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

Under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed into law on Jan. 3, US President Joe Biden has directed the House Armed Services Committee to submit a report on the domestic processing of seafloor polymetallic nodules.

The Pentagon will deliver a report assessing deep-sea mining by March 1.

Last month, 31 members of Congress wrote a letter to the Secretary of Defense and the Pentagon urging the Department of Defense to “explore every avenue to strengthen our rare earth and critical mineral supply chains”, emphasizing “the importance of evaluating and planning for seabed mining as a new vector of competition…”

In November 2023, a bipartisan coalition led by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) reintroduced a resolution urging the US Senate to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They argued that sitting out risks letting the rest of the world dictate maritime agendas, from seabed mining to critical subsea infrastructure.

Read more: https://www.mining.com/pentagon-to-deliver-report-on-domestic-seafloor-mining-by-march/

China, the world’s top processor of rare earths, on Thursday banned the export of technology to extract and separate the strategic metals, in a further step towards protecting its dominance in several strategic metals.

The commerce ministry sought public opinion last December on the potential move to add the technology to its “Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export”.

It also banned the export of production technology for rare earth metals and alloy materials as well as technology to prepare some rare earth magnets.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/china-bans-export-rare-earths-processing-technologies-2023-12-21/

The European Union has set targets to dig up, recycle and refine lithium, cobalt and other metals it needs for its green transition, but a shortage of new money, crippling energy costs and local opposition could put them beyond reach.

The bloc will likely need to find ways to trim demand, find substitute materials and forge partnerships that break China’s stranglehold on mineral supplies.

The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), due to enter force in early 2024, says the bloc should mine 10%, recycle 25% and process 40% of its annual needs of 17 key raw materials by 2030.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/eu-sets-critical-mineral-goals-faces-struggle-hit-them-2023-12-18/

JAKARTA, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Mining company Vale will sell a 14% stake in its Indonesian nickel miner Vale Indonesia to bring the holding by overseas firms below the maximum limit, Indonesia’s mining minister said on Friday.

Share divestment is a condition Indonesia requires to extend the operation permit for Vale Indonesia. Vale’s current contract is due to end in 2025.

Under Indonesian rules, foreign investors are required to divest 51% of their stake to local buyers after a certain period of operation.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/vale-will-divest-14-stake-vale-indonesia-minister-2023-11-10/

The High-CO2 Nickel Conundrum

There’s been no shortage of metals industry turmoil in the early years of the electric-car age, from ups in lithium prices that Elon Musk described as insane, to downs for cobalt springing from battery-chemistry shifts.

One of the world leaders in battery materials that will be supplying the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Stellantis sees potential for more tumult ahead, unless a serious CO2 problem is resolved in the country home to far and away the most mined and refined nickel.

Indonesia’s nickel industry is highly carbon-intensive, with one of its major industrial parks alone relying on roughly as much coal-fire energy capacity as all of Mexico. Mathias Miedreich, chief executive officer of Belgium’s Umicore, believes Chinese companies that are active in the space still lack sensitivity as to how much polluting is taking place within this part of the supply chain.

Read more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-10-20/bmw-and-mercedes-battery-partner-sees-big-nickel-supply-risk?srnd=hyperdrive

The latest buzzword in battery materials sounds like a concept borrowed from astrophysics.

But “black mass” is just a very literal description of the intermediate product from recycling either spent electric-vehicle batteries or scrap from battery plants. It’s a dark, powdery cocktail of metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel that’s emerging as a commodity in its own right.

There’s growing interest in battery recycling as the global electric-vehicle industry expands, and as carmakers and Western governments aim to build supply chains that bypass China.

Mentions of black mass in company earnings have grown — including recent instances from commodities trader Glencore and chemicals giant BASF. Three market researchers — Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Fastmarkets and S&P Global — have launched regular price assessments of the material since April.

Read more at: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2023/08/29/tech/hyperdrive-ev-industry-black-mass/

Aug 15 (Reuters) – The mining industry faces “considerable challenges” meeting larger-than-expected demand for copper, nickel and other electric vehicle metals fueled by a U.S. climate law, S&P Global said in a report on Tuesday, ahead of the legislation’s one-year anniversary.

The landmark U.S. Inflation Reduction Act offers tax breaks for EVs, solar panels and other renewable energy products made from metals extracted in the United States or countries with U.S. free trade deals. Metals from “foreign entities of concern” including China, Russia, North Korea and Iran will be banned in 2025. That has sparked a race among manufacturers to lock down supply.

Demand forecasts for various EV metals have increased 12% to 15% since U.S. President Joe Biden signed the IRA last August, the report said.

“The energy transition is really heating up the pressures on mineral supplies, and the IRA is adding a lot to those challenges,” Dan Yergin, S&P Global’s vice chairman and a co-author of the report, said in an interview.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/miners-face-considerable-challenges-meeting-demand-us-climate-law-study-2023-08-15/

Exxon Mobil has agreed to develop more than 6,100 lithium-rich acres in Arkansas with Tetra Technologies Inc, the second move this year by the oil giant for control of assets needed to produce the electric vehicle battery metal.

Exxon’s rapid expansion into the lithium sector comes amid growing interest by traditional energy companies and others into emerging technologies that aim to boost global supply of the ultralight metal.

Tetra, which produces chemicals for water treatment and recycling, earlier this week said it had signed an agreement with a company known as Saltwerx to develop 6,138 acres of salty brine deposits in Arkansas that are filled with lithium and bromine, although it provided few additional details.

Saltwerx is a subsidiary of Exxon, according to two people familiar with the matter. Exxon acquired it earlier this year when it bought a neighboring Arkansas parcel of 100,000 acres from Galvanic Energy. Galvanic remains an independent, privately held company and is not affiliated with Tetra or Exxon.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/exxon-mobil-expands-lithium-bet-with-tetra-technologies-deal-2023-06-28/