| Click on blue article title to read full story. | | | | Cobalt | | | | Design News - March 22, 2018 Cobalt will remain an expensive but necessary ingredient in our battery energy future. of lithium and cobalt, materials used in electric vehicle batteries, will become critical by 2050. The situation for cobalt, a metal that is Understanding the role of cobalt in a lithium ion battery requires knowing what parts make up the battery cell, as well as understanding some electrochemistry…Because the working voltage of a battery is determined by the difference in electrochemical potential between the cathode and the anode, the cathode must be another material than graphite, and the choice of this material controls most of the performance characteristics of the lithium ion battery…So what role does the cobalt play? “When the lithium ion is taken out of the oxide (in the cathode), the lithium ion has a positive charge, so the cobalt changes its oxidation state, so that the oxide stays electrically neutral…“If you want your battery to behave in a predictable manner, you would like the framework structure to remain constant, as you might want to use them for years or maybe even decades,” he said…Replacing the costly cobalt with significantly cheaper nickel still creates an intercalation structure. But, according to Abraham, if you remove significant amounts of lithium out of a nickel-oxide structure, it will release large amounts of oxygen, which can be a fire hazard…Why not remove all the cobalt? Abraham explained: “From our experience, at least small amounts of cobalt are needed in the material because it appears to help the rate performance—the rate at which the power is delivered.” Electric vehicles need to have batteries that accept lithium ions at a high rate during charging and deliver lithium ions at a high rate during discharge. Abraham said about 10% cobalt appears to be necessary enhance the rate properties of the battery. | | | | | EVs & Energy Storage | | | | Reuters UK - March 21, 2018 BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD Co will open a battery recycling plant in Shanghai in the second quarter as it looks...... amount of investment involved. Rising costs of electric vehicle battery materials, such as lithium and cobalt, are part of the reason for Rising costs of EV battery materials, such as lithium and cobalt, are part of the reason for BYD’s move into recycling, Gu said. “But the most important driving factor is environmental protection,” she added…The company, which makes EVs and their batteries, plans to raise annual battery production capacity by 75 percent in 2018 to 28 gigawatt hours (GWh) to meet rising demand, Gu said. | | Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide - March 21, 2018 The global oil industry may be underestimating the pace of world’s current transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy, with the... networks would mean rising demand for key conductors such as copper and batterycomponents such as cobalt and lithium. Source: Platts Although global oil demand will continue to grow in the medium term, driven by economic expansion in developing countries, an expected drop-off in oil demand growth from around late 2030 means Australian mining giant and oil producer BHP, for one, is avoiding any long-term oil projects, its CEO Andrew Mackenzie said. “There have to be some questions on electrification as to what that will do to demand for oil from 2030-40 onwards,” Mackenzie told the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland.”..BP last month became the first Western supermajor to pinpoint an inflection point in the world’s need for oil, estimating that surging wind and solar power, electric cars, more frugal vehicles could see oil demand peaking in the “late 2030.”.. “I think that generally the oil industry has underestimated the challenges ahead. I think that electric vehicles are just the beginning, the advances create momentum which feeds that’s momentum and accelerates it,” Tornqvist told the event…Horsnell said economists have been hiking their expectations of the number of EVs on roads in the coming decades to around 400 million by 2030-35, a level that could make a more significant dent in OECD oil demand…Greater demand for renewable source of power such as solar and wind would create higher demand for other commodities than for energy sourced from fossil fuels, he said.The growing push toward electrification of energy and transport networks would mean rising demand for key conductors such as copper and battery components such as cobalt and lithium. | | Unknown - March 22, 2018 LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell is placing a big bet on petrol stations and convenience stores in China, India and Mexico as it looks to shore up profits during the electric car revolution. Shell, as well as rivals such as BP, sees retail as a way to secure demand for the fuels it refines, as consumption could peak as early as by the end of the next decade due to the growth in electric vehicles…“We plan to be leading through the energy transition,” Shell head of downstream John Abbott said in an investor presentation on Wednesday…The company