NEN EXCLUSIVES
Why Elon Musk taking Tesla private could be a boon for lithium, cobalt, and other battery metals related stocks
Evaporation ponds are a waste of time, money, space, and water, and lithium producers would be wise to lose them
An open letter to Elon Musk, by Cory Groshek of New Energy Narrative and Manifestation Machine
3 major trends that battery metals investors must pay attention to in 2018
Lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and vanadium all targeted in new $200 billion in proposed U.S. tariffs against China
While the world worries about a trade war, America and Australia push for a peace treaty of potentially epic proportions over "critical minerals"
LITHIUM
Chile's SQM says it will take back the title of The World's Most Prolific Lithium Producer by 2022, overtaking America's Albemarle in the process
Australian hard rock lithium miners don't care one iota about what the morons at Morgan Stanley think about the supply and demand picture lithium, are all-in on expansion at their world-class, Western Australia projects
Now that Australia's Piedmont Lithium is looking to extract lithium from North Carolina, Albemarle is considering re-opening its own shuttered mine in the state, which one produced enough lithium for all of planet Earth
A lack of Chinese interest in keeping the rest of the world updated on import and export information, plus a lack of distinction between different types of lithium chemicals, is making it very difficult to properly price lithium
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra says his gov't is likely to pass new laws within six months to enable Peru to capitalize on newly lithium and uranium riches discovered by Canada's Plateau Energy Metals
Albemarle Q2 2018 earnings call results, presented by The Lithium Spot, including Q&A
Altura Mining makes its first delivery of spodumene concentrate from its Pilbara-region lithium project in Western Australia
Pilbara Minerals CEO: It's reduced Chinese subsidies and Chinese dumping of very poor quality lithium brine product on the market that's causing lithium prices to drop, not a glut of lithium
Jiangxi Jinhui Lithium takes first tranche of Namibian "lithium concentrate" via offtake deal with Desert Lion Energy
Albemarle beats Q2 2018 earnings and revenue estimates, as its lithium division's net sales increase 30% year-over-year, due largely to "favorable pricing"
Pilbara Minerals CEO: We are sold out of lithium right now and our customers are basically begging us for more, hence why we are expanding at our Pilgangoora project to up our annual production by 150% (VIDEO)
Benchmark Minerals' Simon Moore on lithium pricing and the adoption of solid-state batteries and an 811 cathode chemistry going forward (VIDEO)
India's National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is looking to add both lithium and cobalt to its assets, which are currently heavily focused on bauxite (aluminum)
Tawana Resources' MD Mark Calderwood says that demand for lithium feedstock is sky-high, despite what lithium bears have been saying for the last six months (VIDEO)
Environmental concerns and political instability are getting in the way of Bolivia profiting from its enormous lithium reserves
Argosy Minerals, after several setbacks, successfully produces battery-grade lithium carbonate at its Argentina-based Rincon brine project
Short-sellers have a lot to do with the doldrums that lithium stocks are currently in and they be in for the squeeze of a lifetime in the very near future?
After New Energy Narrative covers the wasteful nature of lithium evaporation ponds, WIRED takes aim at their environmental cost as well
After making sizable lithium deposit discovery, Peru is becoming concerned about the impact that a lithium industry would have on its environment, as its neighbors in Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia already are
Is Bolivia's President Evo Morales just using his country's untapped lithium reserves and the possibility of Bolivia becoming "the Saudi Arabia of Lithium" as a pre-election ploy?
