Twitter

Nickel

COLUMN-London Metal Exchange Week galvanised by electric dreams – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – November 3, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) – The future is bright. The future is electric. The green technology revolution lit up this year’s London Metals Exchange (LME) Week. “Electric vehicles are a great long-term story” for industrial metals, according to Colin Hamilton, head of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets.

And this is a sector that has been looking for exactly that since the abrupt demise of the “super-cycle” story that accompanied the last big bull rally. Copper has traditionally been the talk of the LME Week cocktail parties and dinners because this is the time Chilean producer Codelco announces its premiums for the coming year.

But this year copper was rudely shoved out of the London limelight by new hot metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. Particularly nickel, another core metallic component of the lithium-ion batteries that are going to power all those electric vehicles (EVs).

Read more

Electric cars could give nickel a jolt (Bloomberg News/Sudbury Star – November 5, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Glencore and Trafigura Group Pte are often at loggerheads, but one thing they agree on: The nickel market will be transformed by the rise of electric cars.

Nickel sulphate, a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, will see demand increase 50 per cent to three million metric tonnes by 2030, Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura, said in an interview. While other battery metals like cobalt and lithium have more than doubled since the start of last year, nickel prices have been subdued because of large inventories.

“When you look structurally, we should start to get bullish now,” Rahim said. “Are you going to be able to meet that demand when the time comes, given underinvestment in the supply side?”

Read more

New chief of Brazil’s Vale aims to halve debt – by Neil Hume (Financial Times – November 5, 2017)

https://www.ft.com/

Fabio Schvartsman says he wants miner to become ‘results orientated’

The new head of Brazil’s biggest private company Vale has said the miner must halve net debt to less than $10bn if it wants to become a “results-orientated” company.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Fabio Schvartsman said reducing debt was his number one priority and that there was a better chance of restarting the Samarco iron ore mine — the site of Brazil’s biggest environmental catastrophe and which it owns 50:50 with BHP Billiton — if Vale were able to take control.

“If we are at the $10bn level, it doesn’t matter what happens with commodity prices,” said Mr Schvartsman. “Vale will be in a very sound position to do everything that is necessary.” The company’s current market capitalisation is $53bn.

Read more

BHP to step up copper exploration, expansions to meet electric vehicles sector’s rising demand – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 1, 2017)

http://www.mining.com/

World’s biggest miner getting ready to provide enough copper for the booming electric cars industry.

World number one mining company BHP (ASX, NYSE: BHP) (LON:BLT) plans to step up copper exploration and expansions as it wants to be ready to meet electric vehicles sector’s rising demand for copper.

“We want more copper resources in our portfolio. And we believe the most valuable pathway to achieving this is through exploration, the drill bit,” Danny Malchuk, president of operations at BHP’s Minerals Americas, said at Bloomberg’s LME Week forum on Wednesday.

Unlike most miners, which slashed exploration budgets during the downturn that ended last year, BHP has kept its copper exploration budget steady at an average of $60 million annually over the last four-to-five years out of its overall budget for exploration of around $1 billion, Reuters reports.

Read more

Short-term plan needed to address mining-related job losses in Northern Manitoba, says NDP (Thompson Citizen – November 2, 2017)

http://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

Manitoba’s NDP party says Premier Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservative government is not doing enough to mitigate the economic effects that will be felt as up to 1,500 jobs are lost in Flin Flon and Thompson in the next year or so.

A briefing note sent to Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Blaine Pedersen last May, which was obtained by the NDP through a freedom-of-information request, said those job losses could represent $100 million in lost income and an overall loss of $300 million to the Northern Manitoba economy. Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey told the Nickel Belt News that the province is not doing enough in the short term to limit the damage those jobs losses will cause.

“We need to start addressing some of these issues right now,” said Lindsey, noting that the Look North task force’s report is more focused on long-term solutions. “The long-term vision is good but what do we do now that will try and keep those jobs, those workers, in the communities in the north so that Flin Flon and Thompson can survive?”

