CHARTS: The coming critical minerals trade war is BRICS short of a load
"While a large number of countries around the world continue to talk about securing raw material supply, China is actually doing something about it."
The U.S. decision last month to launch a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export initiative should turn out to be yet another boon for lithium producers, who are or will be trying to sell into a growing lithium ion battery market for technological and electric car uses.
The initiative complements a like-minded Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing initiative in 2009. All of this amounts to a fair bit of government-led oomph for politically-correct “green” research and development.
“Expanding U.S. clean technology exports is a critical step to ensuring America’s economic competitiveness in the years ahead,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, according to Lithium Investing News.
All of this comes at a time when a number of countries are targeting some of the more rarified metals, such as lithium. The South Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy said it will nearly double its production of lithium and rare earth minerals next year as global demand for the raw materials is expected to increase, according to Lithium Investing News.
These kinds of developments have a definite trickle-down effect on companies operating within the global sector. In November, for example, a Korean government-owned mining company, Korea Resource and Lithium One formalized a joint venture to develop Lithium One’s Sal de Vida lithium brine project in Argentina. The KORES wants to be a top-20 global mining company by 2020 through overseas expansion.
In Canada, Canadian Lithium plans to start full production at its Quebec lithium project in 2013, following the release of a positive feasibility study. U.S.-based Blackrock, the mega-fund manager, recently gave the soon-to-be lithium producer $10 million to pay for mine and plant equipment.
In Australia, Orocobre got the environmental go-ahead from the Argentine government to move forward with its Salar de Olaroz project. Investors have welcomed the news by pushing the company shares up by more than 25% over the last month or so.
All of this plays into the end-user market – the companies that make the lithium ion batteries for electric cars. Interest appears to be growing exponentially, meaning there should be a profitable meeting of minds across the supply-demand chasm. Basically, if you mine it, they will come.
Here are a few recent examples of how the market is developing: Toyota recently said it’s planning to start mass-producing lithium ion batteries for its plug-in hybrid vehicles, the Nikkei business daily reported.
Panasonic will begin mass production of lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles as early as April. It intends to market them to automakers at home and abroad, in addition to supplying the batteries to U.S. partner Tesla Motors, the paper said.
And Hitachi, which already supplies batteries for General Motors hybrids, will start mass producing high-performance lithium ion batteries for plug-in hybrids in 2013, the business daily said.
Comments
CapelloFamous
It is my understanding that the Electric Vehicle(EV) industry is widely progressing. With the population growing and the economic ups and downs of today’s markets, people look for ways to save money. That is mainly why individuals turn to EV’s. The EV market was estimated to be in the $70 Billion range by 2021, and I would like to contribute towards that movement by providing Lithium-Ion to a company/corporation who is interested. I know one of the biggest elements in Electric Vehicles is the Lithium-Ion mineral, and I have a 198,000 acre property containing heavy earth minerals (Lithium-Ion).
The property is located in South America, in which it has been tested and recorded by Geologists. More specifically, the property is located in Northern Argentina close to Chile. It is bigger than the Los Angeles San Fernando Valley; just to add some perspective to the size. In addition to the above, I also have all the paperwork/documents to support the findings and ownership of the property.
My mission is to find a buyer(s) that would buy the land from us. This has been difficult since it is not easy to get a hold of the individual who handles these matters over the phone. I would like to set up a meeting in which we can discuss this information in further detail. I appreciate your time as well as effort.
Kindest Regards,
Alex Capello
[email protected]