Pilbara Minerals releases Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for stage 2 production at its Pilgangoora lithium-tanatalum project, expansion is overwhelmingly supported (PDF)
COBALT
Inaugural Green Mining Conference being planned in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada for this September to largely focus on the town's namesake battery metal, cobalt, and its importance to the electric revolution
Glencore, in Q2 2018 conference call, says it doesn't see any great or exciting potential acquisitions in the junior cobalt or copper spaces right
Cobalt Blockchain does cobalt offtake deal and enters into a joint venture with European financial and logistical solutions company Traxys
International Energy Agency (IEA): It is not a good idea at all for the world to have made the politically unstable and wildly corrupt Congo at the head of the table when it comes to cobalt supplies
India's National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is looking to add both lithium and cobalt to its assets, which are currently heavily focused on bauxite (aluminum)
Indonesia's Minister of Industry: Chinese investors want to build a nickel and cobalt factory in North Halmahera, North Maluku to produce material for lithium-ion batteries
Independence Group MD Peter Bradford: Battery metals copper, cobalt, and nickel will ALL be "big winners" as energy storage goes mainstream (VIDEO)
Rio Tinto CEO JS Jacques loves cobalt, but says that iron ore will dominate the company's focus for the forseeable future
Toronto-based cobalt and nickel producer Sherritt thinks the current cobalt pricing pain will be extremely short lived, thanks largely to electric vehicles
Former Sherritt engineer Martin Vydra: Cobalt may be seasonally weak, but it is fundamentally very strong (VIDEO)
Vishnu Rajamanickam of FreightWaves: The success of the electric vehicle is completely dependent upon the acquisition of lithium and cobalt
Glencore cobalt production jumps 31% in first half of 2018, compared to the same period in the prior year, as it ramps up work at Katanga in the DRC
Clearly biased Financial Post "reporter" Gabriel Friedman frames Jervois Mining purchase of eCobalt shares as a hostile takeover, with zero evidence to back up his belief
Is a surplus of high-end cobalt sulphate in China keeping global prices of the blue-grey battery metal down? Reuters thinks so
Australian cobalt and nickel explorer Jervois Mining throws its support behind embattled eCobalt Solutions by taking a 4.54% stake in the Idaho cobalt mine developer
Mining cobalt and rare earths from the seafloor? The idea's not as far-fetched as you may think, according to Ocean Minerals
Convictionless institutional eCobalt shareholders at Australia's Tribeca and Regal Funds cry about drop in company share price and demand management change, despite all cobalt plays being down as of late
Sherritt's stupid decision to source cobalt from Cuba in violation of U.S. sanctions has cost it its contract with Japanese battery giant Pansonic and, by extension, Tesla
Cobalt is driving companies worldwide crazy as they struggle to source it without supporting child labor or corrupt individuals and entities
NICKEL
Blockade of 40 to 60 mostly young people preventing ore from being extracted at Kouaoua nickel mine in New Caledonia
Privately-held Dundas Mining to restart their Averbury nickel mine in Tasmania in 2019, claims to have secured a 100% offtaker in Swiss trading house Transamine
BHP Nickel West to build three new nickel mines in the north Goldfields region of Western Australia over the next two years, will stretch project life out to 2040
Indonesia's Minister of Industry: Chinese investors want to build a nickel and cobalt factory in North Halmahera, North Maluku to produce material for lithium-ion batteries
Independence Group MD Peter Bradford: Battery metals copper, cobalt, and nickel will ALL be "big winners" as energy storage goes mainstream (VIDEO)
Russian's Norilsk Nickel reports flat Q2 nickel production year-over-year
Environmentalists rejoice as they learn that dangerous emissions at the Kola nickel plant in Scandinavia, owned by Norilsk Nickel, dropped by nearly 9% in 2017
New Poseidon Nickel CEO looks to turn new, positive feasibility study into cash as Black Swan nickel mine and plant set to be restarted
Australian Mines to spin out its gold and base metals projects to focus on nickel, cobalt, and scandium
If automakers think cobalt procurement is an issue, wait 'til they get a load of the problems they'll have with their supply (or lack thereof) of class I, battery grade nickel!
Andy Leyland of Benchmark Minerals: The next battery metal to be exposed to supply deficit fears will be Class I, battery grade nickel
Poseidon Nickel gets favorable ruling from gov't, comes out of months-long trading halt, and releases feasibility study that supports restart of its mothballed nickel refinery in Western Australia
Would-be Class I, battery-grade nickel supplier Giga Metals sells 2% net smelter royalty to Cobalt 27 over its Turnagain nickel-cobalt project in British Columbia
Roskill releases new report on nickel sulphate with forecasting through 2027
Wood Mackenzie goes full-on Nostradamus on nickel: The much-needed battery metal will reach an astronomical US$28,700 a tonne by 2022!
