Premier Colin Barnett has sparked renewed speculation that Aquila Resources’ major shareholder is edging closer to a deal to restructure ownership of the company’s $7.4 billion West Pilbara iron ore project.
Read more at: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/wa/a/22491525/baosteel-closer-to-aquila-project-deal/
China’s Shenzhen Green Eco-manufacture Hi-tech (GEM) has signed an annual contract with a Chinese maker of lithium-ion battery materials for supply of cobalt tetroxide, GEM said in a statement.
The contract, signed late last week, is between GEM subsidiaries – Jiangsu Cobalt Nickel Metal (KLK), Jinmen GEM New Material and Seimi Tongda Lithium Energy – and Hunan Shanshan New Material.
The largest of these sectors include plating (8.3% of total primary nickel consumption), super alloys and other nickel alloys (4.2% and 7.2% respectively), as well as other alloy steels and a variety of chemical applications – including batteries.
These sectors generally favour – or, indeed, are critically dependent on – high-grade material such as nickel powder, pellets, briquettes, and cathode. Intuitively, given the lack of their reliance on ferro-nickel or NPI, one might assume these sectors to be relatively insulated from the effects of the Indonesian nickel ban, but in fact the opposite may be true, says Thomas Höhne-Sparborth, Roskill’s senior nickel analyst.
Read more at: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1838555#ixzz2yJyZ3OlG
“Republic Alternative Technologies is a relatively young company that has strongly focused on development of sustainable solutions. Their premium anodes fit seamlessly with Outotec’s electrowinning technology and service offerings. By combining the expertise of Republic Alternative Technologies and Outotec we can offer our wide customer base comprehensive life cycle solutions. There are good opportunities to multiply the business volume of the coated titanium anodes in copper processing and commercialize applications to other metals”, says Outotec’s CEO Pertti Korhonen.
The nickel market could move into deficit by the third quarter of 2014 as the Indonesian ore export ban prompts “structural changes”, Norilsk Nickel said on Monday March 7.
Mining titan Rio Tinto said Monday it has withdrawn its investment in one of the world’s largest copper deposits by gifting its minority stake in Northern Dynasty, the developer of the massive Alaskan Pebble copper and gold project, to two Alaskan charities.
The decision follows a strategic review of its 19.1 per cent stake in Northern Dynasty announced last year, which concluded that the Pebble project didn’t fit with Rio Tinto’s strategy, the company said.
Read more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/rio-tinto-exits-massive-project/story-e6frg90f-1226877308062
Russia’s Norilsk Nickel can stick to its 2013 $2 billion dividend target despite reporting a drop in net profit for last year, its deputy chief executive said Monday.
“The 2013 full-year dividend will depend on shareholders’ decision, but the company is able to continue to stick to the dividend target,” Sergei Malyshev, Norilsk deputy chief executive, told reporters during a conference call.
Read more at: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/more-business-headlines/497688.html
We have modelled the outcome should this entire requirement have to be met from project developments in the western world and predict that a long-term price hike of $17/lb would be necessary in order to incentivise this level of incremental production and generate a 15% return on investmen
Read more at: http://www.woodmac.com/public/industry-views/12012557
Read more at: http://agmetalminer.com/2014/04/07/rare-earths-price-index-at-whim-of-market-forces-not-china-wto-case/
It is possible that Tesla, a business widely known for its innovation, would resort to giving away solar energy-powered electricity generating equipment to residents of a community, allowing them to become electricity generators and sell the self-producing electricity to Tesla.
Could such a “scattered supply” of electricity break down the traditional monopoly of national electricity generators on the mainland?
The business journal also pointed out that the key substance used for the production of lithium batteries is cobalt, mainly found in Congo and Cuba. The cobalt deposits in Congo account for over 35% of the world’s total, the journal said.
The cobalt used to make Tesla’s lithium cells is now being sourced from the Philippines, a client of Japan’s Sumitomo Group that sells cobalt to Panasonic. If Musk’s “gigafactory” wanted to produce lithium cells itself, it would have to secure a source supplier bigger than the Philippines.
Read more at: http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140407000108&cid=1206
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