Stay Focused ...On what we know and that We are far better off than many, in fact we are steps away from good things toward potential development. From time to time we have been slapped in the face joked about and shat upon but those days and things are gonna come to an end .... from the WSJ
Small mining companies in North America are struggling to attract funding, despite growing demand for lithium and cobalt for electric ...
Investors are pouring money into car companies, battery makers and clean-tech startups that are poised to benefit from the global economy’s shift to electric power. But many small mining companies that supply the raw materials haven’t been invited to the party…Uncertainty over the metals’ quality, the short- and long-term outlook for prices and the ability of North American miners to compete with their Chinese counterparts is making investors wary…In theory, there has never been a better time to mine for cobalt and other battery minerals such as lithium in North America. Demand is surging as the global economy shifts to electric power. The U.S. and Canadian governments are concerned about China’s dominance over the market and have begun to funnel money to ore refiners and battery makers because they want to counterbalance their Asian rival. Still, many of the small North American miners that could be the first link in the supply chains leading to the production of the batteries that power Tesla Model 3 electric sedans and the iPhone are finding it difficult to raise money, said Egizio Bianchini, head of the metals and mining group at investment bank Stifel GMP...Mining investors have been slow to buy in to the growing interest in electrification and the surging use of technologies that depend on the minerals because it can take too long for the mines to produce returns. Many mining projects can take 10 years from discovery to producing revenue, he said. That is leaving early-stage projects scrambling…“In our market system, there’s a mismatch between timing and expectations,” said Mr. Bianchini. “It’s hard to expedite digging…Miners are struggling to persuade investors to fund their costly efforts to break from the earth the ores needed to make batteries and magnets and to dispose of toxic products such as arsenic and uranium that the mining can create….The miners are also competing for investment dollars with gold miners, a sector that has historically been more attractive to investors because the returns are more certain, said Chris Galbraith, an S&P analyst…As battery-minerals projects struggled to raise money last year, financing for small and medium-size gold miners jumped 40% in 2020, a year that marked the best showing for the precious metal’s price since 2010. ..Financing hurdles threaten to slow Western economies’ efforts to catch up to China, which is speeding ahead in the race to dominate the battery markets, said Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Mineral intelligence. The London-based firm tracks battery prices and industry developments…“All they get is that there’s too much risk,” he said. “You need a long-term vision. The way capital markets work for minerals is so inefficient.”…China has encouraged the growth of its mining sector through a combination of state support and aggressive investment in mineral-rich countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said. China accounted for almost 60% of estimated rare-earths production in 2020, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It also refines the bulk of the world’s lithium, cobalt and graphite, placing the country at the center of a web that reaches much of the global economy…With market funding in short supply, some mining executives say governments need to bridge the gap.The U.S. Department of Defense, for example, is helping to fund a processing facility in the California desert for the only mine in the U.S. that produces rare earths…Recent decisions by President Biden’s administration to revive a dormant $40-billion loan program for clean-energy projects and its push for infrastructure spending could help miners get funding…