| Click on blue article title to read full story. | | | | Cobalt | | | | Metal Bulletin - February 19, 2018 Low- and high-grade cobalt prices continued to overlap in the latest price assessment, with a supply squeeze coupled with strong demand for...... assessment. The quotation was 0.8% higher week on week. High-grade cobalt prices rose to $38.20-39.40 per lb, in-warehouse, on Friday, High-grade cobalt prices rose to $38.20-39.40 per lb, in-warehouse, on Friday, increasing by 35 cents on the low end of the range and up by 40 cents on the high end from Wednesday’s assessment. High-grade cobalt prices rose by 1% over seven days. Unlike most minor metals markets, the cobalt market was active over the past week during the Chinese New Year holiday, with quarterly business negotiations taking place during the period. Sentiment was bullish and offering prices were high, with a number of negotiations for material delivered in the second... | | Bloomberg - February 19, 2018 Output at Congo’s artisanal mines probably rose at least half Metal vital to many electric vehicles has tripled in 18 months medium industrial producers, who often add artisanal cobalt to supplies from their own mines to make cobalt-hydroxide for export. Congo’s Production from so-called artisanal mines probably rose by at least half last year, according to the estimates of officials at three of the biggest international suppliers of the metal, who asked not to be named because they’re not authorized to speak on the matter. State-owned miner Gecamines estimates artisanal output accounted for as much as a quarter of the country’s total production in 2017…Shipments of cobalt hydroxide -- a partially refined product that contains about one-third cobalt and is the main export product -- climbed about 20 percent in 2017 to 269,254 tons, government statistics show…Congo’s Ministry of Mines estimates 86,923 tons of cobalt was produced last year. There are no exact data on how much of that cobalt is produced at artisanal mines, but the figure is about 13,000 tons higher than the output reported by the country’s industrial operators and published by the chamber of mines this month…The three suppliers who spoke to Bloomberg estimated Congo’s artisanal output at 10,000 to 20,000 last year. | | The San Diego Union-Tribune - February 19, 2018 Cobalt is a key ingredient in electric car batteries. But most of the supply of cobalt is found in a nation with a shaky human rights... Republic of Congo in June 2016. Artisanalminers working by hand in a former industrial copper-cobalt mine near the capital city of The road to an imminent electric vehicle future has hit a speed bump — one made of cobalt. An essential ingredient in lithium-ion batteries that power millions of smartphones as well as plug-in electric cars, cobalt is in heavy demand…The cathodes in lithium-ion batteries typically used in EVs are made of metal oxides that contain a combination of cobalt and other elements…Cobalt helps the cathodes concentrate a lot of power in a confined space. Without the element’s energy density, batteries in EVs without cobalt tend to perform worse…As the EV sector attempts to move from niche-market status to mainstream acceptance, cobalt demand is surging…Anticipating a flood in global sales of EVs, the demand for cobalt used in electric car batteries is expected to increase by nearly eight-fold by 2026…The vast majority of cobalt is a byproduct from the mining of nickel and copper and 54 percent of the world’s supply comes from one country — the Democratic Republic of Congo…That’s left North American and European carmakers scrambling to sign contracts to ensure their own supplies of the raw materials needed for battery minerals. It’s also led to searches for cobalt in other places. Canada is the fourth-largest producer of cobalt and miners in provinces from Ontario to the Northwest Territories are looking at potential sites to develop…“There isn’t a better element than nickel to increase energy density, and there isn’t a better element than cobalt to make the stuff stable,” Marc Grynberg, the chief executive at Umicore, told Reuters. “So (while) you hear about designing out cobalt, this is not going to happen in the next three decades. It simply doesn’t work.”…A number of automakers who have made commitments to build more EVs have put out requests to secure long-term cobalt supplies from international mining companies | | Metal Bulletin - February 19, 2018 China is set to lead the way forward in the development of electric vehicles (EVs) in the next 10 years and become the development... do? Do you as an automaker get yourself comfortable with certain types of artisanalmining? That’s very hard to do…I think the sole focus of “It’s definitely happening; China is going to be the silicon valley of the EVs battery space. I don’t think anyone else will be even close over the course of the next decade,” he added…“As the auto industry further subscribes to that world view, the basic materials that comprise the various components of that car – including cobalt, nickel, lithium and copper – become increasingly critical. I don’t believe that any of the automobile makers or any of the miners – even the smartest ones in the world – anticipated this on any level,” he added. ..Even just two years ago, the use of EVs in the western world was still relatively limited, but data for 2017 shows an approximate 2% penetration rate, and month on month growth is continuing to expand, Milewski said...