say (it’s a raw material, not a fuel, and it’s one of the most abundant elements on Earth). However, there’s no question that demand for the light white stuff is growing quickly, and that much of the current supply comes from outside the US.

Tesla is believed to import much of the lithium it uses from Australia and South America. There are strong economic and environmental reasons to develop more domestic sources.

Fortunately, just a couple hundred miles north of Gigafactory 1, near the Oregon/Nevada border, there’s an area that some are calling Lithium Valley, which could contain a huge and easily exploitable trove of lithium. (This isn’t mere serendipity — one of the reasons Tesla chose Nevada as the site of the Gigafactory was the proximity to potential sources of lithium and other minerals.)

Demand for battery metals to jump 500% by 2050 – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 11, 2020)

May 12, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

Production of battery metals such as graphite, lithium and cobalt will have to increase by nearly 500% by 2050 to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies, the World Bank reported Monday.

According to the global lender, over 3 billion tonnes of minerals and metals will be needed to deploy wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as the energy storage required to transition to a low-carbon economy.

Many of the critical minerals used to make batteries for electric vehicles are found in developing nations. The World Bank’s goal is to help those nations to mine those commodities in a sustainable manner to avert major ecological damage.

Column: Collapsing auto sector a body blow for industrial metals – by Andy Home – Reuters U.K. – March 27, 2020)

March 31, 2020

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – France’s Recylex has just announced the temporary closure of both its German lead smelter and two battery-recycling plants, one in Germany and one in France.

The decision is due to a “strong drop in demand, especially in the automotive sector, in a context of sharply lower metal prices,” the company said. It will surely not be the last lead producer to mothball its production facilities.

Lead is umbilically tied to the automotive sector. Lead-acid batteries account for around 80% of global usage of the metal. And carmakers just about everywhere have halted their own production lines due to the spread of the coronavirus and the lockdowns on activity that have followed in its wake.