LITHIUM, enough resources for all electric vehicles?

[GuyGadebois]

https://m.20minutes.fr/amp/a/2603327

But of course. "clean" technologies. Suitable for enriching multinationals.

Except that there, it is the government which created the company in charge of operating, the public company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB). The country needs currency and work, no baseless criticism.

Except that there:
"All the partnership offers, in particular those of the French Bolloré and the Japanese Mitsubishi, were rejected. Only the Chinese asked to build a potassium factory there had the right to set foot in this highly strategic location ..... .... Still, the government had to face the facts: in December 2018, the national firm YLB (Bolivian public lithium company) signed a cooperation agreement with a German company, then last January with a Chinese company. "
Except that there:
“In addition to disillusionment there is worry and now anger. Producing lithium requires drawing immense quantities of water. The region is arid: not a drop of rain from March to December. extraction threatens to worsen the scarcity of fresh water from which the villagers suffer. Two rivers flow into the desert, and the bed of the Rio Guapay is practically dry. Recent droughts have already cost a year of harvesting quinoa. In Chile, extraction was found to require 200 liters of water per second, not 100 liters as officials claimed. The Indian community of Atacama mobilized and ended up getting low compensation. In Argentina there are also conflicts between local populations and businesses over the use of water. "
https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Environ ... ie-1629146

[izentrop]

Indeed, the population does not benefit from it for the moment and the environmental risks are great. We bet that the extraction technique evolves towards less water consumption. It will be necessary, since the RC generates more drought.

In any case, the race to electrify is launched and evolves at high speed http://automobile-propre.com/batteries- ... obre-2019/

We learn that Tesla secretly bought the Canadian company Hibar Systems. This company specializes in the design and construction of machines and automated production lines for the manufacture of battery cells.
In addition to its headquarters in North America, Hibar also has factories in Europe, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and China. According to a company brochure, in 2014 it achieved more than 50% of its turnover in China. We would not be surprised to learn that Hibar is one of the world's leading suppliers of machines for the production of battery cells. Its acquisition by Tesla is therefore of paramount importance.

CTP: CATL and BAIC are designing an innovative process for manufacturing battery packs ... would reduce the volume of the battery by 15 to 20% and the number of parts incorporated in the pack by 40%. In addition, the assembly time would be reduced by half. The icing on the cake: the energy density would increase from an average of 150 to 180 Wh / kg for a conventional pack to 200 Wh / kg for a PTC battery. At the cell level, CATL announces an energy density of 240 Wh / kg and targets a target of 350 Wh / kg in 2024.

VW ID.3 batteries would cost less than $ 100 per kilowatt hour (kWh) ... Analysts have not expected such a decline for years. If confirmed, the tipping point from which the electric vehicle becomes cheaper than its thermal counterparts would be reached and mass adoption of electromobility would be inevitable.

The need to recover nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium is increasingly vital in the electric car industry. According to Jean-Marc Boursier of SUEZ, around 50.000 tonnes of batteries could be recycled in Europe by 2027, and ten times more in 2035.

[moinsdewatt]

Continuation of this post of Dec 5, 2009 http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 40#p260840

Lithium in the geothermal waters of Salton Sea in California.

The Energy Sources company claims to be able to recover Lithium from the steam in geothermal waters of the Salton Sea basin.

They will need $ 350 million to build an industrial extraction plant.

......
EnergySource isn't ready to produce thousands of tons of lithium just yet: The company says it needs to raise $ 350 million to build a commercial-scale extraction facility. In order to secure that financing, EnergySource probably has to sign up a buyer for most or all of the lithium it plans to produce.

Read https://www.latimes.com/environment/sto ... salton-sea

[moinsdewatt]

Rio Tinto, which found Lithium in tailings from its boron ore processing plant in California invested 10 million dollars to set up a pilot line to recover this Lithium.
If it works properly it will then be $ 50 million for an industrial unit.

Rio Tinto kicks off $ 10m pilot hoping to become the largest lithium miner in US

Cecilia Jamaica | October 22, 2019


The 90-year-old Boron mine has thrived on production of borates, but may soon become a major source of lithium as well. (Image courtesy of Rio Tinto.)

