Lithium Media Articles, page-519

Great Post as usual Elpha,

Well done on getting the word out on AVZ on behalf of us all here, much appreciated as always

*To Remind EVeryone, incase you missed it, thanks to

DrPutin

Date:12/05/20 - Post #:44583343

Carmakers urged to invest in mines to avoid battery metal pinch

Mine developers scrambling to fund projects to meet forecast demand for battery metals see the threat of looming supply crunches as a trigger for electric-vehicle makers to step in with investments.

With “mind-blowing” projections from the auto industry on its future raw material needs, the best solution could be for vehicle producers to invest directly in mining operations, according to Sam Riggall, CEO of developer Clean TeQ Holdings.

“We’re building a supply chain that’s never existed before, for a range of metals that have never been needed before by this industry.”

Auto companies have outlined plans to spend more than $140-billion on electric vehicle production, an industry shift that’ll need producers of specialist materials and metals for batteries to dramatically lift output.

Nickel demand is forecast to surge about 16-fold through 2030 from 2018, while there will also be a significant rise in demand for graphite, lithium, copper and aluminum, according to BloombergNEF.

Lithium producers alone will need an estimated $25-billion to $30-billion in financing over the next decade to meet demand, BNEF said in a February report.

Automakers are seeking more involvement in the riskier parts of their supply chains, Scott Tozier, CFO of Albemarle, the top lithium producer, said in an interview.

In talks, vehicle producers want better understanding on “how do I make sure I get the product I need, when I need it,” he said.

“Will they go all the way to invest, we’ll have to wait and see -- it’s too early to call.”

For battery producers and automakers, with no existing expertise in mining, investments would only make sense for strategic reasons, such as geopolitical security, said Sophie Lu, BNEF’s head of mining and metals.

Many large mining companies remain hesitant to enter into niche markets, or already have options to bring on capacity inside their own portfolios.

It means smaller developers of battery metals projects “are swimming in a very shallow pool of retail capital and are starving for start-up capital,” she said.

Nickel sulfate, among materials that Clean TeQ’s Sunrise mine project aims to produce, is a key industry concern. Even a doubling of production capacity through 2030 won’t be enough to keep pace with demand, and the market could fall into deficit as soon as 2023, BNEF analysts forecast.

Lithium hydroxide could also fall into deficit by 2023 amid a squeeze in refining capacity, according to the analysts.

“I scratch my head and wonder where is all this metal going to come from,” Clean TeQ’s Riggall said.

“The risks to the automotive sector are very, very large unless they secure their raw materials supply chain.”

While major car producers do understand funding challenges faced by metals producers, most are wary of exposure to mining projects that come with unfamiliar risks and can take years to move from exploration to production, according to Vivas Kumar, a principal consultant at industry adviser Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and previously a member of Tesla Inc.’s battery supply chain team.

What’s more likely is that the auto sector will move to add more offtake contracts, agreements to buy future production, that can help developers unlock traditional sources of project finance, he said.

China’s Great Wall Motor previously agreed a supply deal with lithium miner Pilbara Minerals, while Tesla, battery maker LG Chem and others struck pacts on output from a separate planned mine and refinery project in Australia.

“They provide validation of your project, that there is a blue-chip end customer to generate cash flow,” according to Kumar.

Automakers are increasingly “recognizing that this is something that they could do that could actually help the junior miners get financing,” he said.

https://m.miningweekly.com


These stocks, including Tesla and Apple, are the real winners for the second quarter of 2020

The second quarter was a dramatic one for U.S. stocks — the S&P 500 had its best quarter since 1998.

But many of the best performers were really bounce backs from the doldrums of March, when the market hit bottom during the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some stocks are still down for 2020, but there were also some “real” winners — ones that were up significantly in the quarter and the first half of the year.

Below are lists of stocks that rose the most during the second quarter.

