Category: Battery Metals

Tesla Inc. is set to pay more for the lithium that powers its electric vehicles after a supplier amended their deal amid a relentless price rally of the metal. Piedmont Lithium will now supply an increased 125,000 metric tons of lithium concentrate to the EV giant starting in the second half of this year through the end of 2025, according to a statement Tuesday. Unlike prior agreements where prices are locked in, Piedmont’s deal with Tesla relies on a floating mechanism based on market prices, according to the statement. The… Read More Here

Lithium is going to get less expensive in 2023, according to a Chinese supplier of the battery metal, potentially offering some relief to electric-vehicle makers squeezed by soaring costs. Prices have already softened after a spectacular two-year rally labeled “insane” by Elon Musk and “unreasonable” by China’s BYD Co. The cool-off is poised to continue as more supply emerges to trim abnormally high margins for lithium producers, Wang Pingwei, chairman of Sinomine Resource Group Co. said in an interview on Tuesday. “We believe the gradual, downward trend for lithium will… Read More Here

A business in the United States and a South African investment business have signed a term sheet to form a joint venture to build and operate two environmentally sustainable battery recycling facilities in South Africa.  Through the joint venture, the companies aim to bring radical change to the management of South Africa’s battery waste. The partners are Tabono Investments, a leading investment company in Africa with experience in mining, logistics and recycling and ACE Green Recycling, an innovative recycling platform for battery materials. “Green energy is on the rise in South Africa,”… Read More Here

Quantum researchers at Ford have just published a new preprint study that modeled crucial electric vehicle (EV) battery materials using a quantum computer. While the results don’t reveal anything new about lithium-ion batteries, they demonstrate how more powerful quantum computers could be used to accurately simulate complex chemical reactions in the future.  In order to discover and test new materials with computers, researchers have to break up the process into many separate calculations: One set for all the relevant properties of each single molecule, another for how these properties are affected by the… Read More Here

Sigma Lithium has started commissioning the first module of the production plant – the Greentech Plant – at its 100%-owned Grota do Cirilo lithium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Canadian miner said the dry module crushing circuit began operating on time and within budget, adding it expected the full plant to be up and running by February 2023. Commissioning on the wet module dense media separation circuit is expected to also start in February and be completed by April, at which point the company intends to start commercial production, it said. The Vancouver-based miner also… Read More Here

Ionosphere Investments has begun Lithium concentrates production at its factory in Harare Bluff hill, Managing Director Mr Nyasha Chidol has announced. The company aims to have a product ready for shipping by February 2023 and its targeted annual output is 36,000 tonnes of lithium concentrates. Chidol revealed plans to almost double Ionosphere’s targeted annual output to about 70 000 tonnes of Lithium concentrates and this would place the company among the country’s top four producers. ”We see all the demand is there-significantly unmet demand-for battery grade lithium in the next… Read More Here

Electra Battery Materials has launched a demonstration plant designed to recover and recycle high-value elements found in lithium-ion batteries including nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper and graphite at its refinery complex north of Toronto. Electra claims it will process up to 75 tonnes of black mass material in batches mode using its proprietary hydrometallurgical process in the demonstration plant. Electra plans to complete the demonstration plant in early 2023, while providing regular updates. Pending the successful completion of the demonstration plant, Electra says it will assess whether to continue processing black… Read More Here