Read more

LME WEEK-BHP aims for more copper, oil; steers away from EV minerals – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.K. – November 2, 2017)

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – The world’s biggest miner BHP’s response to the electric vehicle debate is to hunt for new reserves of copper and oil, while seeking a buyer for its assets to produce battery-grade nickel and steering clear of lithium and cobalt.

Arnoud Balhuizen, chief commercial officer at BHP, has said 2017 marks a “tipping point” for electric vehicles in that they have entered the mainstream of metals demand forecasting. In terms of sales, however, the mass move is further off as hybrids and conventional cars stay on the roads for a transition period.

Balhuizen estimates that shift would be around 2030, which is also when BHP expects demand for oil from light vehicles to peak. Other forms of oil demand, including from industry and heavy goods transport, are likely to be more sustained.

Read more

[Minnesota Mining] Fighting for mining in D.C. – by Tom Coombe (Ely Echo – November 1, 2017)

http://www.elyecho.com/

Leaders of a grassroots pro-mining organization say they’re making progress in the nation’s capital – one meeting at a time. Fight for Mining Minnesota made its presence felt in Washington, D.C. this week, as three members of the group – including former Ely Mayor Joe Baltich -lobbied members of Congress, Congressional aides and reached out to the Trump administration.

The visit wasn’t linked to specific legislation or a committee hearing. Instead, Baltich joined former Elyites and FMM leaders Cindy and John Stene to connect and reconnect with key decision makers.

“All of them gave us hope,” said Baltich. “They tell us ‘we’re moving, maybe not moving as fast as you guys would like us to but we’re moving.’ There are so many hoops to jump through, but we’re getting there.”

Read more

Could EV demand cause a shortage of battery-grade nickel? – by Andrew Topf (Stockhouse Publishing – November 2, 2017)

http://www.stockhouse.com/

FULL DISCLOSURE: North American Nickel is a paid client of Stockhouse Publishing.

Nickel: The dark horse in the EV battery race

Without a doubt, the barn door that has been cracked open on electric vehicles (EVs) is only going to swing further. One recent projection puts EVs at 16% market penetration by 2030 and 51% by 2040. Several countries including China, France and the UK have signalled they will eventually ban gas-powered vehicles, and one automaker, Volvo, recently announced that starting in 2019, all models will be hybrids or electrics.

This has investors flocking to companies that mine lithium and cobalt – two key ingredients of batteries used in EVs. But it’s a lesser-known fact that nickel, a cheaper, up-to-now industrial metal used primarily in stainless steel, will also be needed for EV batteries.

In fact, so much nickel could be demanded in the next few years that analysts are predicting a shortage of battery-grade nickel. Investors who can identify companies with properties that contain this type of nickel stand to make a bundle, especially those in the early exploration stages.

Read more

One Metal Will Be Transformed by the Electric Car Boom – by Mark Burton and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – October 31, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc and Trafigura Group Pte are often at loggerheads, but one thing they agree on: the nickel market will be transformed by the rise of electric cars.

Nickel sulphate, a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, will see demand increase 50 percent to 3 million metric tons by 2030, Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura, said in an interview. While other battery metals like cobalt and lithium have more than doubled since the start of last year, nickel prices have been subdued because of large inventories.

“When you look structurally, we should start to get bullish now,” Rahim said. “Are you going to be able to meet that demand when the time comes, given underinvestment in the supply side?”

Read more

Electric cars set world’s nickel miners on new course – by James Regan and Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – October 31, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Battery makers are increasingly turning to nickel to help power growing global electric car sales, but only half of the world’s producers of the metal are likely to benefit, mining analysts and executives say.

Lithium batteries containing nickel, which helps keep a charge over longer distances, are being installed in electric cars from Tesla’s top-of-the-line Model X to General Motors Co modestly-priced Chevy Bolt.

The battery boom promises a new and growing market for miners producing high-grade nickel products. However, half the world’s supply of the metal, comprised of so-called ferronickel and nickel pig iron grades, is unsuitable for battery production, according to analysts at UBS.

