Brazil’s Minas Gerais state to sell stake in lithium miner

Chilean miner SQM said on Thursday that it would invest $525 million to boost its lithium production capacity in Chile through 2021.

Sell-off

Lack of clarity on environmental rules, overlapping federal and local taxes, and regulations that vary from province to province continue to loom over proposed mines.

Alberta's E3 Metals Corp. developed a chemical extraction process that allows lithium to be produced in hours.

The Australian-listed company expects to secure more than $55 million in funding for the first phase of the Arcadia Lithium project.

Chinese cobalt producers such as Jinchuan Group and Wanbao Mining said they were ramping up production to sate an anticipated demand boom from EVs.

 The new era of big batteries has already drawn scrutiny after fiery electric-car crashes across America and Europe.

Uranium and key rechargeable battery metals lithium and cobalt are on a final list of 35 critical minerals that the US deems essential to national security.

There is an emerging oligopoly in one of the hottest elements on the periodic table, lithium.