is also rolling out a number of experimental initiatives to introduce electric battery chargers and hydrogen chargers to its traditional petrol stations, hoping to capture some of the growth in the non-combustion engines. | | Bloomberg - March 22, 2018 Parity with petroleum-fueled cars seen by 2024, BNEF says Battery costs and mass manufacturing seen driving price drop and representing some two fifths of the total costs of electric vehicle. "Electric vehiclesales will continue to ramp up in the coming The clamor to roll out electric vehicles has grown louder as countries and companies race to clean up smog in their cities and hit ambitious climate goals set by the Paris Agreement. U.K. lawmakers started an inquiry into the market in September, probing the necessary infrastructure and trying to determine whether to bring forward the 2040 deadline to end the sale of gasoline and diesel cars…China, the world’s biggest polluter, is looking to lead the world in electric-vehicle adoption with the government implementing production quotas aimed at increasing sales…The expected increase in mass manufacturing of lithium-ion storage should help drive battery prices to as low as $70 a kilowatt hour by 2030, BNEF said. Battery packs averaged about $208 a kilowatt hour in 2017, squeezing profit margins and representing some two fifths of the total costs of electric vehicle. | | Solar Power Portal - March 22, 2018 ABB has launched a new solar inverter with the capability to accommodate up to 12kWh of energy storage to increase the self-sufficiency of...... up to 12kWh of energy storage to increase the self-sufficiency of homes. The REACT 2 inverter and energy storage solution includes a high- ABB has launched a new solar inverter with the capability to accommodate up to 12kWh of energy storage to increase the self-sufficiency of homes…The REACT 2 inverter and energy storage solution includes a high-voltage Li-ion battery with a modular design that can be scaled up from 4kWh to suit the needs of any household. ABB says this can boost self-reliance up to 90%, significantly reducing electricity charges…Tarak Mehta, president of the electrification products division at ABB, said: “We know that prosumers want to harness energy and store it until needed. The growth in self-consumption is one of the most exciting trends in renewables, driving greater demand for integrated and efficient battery storage. | | | | | Congo | | | | Thomson Reuters Foundation News - March 21, 2018 MWENE DITU, Democratic Republic of Congo, March 21 (Reuters) - The guns have fallen silent in the Congolese town of Mwene Ditu, but each... mix of ethnic grievances and competition over land and mineral resources that has fuelled years of conflict. In all, over 13 million Hostilities broke out in August 2016 when Congolese forces killed local chief Jean-Pierre Mpandi, who had demanded their withdrawal from Kasai…Both sides committed atrocities, according to witness testimonies gathered by Reuters and the United Nations…The crisis in Kasai is one of several gripping Congo, where President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down when his mandate expired in December 2016 inflamed a combustible mix of ethnic grievances and competition over land and mineral resources that has fuelled years of conflict…In all, over 13 million Congolese need humanitarian aid, twice as many as last year, and 7.7 million face severe food insecurity, up 30 percent from a year ago, the U.N. said in a report this month. | | Morningstar - March 21, 2018 By Nicholas Bariyo Zambia's state tax agency said Wednesday that it would conduct an audit involving all mining companies operating in the...... Republic of Congo recently revised its miningcode allowing the continent's top copper and cobalt producer to hike royalties on cobalt First Quantum Minerals, which operates two of Zambia's largest copper and cobalt mines said it had received a letter from Zambia Revenue Authority "noting an assessment for import duties, penalties and interest on consumables and spare parts."…The tax standoff comes at a time a number of resource-rich African nations are strictly enforcing tax laws and tweaking fiscal regimes to get a bigger share of mining revenues amid climbing metal prices. The Democratic Republic of Congo recently revised its mining code allowing the continent's top copper and cobalt producer to hike royalties on cobalt fivefold. Last year, Tanzania slapped a $190 billion tax bill on Acacia Mining Plc. | | Metal Bulletin - March 21, 2018 Major international mining companies active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) previously supported work on the new mining code by... mining companies active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) previously supported work on the new mining code by the country’s Chamber The country’s largest foreign miners, including Randgold Resources, AngloGold Ashanti, Glencore plc, Ivanhoe Mines, Gold Mountain International/Zijin Mining Group, MMG (PTY) Ltd and China Molybdenum Co Ltd (CMOC), resigned last week from the association, known as the Federation of Enterprises (FEC), saying it did not adequately represent their interests. | | | | | | |