Cobalt, up another 2.13% overnight:
Almost vertical rise from USD$32K to USD$41K in less than a month!
I've also been keeping an eye on what's been happening in the EV industry. Looks like Tesla bit the bullet and jumped onto the LFP bandwagon without properly testing the LFP batteries (according to rumours). They started shipping those LFP Tesla Model 3s out last October in Europe. Now there's news going around about how bad they really are. Here's an example, but there's more out there, even on Tesla's own owner forum:
https://thedriven.io/2020/12/08/teslas-china-made-model-3-battery-charges-slower-and-has-shorter-lifespan-say-reports/Imagine having a car that might go a bit further when the weather is warmer. It might report a range that is not really accurate, depending on the temperature of the place you're driving from/to,etc. Unbelievable and unacceptable, but looks like this is what's happening.
Could it be that there is now a mad scramble for Cobalt? Not so far a stretch of the imagination since Tesla is the poster boy of EVs and look how it is struggling with these "no-Cobalt" alternatives. LFP was the absolute front-runner. Sure it maybe suitable for trucks driving to and from warehouses with a static route, etc. In a consumer market, it has to hold up and that's where its reliability score will be firmly under the spotlight.
If this alternative was proven to be a failure, what can an EV carmaker do but to get as much of the original, almost hated commodity as they can?
Then you include the other factors like all the mothballed mines obliterating the supply side when the Cobalt price crashed, plus all those long-term contracts that big bro Glencore signed taking out almost all of their annual production, plus the streamlining of artisanal mining in the DRC... it's bewildering how many factors are in place to catalyse this next major Cobalt price rush.
