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(51) stories found containing 'global battery alliance'


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  • Flags of France, Italy, Canada, Japan, UK, Germany, U.S. in a row.

    US, Allies seek critical mineral standards

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Nov 4, 2024

    With ambitious technological and financial cooperation, Western allies could produce enough critical minerals to meet climate goals. In the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, nations quickly discovered the perils of an uneven distribution of production and processing capabilities in the guise of globalization. Phrases like "near-shoring" and "friend-shoring" led discussions of a green economy as remedies to the trade imbalance between the United States and the People's Republic...

  • Large piles of red-colored rock and dirt by an industrial facility.

    Indonesian "Blood Nickel"

    Gabriel Collins - Morgan Bazilian - Simon Lomax|Updated Oct 1, 2024

    An expensive new risk for Western manufacturers and their investors. This past June, German chemicals giant BASF backed out of a planned $2.6 billion nickel refinery in Weda Bay, Indonesia. While the company cited changing dynamics in the global nickel market, BASF also faced calls to abandon the project from environmental and human rights groups. BASF's decision to walk away should focus the clean energy and automotive sector's attention on a new risk profile: Indonesia's...

  • Metallic tree with periodic element cobalt in roots.

    The highs and lows of critical cobalt

    K. Warner, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 26, 2024

    Will the controversial metal find its place in green tech? About 30 years ago, nobody thought much about cobalt. Today, this metal, with myriads of uses, is one of those elements that gets dragged into the spotlight due to the role it plays in electric vehicle batteries, with critics citing the disparity between the environmental and social costs of producing cobalt and the green tech solutions this critical metal enables. But we can't build a clean energy future without...

  • A Komatsu 830E mining haul truck at the company’s Arizona proving grounds.

    Vale to fuel mining trucks with ethanol

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 13, 2024

    Brazil-based miner is working with Komatsu and Cummins to develop dual-fuel engines that are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 70%. In a move that is expected to significantly lower the carbon dioxide emissions from the large mining trucks at its mines and strengthen the biofuel industry, Brazil-based mining giant Vale has partnered with Komatsu and Cummins to develop engines that burn a mix of ethanol and diesel. Under this Dual Fuel Program, the partners will focus on...

  • Shaking hands with sleeves representing Australian and Indian flags.

    Australia, India critical minerals collab

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 13, 2024

    Countries combine interests in security, defense, and the growing need for raw materials and processing for the oncoming energy transition. Australia is expanding its cooperation with India on critical minerals, batteries, and electric vehicles, batteries. Critical minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel, and rare earth elements are essential components in today's rapidly growing clean energy technologies, from adapting power grids to powering EVs. Both countries have...

  • AI rendering of a vehicle on fire.

    Hyundai, Kia share EV battery maker lists

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 13, 2024

    Safety concerns after recent battery fires encourage transparency from automakers. Following several recent publicized incidents of electric vehicles catching fire in South Korea, Hyundai Motors will be the first to reveal a list of the battery makers used in its 13 EV models, with Kia to follow suit. At the top of these headline-grabbing stories was a parked Mercedes-Benz EV that caught fire below a residential building in Incheon, South Korea. The fire caused a prolonged...

  • A brand new two-story tall Komatsu mining haul truck at a test site.

    Electric mine truck giants join forces

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 11, 2024

    BHP, Rio Tinto, Komatsu, and Caterpillar forge an alliance to accelerate deployment of battery-electric haul trucks. With all paths to net-zero-emissions mining leading through the ability to move rock without emitting carbon, two global mining companies are teaming up with two of the world's largest heavy equipment manufacturers to accelerate the development and deployment of battery-electric haul trucks. This landmark collaboration between BHP, Rio Tinto, Komatsu, and...

  • Close-up of an electric vehicle charging station with car in background.

    Merger fuels metal recycling expansion

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 11, 2024

    Merger aims to boost recycling capabilities, enhance the supply chain with critical metals, and drive growth in the electrified economy. Marking a pivotal step toward enhancing the electrified economy, American Resources Corp.'s subsidiary, American Metals LLC, has inked a definitive business combination agreement with AI Transportation Acquisition Corp. American Metals has evolved into a dynamic arm of American Resources Corp., a multifaceted company now spearheading sectors...

  • African woman sitting on ground using sledgehammer to break rocks.

