The rise of electric vehicles is driving the world's biggest mining house, BHP , to switch gears and invest heavily in its long-suffering nickel business.
Producers of processed lithium - an essential element for batteries used in electric cars - are agreeing long-term contracts with their customers to fund the investments needed to address a looming shortfall.
Hardly a day goes by without another media report about the impending demise of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) as petroleum powered cars and trucks are replaced by uber-clean Electric Vehicles (EV).
It now expects adjusted earnings per share to come in at $5, significantly higher than the $3.75 it had forecast just three months ago and almost doubled the $2.90 it had originally projected for the year.
Big winners will be aluminum, copper, lead, lithium, manganese, nickel, silver, steel, and zinc and rare earth minerals such as indium, molybdenum, and neodymium.