| Click on blue article title to read full story. | | | | Cobalt | | | | Metal Bulletin - February 6, 2018 Cobalt’s boom days will continue for the next seven to 10 years amid strong demand from the electric vehicles sector as well as traditional...... It does seem that all the focus is on batteries but legacy cobalt uses are doing really well. Metal demand is very strong and producers are well sold. Late last year, consumers in the alloy industry were trying not to buy cobalt because prices Cobalt's boom days will continue for the next seven to 10 years amid strong demand from the electric vehicles sector as well as traditional cobalt consumers, according to Eurasian Resources Group's (ERG) Tony Southgate. "Our view is that the cobalt boom is guaranteed for the next seven to 10 years," Southgate, head of strategic cobalt marketing at the Kazakh mining group, told Metal Bulletin on the sidelines of Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday February 6…"It does seem that all the focus is on batteries but legacy cobalt uses are doing really well. Metal demand is very strong and producers are well sold. Late last year, consumers in the alloy industry were trying not to buy cobalt because prices were high and they were waiting for the market to drop. Now they're realizing they need to buy," he said…The high-grade cobalt price was last at $37.50-38.50 per lb…"Congo is the only place for cobalt investment. If you're going to get good growth it's got to be there. In terms of new projects elsewhere, even if 10 of them get off the ground that's only one RTR. It will happen, but it's not material to the supply picture," Southgate told Metal Bulletin. | | Reuters US News - February 7, 2018 CAPE TOWN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Copper production in Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa’s top producer, rose 6.9 percent in 2017 to 1.09... 1.09 million tonnes, while output of cobaltsurged 15.5 percent to 73,940 tonnes, the industry-led chamber of mines said on Wednesday. Gold | | S&P Global Market Intelligence - February 7, 2018 Miners dig for cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cobalt is used in most electric vehicle batteries. Source: Associated Press...... Miners dig for cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cobalt is used in most electric vehicle batteries. Source: Associated Press Because of the price spike in cobalt as well as lithium, "most [battery] vendors are not quoting 2019," Austin added. Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that average lithium ion battery cell prices will rise slightly this year. The research firm expects average battery pack prices will still drop 10%-15%, however, thanks to energy density improvements, larger battery sizes and manufacturing economies of scale…Even without the DRC's proposed new law, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that global cobalt supplies will lag behind demand already by 2021 | | Reuters US News - February 7, 2018 (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.) * Global X Lithium ETF: tmsnrt.rs/2sfGPtq * Lithium... Translating political breakthrough into production boom is going to take years. And right now the lithium supply chain is still massively stressed as it adapts to meet exponential demand growth from battery makers Tesla, the pioneer of the electric vehicle revolution, is turning to Chile to secure the lithium it needs to power its mass production drive…Others will almost certainly follow, since the world's automotive sector is just waking up to the supply-chain challenges associated with mass production of electric vehicles…And if a straight-to-mine approach works in lithium, would it work for cobalt, another key battery input with an even more fragile supply chain dominated by the Democratic Republic of Congo? We may not have to wait long to find out. There's a sense Tesla has just fired the starting gun on the next chapter of the battery metals revolution. | | | | | Renewable Energy | | | | Cetusnews.com - February 5, 2018 Riyadh plans to build a $300 million solar farm that would generate enough electricity to power 200,000 homes, an example Saudi leaders... The world’s largest oil exporter is embarking, under Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on an ambitious effort to diversify its economy and reinvigorate growth, in part by plowing money into renewable energy Now, Saudi Arabia is trying to tie its future to another natural resource it has in abundance: sunlight…The world’s largest oil exporter is embarking, under Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on an ambitious effort to diversify its economy and reinvigorate growth, in part by plowing money into renewable energy. The Saudi government wants not just to reshape its energy mix at home but also to emerge as a global force in clean power…By the end of the year, Saudi Arabia aims to invest up to $7 billion to develop seven new solar plants and a big wind farm. The country hopes that renewables, which now represent a negligible amount of the energy it uses, will be able to provide as much as 10 percent of its power generation by the end of 2023. Saudi Arabia, with its vast oil resources, would seem an unlikely champion for renewables. But the country’s location and climate mean it has plenty of promising sites for solar and wind farms…The costs of installing and operating those two technologies have fallen drastically around the world in recent years. That means that even in a country where oil is plentiful, renewables beckon as a cheap, and clean, alternative to traditional fossil fuels…At 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, a wholesale measure of electricity, solar power here would be below the cost of fossil fuel-generated electricity, Mr. Shehri said | | | | | Congo | | | | Cetusnews.com - February 6, 2018 Congo’s state-owned mining firm is pushing to renationalize the Central African nation’s massive natural resources, in a move that could... in the price of cobalt, a metal used in cellphones and a key material for making lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles.Cobalt prices Congo’s state-owned mining firm, Gcamines SA, is pushing to renationalize the Central African nation’s rich natural resources, in a move that could roil some of the world’s largest mining companies and have implications for industries ranging from technology to auto production…Higher cobalt prices “give us full reason” to renegotiate joint ventures, Mr. Yuma said…“A bigger piece of the cake, that’s the ultimate goal,” he said, adding that eventually, he would like to revert to 100% ownership of all mines in Congo…Mr. Yuma said recent audits of mining companies operating in Congo—undertaken by global accounting firm Mazars on behalf of Gcamines—had revealed corrupt and potentially criminal behavior and warned that companies could face prosecution by Congolese courts…The audits are due to conclude in March, at which point Gcamines will invite the miners to sit down and renegotiate joint ventures, based on individual findings, Mr. Yuma said. | | | | |