In combined battery capacity deployed – a better indicator of battery materials demand than unit sales alone – the global electric car market expanded by 22% so far this year. 

In total, 505.6 GWh of fresh battery power hit the globe’s roads from January through August, according to data from Toronto-based EV supply chain research firm Adamas Intelligence.

The robust growth rate also comes despite a noticeable swing towards hybrid vehicles, which have inherently smaller batteries and therefore contained metal. 

The combined battery capacity of plug-in hybrid vehicles steered onto roads globally for the first time this year is up 70% versus a must more sedate pace for full electric passenger vehicles of 15%. At the same time the average battery capacity of plug-ins is also rising, up 14% this year to 23kWh, more than a third of the average full electric vehicle.

For miners supplying the EV battery industry, the news remain negative: when pairing metals demand with prices in the supply chain, declines this year are brutal. 

The latest data based on EV registrations in over 110 countries show the sales weighted average monthly dollar value of the lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite contained in the batteries​​ of the average EV based on global end-user registrations, battery capacity and chemistries.

Put it all together and the raw materials bill for the average EV is now down to $537 compared to $1,342 in August 2023 and a monthly peak of more than $1,900 at the beginning of last year, according to Adamas Intelligence analysis.      

The downtrend is led by lithium where the sales weighted average value per EV is down 75% over the past year to $236 and cobalt, which at little over $46 is 42% below the value reached in August 2023. Manganese is the only battery raw material in positive territory this year, up 3% but the raw material is also down 8% compare to the same month last year. For anode material, graphite loadings and values have held mostly steady at just under $26 per average EV.

The value of nickel in the average EV battery is down 26% as LFP battery chemistries continue to take global markets. LFP batteries represented 42% of the global total in terms of capacity deployed in GWh in August.

That compares to a 32% share during the same month last year, more than offsetting the long-running trend towards high-nickel cathodes, and the growing popularity of NCM batteries for larger plug-in and range-extending hybrids, where the energy density of nickel-based cathodes makes more sense given the weight of these vehicles. 

For a fuller analysis of the battery metals market check out the latest Northern Miner print and digital editions. 

* Frik Els is Editor at Large for MINING.COM and Head of Adamas Inside, providing news and analysis based on Adamas Intelligence data.

Eramet used available liquidity for the $699 million purchase of Tsingshan’s 49.9% stake, it said.

The Centenario project, due to start production in the coming weeks, was attractive despite a drop in lithium prices and full ownership would let Eramet decide how to pursue a planned second production facility, Chair and CEO Christel Bories told reporters on a call.

Eramet shares rose 6% in early trade, recovering some of their steep losses since last week when the group’s production target cuts pushed the shares to three-year lows.

Metals group Tsingshan built the initial processing plant at Eramet’s lithium mine, with a target to reach annual capacity of 24,000 metric tons by mid-2025.

Tsingshan remains Eramet’s partner in Indonesia where they operate a nickel mine.

In a separate third-quarter sales statement, Eramet also announced the suspension of a project to develop recycling of electric vehicle batteries in France, citing slow development of the market in Europe.

The group cut its capital investment target for this year, with cost control measures including the suspension of its mine production in Gabon announced last week in response to a downturn in the manganese market.

The reduced spending partly reflected a delay at the second plant in Argentina, with a decision expected next year and construction potentially starting in 2026, chief financial officer Nicolas Carre told an analyst call. Construction had been expected to begin next year.

Bories said the manganese market, hit by an influx of low-grade ore from South African and reduced demand from Chinese steel makers, was expected to return to normal conditions during the fourth quarter.

The group did not update its projection for full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, debt and amortization (EBITDA), with Carre telling reporters metal price forecasts have been too volatile.

Eramet reiterated its expectation for higher EBITDA in the second half compared with the first half, with Carre adding it expected to achieve full-year net profit.

(By Gus Trompiz and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Mark Potter and Barbara Lewis)

The demo plant represents a smaller-scale, direct copy of the company’s proposed commercial plant in Botswana, where it is developing the K.Hill project that is estimated to contain over 2.2 million tonnes of manganese oxide resources.

A preliminary economic assessment last year gave the K.Hill project a base case post-tax net present value (discounted at 8%) of $984 million and an internal rate of return of 29%. Over a projected 57-year life, the project is expected to supply over 3.5 million tonnes of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) to the electric vehicle battery industry.

Through the demo plant, Giyani is looking to better understand how the proposed commercial plant in southern Botswana will respond in advance of commissioning and ramp-up of that facility, which is planned for 2027 and is expected to be built next to its manganese oxide ore source.

