A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info

SANTIAGO, June 14 (Reuters) – Chile and the European Union will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) soon to develop value-added lithium projects in Chile, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in a joint press conference with Chilean President Gabriel Boric, von der Leyen said the two parties reached an agreement to develop a strategic association to develop lithium and strengthen supply chains.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/eu-chile-sign-mou-value-added-lithium-projects-2023-06-14/

Norway’s government is readying plans to open an area of ocean nearly the size of Germany to deep-sea mining as it seeks to become the first country to extract battery metals from its sea floor. The country’s energy ministry is racing to submit to parliament in the next two weeks a proposal to open the vast area to applications for exploration and extraction.

The plan would then face a parliamentary vote in autumn. But Oslo faces a battle with fishing businesses and environmentalists over the proposals, and risks opening a dispute with other nations as it pushes to enable mining close to Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic. Norway argues it commands exclusive mining rights over a larger area of water there than Russia, the UK and the EU contend it does.

Read more at: https://www.ft.com/content/44855d32-82c2-4f4c-b77c-1c21d3c1279f

June 2, 202310:48 AM EDTUpdated 2 days ago

AHMEDABAD, June 2 (Reuters) – India’s Tata Group signed an outline deal on Friday on building a lithium-ion cell factory, based on investment of about 130 billion rupees ($1.58 billion), as part of the nation’s efforts to create its own electric vehicle supply chain.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/indias-tata-group-signs-16-bln-ev-battery-plant-deal-2023-06-02/

OTTAWA, May 29 (Reuters) – Canada’s federal government and the Quebec province will each provide about C$150 million ($112 million) for a General Motors-POSCO Chemical battery materials facility that is expected create about 200 jobs in the country, the Canadian industry ministry said on Monday.

The U.S. carmaker and South Korea’s POSCO outlined their plan last year to build the facility in Becancour, Quebec, to produce cathode active material (CAM) for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/markets/canada-quebec-provide-about-c300-mln-gm-posco-battery-materials-facility-2023-05-29/

In 2022, the Tesla community avoided emitting approximately 13.4 million metric tons of CO2e into the Earth’s atmosphere—that’s equal to over 33 billion miles of pollution from driving an ICE vehicle.

Click to access 2022-tesla-impact-report.pdf

The US and Australia announced on Saturday at the G7 meeting in Japan that they would partner to manage vulnerable critical mineral supply chains, with President Joe Biden saying he would ask Congress to define Australia as a domestic source for materials critical to defence and clean energy.

The Biden administration’s big-ticket funding package in the US – the $US369 billion ($584 billion) Inflation Reduction Act – is supercharging its clean energy economy and corralling the critical minerals needed to power its energy transition.

Governments and businesses around the world are scrambling to follow suit, but a deal between the US and Australia will rapidly expand mineral supplies to the US, potentially create more local refining capacity, and eventually underpin production of magnets and batteries in Australia.

Read more at: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/rare-earth-deal-with-us-a-magnet-for-australia-s-refineries-20230522-p5dab3.html

Americans are starting to see the results of the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden in 2021. Federal projects are upgrading America’s transit systems and power grids, including a proliferation of electric vehicles and charging stations. However, there’s a catch. All of these renewable technologies have spurred massive demand for key minerals and metals. But global supplies of these resources are dominated by the United States’ rivals.

The International Energy Agency estimates that demand for key minerals — such as lithium, cobalt and nickel — will grow 4,000% by 2040. However, the U.S. is falling woefully behind in the race to gather enough supplies. In fact, America’s reliance on imported minerals just hit another record, with China the largest supplier of these crucial building blocks.

The Biden administration knows it has a problem on its hands. Jake Sullivan — the Biden administration’s top national security adviser — recently said, “Clean energy supply chains are at risk of being weaponized in the same way as oil in the 1970s or natural gas in Europe in 2022.”

Sullivan says America’s dependence on China-dominated supply chains is unacceptable. And China’s use of forced labor, threats against Taiwan, and hoarding of mineral supplies as geopolitical leverage should be reason enough to take action.

Remarkably, though, the Biden administration has yet to use the best lever to address the problem. The administration is having the State Department fund mining overseas — including in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That’s particularly unfortunate because mining in the DRC is rife with child workers exposed to toxic dust.

Such disturbing practices contrast with much safer — and heavily regulated — mining in the United States. This matters because the U.S. possesses vast mineral supplies, including the resources needed for electric vehicle batteries.

#MAMA – Make America Mine Again – safer and environmentally benign methods.

MAKE AMERICA MINE AGAIN – #MAMA – NATIONALLY OR INTERNATIONALLY

Read more at: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2023/may/21/biden-must-embrace-domestic-mining/