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Lithium Deal Shows China’s Accelerating Race for Battery Metals – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – October 11, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Lithium has gotten so hot that even China’s gold miners want a slice of the market, sky high valuations and all. Zijin Mining Group Co., a major Chinese gold and copper producer, announced on Friday its first foray into the booming lithium sector with its C$960 million ($770 million) purchase of Neo Lithium Corp.

It’s just the latest in a series of recent acquisitions, mostly involving Chinese bidders for South American assets owned by Canadian firms, amid surging demand for the key ingredient used to power electric vehicles.

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Ivanhoe keeps DRC copper mine expansion ahead of schedule – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 12, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) said on Tuesday that expansion of its Kamoa-Kakula mine in Democratic Republic of Congo, the biggest copper operation to come online in decades, is ahead of scheduled, with full production now expected in the second quarter next year.

Construction of the mine Phase 2’s concentrator plant was originally expected to finish in the summer of 2022, the company said. The 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) facility, a “carbon copy” of the Phase 1 plant, has been designed to double production to about 400,000 tonnes of copper a year.

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Updated critical minerals list a boon for Australian miners – by Matthew Cranston (Australian Financial Review – October 10, 2021)

https://www.afr.com/

Washington| Australian miners stand to benefit from the addition of nickel to a critical minerals list designed to help the US fix supply gaps in batteries and other energy technologies.

Australia produces 24 per cent of the world’s nickel, according to government data, and the metal’s inclusion on the list could spur development of new mines and expansion of existing sites both in the US and Australia. The metal is used to strengthen alloys found in batteries, electronics, military hardware and a range of energy technologies.

Nickel processing is dominated by China.

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Pentagon adds graphite to stockpile list – by Shane Lasley(North of 60 Mining News – October 8, 2021)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

As another signal foreshadowing the growing demand for graphite, the Pentagon has added this lithium-ion battery ingredient to its newest National Defense Stockpile Acquisitions List.

Published by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency on Oct. 4, this list calls for DLA’s strategic materials department to acquire up to 900 metric tons of graphite to store in government stockpiles over the coming year.

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NEWS RELEASE: Drive for e-batteries: Europe’s first lithium hydroxide converter to be built in Brandenburg, Germany (October 10, 2021)

https://finance.yahoo.com/

GUBEN, Germany, Oct. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ – Rock Tech Lithium Inc., a cleantech company with offices in Canada and Germany, is planning to build Europe’s first lithium converter – a production plant for battery-grade lithium hydroxide – in Guben, Brandenburg.

The company intends to locate all production steps of lithium refining in one overall plant at the Guben site. The investment decision for all production steps still depends, among other things, on ongoing discussions regarding subsidies already applied for or still to be applied for. With its long industrial tradition and existing infrastructure, the region offers the best conditions for becoming a central component of the battery value chain and thus part of Brandenburg’s e-mobility cluster.

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OPINION: There is no quick fix for Europe’s self-manufactured energy crisis – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – October 9, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Suppose you were told 10 years ago that you had 10 years to replace your soot-spewing diesel car. You did not. Now, you’ve missed the deadline and have no right to be surprised by your sudden lack of four-wheeled transportation – you had ample time to buy a hybrid or electric car.

So it is with Europe. A bit more than a decade ago, a concerted effort was launched within the European Union countries and a few others on the continent to phase out their coal-fired generating plants to clean the skies and slow the pace of global warming.

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Lithium boom takes shape in Latin America – by Daniel Tyson (Capital.com – September 6, 2021)

https://capital.com/

The Lithium Road runs through Latin America. It crosses three countries – Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile – whose economies are as bone-shakingly unstable as a potholed highway.

Chris Berry, president of House Mountain Partners, told Capital.com that lithium production, “is set to ramp up dramatically in the next few years” in those countries. By 2025, the Lithium triangle is expected to provide 60 to 70% of the globe’s lithium used in products ranging from electric vehicles to cell phones and laptops.

