Running discussion on SP, page-52073

I'm expecting a Lion's share of iron ore investors entering lithium plays over the coming months as iron ore is expected to slip under US$100 per tonne

if only most of them knew about AVZ minerals, they may very well regain their losses here over that time once ML signed'

• The ASX closed 2.1% lower, down 155.5 points to 7248.2, as plummeting iron ore prices continued to ravage our big miners Fortescue, BHP and Rio Tinto.

• Iron ore declined another -4.9% to $US101.95 a tonne overnight and futures have dropped well below $US100.

Why is lithium so important to the transition to a carbon-free world?

Interview with Pablo Altimiras, senior vice-president, Lithium and Iodine business, SQM

Q. Why is lithium so important to the transition to a carbon-free world?

A. The main driver behind the electric vehicle (EV) revolution is to reduce CO2, that is quite clear.

But the next question is why lithium ion batteries for EV engines and not sodium and magnesium batteries or hydrogen?

It’s because of the nature of lithium and the nature of lithium combined with the other materials that compose a lithium battery.

Lithium is really light, actually it is the lightest metal in the world.

When we are talking about things that you need to move, like a car for example or a cell phone, if you want to have a big range that means that you need to store a lot of energy, but in a car, you have a limited space.

So you need something very light, otherwise you end up using a lot of energy to move the car. So this is what’s magical about lithium. And that’s why today it is leading the market.

When you see what’s going on today with the technology for ion batteries, I would say that the other clean energy technologies are far behind, and that’s why we believe today that in the next 10 to 15 years lithium batteries will not have a clear rival.

As most scientists and experts agree, rises in the planet’s temperature in the coming years are now unavoidable.

However, we can all do a lot to slow down the increase, in line with the goals set by the Paris Agreement.

That’s why we urgently need to accelerate the shift to electromobility.

Lithium-ion batteries will play an essential role in that and broader efforts to decarbonize our global mobility.

Q. What internal goals has SQM set up in order to meet the demands posed by the global push towards net-zero?

A. What’s happening today with lithium demand is so amazing.

Last year the total demand for lithium was 330,000 metric tonnes (mt).

This year demand will grow by more than 40 percent.

Then in the long term, in the next 10-15 years, every year it will grow by at least between 20-25 percent or maybe more.

This is huge growth and you cannot find any other mineral that is comparable.

With the numbers or with the trends that I have already mentioned here, we expect that by 2025 the demand will be around 1 million.

This year we started with a total capacity of 70,000 mt of lithium carbonate equivalent, but today we are increasing this capacity and we expect to reach a total capacity of 120,000 mt by December.

By the end of 2022 we expect to have capacity of 180,000 mt.

So that means that lithium producers have a big, big challenge because we need to expand capacity to be there for our customers.

We are growing with the demand, but this demand will also continue to progress.

We are always trying to produce more with the same natural resources that we have today.

At SQM we decided, some years ago, because of the trend in demand that we cannot have only the one resource we have in Chile.

That’s why some years ago we bought a 50 percent share in our lithium mine that is located in Australia.

We expect to have extra capacity from this plant of 50,000 mt by the end of 2024 and we are exploring more opportunities abroad.


Q. The EU is betting massively on EVs.

A. Europe is very important for many reasons, but I would say that two are the main ones.

Of course, one is that it will be an important part of the market for EVs.

But also because in the future, we will have some plants there.

So as a market, it is very important.

But also in terms of sustainability and regulation, Europe is always in advance.

I think that SQM needs to work very closely with customers and also authorities in order to know in advance what’s happening, but also to contribute to the dialogue.

I think that we have a role to play in readying the continent for EV adoption and will become a more important presence in the European market.

www.politico.eu


Electric Jaguars to transport world leaders at UN climate talks in Glasgow

Jaguar will partner with the COP26 climate talks, to be held in a few months time in Glasgow, and will transport dignitaries and world leaders in a fleet of electric vehicles, including the Jaguar I-Pace SUV.

The marque, synonymous with Britain, will use the two week conference to showcase its all-electric models.

The conference is expected to attract as many as 120 world leaders, including US president Joe Biden, Queen Elizabeth and Pope Francis who have all confirmed that they will attend the talks.

The COP26 talks, the first held for two years, will bring together negotiators and delegates from around the world, and as hosts, the UK governments hopes to use the conference as a platform for driving accelerated action on climate change and efforts to slash global greenhouse gas emissions.

Jaguar will supply the event with a fleet of all-electric vehicles, that will transport leaders to and from the venue hosting the UN climate talks.

Jaguar has provided similar fleet services to previous events held in the United Kingdom, including meetings of the G7, and said that it would source vehicles from existing fleets so as to minimize the environmental footprint of the fleet serving COP26.

President of the COP26 talks, former British secretary of state for business, energy and industrial energy, Alok Sharma, said that Jaguar was the right pick as a partner for the conference, given its commitments to zero emissions transport.