Rio Tinto, (ASX, LON: RIO), the world's No. 2 miner, may become the largest lithium producer in the United States if a pilot project that is kicking off at its Boron mine, in the California desert, proves to be successful enough to be expanded.


The company will be studying ways to extract lithium from tailings at the 90-year-old open pit mine, which produces borates - a group of minerals used to make insulation fiberglass wind turbines and consumer goods such as soaps and cosmetics.

Rio's discovery of lithium at Boron was a fluke. The miner was actually testing Boron's tailings to see whether the presence of gold was significant and found instead traces of lithium at a concentration higher than domestic projects under development.

“If trials continue to prove successful, this has the potential to become America's largest domestic producer of battery-grade lithium - all without the need for further mining,” Rio Tinto's energy and minerals chief executive, Bold Baatar, said Tuesday in an emailed statement .

The company has earmarked a $ 10 million investment to build a pilot plant that will be able to produce 10 tonnes a year of lithium-carbonate, needed in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and high tech devices. If that works, Rio Tinto would consider investing in a $ 50 million industrial-scale plant to generate 5,000 tonnes a year - enough for around 15,000 Tesla Model S batteries.

The projected production would be roughly the same as the capacity of Albemarle 's Silver Peak mine in Nevada, which is currently the only lithium-carbonate producing asset in the country, according to the US Geological Survey.

Until now, the global miner's incursion in the lithium market has been mostly limited to its 100% -owned lithium and borates mineral project in Jadar, Serbia. While still in the early stages of development, the company plans to seek board approval next year, with first production expected in 2024 - the fastest possible development schedule for the operation.

https://www.mining.com/rio-tinto-kicks- ... ium-miner/

[moinsdewatt]

Alsace: a pilot lithium extraction plant planned for 2021
Ultimately, industrial extraction of this metal used for rechargeable electric batteries could provide part of French consumption.

By Le Parisien with AFP November 8, 2019

It is a treasure that hides under the feet of Alsatians. Indispensable for the manufacture of batteries for smartphones but especially for electric cars, lithium could soon be extracted from the waters of the basement of the French region whereas it is currently mainly from Australia, China and South America .

The companies Électricité de Strasbourg (ES), a subsidiary of EDF, and Fonroche Géothermie have confirmed the presence of this metal at a significant level on several sites in Alsace whose underground they are exploring in order to build geothermal power plants deep.

So much so that the EDF subsidiary intends to set up a pilot plant in 2021 on one of these sites, in order to confirm in real configuration the "relevance" of lithium chloride highlighted for the moment in the laboratory, said Bernard Kempf, director of development.

"Quantity and quality"

As part of the Fonroche Géothermie project in Vendenheim north of Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), “analyzes in the water extracted from boreholes confirm the presence of lithium in very promising quality and quantity, making it possible to envisage the annual production of some 1 tonnes of lithium, "the company said in a statement. This volume represents 500% of the estimated annual supply needs for France in the coming years.

"On the basis of three power plants programmed in Alsace, Fonroche Géothermie could therefore supply 30% to 40% of all French industrial demand for lithium from 2023", concludes the press release.

Electricité de Strasbourg has also identified a potential of 1 tonnes per year on its study sites for geothermal power plants several thousand meters deep in Alsace, its management said.

"Very low environmental impact"

These tests are carried out by the Eramet mining group as part of a research consortium which brings together, among others, ES, the chemist BASF and the car manufacturer PSA. Production on an "industrial" scale could then be "hoped for in 2025", added Bernard Kempf who at this stage believes "that we must remain cautious".

According to ES and Fonroche, the extraction technique in Alsace has a "very low environmental impact" allowing the production of "clean lithium".

http://www.leparisien.fr/economie/alsac ... D-32280599

[GuyGadebois]

According to ES and Fonroche, the extraction technique in Alsace has a "very low environmental impact" allowing the production of "clean lithium"

After the "clean coal", here comes the "clean lithium". We believe in!

[sicetaitsimple]

After the "clean coal", here comes the "clean lithium". We believe in!

Weird reaction! You should rather be happy that Lithium can be extracted (to be confirmed of course) as a by-product of deep geothermal energy on French soil, rather than going to seek it on the other side of the world with all the " ravages "which you mentioned in your previous posts.

[GuyGadebois]

After the "clean coal", here comes the "clean lithium". We believe in!