BATTERIES
The inventor of the lithium-ion battery, at age 96, appears to have more energy than the Energizer Bunny as he seeks to make solid-state lithium batteries a reality
Battery makers are fighting over who can build the biggest battery factory in Europe, but unfortunately for Europe, almost none of them are European
Massachusetts' SolidEnergy Systems to debut semi-solid, lithium metal batteries in drones first, with electric vehicles in its sights second
China's BYD and Changan Automobile announce joint venture to promote the production of both electric vehicles and batteries
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) has offered to transfer its lithium-ion cell technology to interested Indian companies, and it has received 141 very enthusiastic responses
Benchmark Minerals: Tesla's gigafactory in Nevada may end up being the biggest battery factory on Earth, but China will still lead the way when it comes to lithium-based batteries for the next ten years
Indian state-run Maharatna company Bharat Heavy Electricals says it is in early discussions with global lithium-ion battery makers to establish a battery plant in India
ZAF Energy Systems awarded $600,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development to develop zinc-nickel batteries to replace lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries
India's Exide claims it is not worried about Suzuki of Japan's entry into the Indian lithium ion battery market, via a battery plant to be located in Gujarat
WIRED debunks some of the dumbest myths about lithium-ion batteries
VW says it wants to build its own battery cells now, albeit solid state ones, yet hasn't signed any offtake deals for the metals it needs to do so
Tesla may seek assistance from the Chinese when it comes to funding its planned lithium-ion battery Gigafactory in Shanghai
In Asia, EV drivers have the option of swapping their batteries out to save time, leading Western drivers wondering when they'll get to do the same
S&P Gloibal Platts battery metals podcast: Lithium-ion battery mega- and gigafactories and their affect on battery metals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, etc. (PODCAST)
Conamix is trying to develop a cobalt-free battery and it's got Volta Energy Technologies' attention
Could better 3D printing methods help us create better lithium-ion batteries? One Carnegie Mellon Associate Professor says 'yes'
BATTERY & GRID STORAGE
Connexus Energy introduces Minnesota to clean energy with the state's first-ever solar-plus-storage project
GTM Research: Within five years, 90% of residential solar systems will include battery storage and the cost of the power they generate will drop from $2.95 per watt to only $2.00 per watt
India becomes host to the world's first thermal battery plant, which stores energy using heat and makes use of technology that was patented just two years ago in India by Dr. Patrick Glynn
Despite its focus on Model 3 production as of late, Tesla still managed to sell more Powerwall battery storage systems in the first half of 2018 than it sold in all of 2017
Global battery makers are engaged in a battle to see who can create the world's biggest battery, and regardless of who wins, we all win
Daimler's Mercedez-Benz EV batteries to be repurposed into battery storage at a retired coal plant in Germany
Caterpillar teams up with Imperial College of London and AVID Technology on battery storage system for powering heavy-duty, off-highway machinery
Drunk on the sun: Kona Brewing partners with EnSync Energy and Holu Energy to produce beer using a solar-plus-storage battery system
GTM Research: 9 out of 10 battery storage systems deployed by 2023 will be paired with solar, and that goes for the ones in businesses AND homes
US Congress committee on energy and commerce hears about energy and battery storage options and proposed pro-storage legislation and regulations as the United States starts to get very serious about its clean future
Battery storage for big businesses like stadiums, hospitals, and data centers? Eaton says yes!
Redox flow battery company Cellcube targets vertical integration in the battery storage sector after buyout of vanadium electrolytes firm Pure Vanadium Corp
Home batttery storage system installations reached a record high in the United States in Q1 of 2018, and the electric revolution has barely even started yet
Large-scale battery storage is the "Holy Grail" of renewable energy and Samsung and LG Chem both want a drink from it
Meet "Batwind", the world's first battery storage system connected to an offshore wind farm
RECYCLING & URBAN MINING
Umicore CEO: The batteries left in our old, dead smartphones that we've never thrown away are worth upwaerds of 15 billion euros and we'd love to buy them from you
Michigan Tech researchers are attempting to find a cleaner way to recycle lithium-ion batteries by using water instead of harsh chemicals
Belgium's Umicore planning to revamp its EV battery recycling operations as the age of EVs promises more spent batteries than we've ever dreamed of
A lack of e-scrap has hampered North America's ability to compete with China in the lithium-ion battery recycling sector
The recycling of lithium-ion batteries is a MUST if we are to recover the valuable lithium and coibalt from them, so why aren't more companies doing it?
Hans Eric Melin: Lithium-ion battery recycling (i.e.: urban mining) is suffering from a lack of research funding in many countries, most notably the U.S. and across Europe
Urban miner American Manganese appoints Chief Technical Officer as it gets serious about commercializing its one-of-a-kind lithium-ion battery recycing tech
China chooses 17 cities and regions for pilot program aimed at optimizing the recycling and reuse of electric vehicle batteries
How long will it be before we get serious about recycling 100% of our electronics and spent lithium-ion batteries?