“Jaguar Land Rover …. has committed to a 1.5 degree aligned science-based target to reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement and supporting the UNFCCC Race to Zero,” he said.

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bolloré said the company would be able to showcase the progress made in its ‘reimagine’ business strategy as part of its pivot to electric vehicles, and its plan to achieve zero tailpipe emissions by 2036.

“Sustainability is at the core of our business strategy, Reimagine, which enables us to focus on becoming net carbon zero by 2039, as the creator of the world’s most desirable modern luxury vehicles.”

Exponential growth: Global sales of new electric cars may tip seven million this year

There is a great deal of speculation about how many plug in vehicles (Battery Electric Vehicles and Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles) will be sold globally in 2021.

Most Australians are starting to spot those weird Tesla Model 3’s on the road.

From being rare, they are becoming commonplace in Brisbane.

My neighbor used to count them when he was out and about, now he doesn’t bother – he tells me that they are everywhere when he goes to pick up his son from high school.

Australians are beginning to realize that we are at the start of something exciting.

EVs sales have doubled here in 2021.

Last year we were seeing an EV penetration of less than 1%, now it is getting towards 2%.

Still miniscule you say – but what about the global picture?

By the end of July, 3 million EVs were sold around the world achieving a 7% penetration.

Historically, the figures for sales are much higher in the second half of the year – any Q4 sales in the EV world at about 33-35% of the year’s total.

So will we see 6 million plug in vehicles sold globally this year?

The maths seems to indicate that it might even be more!

From 2010 to 2018 EV sales grew at 60% per year.

Starting at 1 million vehicles (just because the maths is easier) this is what that looks like in numbers:

https://thedriven.io/2021/09/20/exp...lectric-cars-may-tip-seven-million-this-year/

At that growth rate, most new vehicles will be will have a plug by 2027.

What has actually happened?

The world reached 1 million plug in vehicle sales in the year 2017 …

2019 was an anomaly caused by the removal of subsidies by the Chinese government for EVs that were not of appropriate standard (ie not highway capable).

This has led to a revitalized Chinese EV industry which is poised to export to the world.

Please note that COVID has not really affected sales of EVs.

What happens next?

Looking at figures published in Inside EVs and Cleantechnica we seem to be headed for a bumper year for EV sales with numbers that may exceed the projections above.

China is already at 15% and Europe at 20% of new cars being EVs.

Each month seems to herald the launch of a new EV from either China or Europe.

Tesla alone may reach a million EVs delivered this year, and next year with addition of Tesla’s GigaBerlin and GigagTexas will have the capacity to produce 2 million cars a year.

There are many smaller markets not represented here that will add to the total.

All up, we are getting close to the possibility of 7 million.

Place your bets!

I know that this is speculation. I am hoping it will create a conversation.

History and statistics are on the side of EVS.

Tesla Model 3 sweeps to stunning victory in prestigious Targa West road rally

A Tesla Model 3 performance electric car has swept to victory in one of the key categories in the prestigious Targa West 1,000kms road rally over the weekend, and might have challenged for an overall podium finish if it had access to a super-fast charging unit.

The TOCEVA racing team vehicle – driven by husband and wife team Jurgan and Helen Lunsmann – stunned the local racing community last year by easily winning the Targa130 category, for cars limited to a top speed of 130kms.

This year it upgraded to the Targa165 component – with a top speed of 165kms – by becoming the first Tesla Model 3 in the Southern Hemisphere to enter an FIA-sanctioned motorsport with a roll cage.

And it won again with some ease, just short of eight minutes, beating some high-spec fossil fuel cars including Porsche Cayman, with most of them running at a cost of three times the TOCEVA Tesla budget.

The Tesla finished ninth overall, behind the winning Lotus, and Florian Popp, from Gemtek, which provided some of the charging infrastructure, says it may have challenged for a podium spot if it had access to a portable super-fast charger of 120kW.

As it it, the team was limited to 40kW charging – through a specially converted Hyundai Kona with DC-toDC charging, a “battery buffer” truck fitted out with an old Model 3 battery, also DC to DC, and another truck using diesel from vegetable oils sourced from McDonalds fast foot outlets.

The 40kW limit meant that the Tesla had to moderate its speed at certain occasions, particularly on the longer stages on the final days, to ensure it had enough juice in the battery. It had been running fourth overall after the first two days.

“We had to go slow on a couple of stages,” Popp said.

“If we had a 120kW fast charger we could charge fast enough to challenge the really high performance cars. We would be a good chance at a podium.”

The Gemtek team has been entering Targa West for six years, with the aim of showing motoring enthusiasts – and performance drivers – that EVs are not just about sustainability and environmental benefits, but also performance.

“The reaction has been mixed,” Popp tells The Driven.

“It has taken six years to slowly wear them down. We are certainly seeing in the last three years in particular that a lot of “motor-heads” are buying a Tesla as their second car at home.”

https://thedriven.io/
















Food for thought on the Road to Mining Manono

Fingers crossed Felix

Frank