Weird reaction! You should rather be happy that Lithium can be extracted (to be confirmed of course) as a by-product of deep geothermal energy on French soil, rather than going to seek it on the other side of the world with all the " ravages "which you mentioned in your previous posts.

As you say: "to be confirmed of course". If that's true, that's fine.

[moinsdewatt]

Global glut of lithium drives prices down
The white metal used to make batteries in electric cars has been produced in too large a quantity compared to current needs. In Asia, the leading consumer region, prices plunged to the lowest since 2015.

News Nov 13, 2019

The American lithium giant, the American Albemarle, has just shaken up this small market. The world's largest producer of the product that is now listed in "battery metals" for use in quantity in electric cars, said the sector had two to three times more supply than necessary. Despite its effervescence, the electric vehicle industry does not need as much lithium.

As a result, prices have dropped nearly a third in a year, says Albemarle. In Asia, the drop in lithium carbonate prices has reached 65% in less than two years. They hit a four-year low in October.

Twenty-four hours earlier, its competitor Livent, also an American, was already reporting "difficult" market conditions. "We will be facing it for at least twelve to eighteen months," warned Albemarle chief executive at an investor conference, reports Reuters. The company decided to postpone certain expansion projects, and to save money.

A note published Friday by JP Morgan added to the nervousness, and caused the price of Albemarle to drop. For analysts of the bank, "there is too much lithium available on the market at low prices and, using the products [of the American group bought in advance via long-term contracts], the economic models of the manufacturers of batteries are under pressure ”.

Chinese subsidies

Like other raw materials, demand for lithium is also affected by the tensions linked to the trade conflict between China and the United States and by the reduction of China's subsidies for electric cars. JP Morgan notes that global sales of electric cars are less dynamic this year than last year: the sales growth rate has been 20% since January, against a rate of 50% in 2018. A slowdown that puts prices pressurized lithium, confirms the bank.

The energy transition taking place around the world has changed the situation for this long confidential white metal: the coming boom in electric transport has brought it to the fore, with projections of strong demand. From Australia to China via Canada and Chile - the leading producing country - mining projects have multiplied, and production has greatly increased in recent years.

The analyst firm Roskill forecasts that demand will exceed 1 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) by 2026, compared to just over 320.000 tonnes in 2018. According to specialists from Adamas Intelligence, in September, the average private electric car contained 12,2 kilograms of LCE in its battery.

https://www.lesechos.fr/finance-marches ... ix-1147439

[moinsdewatt]

Continuation of this post on Nov 24, 2019 http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 9#p2292129

Lithium has a 4-year low.

Lithium price plunges to 4-year low

Frik Els | January 10, 2020

Investment in battery manufacturing plants and electric vehicle factories continues to boom around the world, but for now the market for lithium shows no signs of emerging from a four-year slump.

Prices for the raw material used in lithium-ion batteries fell again at the end of last year, according to the December price assessment released by industry tracker Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

The Benchmark Lithium Index declined to its lowest point since January 2016 in December, down more than 36% on the start of the year. The weighted carbonate price fell to below $ 8,000 a ton while hydroxide prices now average just over $ 10,000.

Hard rock miners have been hardest hit when the price of spodumene concentrate (6% lithium for hydroxide manufacture) fell another 3.5% during October to average $ 450– $ 510 a ton. That is a 45% drop in the last year.

Thanks to a slew of new hard-rock mines and expansions, Australia quickly became the number one producer of lithium over South American brine producers, but the additional supply and weakening conditions in the downstream industry in China, responsible for as much as 80% of global processing, have piled pressure on prices.

Canadian lithium hopeful Nemaska ​​has filed for bankruptcy and Australian spodumene (feedstock for lithium hydroxide) producers have trimmed expansions plans, scaled back projects, reduced output targets and mothballed mines in an effort to shore up the market, but Benchmark says cutthroat competition in China could push prices down further:

With new spodumene producers feeling the strain of lower pricing there is limited scope for further decreases, however Chinese converters are also facing an increasingly competitive chemical market.

As a result, industry participants are expecting more pressure on prices at the start of 2020, which could threaten the future of higher-cost suppliers.

https://www.mining.com/lithium-price-pl ... -year-low/