Australia's CSIRO: Currently, only 2% of Australia's annual 3300 tons of lithium-ion battery waste is recycled and the country can do a LOT better
Andy Leyland of Benchmark Minerals: Recovery of critical battery metals from lithium batteries a matter of when and not if, depends very much on second-life battery use
American Manganese receives confirmation from the US Patent & Trademark Office that its lithium-ion battery recycling and cathode material recovery process is as novel as it's been believed to be
COPPER
Because of a lack of new, high-quality copper deposit discoveries today, we could be in for a severe shortage of the red metal in a decade or two
Nevsun CEO says many companies are courting his company, after spurning a hostile attempt by Lundin Mining to take over the copper and gold producer
Indian court allows Vedanta conditional access to its copper smelter in Tamil Nadu, which has been shut down due to environmental concerns, but no right to restart operations
Chile's state-owned Codelco cuts back its budget for converting its Chuquicamata copper mine from an above-ground, open-pit mine to an underground-only operation by almost a billion dollars
Caserones copper mine union in Chile says labour talks are going nowhere and that a workers strike is imminent
Environmental disaster: Production at Centerra Gold's Mount Milligan copper-gold mine in central British Columbia being severely impacted by drought affecting most of the population near Prince George
Chile's copper production increases by 12% in the first six months of 2018
Glencore, in Q2 2018 conference call, says it doesn't see any great or exciting potential acquisitions in the junior cobalt or copper spaces right
Three Chilean copper mines are under threat of strikes this week and copper bulls couldn't about it
The closure of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper refinery in Thoothukudi (India) is creating problems for suppliers of the red metal worldwide who are increasingly wary of doing business with Indian producers
London's Vedanta experiences increases quarterly earnings, while it's Indian copper output drops
London's Rio Rinto is on the hunt for the next bigger copper discovery, and their search is taking them everywhere from Australia to Brazil
Freeport McMoRan's Grasberg copper production may drop by more than 300,000 tons in 2019, adding to a deficit of the red metal that is already scaring many in the new energy industry
It's official: Workers at the world's largest copper mine, Escondida in Chile, are going on strike
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Tesla now being investigated by the SEC over Elon Musk's tweet about taking the company private and having "funding secured" to do so
Bloomberg: Elon Musk met SoftBank's Masayoshi Son last year to discuss a Softbank investment in Tesla, but talks fell apart over disagreements on control of the company
Just released: Personal letter from Elon Musk to his Tesla employees regarding his desire to potentially take Tesla private
Elon Musk tweets that he is considering taking Tesla private for US $420/share and investors are taking him very seriously, as Tesla stock is now soaring
The Chinese have valued an electric car startup backed by Alibaba at US $3.6 billion, despite it having delivered zero vehicles, underpinning just how desperate China is to dominate the EV sector
The Climate Group and C40 Cities to automakers: If you build "zero emission vehicles" for our giant cities, we will buy them...but not just yet, because you haven't given us enough options yet
Honda used to do all of its own R&D, but now, in the face of what could be its extinction at the hands of the EV revolution, it's outsourcing nearly all of its electric and autonomous vehicle development
Beating Tesla to the punch: World's first electric pickup truck could very well be commercialized by South Korea's SsangYong
Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi hit with recall of 124,000 electric and hybrid vehicles due
Daimler makes moves to resurrect its dying Smart Fortwo brand mini-car as an electric vehicle in China, in partnership with China's BAIC
Did you know? Chevy's first Volt was actually invented in 1980 and it was also a plug-in hybrid
Tesla's shares are soaring, despite record-breaking levels of cash burn, due in large part to the company's hard-fought success in boosting Model 3 production
Big news out of India: The government is preparing to release an official policy on electric vehicles, intended to aid in their adoption
China can't compete with the West on the internal combustion engine, but on electric vehicles, they're already winning (and handedly) (VIDEO)
Building electric vehicles in India is a long, uphill battle, as evidenced by the trouble ebike startup Arther Energy has experienced
Other EV makers would love for Tesla to fail, because its failure would almost guarantee their success
Another day, another hurdle: A new study out of Idaho confirms that EVs could have a hard time getting charged in colder climates
Are higher insurance rates on electric vehicles versus those on traditional autos hampering mass adoption of EVs?
Ex-employee of Tesla who Elon Musk has accused of sabotage is countersuing the company for defamation, while at the same time taking his fight to the SEC
Think electric vehicles will put a huge strain on California's electrical grid? A New study by a California-based nonprofit says 'not necessarily'
RENEWABLE ENERGY
India is a full 94% short of its solar power capacity target it intends to reach by 2022
While Trump focuses on saving traditional energy businesses in the U.S., American corporations focus on shifting to cleaner and greener formers of power
OilPrice.com interview with Steven Griffiths, Ph.D. on what is holding mass adoption of renewable energy back in the United States
Renewable energy isn't just for our office buildings and homes anymore: Solar, geothermal, and wind power increasingly weaning Chilean mining projects off of fossil fuels
Walmart doesn't feel that the Trump administration is against its green energy plans, but it doesn't feel like its supporting them like it should be, either
Coalition made up of Apple, Akamai, Etsy, and Swiss Re spearhead projects intended to bring enough wind and solar power to farms in Illinois and Virginia to power 74,000 homes in five states
Wind and solar farms in Australia are performing so well that energy customers are routinely experiencing mid-day power prices that are less than zero
While the US-China trade war heats up, some energy experts say that the US and China have an unparalleled opportunity cooperate when it comes to clean energy innovation
Vivant Solar expanding into Illinois while simultaneously partnering with one of the U.S.'s largest homebuilders to take advantage of California's mandate for rooftop solar to be on all new homes
UK Labour Party's Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: We are committed to clean energy and investing in green technology
Corporations around the world have beaten last year's record for gigawatts of clean energy purchased by 2 gigawatts already, and the year is still a long way from being finished
National Energy Guarantee policy being given the ObamaCare treatment by Australian politicians who apparently believe they have to adopt it to find out what's in it, to the chagrin of Aussie clean energy proponents.
