NEN EXCLUSIVES
Donald Trump just threatened to cut GM's electric vehicle subsidies in their entirety
Copper and nickel are being stockpiled by China, Europe, and others, and no, it’s not because demand is drying up
Investor Alert: "Battery mining" is about to become big business and you don't want to miss the boat
Nemaska Lithium looks to produce lithium carbonate and hydroxide in Quebec by August 2020
New Energy Narrative, the Drudge Report of new energy news, is now offering battery metals miners/explorers, clean energy companies, and EV makers an exceptional advertising opportunity
It's official: The Trump Administration slaps China with $200 billion in new tariffs, to include tariffs on lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, manganese, aluminum, vanadium, and copper
New Energy Narrative presents: MAJOR PREDICTIONS for renewable energy, electric vehicles, batteries, and more, courtesy of investor Cory Groshek
A social (media) experiment by New Energy Narrative proves that lithium investors really need to do their own research
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
ELECTRIC VEHICLES & EV CHARGING
Pulitzer Prize winning auto columnist, Dan Neil: We are living through the S-curve of EV adoption and is quite clear that ICE vehicles are going the way of the flip phone
China's Great Wall Motors, which has a lithium offtake deal with Australia's Pilbara Minerals, just debuted an electric car with 200 miles of range that is set to retail for only US $8,680
Colton Devries of The Hill believes that electric vehicle tax credits in the U.S. benefit the elites far more than they benefit everyday auto buyers
Elon Musk has indicated that he may take Ohio Governor John Kasich up on his suggestion that Tesla buy GM's soon-to-be-shuttered auto assembly plant in Lordstown
Electric skateboards startup Boosted has raised US $60 million to fund its ambition towards becoming a leader in the "light electric vehicles" sector
Tesla is dominating sales in the electric car category in Canada, with what is now a stable 2% market share
Electrify America's second round of electric-car charging installations, set to electrify three new Californian regions, has won approval from the California Air Resources Board
Luxury car rivals Daimler and BMW are being forced to consider teaming up on electric vehicles and self-driving cars because they've realized they can't compete with Tesla on their own
New EU emissions-cutting deal, aimed at reducing CO2 from vehicles by 37.5% by 2030, unless altered, will literally force automakers to sell more electric vehicles in Europe
Tesla Model S spontaneously combusts in California TWICE, despite having not been involved in an accident of any sort, highlighting safety concerns about Tesla's low-cobalt battery chemistry
French multionational automaker Renault is taking a “significant stake'” in Chinese electric vehicle company JMEV to help it establish a "solid position" in the Chinese EV market
Lightyear, an EV startup spawned from a solar car race challenge, will partner with Dutch-based car leasing service LeasePlan to release the first consumer solar-based vehicle by 2020
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS
2018 will go down as the year that truly tested the conviction of battery metals investors worldwide, on the back of plummeting lithium and cobalt prices, despite strong fundamentals
Oxford PV, a leader in the field of perovskite solar cells, has announced a new, certified, world record for its perovskite based solar cell efficiency of 28%
Zambia's largest industry lobby group: More than half of the copper mines in Zambia will probably be unprofitable next year with thousands of jobs on the line due to mining tax increases
Many energy economists believe that California's rooftop solar mandate for new residential buildings is nowhere near as efficient a solution as more widespread wind and solar farms
China may be all-in on electric cars currently, but a top government official and one of the country's biggest advocates for EVs now wants to see more hydrogen-powered vehicles on Chinese roads
Australia's Platina Resources just demonstrated that it can reliably produce 2% scandium-aluminum master alloy from the scandium oxide from its Platina Scandium Project in New South Wales
Australian scandium miner Platina Resources has signed an MOU with UK-based alloy producer Metalysis to assess the viability of producing a scandium-rich master alloy
Platina Resources has just released the Definite Feasibility Study (DFS) for its Owendale scandium project in New South Wales, Australia, and confirmed its economic viability
Australian government minister: Australia is this week set to sign a preliminary deal with the United States to support joint research and development of minerals deemed critical to the U.S. economy
Vanadium is the hottest metal in the battery metals space, but with demand from the battery sector nowhere near demand from the steel sector, how long can its run really last?