Nasdaq-100

Here are the 20 best performers among components of the Nasdaq-100 Index US:NDX during the second quarter:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
0	Company	Ticker	Price change - second quarter, 2020	Price change - first half, 2020	Price change - 2019
1	Tesla Inc.	US:TSLA	106.1%	158.1%	25.7%
2	MercadoLibre Inc.	US:MELI	101.8%	72.4%	95.3%
3	DocuSign Inc.	US:OCU	86.4%	132.4%	84.9%
4	PayPal Holdings Inc.	US:YPL	82.0%	61.1%	28.6%
5	EBay Inc.	US:EBAY	74.5%	45.3%	28.6%
6	Zoom Video Communications Inc. Class A	US:ZM	73.5%	272

“Real” winners included Tesla which more than doubled during the second quarter, but also was up an incredible 158% for the first half of 2020.

Others in the “real” category included MercadoLibre, DocuSign, Zoom Video Communications and several more that showed double-digit (or better) gains for the second quarter and first half of the year.

www.marketwatch.com/


*To Remind,

Toyota teams with China's CATL and BYD to power electric ambitions

Automaker diversifies battery source and moves up electrification goal by 5 years.

Toyota Motor will partner with China's CATL, the world's largest automotive battery maker, the Japanese automaker announced on Friday, diversifying its supply of crucial components in a push to accelerate the electrification of its offerings.

Toyota said Friday that the partnership will also include BYD, China's leading producer of electric cars, as well as Japan's Toshiba and battery maker GS Yuasa. Nikkei first reported the partnership between Toyota and CATL on Friday morning.

Toyota will sign a memorandum of understanding on a "strategic partnership" with Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd., with the details to be hashed out going forward.

The latter is expected to supply lithium-ion batteries for Toyota-branded electric vehicles to be released in China and other markets starting next year.

As automakers rush to secure battery providers amid a global shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles, the deal with CATL will enable Toyota to diversify its supply in China -- the world's largest electric-vehicle market. The partnership will also boost the competitive advantage of Chinese battery makers.

Toyota had set the goal of more than tripling its annual sales of electrified autos from 2018 levels to at least 5.5 million by 2030, accounting for half its total sales.

It now aims to achieve this goal by 2025 by tapping CATL's manufacturing capacity.

Toyota and Panasonic also plan to set up a joint venture by the end of 2020 for developing solid-state batteries. But as the automaker looks to step up production of electrified vehicles, securing a sufficient supply of batteries has become a challenge.

Batteries have a significant effect on the performance of electric vehicles as well as their cost -- accounting for 30% or more of the sticker price -- and competition to develop better technology, such as solid-state batteries, is fierce.

CATL led the global market for automotive batteries in 2017 with a roughly 16% share, narrowly beating No. 2 Panasonic's 15%, according to Tokyo-based Techno Systems Research.

Chinese government incentives for domestic automakers to use batteries from local manufacturers have helped drive CATL's sales, letting it expand production and improve its cost competitiveness.

The company has forged relationships with other automakers, including a partnership with Honda Motor to jointly develop batteries and an agreement with Nissan Motor to supply batteries for an electric car that debuted last year.

BMW and Volkswagen use CATL batteries as well.

Toyota's rush to accelerate its electric-vehicle plans comes amid a shift in that direction by rival automakers as well as tightening environmental regulations in major markets.

Volkswagen plans to launch almost 70 electric models by 2028 and sell at least 3 million units per year.

By 2030, it aims to have electric autos make up 40% of its overall sales.

Daimler looks to have half its sales consist of electrics and plug-in hybrids by 2030.

Nissan looks to have electrified vehicles, including conventional hybrids, account for 30% of sales by fiscal 2022.

Toyota itself plans to ramp up production of "new-energy vehicles" in China, expanding capacity at a Chinese plant run with joint-venture partner Guangzhou Automobile Group to as much as 400,000 vehicles a year in 2022.

While the company lags behind European and Chinese rivals in electric autos, it hopes to catch up with CATL's help.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/E...na-s-CATL-and-BYD-to-power-electric-ambitions


*To Remind as well,

Chinese electric car battery makers out to show the world they have power and quality to go the distance

• Industry observers say Chinese EV battery makers have been striving to improve their technology
• As a result, they have been tying up with foreign companies, investing in R&D and hiring the best overseas talent to match their overseas competitors

Based in Ningde, China’s southeastern Fujian province, CATL is already the world’s largest producer of EV batteries in terms of installed production capacity.

The company rose into global prominence with its US$2 billion investment in a battery factory in Germany in July last year. The plant will supply BMW when it starts operations in 2021.