Shocking: Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, already provide more power in over half of U.S. states than nuclear power plants
The world has reached the landmark figure of 1 terawatt (yes, that's terawatt, with a 'T') of wind and solar power, and we're not slowing our adoption rate at all
The United States' first large offshore wind farm, the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island, produces energy prices WELL below analyst expectations
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Apple believes that "augmented reality" windshields may be the next big thing in autonomous vehicle technology
Ever wanted to know how easy it is to hack an autonomous vehicles? Allow these car hackers to tell you
Self-driving cars haven't driven anywhere near enough miles to be considered safe for anyone to adopt them, let alone humanity as a whole
Lexology: Cybersecurity (or lack thereof) is the greatest threat to the rise of autonomous vehicles
You won't see this on the mainstream news: The five semi-autonomous cars that BARELY PASSED their road tests and make a great case for us slowing down our attempted adoption of their technology
Autonomous vehicle developers like Google and Ford haven't enabled their self-driving cars to communicate with road signs yet, and transportation departments worldwide are going to need to confront this issue soon
Why is Google's autonomous vehicle outfit Waymo worth nearly $200 billion when it hasn't launched a single self-driving car commercially yet?
Perceptive Automata, a tech startup based in Boston, wants to teach self-driving cars to think like humans
Google's self-driving cars by Waymo will ferry Walmart shoppers around as part of a new round of testing
Whether or not to put our trust in self-driving vehicles is literally a life or death issue
Ford files patent for an autonomous shopping trolley to help you carry your groceries from the store to your vehicle
In the battle to host companies interested in testing autonomous vehicles, the United States is dominating Europe
Honda used to do all of its own R&D, but now, in the face of what could be its extinction at the hands of the EV revolution, it's outsourcing nearly all of its electric and autonomous vehicle development
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS
Anti-mining environmentalism strikes again: Whitefield Rising urges Karnataka State gov't in India to install monitoring station at Graphite India's graphite junction to ensure pollution control
Perth-based Bass Metals' Graphmada large flake graphite mine in eastern Madagascar reaches nameplate production rate at 500 tons per month
Vanadium miner Largo Resources to release its Q2 2018 financial results on August 13th, 2018
Polish trade union leaders and gov't officials want coal jobs protected, similar to Donald Trump's stance in the U.S., while the world shifts to greener energy sources
Australia's Mustang Resources has begun drilling as part of its feasibility study for its Caula vanadium-graphite project in northern Mozambique
China's domination of the natural graphite export game continues, as their H1 2018 exports of the critical battery metal jump 9% year-over-year
Feasibility studies have begun in Malawai to determine whether a potential graphite mine at Malingunde makes sense
California responds to the Trump administration rescinding Obama era greenhouse gas emission standards by forcing drivers in California to comply with their regulations instead
The Trump administration's energy policy finds an unlikely allie in The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos
UK Dept of Transports hands out £700,000 in grants to groups behind a motorcycle that can extend the range of a electric planes, EV-charging road technology, and Hyperloop software
Battery Minerals claims it has seven parties interested in helping it finalize the funding for its Montepeuz graphite project in Mozambique
While solar technology may never fully power your electric vehicle, it could certainly help top off your battery, thereby giving you a few extra miles of range for when you need them the most
Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum 2018 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia dominated by battery metals presentations
Graphite India reaches new record high share price following amazing Q1 2018 earnings report
Platina Resources uses Element 21 SX process to produce 4N grade scandium oxide in its pilot plant at its Owendale scandium-cobalt-nickel project in New South Wales, Australia
Energy Fuels CEO says he's excited about the U.S. investigatiion into limiting uranium imports as well as his company's decision to retsart vanadium production this year
Oil giant Shell partners with little-known EV charging startup Ample, with the aim of making "Electric Cars for Everyone"