Smallwood said he’s seeing increasing interest from electric vehicle makers to get more involved in the industry and has even had talks with “potential partners” interested in starting their own streaming companies for battery metals including cobalt, nickel and lithium.
Automakers have been signing supply deals with mining companies to secure metals used in batteries to meet surging demand amid a global push for a cleaner energy economy. Tesla Inc. struck a nickel-supply deal with BHP Group last month after CEO Elon Musk had expressed concern about supply due to challenges in sustainable sourcing.
These companies should “focus on the prominence of where their metals are coming from and making sure that the products they’re buying and investing into to supply their customers are sourced responsibly,” Smallwood said.
Wheaton Precious Metals remains primarily focused on gold and silver production deals, though the Vancouver-based company has a cobalt streaming deal with Vale SA for some output from the Brazilian miner’s Voisey’s Bay mine in Canada. Cobalt has become harder to find with companies like Tesla and Apple Inc. trying to secure their own supplies by signing long-term production deals with miners.