The demo plant, says Giyani, will also enable further optimization of the engineering design and flowsheet to reduce operating costs and carbon profiles, in parallel with the definitive feasibility study that is underway and expected to be completed in 2025.

Once construction is completed, the facility will be the largest HPMSM demo plant globally, the company says. Production from the plant is estimated to be 600 kg per day, and the HPMSM material will be provided to offtakers for testing and qualification.

“The superiority of the demo plant in kind and size establishes a strong foundation for Giyani to engage with potential offtake partners and offers Giyani many advantages that would not be available with other smaller or non-continuous facilities,” Giyani CEO Charles FitzRoy said.

“In particular, the continuous process flow of the demo plant will allow the team to target steady-state operations over extended periods, consequently proving Giyani’s ability to produce consistent battery-grade manganese and satisfy offtake requirements,” he added.

“Similarly, continuous operation at pre-commercial scale provides critical information for understanding how the commercial plant will respond, significantly de-risking the project.”

The Australian diversified miner’s first-quarter manganese production slumped as the Australia operation recorded nil output.

A tropical cyclone in March damaged infrastructure at the diversified miner’s Groote Eylandt Mining Co (GEMCO) project, part of its Australia Manganese division and forced it to withdraw its annual estimates for the business.

“We progressed a substantial dewatering program and a phased mining restart during the September quarter and remain on track to resume production from the primary concentrator during the December quarter,” South32 said in a statement.

The world’s biggest provider of manganese produced 597,000 wet metric tons (wmt) of the steel additive for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of about 527,900 wmt, with the firm’s South Africa Manganese division contributing to the entirety of the production.

South32 added that planned maintenance is scheduled for its South Africa manganese operations in the June 2025 half year.

The company reiterated its production guidance across all operations for fiscal 2025.

(By Shivangi Lahiri and Sherin Sunny; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Aurora Ellis)

Explorers and developers often overstate the certainty of mineral resource classifications based on inadequate data, Desharnais said at an event in Vancouver on Wednesday. The practice has in some instances led to unexpected analyst downgrades, soaring costs and debt, and the derailment of promising assets.

“That classification debt, unfortunately, needs to get paid,” he told about 430 conference participants from 21 countries at CIM’s first Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves conference. “The CEO may be walking around with a 3-million-oz. resource estimate, but they haven’t earned that classification with sufficient drilling. When the debt comes due, it’s often through painful reclassifications and revisions.”

Decade of missteps

Several recent projects have demonstrated the high cost of classification debt.

Rubicon Resources’ catastrophic 91% downgrade in resource estimates in 2015 stands as one of the most glaring examples. After it began initial production at the F2 gold deposit on its Phoenix property in Ontario’s Red Lake district, the company found the deposit to be uneconomic, shuttering the operation. It had not completed a feasibility study for the high-grade project.

The size of the downgrade blindsided investors and stakeholders, and the company had to undergo a painful restructuring to survive. Rebranded as Battle North Gold, Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) bought it and its renamed Bateman project in 2021 for $343 million.

In 2018, Pretium Resources promoted the Brucejack gold project in northwestern British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, now owned by Newmont (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT, ASX: NEM, PNGX: NEM), as a high-grade gold deposit. Yet, the asset disappointed when gold production grades fell far below expectations.

The nuggety nature of the gold, with Brucejack’s steeply dipping quartz veins and erratic grade distribution, made it difficult to consistently meet production targets, forcing the company to push tonnage through the mill to compensate for lower-than-expected grades.

Aurora (2018), Rainy River (2019), and Gold Bar (2020) show how resource overestimation hurt Guyana Goldfields, New Gold (TSX: NGD; NYSE: NGD) and McEwen Mining (TSX: MUX; NYSE: MUX). They had to downgrade estimates mid-operation. This triggered mine plan revisions, soaring costs, production delays, and financial strain.

Grade versus geometric risk

Desharnais identifies two types of risk that contribute to resource misclassification: grade risk and geometric risk.

Grade risk reflects patchiness in ore quality, while geometric risk involves uncertainty about the size and shape of mineralized domains within the deposit.

Conditional simulations help assess grade risk, Desharnais said, but tools to quantify geometric risk are lacking.

Companies often overestimate deposit geometry without tighter drilling, leading to costly misjudgments.

“Sparse drilling gives us a simpler picture than reality,” he explained, adding that only closely spaced drilling can reveal the true complexity of orebodies.

