We took a Tesla on a road trip through northern Ontario in the coldest week of the year. Could our EV handle it? – by Marco Chown Oved and Steve Russell (Toronto Star – March 9, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

Star journalists drove a Tesla 2,300 km around northern Ontario, exploring the emerging EV supply chain from mine to refinery to battery plant to assembly.

HWY. 11, SOMEWHERE NORTH OF NORTH BAY—It was -12 C and dropping. The snow was blowing diagonally and traffic was crawling in single file, sticking to the ruts between white humps on Highway 11. Then my car started talking to me.

“You’re almost too far from known chargers,” it said. “Plan your next charge. All known charging locations will be out of range soon.” The map on the GPS showed the nearest charger behind us, in North Bay. We were driving north — away from it. Soon, we wouldn’t have enough charge to make it back.

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Oil Fields of Arkansas Are the Newest Locations for a Lithium Battery Rush – by Boyce Upholt (Mother Jones – March 11, 2024)

https://www.motherjones.com/

“Production at existing sites could negate the benefits of the clean technologies they power.”

The town of Smackover, Arkansas, was founded a hundred years ago when a sawmill operator got lucky: his wildcat oil well yielded a gusher. For a time in the 1920s, the oil field beneath the clay hills and swampy creeks in this stretch of southern Arkansas was the world’s most productive site. Now, boosters say the region will help usher the world into an oil-free future, thanks to the discovery of underground brines that are rich in lithium.

Lithium is one of the most important metals in the transition to renewable power. Lithium-ion batteries are, thanks to their lightweight and high energy density, currently the top choice for storing energy in electric vehicles, and a potential tool for grid storage, too. Global production of the metal tripled throughout the 2010s, and demand is projected to increase as much as 40-fold by mid-century.

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Gulf oil giants Saudi Aramco, Adnoc set sights on lithium (Mining.com – March 11, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ national oil companies plan to extract lithium from brine in their oilfields, in line with efforts to diversify their economies and profit from the shift to electric vehicles (EVs), three sources told Reuters.

Other oil companies, including Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum, plan to take advantage of emerging technologies to filter lithium from brine, as the world seeks to move away from fossil fuels.

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China strengthens its grip on global lithium trade amid processing plant building boom in Zimbabwe – by Jevans Nyabiage (South China Morning Post – March 10, 2024)

https://www.scmp.com/

China is getting a head start in the global rush for lithium after several mining companies completed multimillion-dollar processing plants for the “white gold” in Zimbabwe.

Major Chinese companies, including Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group and Chengxin Lithium Group, all completed the construction or upgrade of lithium processing plants in Zimbabwe last year.

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French government throws more lifebuoys at New Caledonia’s beleaguered nickel industry – by Patrick Decloitre (Radio New Zealand – March 7, 2024)

https://www.rnz.co.nz/

The French government has agreed to dig in its coffers and throw more lifebuoys at New Caledonia’s beleaguered nickel industry. But the aid is tied to a stringent reform “pact”.

The latest financial assistance came early this week with an agreement between France and mining giant Eramet, whereby a sum of €320 million (which is the amount of previous loans granted by the French government) will be converted to “neutralise” an existing debt in Eramet’s New Caledonia subsidiary Société Le Nickel (SLN) so as the huge figure can be transferred from the liabilities section to “quasi-equities”.

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How Will Chinese Investors Navigate Indonesia’s Post-election Risks? – by Ahmad Syarif (The Diplomat – March 7, 2024)

https://thediplomat.com/

Chinese firms, which have established good relations with President Joko Widodo’s cabinet, are quietly putting out feelers ahead of the changeover of administration.

Over the past ten years, China has emerged as a significant foreign investor in Indonesia. Between 2019 and 2022 alone, according to data from the Ministry of Investment, Chinese companies invested $20.9 billion across 9,080 projects in the country.

Chinese investments in Indonesia can be categorized into two distinct groups. The first are those of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and state-supported initiatives, which encompass major infrastructure projects like railways, power plants, and other government-sponsored developments.

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Kazakhstan positions itself for lithium windfall (Eurasianet.org – March 6, 2024)

https://eurasianet.org/

The National Geological Service says the country has lithium reserves of around 75,600 tons.

Kazakhstan is positioning itself as an important potential global supplier of high-quality lithium just as demand surges for the mineral, which is indispensable for the booming power-storage technology industry. The auspices are good, although few firm investment commitments have materialized.

Speaking at a conference in Seoul on March 5, researchers from the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources announced that they had discovered sizable lithium reserves in an area of eastern Kazakhstan.

