| Click on blue article title to read full story. | | | | Cobalt | | | | Metal Bulletin - March 1, 2018 The price of cobalt metal in China has played a quick game of catch-up with international prices following the Chinese New Year break... China’s cobalt metal price jumped to 620,000-650,000 yuan per tonne (equivalent to $38.03-39.8 per lb, ex-China value-added tax) on China’s cobalt metal price jumped to 620,000-650,000 yuan per tonne (equivalent to $38.03-39.8 per lb, ex-China value-added tax) on Wednesday March 1, up 2.4% from 600,000-640,000 yuan per tonne a week ago. | | Seeking Alpha - February 28, 2018 Simon Moores discusses Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Moores shares Benchmark's views on lithium, graphite and the rare earths. He also... To Buy Some Lithium Miners Time To Buy Some Cobalt Miners Time To Buy Some Nickel Miners A Look At The Junior CobaltMiners In Early 2018 Benchmark Mineral Intelligence was established to conduct price assessments and collect market data on lithium ion battery raw materials. We are the world's leading specialists on the subject of lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel in the lithium ion supply chain…One of the key questions we get asked at Benchmark regularly is the impact of this move towards high nickel cathodes and will it mean demand for cobalt from batteries won't grow as fast as forecast…The reality of the situation is the process will be a far slower than many people believe, for a number of reasons including life cycle of the new technology, safety aspects and the actual cost savings at the cell level (it is not as simple as the savings on raw materials)…Nonetheless at Benchmark we believe between 2017 and 2025 average cobalt densities in cobalt containing cathodes will decrease by 60%, but demand for cobalt from the battery sector will increase by nearly 3x. So cobalt has a big part to play in the future of the lithium ion battery…On the supply side, we believe that with the new supply coming online between now and 2019 from the DRC, that until the early 2020s there will be enough material available to meet the growth in demand, but not to oversupply. It is our view than if there is some limited excess production it will be stockpiled by those with the capital and capability to do so…Question marks still remain over whether the supply response will keep up beyond the early 2020s. The sector needs capital to continue to be deployed over the time frame to bring new supply online not just from the DRC, but other projects around the world, the areas of focus are currently centered around Canada and Australia…From our market perspective, it's all about energy storage: electric vehicles and stationary utility batteries…Both of these markets are rapidly emerging and lithium ion batteries are the central technology to their success. Any commodities, materials and technologies that are key to this supply will experience significant and lasting long term upside because this market is growing well into the 2020s…At Benchmark, we saw the lithium ion battery market at 110-120GWh in 2017 yet by 2026 our latest forecast stands at 709GWh. The supply chain is only at the start of its journey. | | | | | EVs & Energy Storage | | | | Unknown - March 1, 2018 Magna International Inc. is forecasting steady increases in vehicle production globally until 2024, but the growth of ride-sharing services and autonomous vehicles and the decisions cities make about traffic and pollution could begin to affect output by the following year. Magna International Inc. is forecasting steady increases in vehicle production globally until 2024, but the growth of ride-sharing services and autonomous vehicles and the decisions cities make about traffic and pollution could begin to affect output by the following year…Mr. Walker made his comments shortly after Rome announced that it will ban diesel vehicles in its city centre by 2024 – one day after a court in Germany ruled that cities in that country can enact a similar ban. And in Britain, Oxford is proposing to create a zero-emission zone in its city centre by 2035. | | National Business Daily - February 28, 2018 Photo/Shetuwang Feb.28 (NBD) -- Apple Inc. (Apple) is in talks to buy long-term supplies of cobalt directly from miners for the first... batteries. In the short term, recycling used batteries will be hard to reduce prices of metal materials like cobalt. Email: tanyuhan@nbd. Market insiders noted that the explosive growth of the NEV market has pushed cobalt prices up. On Feb. 27, NBD learned that midstream and downstream corporations have strong demand for cobalt, and many of them are expanding their capacity…Given the rising demand for cobalt, domestic suppliers have different responses…Pengxin Global Resource Co. Ltd. is building a cobalt production line, which will be put into operation in the third quarter of this year and is capable of producing 7,000 tonnes annually, according to China Securities Journal. Production of Nanjing Hanrui Cobalt Co., Ltd. will also see significant growth this year. In contrast, China Molybdenum Co., Ltd. has no expansion plan…However, it will be a while before the wide recycling of power batteries. In the short term, recycling used batteries will be hard to reduce prices of metal materials like cobalt. | | Yonhap News Agency - February 28, 2018 SEOUL, March 1 (Yonhap) -- Lobal battery makers are rushing to secure a steady supply of cobalt through import diversification and company...... said Thursday. The international price of cobalt, a core component of batteries used in smartphones and electric vehicles, jumped to US$ Local battery makers are rushing to secure a steady supply of cobalt through import diversification and company mergers as the price of the raw material keeps rising, industry sources said Thursday...Sources said battery companies with large demand for cobalt, including Samsung SDI, LG Chem and SK Innovation, have started to replace their short-term purchasing contracts with long-term arrangements while seeking new sources of the metallic element... They say it would take another five to 10 years for the recycling process to pick up, since the electric vehicle market is relatively small, but companies need to start making investments now. | | MSN South Africa - March 1, 2018 Rome will ban all diesel vehicles from driving in the city centre from 2024 to combat pollution, the mayor said on Wednesday. Virginia... pressure to return to petrol engines while stepping up the development of electricvehicles. Two days ago, Britain's Financial Times said Rome will ban all diesel vehicles from driving in the city centre from 2024 to combat pollution, the mayor said on Wednesday…Two days ago, Britain's Financial Times said Italian-American group Fiat Chrysler plans to ditch diesel from all of its passenger vehicles by 2022 following a huge fall in demand and growing costs…And on Tuesday, a top German court issued a landmark decision permitting cities to impose diesel driving bans in order to fight pollution, plunging millions of car owners into uncertainty. | | | | | | |