Best practices

Mathieu Doucette, a senior geologist at ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), talked about the difficulty of classifying resources at Canada’s largest iron mine, the Mont-Wright iron ore mine in Quebec, producing continuously since 1974. Outdated data can affect current resource estimates. He illustrated how mixing in fresh drill holes helps manage geological risk as part of a dynamic model essential to avoid misclassification.

“The first thing [a QP] will do is akin to lighting a torch,” he said. “But everything on the edges is dark, and you can’t really see it. Drill holes are our ability to try and get some information, but sparse data hides the full picture.”

David Machuca-Mory, a principal consultant at SRK Consulting, said fixed models are risky. Deposits can be more unpredictable than they seem. Adaptive methods help ensure estimates reflect reality, reducing the chance of costly surprises.

“Even with dense drilling, some areas remain highly uncertain,” Machuca-Mory said. “Confidence intervals are large, and relying solely on drill spacing doesn’t always guarantee accurate classification.”

Cognitive biases

Desharnais said that misclassification is not just a technical problem; human psychology plays a significant role.

Anchoring bias makes companies stick with initial estimates despite new data. Authority bias pressures geologists and consultants to confirm favourable results to please management or investors.

“The consulting firm wants the next contract,” Desharnais said. “The CEO has family and friends invested and needs good news. These biases create a system where classification debt builds up across projects, only to be paid through painful revisions later.”

Owning up

Desharnais argued for more conservative resource models and said benchmarking against operating mines would help set realistic expectations. He suggested that technical reports include histograms that show the distance between drill holes and classified resources, he added.

“It forces the QP or CP to look at what they’ve done and ask: Does this make sense?” he said. “Transparent reporting would help prevent overly aggressive classifications, ensuring companies earn their resource classifications with sufficient data.”

Such measures may slow development, but they could also reduce the prevalence of misclassified resources in the industry. Desharnais urged geologists to scrutinize each block of material above the cut-off grade.

“Over-promising today only delays the inevitable correction tomorrow,” he said.

Atlas, which has developed a waste-free technology to process low-grade nickel for use in electric vehicle batteries, last year raised $27 million for its technology and said it aims to launch production at sites in Canada or the US by 2027 at commercial scale.

Atlas’ technology uses hydrochloric acid and caustic soda to leach the ore but, unlike some other methods, does not need high pressure or high temperatures and does not result in waste products or other emissions while increasing the amount of ore available for batteries by 50%, the company said.

Until now, saprolite ores, which account for approximately one-third of the world’s nickel resources, could not be processed into battery grade applications economically, which is what the Atlas process is targeting.

6K Energy said its UniMelt production system is able to deliver multiple IRA compliant Li-ion materials, including nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium ferrophosphate (LFP) battery cathode active materials (CAM), with strong specification performance meeting or exceeding industry requirements.

The company added that its LFP CAM is achieving over 160mh/gm capacity with exceptional efficiency, trending to 6,000-plus cycles while maintaining 80% capacity, while its single-crystal NMC811 is demonstrating performance trending to 3,000-plus cycles to 80% state of health.

According to 6K Energy, it delivers both NMC and LFP at a significantly lower cost than Chinese suppliers – backed by lower energy consumption and as much as 65% lower carbon footprint.

As outlined in the MOU, Atlas will continue to focus on the North American production by deploying its low-carbon process to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) from its established access to nickel laterite sources. 6K Energy will focus on converting nickel salts to CAM with its propriety microwave-generated plasma in a closed-loop production process.

The joint work will provide the lowest carbon footprint impact in conjunction with a market leading solution for EVs and the automotive industry as a whole, the companies said.

Eramet announced the lowered forecasts late on Tuesday, citing a downturn in the manganese market and a smaller-than-expected permit allowance in Indonesia.

The Moanda mine in Gabon and the Weda Bay mine in Indonesia have driven Eramet’s growth, as its historic nickel operation in New Caledonia has been drained by losses and social unrest.

Analysts at ODDO BHF called the news “another setback” for Eramet, following its July reduction of 2024 targets for ore output in Gabon and Indonesia, while also trimming short-term targets for a new lithium mine in Argentina.

Eramet attributed the deterioration in the manganese market to falling Chinese output of carbon steel — which requires manganese in its production — and an influx of low-grade ore after a price surge earlier this year.

The company’s full-year sales volumes of high-grade manganese ore are estimated to be between 6.0 and 6.5 million tonnes in 2024, of which approximately 700,000 tonnes are internal sales.

As a result, Eramet has decided to suspend ore production at the Moanda mine for a minimum of three weeks. According to the company, sales and shipments will continue during this period.