“Today’s Wall Street consensus view is 15% penetration in 2025. If in fact what we’re seeing is an acceleration in the penetration rate, the numbers are staggering,” he added, noting that consumption of battery materials would be multiples of current levels...It’s not just EVs; energy storage is another source of demand for batteries in which cobalt is part of rising consumption trends...“You had a market that was in balance with demand growing in aerospace and computer batteries, and then out of nowhere – in a market that no one really cared about even 18 months ago – a new source of demand came in and became real,” he said. …”If the auto-battery makers truly believed in cobalt 18 months ago they could have bought unlimited cobalt forever at $15,” he added...“I predict in the next 12 months you’ll see RTR and Katanga do big offtake agreements. That will be great for the automakers who are the first movers to do so, because then they can have their supply for the next decade,” he told Metal Bulletin. ..“Where it gets harder is once those deals are done, then what do you do? Do you as an automaker get yourself comfortable with certain types of artisanal mining? That’s very hard to do…I think the sole focus of auto companies today is securing supply from known producers,” he said…The best place for automakers to be and where they want to be is in tripartite offtake scenarios where their partner of choice is getting the material they need for the next ten years,” | | Nikkei Asian Review - February 18, 2018 South Korean steelmaker wants to cash in on the rise of electric vehicles In a move to make its battery-related operations a major part of its business, South Korean steelmaker Posco is forming a partnership in China with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to produce cathode materials used in lithium-ion batteries. In a move to make its battery-related operations a major part of its business, South Korean steelmaker Posco is forming a partnership in China with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to produce cathode materials used in lithium-ion batteries…The cathode market is expected to more than quadruple from 210,000 tons in 2016 to 860,000 tons in 2020, according to Posco…The tie-up with Huayou Cobalt, a major Chinese cobalt supplier, will give the company a stable supply of the metal, of which there is a global shortage…Production is set to begin in the latter half of 2020, sending Posco's cathode materials production up by 70% to 11,600 tons annually by 2020 compared to current levels...China retaliated by cutting subsidies to three South Korean lithium-ion battery makers operating in the country: LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation…The three companies -- the world's leading lithium-ion battery makers -- have plans to expand their operations in China. But they may not be able to move forward unless they partner with Chinese companies like Posco is doing. China's preference for nurturing its own battery industry means international players face an array of hurdles. | | Reuters US News - February 20, 2018 MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Shares of battery and technology metals developer Australian Mines Ltd surged on Tuesday after the company signed an...... producer, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Without any pure cobalt plays already in production, Australia’s miners are racing to be first Australia, home to the world’s second-biggest cobalt reserves, is seeing a rush of interest in projects still years from production as the makers of batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) seek supplies of the metal from a more costly but less risky source than top producer, the Democratic Republic of Congo…Under the deal with SK Innovation, the South Korean company will take all of the nickel and cobalt from the Sconi mine, estimated at 12,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of cobalt sulphate and 60,000 tpy of nickel sulphate. The deal also gives SK a six-year extension option…“We signed the deal to minimize supply volatility and the long-term supply contract is a way to ensure stable supplies,” an SK Innovation spokesman told Reuters. | | | | | Congo | | | | Reuters US News - February 19, 2018 (Repeats with no changes to text) By Clyde Russell LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 19 (Reuters) - What do the moves by the Democratic Republic...... to the future of the switch to electric vehiclesand battery storage for electricity. This is because cobalt is a key ingredient in the Cobalt has gone from a minor metal with an almost non-existent public profile to the major threat to the future of the switch to electric vehicles and battery storage for electricity…This is because cobalt is a key ingredient in the current technology lithium-ion batteries essential for both cars and electricity storage, and the DRC produces more than half of the world’s supply…The DRC situation occupied much of the recent Investing in African Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town, with miners in attendance privately expressing fears that the DRC would ultimately move down the road to full nationalisation of the industry…Numerous commentators have pointed out that there is still a cobalt supply crunch on the horizon, as new mines, improved battery technologies and extensive recycling of used batteries is likely to still leave a shortfall of cobalt, assuming the forecasts for electric cars and power-storage batteries are accurate | | | | |