BATTERIES & BATTERY MATERIALS
Panasonic intends to double its production of electric vehicle batteries in China, at a cost of several hundreds of millions of dollars, and has secured land for two new production lines already
Researchers from Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia claim to have increased the capacity of lithium-ion batteries by 15% by adding a solid electrolyte to them
24M is working on "SemiSolid" lithium-ion batteries, but are they wasting their time as the market has made it clear that fully solid-state batteries are the next big thing?
European economic ministers from over a dozen countries have signed a seven-page statement which aims to accelerate battery cell production in the bloc, as Europe finally takes China seriously
Nano One has entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Saint-Gobain of Paris aimed at enhancing the high-temperature processing of Nano One’s lithium-ion battery materials
MGX Minerals is partnering with the University of British Columbia to develop a method for fabricating silicon based anode for EV batteries that could quadruple the batteries' energy density
The Chinese government is set to relax its rules regarding foreign EV makers and battery producers operating within China and this is excellent news for LG Chem, Panasonic, SK Innovation, Samsung SDI, etc.
24M, a battery start-up created by MIT scientists, just raised $22 million to build a "semi-solid" battery that could double the range of an electric vehicle via the removal of extraneous materials
Benchmark Mineral's Simon Moores invited to speak at the UK's "The Battery - Inside Out" event, to be held at The Royal Institution of Great Britain in London, on March 12, 2019
Over a dozen Indian companies now have plans for lithium-ion battery production, as India attempts to catch up to its neighbor, China, in the global race for green vehicle dominance
BATTERY STORAGE & RECYCLING
The governments of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have announced a joint pilot program aimed at recycling electric vehicle batteries en masse on a Chinese regional basis
Tesla has a mysterious new "big battery" project set to debut at Tesla’s giant 1.2 GWh energy storage project with PG&E in California called the Tesla Megapack
Solar farms all around the world are getting smaller, smarter, and less expensive, thanks in large part to the advent of battery storage
Battery recycling leader American Manganese just received a Notice of Allowance for its proprietary lithium-ion battery recycling technology from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Super-liberal U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing for American EV tax credits to be made permanent and for solar and wind power and battery storage to be better incentivized
American Manganese has signed an MOU with Battery Safety Solutions of the Netherlands aimed at commercializing the circular economy upcycling of lithium-ion battery cathode materials
Siemens will supply what it calls the world’s first energy storage solution for an offshore drilling rig, the "BlueVault lithium-ion battery-based solution", in the Norwegian North Sea
Electric grid operators in the U.S. have completed their compliance filings for FERC's landmark energy storage order, paving the way for wider participation of energy storage in wholesale markets
South Australia's big battery has outperformed expectations in its first year of operation, saving almost $40 million in grid stabilisation costs and helping prevent blackouts
SolarEdge-owned, South Korean lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) battery maker Kokam has won a bid to produce 40 MWH of solar-connected battery capacity in South Korea
LITHIUM
Pilbara Minerals, Galaxy Resources, Piedmont Lithium, LSC Lithium, Standard Lithium, Belmont Resources, and Enertopia share their lithium forecasts for 2019
Oliver Heathman, Mining Research Manager at Roskill: Expect more big names in lithium to take more stakes in lithium projects based in Western Australia into the mid-2020's (VIDEO)
Brazil is set to give its South American, brine-producing neighbors Chile and Argentina a serious run for their money with a pair of hard rock lithium projects in the pipeline
Neometals have sold its 13.8% stake in the Mt. Marion lithium project in Western Australia to its JV partners, Mineral Resources and Ganfeng Lithium, who now own half of the project each
Matt Bohlsen presents: Lithium explorer and miner news for December 2018
Chilean lithium giant SQM buys Metalicity's Pilbara-based lithium project in Western Australia for US $1 million as Australia's lithium potential becomes increasingly obvious
Sayona Mining, which shares management with Altura Mining, has submitted the mining license application for its Quebec-based Authier lithium project to the Canadian government for approval (FRENCH)
Hot on the heels of a megadeal with Tesla, Australian hard rock lithium miner Kidman Resources has nailed down a prospective new offtake deal with South Korean battery giant LG Chem
Orocobre’s stock price is getting hammered after company management blames its inability to command decent lithium carbonate prices on the Chinese, despite their offtaker being Japanese
Albemarle says the Wodgina lithium hydroxide plant it plans to construct with its new JV partner, Australia's Mineral Resources, will cost quite a bit more than MinRes expected it would
American lithium giant Albemarle makes official its $1.15 billion deal to take a 50% stake in Mineral Resources' massive Wodgina hard rock lithium project in Western Australia
COBALT
Cobalt looks to end the year with slumping prices as an overall bearish outlook for 2019 and a temporary oversupply of cobalt sulphate in China weighs on investor sentiment
Matt Bohlsen presents: Cobalt explorer and miner news for December 2018
Glencore’s billionaire head of copper trading, Aristotelis Mistakidis, has been fined $2.45 million and banned from being a director by Canada over Congolese cobalt and copper malfeasance
Australian nickel and cobalt player CleanTeQ has received approval for modifications to its plans for its Sunrise project which will aid the environment and make the project more economical
Overstock.com’s tZERO subsidiary has been hired by private equity firm GSR Capital to develop a token for trading cobalt, in a move that could tokenize $200 million worth of the rare metal
Glencore's Congolese copper and cobalt unit, Katanga, has agreed to settle with Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission over an investigation into its accounting, with settlement terms undisclosed
Glencore's Katanga Mining fined $22 million by Canada for intentionally obfuscating the risk of its business dealings with Israeli Dan Gertler who has been sanctioned by the U.S.
