Excerpt from Matt Fernley's blog posted 24 Sep 21...

Excerpt from Matt Fernley's blog posted 24 Sep 21 at:
https://www.batterymaterialsreview.com/ourblogs/inflation-and-the-energy-transition-part-4-materials-cost-pass-through-effects/

Matt is Editor of Battery Materials Review and Head of Research for Westbeck Capital’s Volta Energy Transition fund. The blog is a 5-part series; this excerpt is from Part 4. Part 1 may also be of interest to MIN's investors.

..."Key technologies around the decarbonisation of steel manufacture include:• Focus on efficiencies in BOFs including utilising pulverised coal injection (PCI), natural gas or biomass; maximising the iron ore content used or using coke oven gas as an energy source. These processes can reduce CO2 emissions but not eliminate them;• Utilise biomass reductants. Again, this would not eliminate the production of CO2;• Carbon capture and storage or usage;• Increase share of EAFs (providing they are powered by clean energy or hydrogen).• Molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) powered by clean energy or hydrogen."...

...
"Petrochemicals should not be forgotten I’ve talked primarily about metals in the analysis above, but there is another key component of the global manufacturing sector; plastics. Plastics are one of the most widespread materials in current usage and are used in core industries. Whether we talk about synthetic fibres used in clothes, engineered plastics used in manufactured goods or plastic packaging, plastic products are some of the key building blocks for our industrial age.

'And the building block for all of these products? Hydrocarbons.Petrochemicals are produced by the processing of oil and gas. And, as I highlighted in the first blog in this series, I believe that oil and gas prices are set to increase substantially off current levels. If that happens, given the nature of the chemicals industry, which is effectively a margin industry, then costs will be passed through to direct consumers of petrochemical products and on to their customers and their customers. And the buck will stop with the consumer, who will end up paying higher prices for clothes, manufactured goods and packaging"...