| Click on blue article title to read full story. | | | | Cobalt | | | | Reuters UK - April 12, 2018 GUNSAN, South Korea (Reuters) - Workers at a rural South Korean factory are busy extracting some of the world’s most coveted metals, used... -ion batteries from old mobile phones and laptops. As China’s aggressive hunt for overseas cobalt and lithium for electric vehicles pushes Workers at a rural South Korean factory are busy extracting some of the world’s most coveted metals, used in the batteries that power electric cars. But they’re not digging in the ground or refining ore. Instead, they are sorting through a pile of lithium-ion batteries from old mobile phones and laptops…The scarcity is unlikely to abate anytime soon, as China, the world’s biggest user of metals, snaps up mineral resources in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile…SungEel HiTech, based in the southwestern city of Gunsan, can process about 8,000 tonnes per year of spent lithium-ion batteries and metal scraps…From that, it can produce about 830 tonnes of lithium phosphate, 1,000 tonnes of cobalt metal equivalent and 600 tonnes of nickel…The company, however, is smaller than foreign competitors such as China’s Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium 002460.SZ and GEM Co, and Belgium’s Umicore SA …Cobalt prices CBDO jumped to average $87,615 a tonne in March, about a four-fold increase from January 2016. That has led to more long-term supply contracts and investments in developing mines, as well as recycling efforts…The recycling companies mainly focus on extracting precious metals like gold and silver. But four, including SungEel HiTech, can directly recover cobalt or produce powders from which rare metals can be extracted. | | International Mining - April 11, 2018 Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Kazakhstan’s mining major Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), one of the world’s leading diversified natural resources... refined metal availability.” Meanwhile, the cobalt market continued to reach new highs. “LME cobalt hit $95,000/t in late March. Metal “While it may be premature to suggest that a peak risk-off sentiment has been reached, we continue to believe that many commodity markets have oversold in recent weeks. Despite some market uncertainty, the global economy is still expected to grow at its fastest pace since 2011. The US economy is still to feel the effect of the tax cuts, and emerging market economies are expected to contribute half of this year’s global growth. This should help many commodities to regain their positive momentum, once the risk of trade wars has diminished or is fully priced in.”…Meanwhile, the cobalt market continued to reach new highs. “LME cobalt hit $95,000/t in late March. Metal Bulletin’s prices, on which most contracts are settled against, trade above the $40/lb mark. These are price levels we haven’t seen since the rally of 2008. However, whereas 2008 rises were largely the result of a general exuberance amongst speculators, today’s rally is based on extraordinary demand fundamentals. The cobalt market has not seen anything like this previously, largely due to the increasing importance of two key demand drivers – game-changing technologies and regulatory changes. The impact of these drivers is hard to predict with total accuracy. Nevertheless, we believe that metals such as cobalt and copper will be the primary beneficiary of these changes in the long-term.” | | Korea Joongang Daily - April 11, 2018 LG Chem said Wednesday it is building two joint ventures with China’s Huayou Cobalt to ensure a stable supply of cobalt, a core ingredient... guarantee a stable supply of core batterymetals like cobalt. Huayou Cobalt is one of the largest suppliers of the metal in the world. Last LG Chem said Wednesday it is building two joint ventures with China’s Huayou Cobalt to ensure a stable supply of cobalt, a core ingredient for lithium-ion batteries…Rising demand for electric vehicles has naturally increased the demand for batteries, but battery makers have been suffering from a lack of supply of cobalt and a recent price hike…The Korean battery maker said the partnership will greatly relieve the shortage as the Chinese company agreed to guarantee a stable supply of core battery metals like cobalt…Huayou Cobalt is one of the largest suppliers of the metal in the world. Last year alone, it produced 20,000 metric tons of refined cobalt. | | Argus Media - April 11, 2018 China's Shengtun buys cobalt salts producer Kelixin Beijing, 11 April (Argus) — Shengtun Mining Group will acquire Chinese cobalt material... target of 1mn this year. Shengtun started cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in August 2016 in response to Shengtun Mining Group will acquire Chinese cobalt material producer Zhuhai Kelixin to expand its production chain to meet growing demand for battery materials…Demand for battery materials in China is likely to continue rising sharply this year on growing output of electric vehicles. China produced 794,000 electric vehicles in 2017 and is on course to hit its target of 1mn this year…Shengtun started cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in August 2016 in response to growing demand