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Column: Automakers rush in where miners fear to tread
Reuters | March 3, 2023 | 7:57 am Battery Metals Intelligence Top Companies Europe Latin America USA Copper Lithium
Automakers rush in where miners fear to tread
Ford’s First Model in 1892. (Stock Image)
The race for electric vehicle (EV) battery metals is heating up.
Automakers can’t go green without having sufficient quantities of the lithium, nickel, and cobalt that make the batteries work.
SIGN UP FOR THE BATTERY METALS DIGEST
Fear of missing out, quite literally, is generating an industry-wide shift to investing directly in the mining sector to ensure future supplies of battery inputs.
General Motors Co has announced a $650-million investment in Lithium Americas Corp to help fund the development of the Thacker Pass project in Nevada.
GM gets exclusive rights to 40,000 tonnes per year of lithium from a domestic mine, which is key to qualifying for the EV subsidies available under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Carmakers have already been busy tying up supplies of battery metals under direct off-take agreements with existing metals producers.
Now they are getting into the business of actually digging the mines, or at least helping with the finance.
The investment rush has until now largely played out in the lithium sector but French-Italian carmaker Stellantis has just pivoted into copper with an investment in an Argentinian project.
Copper pivot
Stellantis, the third largest automotive group by sales, will pay $155 million for a 14.2% stake in McEwen Copper, a subsidiary of Canada’s McEwen Mining, which owns the Los Azules project in Argentina.
The deposit, ranked in the top 10 global undeveloped copper resources by Mining Intelligence, is expected to yield 100,000 tonnes per year of the refined cathode from its anticipated start date in 2027.
The automaker’s investment comes with an option to purchase the mine’s output at a ratio equivalent to its equity ownership.
With the help of existing shareholder Nuton, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, and its copper leaching technology, McEwen is aiming to make the mine carbon-neutral by 2038, adding to the project’s green credentials.
Copper is an often forgotten component of EV batteries, but it plays a critical role as a current collector. All battery chemistries require copper, albeit to varying degrees. Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, a burgeoning part of the EV market, need around 50% more copper than nickel-manganese-cobalt, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Outside of the battery pack copper is also used in the electric motor, the busbar, and in what can be up to a mile of internal wiring.
The amount of copper used in a typical battery electric vehicle is 83 kilograms, compared with just 23 kilograms in an internal combustion vehicle, according to the International Copper Association.
Fear of falling short
Stellantis’ leap upstream in the copper processing chai
Monte that article is misleading.
It mentions Cobalt.
No new battery technology in the next few years will require Cobalt.
We will be creating longer lasting batteries with higher current capabilities and Cobalt cannot be part of the mix.
Lithium will also be reduced it batteries, but is necessary for the Lithium cap, which allows electrons to flow in reverse faster when charging.
Yes Copper still required.
I posted the article mainly because of what it said about the copper.
It's amazing the amount of people I talk to (not including this board) who believe they are up to date with what's happening in the green space, yet have no idea about the connection with metals and mining.
Every interview I watch with a mining executive or a fund manager, they are almost falling over themselves explaining this but there seems very little understanding in the wider community.
Thanks Monte
Monte ,I wouldn't touch a single mine in Argentina ,full of political disputes ,strikes , disruption and corruption ,taxed to the hilt
They you have it puruvian blockade on copper mining roads ,I did day south America avoid it
Argentina and Peru I wouldn't buy a single share in any mining company there least Ecuador is well balanced ATM mining friendly tax in centipede etc just need that buyer to come out with h an offer
Mining typo there apols dam autocorrect!!!