Broken Hill global cobalt province., page-125

There is a similar news in The Australian this morning about GM taking up a stake in QPM. The paper said this is despite the project being a difficult to mine latterite ore.

This week another car manufacturer Stellantis took up a stake in GM Resources.

I am hopeful COB will sign similar deals with other car manufacturer very soon once they complete fully the commissioning of the demonstration plant hopefully by this month. COB's ore is easier to process non-latterite mine.

GM joins rushof US car manufacturers to lock in battery metals with $32m stake in QueenslandPacific Metals

• NICK EVANS

RESOURCE WRITER

• 8:43PM OCTOBER 12, 2022
• 3 COMMENTS

USautomotive giant General Motors has joined Ford and Tesla in the rush to lockin battery metal supply deals with Australian producers, taking a stake inQueensland Pacific Metals.

Sharesin the nickel hopeful jumped on Wednesday after GM announced it would sink aninitial $US20.1m ($32m) to take a stake at 18c – a 20 per cent premium to thelast closing price – in exchange for a guarantee of nickel and cobalt suppliedfrom a proposed Townsville plant.

GMcould invest up to $US69m in QPM, with further cash likely to flow when thecompany delivers a definitive feasibility study on its Townsville EnergyChemicals Hub project before the end of the year.

Itis the second deal this week signed to secure supply from Australian nickel andcobalt projects from a major end-user, after European carmaker Stellantis –which owns brands such as Fiat, Jeep, Maserati and Alfa Romeo – cut a deal withexplorer GME Resources for supply from its West Australian project.

Thedeals come amid a growing scramble from end users to secure supplies oflithium, nickel, cobalt and other battery-making materials amid growingexpectations the manufacturing sector could struggle to deliver on aggressiveelectric vehicle growth plans amid a shortfall in the development of resourcesneeded to make batteries.

Thescramble is particularly acute for US manufacturers, who risk missing out on$US7500 electric vehicle tax credits on offer from the administration of USPresident Joe Biden if they do not source the critical minerals for theirbatteries either from within the US, or from countries with a free-tradeagreement with the US – such as Australia.

GMalready has a supply deal with Glencore’s Murrin Murrin nickel and cobalt minein WA.

GMand Stellantis join fellow automotive giants Ford, Tesla, BMW and otherautomotive giants in locking in supply deals with Australian miners ahead of alooming crunch in the market for battery-making metals.

QPMplans to take difficult-to-process laterite ore from New Caledonia and leachnickel and cobalt from it using nitric acid.

QPMput a $652m price tag on the construction of its Townville processing facilityin a March 2020 pre-feasibility study, but that figure is likely to have blownout significantly.