George Frangeskides, Chairman at ALBA, explains why the Pilbara Lithium option ‘was too good to miss’. Watch the video here.
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@MLQ.
that's not new new about Pemex, I posted 20th March:
Looking at how this year elections will play such a big part in EV's transition:
For the US Biden will have to win, Mexico I do believe Claudia Sheinbaum will carry on as AMLO left off so Xóchitl Gálvez would be my pick, shame she's so far behind if the polls can be trusted.
Biden argues that U.S. auto builders need to take the lead in the expanding EV market.
"I brought together American automakers. I brought together American autoworkers," said Biden in a statement. "Together, we've made historic progress."
Alluding to his target set three years ago that 50% of new vehicles in 2030 would be EVs, Biden predicted "we'll meet my goal for 2030 and race forward in the years ahead."
Claudia Sheinbaum has suggested Pemex should get involved in lithium $8%***%ake
Sheinbaum has a massive lead in the polls so unfortunately Galvez comments are not as relevant.
You missed this important bit @EV: error or dib ?
"“We fell for the fake that lithium was the new gold, thinking that we were going to extract it in tons, and the truth is that we were not,” Gálvez said on Monday.
When asked about the role of LitioMX and the proposal of the ruling Morena candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, to grant oil company Pemex the exploitation of lithium, Gálvez was open to the possibility.
“It does seem that Pemex could modernize exploration in some areas of opportunity. The priority is to return to exploration. Their thing is to extract oil, it makes money there, it generates jobs and that is Pemex's most important job," she said. "It could also get into geothermal energy... carbon capture, different sectors, but they have to be truly profitable and make Pemex become an efficient company.”
Xótchil Gálvez, the opposition coalition candidate in Mexico's June 2 presidential elections, warned that the legal conflict with China's Ganfeng over the cancellation of nine lithium concessions in Sonora state, which also affects British firm Cadence Minerals, will harm the country.
“The company to which they had awarded the concessions is suing Mexico. That will end badly," Gálvez said during a campaign event, adding that the country's lithium deposits are in clay and require a "very complex industrial process" to be extracted.
In August, the Mexican government notified Ganfeng, owner of the Sonora lithium project – the most advanced in the country – that its concessions were being canceled because minimum investment obligations had not been met.
The Chinese company requested an administrative review of the decision, after which it claims to have been told by the economy ministry in November that the cancellation had been ratified by the general directorate of mines (DGM).
The miner announced it “will take all measures to protect the legitimate interests of the company,” including “filing international arbitration or an annulment claim.”
In early 2022, when Ganfeng bought the project's then-owner Bacanora Lithium, the project was about to begin its development phase with an initial investment of about US$800mn. At the time of the cancellation, Ganfeng was preparing to begin construction of a plant in 18 months.
In November, Cadence Mineral, through its subsidiary REM Mexico Limited (REMML), sent a request for consultations and negotiations to the Mexican government under the Bilateral Investment Treaty between the United Kingdom and Mexico. The move came after the mining concessions were revoked by the Mexican government in order to give the State the exclusivity of lithium exploitation as part of the Sonora project.
According to Cadence, the decision affected the concessions granted to Mexilit and Minera Megalit in the Sonora project, where the company has a 30% stake through its subsidiary REMML.
Although Cadence and REMML expressed the desire to resolve the dispute amicably, the bilateral treaty with the United Kingdom stipulates the possibility of international arbitration if consultations and negotiations are not successful.
According to Gálvez, the opposition candidate, the most serious aspect of the situation with lithium is that Mexico does not have the technology to process that clay and extract lithium. “It has been [two] years since the law and we have not removed a gram of lithium because it is not just digging and extracting,” she said.
In April 2022, at the behest of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the country's mining law was reformed to “nationalize” lithium (although it already belonged to the nation according to the Constitution). Subsequently, the state company LitioMX was created to be put in charge of the entire lithium production and commercial chain.
Thanks @witty, that's music to my ears,
I have been keeping an eye on the Mexican elections and had come to the conclusion that Xóchitl Gálvez would be good for Ganfeng and KDNC, but its's a real step forward to see the issue mentioned directly as a campaign issue and her views in favour of Ganfeng being allowed to continue with the project.
Hopefully there will be more press on how badly this has been handled by AMLO, they are so far behind and the industry is entering another phase with the number of available EV's that are competing with ICE, this must be raising questions throughout the government when you see the investments in battery production elsewhere in NA and SA
It might also get more coverage if the Supreme courts overturns the mining laws based on the unconstitutional way they were voted through.
Fingers crossed this gets more coverage!
Https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/galvez-warns-that-dispute-over-lithium-concessions-will-end-badly
Cadence mention
Https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/mexican-judges-ratify-the-partial-suspension-of-mining-law-reforms
I wonder how the Supreme court will handle this?
Yes @jimb2 that's the process....It will go to arbitration if the supreme court denies Ganfengs requests.
Oh, yes @Dallasdaz,
apologies, would you expect the supreme court to hear the Amparo before going to the international arbitration?
There's lots going on that could have included Sonora:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-25/catl-working-with-tesla-on-fast-charging-cells-supplying-nevada
https://www.electrive.com/2024/04/02/catl-and-gm-could-build-lfp-battery-factory-in-north-america/
I posted that link on the 26/03/24....
It's easy to follow....they've rejected Ganfengs requests twice.
No not news as such although a second court has refused to force the first court to do something they've refused ... Looks like a repeat of the same news as here (originally posted by Dallas a few days back) just a different publication......
https://julioastillero.com/rechazan-amparo-a-empresa-minera-ante-cancelacion-de-concesion-de-litio-en-sonora/
Https://mexicobusiness.news/mining/news/federal-court-rejects-amparo-ganfeng-lithium-subsidiary?tag=mining
Not easy to follow but it looks like a second case rejected, if so that's good news to me as they seem to be going at a pace not seen in other disputes.
Sonora must be a thorn in their side with all the investment elsewhere across NA and SA, CATL could be partnering with GM in the US and so that would probably be Thacker Pass lithium, there's also talk that Tesla will be producing CATL batteries in Nevada for the model 2, lithium from clays in the US going into mass produced cars in Mexico - ouch!
A breakout would be nice to keep people on their toes
I will be interested to see how Sonora plays out and whether commonsense and international law will prevail. I have started to think Secker knew stuff he didnt let on here !
Thanks @Bannor,
That's good to know, hopefully that's the last before international arbitration - the window for that should be around late May early June so in time for the Mexican elections.
It's a pity lithium prices peaked when they did, I'm doubtful AMLO would have taken so much interest if it hadn't hit $82,000/t
....link to PDF if wanted....
https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2024/0328/2024032805392.pdf
From Ganfengs year end results they advised that they filed annulment claims in Jan '24 to the MX authorities but have no clear understanding as to what the result/outcome might be .... it also included this line :
15: Lithium clay Sonora lithium clay project in Mexico ownership 100% @ 8,820,000 tons