Read more

‘Leaner’ Vale reports better earnings, profits (Bloomberg/Sudbury Star – October 26, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale SA shares rose to the highest in two years after the world’s biggest iron-ore miner beat analysts’ earnings estimates on lower costs, stronger prices and record production.

Shares advanced for a sixth day, gaining 2.1 per cent at 10:18 a.m. in Sao Paulo, after the Rio de Janeiro-based company posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $3.02 billion for the third quarter, exceeding the $2.7 billion average of nine dollar-based [estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Pummeled by the biggest commodities downturn in a generation, Vale is once again generating cash after cutting costs and selling assets as prices recover. Chief Executive Officer Murilo Ferreira is betting on new, high-grade deposits in northern Brazil to offset his transport cost disadvantage with Australian mines that are much closer to Chinese steel mills.

Read more

COLUMN-Nickel the latest metal to feel the electric vehicle buzz – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – October 25, 2017)

http://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) – First it was lithium. Then it was cobalt. And now it is nickel’s turn in the electric vehicle spotlight. Nickel is just as important as the other two metals in manufacturing the batteries that will power the green technology revolution.

It is used in both currently dominant lithium battery configurations, nickel-cobalt-manganese and nickel-cobalt-aluminium. Indeed, it may increase its material share against cobalt, a metal that is posing all sorts of supply problems, both physical and ethical, for the automotive sector.

Growing demand from battery-makers will exacerbate “the predicted structural shortage of nickel between now and 2025,” according to research house Wood Mackenzie.

Read more

Mixed fortunes for Anglo’s copper, coal and nickel divisions – by Ilan Solomons (MiningWeekly.com – October 24, 2017)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major Anglo American recorded increases in production at its copper units, while coal and nickel production decreased in the third quarter, ended September 30.

The company on Tuesday posted a 6% year-on-year increase in production on a copper-equivalent basis in the third quarter of the year. For the first nine months of the year, copper equivalent production had increased by 8%, while copper production increased by 5% to 147 300 t.

Production from the Los Bronces mine, in Chile, increased by 8% to 78 100 t. Anglo American stated that higher ore grades at the mine had been partially offset by the impact of a ball mill stator failure at the processing plant, which reduced throughput. Repairs are scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter.

Read more

Electric vehicle ambitions spark race for raw materials – by Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – October 23, 2017)

https://www.ft.com/

Manufacturers are scrambling to seal long-term deals for supply of lithium, cobalt and nickel

As carmakers gear up to electrify their fleets, a new scramble for resources is under way to ensure there is enough raw material for a rapid expansion of battery production.

Electric car batteries rely on a host of materials — from lithium to nickel, cobalt and graphite — while some cars also use motors that require rare earths.

Prices have soared rapidly over the past year, with cobalt, a greyish metal mostly mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, up more than 190 per cent over the past 18 months. Carmakers and battery producers are rushing to lock in supply agreements from mining companies for the metals as forecasts for consumer uptake of electric vehicles increase and governments launch policies to back a shift away from combustion engines.

Read more

China’s Jinchuan eyes new nickel, cobalt project to tap electric vehicle boom – by Tom Daly (Reuters U.S. – October 20, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING (Reuters) – Jinchuan Group [JCHRP.UL], China’s top nickel producer, will next year start building a new project in Guangxi that will produce raw materials for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, its chairman said, looking to tap the sector’s “explosive” demand.

The project, in the southern port city of Fangchenggang, where Jinchuan already smelts copper and nickel, will have annual production of 30,000 tonnes of nickel and 3,000 tonnes of cobalt by 2020, Wang Yongqian said in an emailed Q&A with Reuters.

The company’s three main metals “are all raw materials for electric cars,” Wang said, forecasting “explosive growth” in EVs in China over the next five-10 years. Wang was in Beijing this week to attend the 19th Communist Party congress.

Read more