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Most of the #Nickel ore mined in #Australia is processed locally into nickel concentrate by downstream smelting and refining companies.

“Australian nickel producers have been in a lot of strife in recent years, but we’re starting to see the #ElectricVehicle players begin to shore up supply,” says Romano Sala Tenna, portfolio manager at Katana Asset Management.

#Glencore Plc and #Trafigura Group Pte are often at loggerheads, but one thing they agree on: the #Nickel market will be transformed by the rise of electric cars.

Nickel sulphate, a key ingredient in #Lithium-ion batteries, will see demand increase 50 percent to 3 million metric tons by 2030, Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura, said in an interview. While other battery metals like #Cobalt and lithium have more than doubled since the start of last year, #Nickel prices have been subdued because of large inventories.

Renewed demand for cobalt, the metal, is breathing new life into Cobalt, the town in Ontario.

The heightened interest in the metal is evident in #Cobalt. Earlier this month, two dozen investors, bankers and hedge fund managers from as far away as #Shanghai boarded a chartered plane and then a bus from #Toronto through the autumnal splendor of #Ontario’s boreal forest. Their host was First Cobalt, a #Vancouver-based miner that recently abandoned the #Congo in order to secure more land around Cobalt’s old mining camp.

Read more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-10-31/the-canadian-ghost-town-that-tesla-is-bringing-back-to-life

First it was #Lithium. Then it was #Cobalt. And now it is #Nickel’s turn in the #ElectricVehicle spotlight.

Nickel is just as important as the other two metals in manufacturing the batteries that will power the green technology revolution.

It is used in both currently dominant lithium battery configurations, nickel-cobalt-manganese and nickel-cobalt-aluminium.

The International Nickel Study Group (INSG) is forecasting supply will fall short of demand again next year, meaning three consecutive years of deficit to the cumulative tune of almost 200,000 tonnes.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/article/nickel-batteries-ahome/rpt-column-nickel-the-latest-metal-to-feel-the-electric-vehicle-buzz-andy-home-idUSL8N1N06GV

#Lithium, which is dominated by three large producers, has surged as demand increases for lithium-ion batteries used in #ElectricVehicles and energy-storage systems. #Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects that electric vehicles will make up more than half of new sales globally by 2040. And uncertainty about global production growth means car manufacturers are seeking to lock-in future supplies of the metal.

Read more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-24/mad-scramble-for-lithium-mines-stretches-from-congo-to-cornwall

Our rapidly evolving energy future – packed with electric vehicles, massive energy storage solutions and nanotechnology requires more tech-grade #Graphite than it does #Lithium and #Cobalt.

#Tesla has a problem that may be a company killer. #ElonMusk has promised stakeholders a Model 3 run rate of 500,000 cars per year by the end of 2018, but #Panasonic’s cathode powder supply chain can’t support more than half of that volume. More importantly, expansion of Panasonic’s supply chain would be a Herculean task because its cathode powder supplier, #Sumitomo Metal Mining, already is using 100% of its #Cobalt production to satisfy Panasonic’s cathode powder requirements.

Read more at: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4115479-cobalt-cliff-will-cap-teslas-model-3-production-capacity-250000-units-per-year

Should the commercial e-plane become a reality, it would have huge benefits for the environment. Airplanes release around 500 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Read more at: http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/after-electronic-cars-how-about-battery-powered-airplanes-here-is-all-you-need-to-know/901468/

One of the world’s largest stainless steel producers says the rise of electric cars will boost demand for the alloy in auto manufacturing. The opportunity outweighs the challenge of competing for #Nickel supplies, used in many batteries and the most important raw material in making rust-free steel.

Read more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-19/stainless-steel-giant-says-electric-cars-will-boost-metal-demand

#Jinchuan Group, #China’s top #Nickel producer, will next year start building a new project in #Guangxi that will produce raw materials for #ElectricVehicle (#EV) batteries, its chairman said, looking to tap the sector’s “explosive” demand.

Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/10/20/business/20reuters-china-congress-jinchuan-cobalt.html