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We’re in a massive market bubble — and when it pops a lot of investors will get wiped out – by Frank Giustra (Toronto Star – October 12, 2021)

https://www.thestar.com/

“Stock market bubbles don’t grow out of thin air. They have a solid basis in reality, but reality as distorted by a misconception.” — George Soros

Here I go again, sounding like a broken record. A couple months ago, I wrote an article noting that we are likely in the final act of the biggest stock market bubble in history.

But given there is so much at stake, I feel an obligation to repeat myself. In doing so, I know I will draw the ire of many market participants. It’s a given that Chicken Littles are never very popular when everyone is having a good time.

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If oil and gas are dead, why are exports booming? – by Philip Cross (Financial Post – October 12, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

Statistics Canada this week reported that energy exports reached $12.0 billion in August, more than recouping all their losses during the pandemic. Exports topped their March 2019 high of $11.4 billion and are closing in fast on their all-time peak of $12.8 billion set in 2014.

The increase was driven by sharply higher exports of both crude oil and natural gas. Despite all the hype surrounding electricity exports, they earn less in a month than oil and gas generate every day.

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The Hottest Party in the Metals World Is Back, But Much Smaller – by Jack Farchy and Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – October 10, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Near-record copper prices are usually a sure sign that the parties will be extravagant and the champagne will flow all night when the metals world descends on London. But with Covid-19 still raging across much of the globe, the famously rowdy annual gathering of traders, financiers and producers won’t be quite the same.

Several of the best-attended parties will be missing from this year’s London Metal Exchange Week, which is returning after skipping 2020 due to virus restrictions. And many regular attendees from Asia, the most important driver of metals demand, and from South America, the key mining region, are opting to stay at home.

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Quad nations to focus on clean-energy supply chain, says Australia PM – by Melanie Burton (Reuters – September 25, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – The United States, Japan, India and Australia will work to improve the security of supply chains for critical technologies such as clean energy and to ease a global semiconductor shortage, said Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The Quad nations, in their first in-person summit here on Friday in Washington, agreed on a partnership to secure critical infrastructure, the White House said.

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Bonanza for Australian minerals under net zero: IMF – by Matthew Cranston and Ronald Mizen (Australian Financial Review – October 13, 2021)

https://www.afr.com/

Washington | Australia is in pole position to benefit from a sixfold increase in demand for so-called “critical minerals” worth $US12.9 trillion ($17.6 trillion) over the next two decades, driven by the race to hit net zero emissions, according to analysis from the International Monetary Fund.

In its latest World Economic Outlook, the Washington-based multilateral lender projects that a steady 15 per cent increase in its metal price index will bolster Australia’s annual economic growth by 1 percentage point, further strengthening the government’s finances.

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In Global Energy Crisis, Anti-Nuclear Chickens Come Home to Roost – by Ted Nordhaus (Foreign Policy – October 8, 2021)

https://foreignpolicy.com/

In virtually every country that has closed nuclear plants, clean electricity has been replaced with dirty power.

For years, the proponents of wind and solar energy have promised us a green future with electricity too cheap to meter, new energy infrastructure with little environmental impact on the land, and deep cuts in carbon emissions.

But despite the rapid growth of renewable energy, that future has yet to materialize. Instead, many of the places that are furthest along in transitioning to renewable energy are today facing a crisis of power shortages, sky-high electricity prices, and flat or rising carbon emissions.

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Environmental assessments start for Ring of Fire roads – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – October 8, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Webequie Chief cautions his community has yet to show its support for critical link of mine supply road

The provincial environmental assessment (EA) process is starting for two stretches of the proposed Ring of Fire road network. Late on Oct. 8, Environment, Conservation and Parks Minister David Piccini announced approval has been given for the terms of reference for the Marten Falls Community Access Road.

That coincided with separate news from Chief Cornelius Wabasse of Webequie First Nation that his community has also given approval for the terms of reference of the Webequie Supply Road.

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Making Quebec a key accelerator of the global energy transition – by Patrick Bertrand-Daoust (Canadian Mining Journal – October 8, 2021)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Canada has a big goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. That transition is going to require the collective effort of all sectors to enable their energy transitions and strategically work towards building cleaner, more prosperous products and operations.

But turning those plans into reality will heavily rely on the mining and metals sector to provide the raw materials needed to reach ambitious goals. And with the target date around the corner, demand is coming quick.

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