Chinese battery giant GEM reneges on its cobalt purchase contract with Glencore due to the recent drop in the price of the metal, setting up the very real possibility of a major lawsuit
Head of Cuban state monopoly Cubaniquel Cuba: Cuba's final nickel-plus-cobalt tonnage for 2018 is around 50,000 tons thus far, with just over 4,000 tons being cobalt specifically
CEO of African Battery Metals: Cameroon, an African country on the Gulf of Guinea, has great potential to become a player in the battery metals space with its cobalt and nickel deposits
NICKEL
Sumitomo Metal Mining: Higher output of primary metals from global suppliers will cut the 2019 nickel market deficit from 93,000 tons to just 49,000, with nickel demand growing by 3.4%
China Metallurgical Group Corp has started a project in top steelmaking city Tangshan to produce 40,000 tons of nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) hydroxides per year, plus 20 tons of scandium
Australian nickel and cobalt player CleanTeQ has received approval for modifications to its plans for its Sunrise project which will aid the environment and make the project more economical
Zambia's Minister of Labour: Canada’s First Quantum Minerals plans to lay off more than 1,000 workers at its Kalumbila copper-nickel mine when the Zambian government hikes taxes next month
Indonesian nickel mining group Silkroad Nickel has entered into a new long-term offtake agreement with PT TBR to supply 15 million tons of nickel ore over a period of 5-8 years
Greece is desperately trying to avert the possible shut-down of Europe’s biggest nickel producer, 55%-state-owned Larco, and looking at ways to ensure its electricity supply
Head of Cuban state monopoly Cubaniquel Cuba: Cuba's final nickel-plus-cobalt tonnage for 2018 is around 50,000 tons thus far, with just over 4,000 tons being cobalt specifically
CEO of African Battery Metals: Cameroon, an African country on the Gulf of Guinea, has great potential to become a player in the battery metals space with its cobalt and nickel deposits
India’s environmental court says it will issue its judgment next week on whether to allow Vedanta Ltd to re-open its copper smelter in Tamil Nadu, currently shut down over pollution concerns
Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) President: The Philippines' new mining and rehabilitation program will result in 10-20% less nickel production next year versus this year
COPPER
China's top copper smelters just raised their floor treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for the first quarter of 2019 by 2.2% (according to unnamed sources)
Huayou Cobalt will invest $147.2 million in a copper project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), deepening the Chinese mining company’s presence in the central African country
Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, is transitioning its Chuquicamata operation in Chile from an open pit to an underground operation and it's costing a lot more than money
Glencore’s billionaire head of copper trading, Aristotelis Mistakidis, has been fined $2.45 million and banned from being a director by Canada over Congolese cobalt and copper malfeasance
Zambia's largest industry lobby group: More than half of the copper mines in Zambia will probably be unprofitable next year with thousands of jobs on the line due to mining tax increases
Following the announcement of new mining-related taxes in Zambia, Chambishi Metals on the Copperbelt Province is asking for 30% of its work force to go on voluntary separation
The industry body known as the International Copper Association (ICA) of India is extremely pleased that the Indian government has ordered the reopening of Sterlite Copper's Tuticorin plant
Zambia's Minister of Labour: Canada’s First Quantum Minerals plans to lay off more than 1,000 workers at its Kalumbila copper-nickel mine when the Zambian government hikes taxes next month