Ipilan's inaugural shipment from its mine in the western Philippine province of Palawan was sold to Guangdong Century Tsingshan Nickel Industry.

SQM forecasts a “very tight market” for lithium in the years ahead.

LME brokers were approached by Tsingshan for credit.

Investing in mineral-rich countries would be easier than building new mines in the US, said Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Executive Editor Henry Sanderson in an interview.

Maike Metals is suffering a liquidity crisis, and He Jinbi's empire is under threat.

Nornickel plans to increase the equity holdings of employees and other individuals to collectively comprise 25% of the company, up from 10% now.

"It makes us the largest collector, packager and processor of both end of life batteries and battery manufacturing scrap in North America,” says CEO David Klanecky.