    Can responsible artisanal cobalt exist?

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 11, 2024

    Increasing responsible sourcing demand puts a spotlight on mining sector. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a term that describes the subsistence mining sector, where locals work independently using low-tech methods of manual extraction, physical labor, and basic tools. Many rural communities are historically reliant on artisanal mining for their livelihoods. However, that same history also involves poor working conditions, human rights violations, predatory land...

  • Logistics transportation vehicles – cargo ship, truck, and plane.

    Forging a strong tech metals supply chain

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jun 17, 2024

    Changing how the West approaches globalism will be the key to a circular economy the whole world can get behind. The Western world has found itself in a unique crisis that has brought systemic vulnerabilities into sharp relief. An overreliance on problematic imports has been exposed (especially post-COVID) as a rat's nest of potential supply chain disruptions, global inequality, deregulation and competition-killing corporate consolidation – all while leaving the power of marke...

  • Puzzle pieces of Chinese and U.S. flags over a globe.

    Critical minerals cold war heats up

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 6, 2024

    Massive geothermal lithium reserves give U.S. leverage while superpowers employ protectionist measures around supply chains. There's a new international race, not into space or to establish military superiority, but to secure critical minerals in a worldwide resource grab for the feedstocks that will fuel a global green energy transition. While we're all on the same side – or, in this case, the same planet – the superpowers have been at odds with how to achieve net-zero car...

  • Four executives and dignitaries from Japan and British Columbia, Canada.

    FPX Nickel attracts global investments

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 16, 2024

    Pair of minerals offers potential to lower carbon emissions from mining nickel at Baptiste deposit. The prospect of producing low-carbon nickel needed for lithium-ion batteries and stainless steel at FPX Nickel Corp.'s Baptiste project in central British Columbia has captured the attention of a broad array of global corporations and investors. A road-accessible project about three miles (five kilometers) from rail connected to the deep-water port at Prince Rupert, B.C., the...

  • Fully equipped army soldier enters area with smoke and fire at night.

    Pentagon prioritizes critical minerals

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 28, 2024

    Reshoring mineral supply chains lost to globalization is a key part of DOD National Defense Industrial Strategy The urgency to onshore critical mineral supply chains in the United States has begun to shift away from a need to secure reliable sources of the minerals and metals needed to support the nation's economy and clean energy ambitions toward the need for these same mined commodities to defend American ideals and interests at home and abroad. "Establishing a fully...

  • Ship loaded with colorful shipping containers going under highway bridge.

    Friendshoring balances domestic mining

    K. Warner, For Metal Tech News|Updated Dec 22, 2023

    On Dec. 12, 2015, delegates from almost every country on the planet signed a landmark climate accord, the Paris Agreement, that united more than 190 parties in support of a legally binding treaty pledging to drive the overall planetary temperature down by slashing the use of fossil fuels and adopting solutions for a massive transition to renewable energy and green transportation. This requires extensive economic and social transformation, measured in five-year cycles of...

  • Outside photo of American Battery Solutions’ ABMC in Springboro, Ohio.

    Komatsu to buy American Battery Solutions

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Nov 29, 2023

    Komatsu will use ABS batteries in its expanding line of electric mining equipment; ABS will operate as a separate entity. In a significant move for future battery manufacturing in the United States, Komatsu Ltd., through its United States-based subsidiary Komatsu America, has cut a deal to acquire American Battery Solutions Inc. Located in the heart of the U.S. automotive industry, American Battery Solutions was founded in 2019 by long-time battery industry pioneer Subhash...

  • Road sign pointing to Japan and Canada.

    Canada, Japan forge battery alliance

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Oct 5, 2023

    A flurry of industry partnerships on battery material projects followed landmark alliance between nations. In a move that aligns Canada's rich minerals endowment with Japan's battery-making expertise, the two countries have entered into a historic battery supply chain agreement. "Canada and Japan are committed to advancing our shared ambitions to develop sustainable and reliable global battery supply chains," said Canada Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry...

  • Silver Cadillac Lyriq EV rolls off a General Motors assembly line in Tennessee.

    Graphite demand outpaces EV sales

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 19, 2023

    Every electric vehicle rolling off an assembly line increases the demand for graphite by an average of around 160 pounds. With more than 30 million EVs expected to hit global highways each year by 2030 and upwards of 45 million by 2045, the transition to e-mobility will require up to eight times more graphite than was mined globally during 2022. While graphite has not received the attention of other EV battery ingredients such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel, this highly...

