Ann: Azure Acquires WA Gold & Nickel Projects from Creasy Group, page-40

Taken from another thread... Thanks@FrankMe As AZS has acquired gold & nickel tenement in WA, I thought this would be relevant here......

Tesla's Batteries Will Contain A Lot Of Nickel In Foreseeable Future

Elon Musk: "Please mine more nickel."

TeslaCEO Elon Musk recently"urged miners to produce more nickel"as the company is happily willing to secure long-term nickel suppliers for battery production.

Nickel is one of the key ingredients of the cathode of lithium-ion cells, especially in higher-energy dense chemistries with low cobalt content (like the Tesla-Panasonic NCA or LG Chem NCM 811).

"Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way,” Musk said on a post-earnings call on Wednesday."

The hint about growing nickel demand and a long-term supply contract, together with the previouscobalt supply agreement, indicates that Tesla intends to use nickel and cobalt-based batteries in the foreseeable future.

Maybe the company will reveal more details about its tech at the upcoming, long-awaitedBattery Day, but as of today, there is no sign about a battery chemistry that would turn everything upside down - like a totally new chemistry/other elements.

Tesla would then not bother to use nickel and cobalt.

At least, that's our guess.

The key thing for Tesla seems to be the focus on lowering the prices of batteries.

The energy density is probably already high enough to be satisfied with slower evolution there.

“The real limitation on Tesla growth is cell production at affordable price.

That’s the real limit,” Musk said, adding the company would expand its business with Panasonic and CATL and “possibly with others”."

If that is true, the next big thing for Tesla should be a significant improvement to the production process of batteries.

We would not be surprised if Battery Day reveals a production improvement instead of groundbreaking chemistry.

https://insideevs.com/news/435490/tesla-batteries-nickel-foreseeable-future/




'Please mine more nickel,' Musk urges as Tesla boosts production

Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk urged miners to produce more nickel, a key ingredient in the batteries that power the company’s electric cars, warning the current cost of batteries remained a big hurdle to the company’s growth.

“Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way,” Musk said on a post-earnings call on Wednesday.

Nickel makes batteries energy dense so cars can run further on a single charge, and Tesla needs the metal more than ever as it looks to ramp up production of trucks and solar projects that use a lot of nickel.

Musk’s call for greater nickel mining comes even as prices for battery materials wallow around rock bottom.

However, traders and analysts say the kinds of volumes Tesla would need are unlikely to make a compelling business case for most miners to invest in increased production, nor are they likely to boost prices.

Tesla currently sources nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) batteries from South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) batteries from Japan’s Panasonic Corp.

These companies indirectly buy nickel from mining companies in a long auto supply chain.

Tesla doesn’t disclose which nickel miners are in its supply chain.

Given Tesla’s focus on sustainability, the company is likely to prefer to buy from miners of higher-grade nickel sulphide, which requires less power to process than laterite ore, said Lachlan Shaw of National Australia Bank.

There are three key suppliers - Brazil’s Vale, which operates in Canada using some hydropower, Russia’s Norilsk Nickel and BHP Group’s operations in Western Australia.

“Vale is in the box seat,” he said.

While electric vehicles consume a much smaller amount of nickel than traditional industries such as stainless steel makers, EVs are expected to be the quickest growth market for nickel miners.

Nickel consumption in EV battery materials is expected to soar 64% between 2019 and 2025, research firm Wood Mackensie said, although it added that satisfying this demand could be challenging for an industry that has been slow to add capacity in a timely and cost-effective manner.

“He needs nickel, so he hopes nickel prices will go lower and lower,” said a China-based nickel trader.

“Prices will not be impacted in the short-term because the market is in surplus.”

Nickel hit a 14-month low of $10,865 a tonne in March but has since recovered to $13,180, still down by some 30% from five-year peaks seen in September.

Tesla on Wednesday posted a second-quarter profit, but Musk said he would prioritise growth over profit going forward, and focus on making Tesla vehicles more affordable.

“The real limitation on Tesla growth is cell production at affordable price.

That’s the real limit,” Musk said, adding the company would expand its business with Panasonic and CATL.

Tesla is expected to reveal technological advances at its “Battery Day” event in September.