for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) lithium-ion ternary materials. It aims to launch a project to produce 10,000 t/yr of copper and 3,500 t/yr of crude cobalt hydroxide capacity in DRC in mid-2018. | | | | | EVs & Energy Storage | | | | Reuters Canada - April 11, 2018 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Inc is targeting November 2019 as the start of production for its Model Y sport utility vehicle, with production in China to begin two years later, two sources told Reuters this week, shedding some light on the electric vehicle maker’s next project that could tax its resources and capacity. Tesla Inc is targeting November 2019 as the start of production for its Model Y sport utility vehicle, with production in China to begin two years later, two sources told Reuters this week.. Reuters has learned the Silicon Valley company led by Chief Executive Elon Musk is accepting preliminary bids for supplier contracts on the Model Y, a compact crossover companion to the Model 3 sedan…Earlier this month, Tesla tried to reassure investors, saying its weekly Model 3 output had doubled during the first quarter and that production rates would accelerate through the second quarter to 5,000 units per week, or about 250,000 vehicles per year…The Model Y is just one of many projects in the pipeline for Tesla, which also launched a Tesla Semi and a new Roadster in recent months. It is spending to build out its Gigafactory battery factory in Nevada, where battery module assembly issues have contributed to Model 3 delays, and also expects to build a factory in China in the near future. | | PV Magazine - April 11, 2018 A session at BNEF’s Future of Energy Summit explored how renewables paired with energy storage are successfully competing with new gas... half of the world’s cobalt was mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an extremely poor an unstable nation. Cobalt prices also spiked in …according to a panel at Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s (BNEF) Future of Energy Summit in New York City, the market for new combined cycle gas plants may be coming to a close in favor of solar and wind paired with energy storage. And this may foreshadow a larger move away from gas…California regulators are repeatedly choosing renewable energy plus storage over not only new gas plants but even continued operation of gas- and oil-fired power plants, including not only combined cycle but also single-cycle “peaker” plants. Additionally, the bids for clean energy are often coming in at lower prices than other options…Financial analysis of new gas plants is required by law in Minnesota. When the net cost of a new peaker versus solar plus storage was modeled, it was found that right now solar+storage was competitive – despite limited solar radiation in the Midwestern state…This also comes amid record low bids for solar and wind plus energy storage, which are falling every year as the technology scales. However, price is not the only factor at play. While single-cycle gas plants can rapidly “ramp”, or increase and decrease their output as needed, battery storage has the ability to do this even more quickly – as the response by a Tesla battery to a generator going offline in Australia showed…However, even as renewables plus storage projects are coming in at lower prices and being chosen over new gas plants, this does not mean that wind, solar and storage will simply eliminate the need for gas, or some other form of flexible generation…But before we even get to the issues could be reached at 80%+ wind and solar, there is the issue of materials for the lithium-ion batteries that have dominated deployment of energy storage to accompany renewables…While there is no near-term lithium shortage on the horizon, many lithium-ion batteries use cobalt, and here supply may be an issue. In 2016 at least half of the world’s cobalt was mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an extremely poor an unstable nation. Cobalt prices also spiked in 2017, and have risen further in 2018…While analysts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have predicted that there will be no real mid-term supply constraints for cobalt, they do warn of bottlenecks in the supply, largely related to the need to open more mines to deal with ever-increasing demand from electric vehicles. | | CNW Group - April 12, 2018 GOTHENBURG, Sweden, April 12, 2018 /CNW/ - Volvo Trucks now introduces its first all-electric truck for commercial use - the Volvo FL Electric for urban distribution and refuse operations, among other applications. Sales and series production of the new model will start in Europe next year. With Volvo Trucks now introduces its first all-electric truck for commercial use - the Volvo FL Electric for urban distribution and refuse operations, among other applications. Sales and series production of the new model will start in Europe next year…"For instance, in order to ensure that raw materials for the batteries are extracted in a responsible way, the Volvo Group works with the Drive Sustainability network, which has a special function that monitors this issue. The Volvo Group is also involved in various projects where batteries from heavy electric vehicles get a second lease of life, reused for energy storage… | | | | | | |