  • Pile of various gears awaiting to be assembled into a working machine.

    Critical Mineral Alliances are forged

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 19, 2023

    Data Mine North launched the first edition of Critical Minerals Alliances in 2021 with the hopes that this annual magazine would play some small role in helping to build alliances "that are not crippled by irreconcilable differences between organizations and individuals that do not always see eye-to-eye but strengthened by a spectrum of ideologies with a common goal – a healthy, prosperous, and exciting future for humankind." Today, the alliances envisioned by the Data Mine N...

  • Rows of solar panels at the Natural Bridges National Monument.

    Aluminum caught in green energy paradox

    A.J. Roan, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 11, 2023

    Aluminum has been classified as critical by the United States, European Union, Canada, and even China. At first glance, one may wonder how such a ubiquitous metal could possibly be critical. The answer is simply that aluminum is so widely used that supply, if endangered, could devastate an economy. In 2020, the World Bank identified aluminum as a "high-impact" and "cross-cutting" metal in all existing and potential green technologies. In spite of this, due to high energy...

  • Golden Gate Bridge disappears into low clouds over San Francisco Bay.

    Bridging the US battery supply chain chasm

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 11, 2023

    There is nearly a $1 trillion chasm between where the United States' lithium battery supply chain is today and where it needs to be by 2035 in order to build the envisioned green energy future where electric vehicles are charged with low-carbon energy. Roughly 40% of this investment will need to go toward ensuring there is a plentiful supply of cobalt, graphite, lithium, nickel, and other battery materials. Simon Moores, CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and one of the...

  • A small dish filled with pinkish-red cobalt sulfate crystals.

    Oncoming cobalt surplus may ravage prices

    A.J. Roan, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 11, 2023

    Still overshadowed by lithium but no less significant, cobalt falls within a unique category as a critical mineral not only for its properties but also for its controversial supply. As a fundamental component necessary for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NMC) lithium-ion batteries, cobalt warranted its place as a critical mineral vital to the zero-carbon transition due to the necessity of those batteries to power a clean, emission-free future. Its critical uses, however, go far...

  • A technician with electronic equipment surveys a gold mine in Nevada.

    Newmont CEO delivers powerful message

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Sep 8, 2023

    Urges the mining industry to build goodwill and trust to survive societal, geopolitical, and new technology megatrends in a changing world. Newmont President and CEO Tom Palmer did not waste his keynote address at the Minerals Week 2023 gathering in Australia to tout the many achievements of the world's largest gold mining company he leads. Instead, he delivered a powerful and sometimes foreboding message to the mining leaders in the room and around the world about the...

  • Steam rolls out of stack during lithium recovery testing at Hell’s Kitchen.

    Stellantis invests $100M in Hell's Kitchen

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 18, 2023

    Automaker funds will support the production of green lithium in California; CTR plans to ship first batch in 2027. To support what will be an important American supply of green lithium for the batteries that will power its growing line of electric vehicles, Stellantis has agreed to invest $100 million to advance the development of Controlled Thermal Resources' Hell's Kitchen geothermal lithium project in the Salton Sea area of Southern California. "This substantial investment...

  • A series of square brine-filled holes in the Salinas Grandes salt flats.

    Is a lithium triangle alliance coming?

    K. Warner, For Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 17, 2023

    Latin American countries collectively hold over 50% of the world's identified raw lithium. These resource-rich nations have begun asserting that they will no longer accept extractive international trade relationships-hoping to leverage this natural wealth of a suddenly in-demand mineral to bolster the region's development and encourage the growth of specialized industries and clean energy infrastructure. "We don't want to sell lithium to Europe ... we want to sell lithium vehi...

  • 2023 Jeep Wrangler 4xe plugged into a solar charger in a rural setting.

    Stellantis to expand US battery factories

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Aug 8, 2023

    Second US battery gigafactory to be built under a JV with Samsung SDI powers Stellantis' electric ambitions in North America. Adding to the skyrocketing demand for lithium battery materials, global automaker Stellantis and battery manufacturer Samsung SDI have agreed to build a second gigafactory in the United States. The newest facility to be constructed under the StarPlus Energy joint venture forged between the two companies last May is slated to have the capacity to...

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