China is by far the world’s largest new-energy vehicle market and Beijing’s stated goal is to make the country a global industry leader.

Under the “Made in China 2025” strategy, China wants 10 key industries, including the NEV sector, to catch up with international leaders and become self-sufficient in core technologies.

According to UBS analyst Paul Gong, CATL, Panasonic and South Korea’s LG rank among the top EV battery makers.

“In terms of quality, we see these makers have different advantages.

CATL has been doing quite well in producing impressive energy density battery cells,” Gong said.

“The production scale of CATL is bigger than others and has successfully established its supply chains.”

CATL’s latest NCM 811 battery, which contains 80 per cent nickel, 10 per cent cobalt and 10 per cent manganese, can achieve 340 watt hours per kilogram – a major yardstick for energy density.

It also has a longer lifespan and allows electric vehicles to go further on a single charge.

It’s a huge improvement over its NCM 622 battery, which can produce 240 watt hours per kg.

“The company’s 811 products are already being mass-produced and the rate of progress will be based on customer demand,” CATL chairman Zeng Yuqun said at a shareholders conference on April 26.

It is worth noting that some 60 per cent of Chinese carmakers use CATL products.

Industry observers believe that the mainland’s leading battery makers, which have made tremendous advances in technology, will soon catch up with the global leaders spurred by their spending on R&D and talent acquisition.

CATL has hired Bob Galyen, a battery expert and long-time GM executive, as its chief technology officer.

“For battery technology, it is no secret that Chinese companies have been aggressively looking into South Korea and Japan for top talent in an effort to attract them to China,” said David Nagy, the managing partner for Asia-Pacific industrial practice at DHR International, a headhunting firm.

He added that Chinese companies were not only chasing designers for product development but also going after overseas professionals with manufacturing expertise.

Although CATL is benefiting from the China’s massive market and favourable policies of the Chinese government, it is taking into account the needs of smaller clients and going out of its way to accommodate them.

An official with a forklift firm, who requested anonymity, said CATL was willing to supply the company batteries designed specifically for its products even though the demand appeared to be low initially.

The bet is likely to pay off as demand for the forklifts is rising gradually, the executive said.

Zeng Yuqun, also known as Robin Zeng, is the man behind CATL’s meteoric rise.

Although CATL was created in 2011, it started life as ATL (Amperex Technology Ltd) in 1999, supplying batteries to electronic companies.

Later ATL was acquired by TDK with Zeng still at the helm.

He saw potential in EV batteries and started to develop it about 10 years ago.

TDK spun off the EV battery segment in 2011 as CATL.

Within a year of its launch, CATL received a huge boost.

German carmaker BMW picked CATL as its battery supplier for Zinoro, an EV designed specifically for the mainland market.

And even though Zinoro did not live up to its expectations, CATL learned a lot from BMW, building up its supply chain and establishing a standardised production system, according to industry insiders.

CATL’s foreign clients now include BMW, Daimler, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and GM.

A total of 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) has been invested in the EV battery industry, according to Eefocus, an online tech consultancy.

Additionally, existing plants have a combined annual capacity of 5 million batteries, nearly 70 per cent more than Beijing’s targeted sales of 3 million EVs a year by 2025.

www.scmp.com


*To Remind some more,

Chinese electric car battery maker CATL gearing up for global charge

A dusty village on the outskirts of Ningde, a third-tier city in China’s southeast, seems an unlikely place for the headquarters of a potential global leader in future automotive technology.

Yet China’s top-down car industry policy diktats – move up the value chain, clean up polluted urban skies, and shift to plug-in cars – have left Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) poised to go from hometown hero to national champion, and maybe beyond.

China’s answer to Japan’s Panasonic Corp and South Korea’s LG Chem has tripled its production capacity for lithium-ion car batteries in the past year to keep up with a surge in China’s sales of electric cars.

After a second major funding round completed in October, the company’s value quadrupled to 80 billion yuan, CEO Huang Shilin said last week.

CATL, which hopes to list on Beijing’s over-the-counter stock exchange as part of plans to raise at least another 30 billion yuan by 2020, could become a dominant force globally.

It has already overtaken LG Chem in lithium-ion car battery output, and is chasing down Panasonic and Warren Buffett-backed BYD.

www.scmp.com





Cheers

Frank