Value of battery metals in newly-sold EVs tripled on rampant lithium, nickel prices
MINING.COM’s EV Metal Index surged to just under $27 billion in 2022 thanks to surging lithium and nickel prices, but January saw a 50% month-on-month drop.
Pent-up demand, supply shocks, low stocks pushed aluminum, copper and coal prices to all-time highs, but new report suggests supercycle talk is premature.
Projects to be funded include the second rare earth separation plant to be built outside China, a battery material refinery and a vanadium processing plant.
Chinese lithium prices double again in 2022, Benchmark’s mid-March assessment shows with seasonal restart of domestic brine supply unlikely to counter growing deficits.