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Fall in battery metal prices a concern for Canada and allies, says Jonathan Wilkinson – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – March 5, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Supply key to three battery plants to be built here in coming years

Slumping prices for the minerals needed in the energy transition away from fossil fuels is a concern for Canada and its allies, says Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, since it is preventing capital from moving into projects the country wants to develop.

“It is a concern for a number of countries like Canada that produce these minerals and hope to produce many more going forward,” he said. “It is something that Australia, Canada, the European Union and others are talking about.”

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Vancouver lithium company announces investor interest from China, despite Ottawa’s warnings – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – March 7, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Another deep-pocketed China-based buyer is attempting to invest in a Canadian critical-minerals company, even as Ottawa fires a warning shot that it is monitoring such deals closely, and prepared to intervene.

On Tuesday, Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Argentina Corp. (Lithium Argentina) said it had attracted a US$70-million investment from China-based Ganfeng Lithium, which would see it take a 15-per-cent stake in its Pastos Grandes project.

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Indonesia and China killed the nickel market – by Rich Mills – Ahead of the Herd (Mining.com – March 4, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The mantra? Our fossil-fueled based transportation system needs to be 100% electrified, and the switch must be made from oil, gas, and coal-powered power plants to those which run on solar, wind and nuclear energy. If we have any hope of cleaning up the planet, before the point of no return, a massive decarbonization needs to take place.

This has to involve a colossal boost in the production of mined metals, including lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel for lithium-ion batteries used in EVs, renewable energy grid storage and consumer electronics; copper for electric vehicle motors, charging stations and renewable energy plants; silver for solar panels and EVs.

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‘Vulnerabilities are obvious’ as U.S. moves to build critical mineral supply chain, undersecretary says – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 6, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

U.S., Canada partner to reduce dependence on China by supporting mining, processing and recycling projects

The United States has “no better partner than Canada” as it seeks to build out a global critical minerals supply chain, says undersecretary of economic growth Jose Fernandez.

“Our partnership with Canada in this space is frankly second to none,” he said after speaking at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto on March 4.

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‘Data not accurate’: Macquarie’s nickel veteran says rout ending – by Hans van Leeuwen (Australian Financial Review – March 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

London | The nickel turmoil of last year may blow over more quickly than previously expected, according to Macquarie’s 44-year veteran nickel watcher Jim Lennon, as unexpectedly high Chinese demand and potentially slower Indonesian growth rebalance the market.

Mr Lennon has just returned from a visit to China that has triggered a “major change” to Macquarie’s forecasts for nickel – a market in which prices nose-dived by almost 50 per cent last year, and which many analysts still expect to be stuck in the doldrums this year.

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Nickel producers fear growing Indonesian pricing power – by Andy Home (Reuters – March 5, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) – An Indonesian nickel producer has for the first time ever applied to have its metal listed as a good delivery brand on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Indonesia has rapidly emerged as the new powerhouse of global nickel production but until now has not produced the metal in the high-purity form traded on either the LME or the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

That will change if PT CNGR Ding Xing New Energy gets the official nod for its “DX-zwdx” brand of full-plate nickel cathode. It is likely to do so since the LME is fast-tracking new nickel listings as part of its recovery plan after the market meltdown in 2022. The policy appears to be paying off for the exchange with stocks and trading volumes rising.

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SRG Mining calls off financing deal with China-based buyer after Champagne intervenes – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – March 6, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

SRG Mining Inc. has called off its financing deal with a privately held Chinese company, after Canada’s Industry Minister publicly chastised the miner for trying to skirt a national security review related to the agreement.

Last summer, China-based Carbon One New Energy Group Co. Ltd., also known as C-One, proposed buying a 19.4-per-cent stake in SRG’s Lola graphite project in West Africa for $16.9-million. For the first few months after the deal was announced, Montreal-based SRG told its investors that the deal was subject to a national-security review by the Canadian federal government.

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Frontier Lithium finds mine, refinery project partner in Mitsubishi – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 4, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

No news from Ottawa on critical infrastructure funding for key northern bridge and access road

Sudbury’s Frontier Lithium has attracted a heavyweight partner in Mitsubishi Corporation to develop its massive PAK lithium project in northwestern Ontario.

On the opening day of the PDAC mining show in Toronto, Frontier Lithium announced a definitive agreement with Mitsubishi to establish a joint venture partnership for both its proposed $US576-million fully integrated mine and a lithium chemicals conversion refinery.

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