Look to the future, page-64

Tesla Inc. is in talks with BHP Group on a nickel deal as the electric-car maker targets higher production and seeks to avoid a supply crunch, according to people familiar with the matter.

Demand for nickel is forecast to surge in coming years as Tesla expands and companies from BMW AG to Volkswagen AG add to their lineups of electric models. Musk in July promised a “giant” contract to miners that produce the metal in an “environmentally sensitive way.” Nickel can help pack more energy into batteries, and allows producers to reduce use of cobalt, which is more expensive and typically has a less transparent supply chain.

Nickel demand will grow significantly off the back of batteries and the EV thematic, and that will pull nickel prices up,” BHP CEO Mike Henry said in an interview last month.BHP is focused on expanding its Nickel West unit after abandoning earlier plans to sell the assets and as it shifts away from traditional customers in the stainless-steel industry. The miner’s nickel division now sells more than 75% of output to the battery-supply chain in Japan, South Korea and China, up from less than 5% in 2016, the unit’s asset president Eduard Haegel said last year. The producer agreed in June to buy an Australian project that holds one of the country’s biggest untapped reserves of nickel from MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, and is partnering with a smaller company on exploration in Quebec.

Full article

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-06/tesla-is-in-talks-with-top-miner-bhp-over-nickel-supply-pact?sref=Vidv4Q0k