Running discussion on SP, page-31493

"Offtake agreements are also being negotiated with several companies"

The company’s major shareholder, Yibin Tianyi, is showing interest in securing significant tonnages of SC6 product, while several other lithium convertors are either approaching AVZ or vice versa, regarding securing offtake agreements not only for the lithium products, but also for tin, tantalum and niobium, says Ferguson"




EU releases updated critical raw materials list

A revised list of 30 critical raw materials has been revealed by the European Commission (EC), which now includes bauxite, titanium, lithium, and strontium.

Since the first list was drawn up in 2008, it has been revised in 2014, and again in 2017, when an additional seven raw materials were included to take the total 27.

The EC will release its next update in three years’ time.

Roskill view

While the term ‘critical raw materials’ has no universal definition, it is generally used to refer to metals and minerals which are of high economic importance to a particular industry, sector or spatial area and are at risk of supply shortage.

Supply risks can be exacerbated by low substitution potential and low recycling rates.

By adding lithium, titanium, bauxite (aluminium raw material) and strontium to the critical raw materials list, the EC has recognised these commodities’ increasing strategic importance as enablers of clean technologies.

Owing to their use in applications including clean mobility, renewable energy and batteries, these commodities will play a crucial role in transitioning the EU to a low-carbon, circular economy.

This will be key in meeting the EC’s target to be ‘climate-neutral’ by 2050 and creating an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

The target is central to the European Green Deal and in line with the EU’s commitment to global climate action under the Paris Agreement.

The complete list of 30 critical raw materials for 2020 is shown below.

• Lithium

• Niobium

The German chemist Heinrich Rose determined in 1846 that tantalum ores contain a second element, which he named niobium.

In 1864 and 1865, a series of scientific findings clarified that niobium and columbium were the same element (as distinguished from tantalum), and for a century both names were used interchangeably.

Niobium was officially adopted as the name of the element in 1949, but the name columbium remains in current use in metallurgy in the United States.

It was not until the early 20th century that niobium was first used commercially.

Brazil is the leading producer of niobium and ferroniobium, an alloy of 60–70% niobium with iron.

Niobium is used mostly in alloys, the largest part in special steel such as that used in gas pipelines.

Although these alloys contain a maximum of 0.1%, the small percentage of niobium enhances the strength of the steel.

The temperature stability of niobium-containing superalloys is important for its use in jet and rocket engines.

Niobium is used in various superconducting materials.

These superconducting alloys, also containing titanium and tin, are widely used in the superconducting magnets of MRI scanners.

Other applications of niobium include welding, nuclear industries, electronics, optics, numismatics, and jewelry. In the last two applications, the low toxicity and iridescence produced by anodization are highly desired properties.

Niobium is considered a technology-critical element.

After the separation from the other minerals, the mixed oxides of tantalum Ta₂O₅ and niobium Nb₂O₅ are obtained.

The first step in the processing is the reaction of the oxides with hydrofluoric acid
Newer processes use the liquid extraction of the fluorides from aqueous solution by organic solvents like cyclohexanone.

The complex niobium and tantalum fluorides are extracted separately from the organic solvent with water and either precipitated by the addition of potassium fluoride to produce a potassium fluoride complex, or precipitated with ammonia as the pentoxide.

• Tantalum

Rwanda is the world’s largest producer of tantalum, an essential mineral for the electronics industries.

According to the latest Mineral Commodity Summaries report, Rwanda produced around 37 percent of the world’s tantalum supply in 2015, while DR Congo accounted for a further 32 percent.

Largest tantalum producer

According to the report, the total value of tantalum produced last year was more than $290 million, with Rwanda and DR Congo contributing the vast majority of that supply.

Tantalum is a vital chemical element used in the manufacturing of capacitors that are used in a wide range of electronics products.

The chemical properties of the element mean it can provide high capacitance in a small volume, making it particularly important for the production of smartphones, computers and a wide range of other consumer electronics devices.

It’s also used to create high-power resistors – another kind of electronic component commonly used in heavy duty equipment across various industries and sectors.

Outside of the electronics industry, Tantalum is also used to produce a variety of alloys that are both strong and ductile with high melting points.

It’s also used in the production of superalloys for jet engine components, nuclear reactors, missile parts and chemical process equipment.


https://roskill.com/news/critical-materials













Rare Earths: What alternatives are there to Chinese supply for the global industry?

Rare Earths Outlook to 2029

The rare earth industry continues to be an important part of not only the development and manufacture of high-end technologies, but also as a geopolitical tool in an increasingly unstable and unpredictable global market.

Disruptions to supply chains caused by tariffs, the imposition of sourcing restrictions for some products and uncertainty over the future of major producers has resulted in a renewed focus on diversifying the source of rare earth products, particularly outside of China.

Simultaneously, the Chinese industry has continued to introduce legislation to ‘clean-up’ their domestic rare earth industry, tackling the environmental, social and governmental impact of historical production.

In 2019, China is forecast to account for 77% of global rare earth production, with six state owned enterprises forming the majority of supply.

Despite its dominance of the global industry, China’s production of mined rare earths has been impacted in recent years by the introduction of environmental legislation and industry consolidation.

Environmental legislation has led to many operations, predominantly in southern Chinese provinces, suspending production.

As a result, Chinese processors have looked to alternative sources of rare earth raw materials, creating opportunities for producers both in the Chinese domestic market and in the rest-of-world.

Ion adsorption clay ores, monazite mineral concentrates and recycled rare earth materials have all been imported and processed by facilities in China, to meet growing demand for rare earth products.

Illegal production remains a significant source of raw materials in China, though efforts by local and central government have reduced illegal production by almost 50% since 2016.

Rare earth production at operations outside of China is limited to a small number of locations in 2019, though there are multiple projects under development in Australia, Canada, the USA and Africa with the potential to supply rare earth concentrates to the market.

The production of refined rare earth production outside China is even scarcer than the supply of mined raw materials and has been identified as a supply chain risk by some consumers.

Demand for rare earths is diverse, with rare earth products being consumed in many end-use applications which may only require one or two separated rare earth compounds or products.

https://roskill.com/market-report/rare-earths/