The 2024 volume target for produced and transported manganese ore was revised to between 6.5 and 7.0 million tonnes, down from the previous 7.0 to 7.5 million tonnes.

In Indonesia, the mines ministry this week issued PT Weda Bay Nickel, Eramet’s joint venture with Chinese group Tsingshan, a revised allowance of 32 million wet tonnes annually for 2024-2026, including 3 million for internal sales, according to Eramet.

As a result, the operation’s 2024 volume target for external marketable nickel ore has been revised to 29 million wet tonnes, down from the previous 40 to 42 million tonnes. Eramet noted that the impact on the operation’s 2024 financial performance is expected to be largely offset by higher ore premiums due to domestic supply restrictions.

(With files from Reuters)

The Moanda mine in Gabon and the Weda Bay mine in Indonesia are each the world’s biggest for their respective minerals, and have driven Eramet’s growth as its historic nickel operation in New Caledonia has been drained by losses and social unrest.

Eramet had raised its full-year core profit guidance in July on a jump in manganese prices.

But the group said in a statement that the manganese market had deteriorated due to a strong decline in Chinese output of carbon steel – the main use for manganese – and an influx of low-grade manganese following the rise in prices earlier this year.

Eramet’s Comilog subsidiary is set to suspend ore production at the Moanda mine for a minimum period of three weeks, with the duration to be revised according to market activity, the group said.

The 2024 target for produced and transported manganese ore from Moanda is now between 6.5 million and 7.0 million metric tons, compared with 7.0 million to 7.5 million previously, it said.

In Indonesia, the country’s mines ministry this week issued PT Weda Bay Nickel, Eramet’s joint venture with Chinese group Tsingshan, with a revised allowance of 32 million wet tons annually for 2024-2026, including 3 million for internal sales, Eramet said.

As a result the operation’s 2024 volume target for external marketable nickel ore has been revised to 29 million wet tons from 40 million to 42 million previously, Eramet said.

The impact on the operation’s 2024 financial performance is expected to be largely offset by higher ore premiums resulting from restrictions to domestic supply, Eramet added.

The French group will publish a third-quarter sales update on Oct. 24.

(By Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Aurora Ellis)

After buying mining assets around the world over the past two decades to secure metals needed for industrialization and more recently to meet its carbon emissions targets, China now wants a bigger say in how prices of those metals are determined.

But it has lost market share in metals futures trading and needs to persuade international investors to use the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), according to interviews with more than 10 brokers, traders, analysts, risk managers and consultants with direct knowledge of ShFE’s plans.

If successful, the push would help give Shanghai’s contracts benchmark status and upend the system for reference prices of industrial metals in place since 1877 when the London Metal Exchange (LME) started life above a hat shop in London.

ShFE benchmarks would eliminate the need for Chinese firms to link their physical contracts to LME prices and create a need for foreigners to trade on ShFE to influence reference prices in their contracts, shifting market sway from the west to China.

In recent meetings, the exchange told industry players the plan is high on its agenda and was likely to be put in place soon, but it did not discuss deadlines, two people said.

ShFE did not respond to requests for comment or to questions on timelines, amounts available to invest in this project, the challenges it faces or how success would be measured.

However, state media in June reported Wang Fenghai, general manager at ShFE, as saying: “Only through opening up can we draw in foreign investors, participate in the process of ShFE’s price establishment, therefore enhance price influence.”

Wang added that cross-border delivery capability was an area ShFE would focus on in terms of attracting global participation.

In a key step, the exchange has been looking to line up warehouses outside China to store metal delivered for copper contracts that were launched on its International Energy Exchange (INE) for foreigners in 2020.

ShFE has told industry stakeholders it intends to expand soon into international metals storage, two other sources with direct knowledge said, bidding to rival the LME’s global network of more than 450 registered warehouses that hold thousands of tons of aluminum, copper and other metals.

“They (ShFE) have a plan, they are coming out, they will list warehouses outside China, … the government wants this to happen,” one source familiar with the exchange’s thinking said.

While the metals industry has known since last year that ShFE plans to line up warehouses offshore, starting in Singapore, its latest comments to foreign firms suggest it is closer than ever to going ahead.

“A real price people want to use needs warehouse stocks the world over,” a source at a consultancy with knowledge of ShFE’s plans said.

Once ShFE makes a firm decision to offer metal storage outside China, the process of registering warehouses would be a matter of weeks if not days, as facilities already exist at ports that see large flows of metals, warehousing sources said.

ShFE will not need regulatory approvals for warehouses that can store metal deliverable against its contracts as long as they are located in free trade zones, so metal can be stored free of taxes until delivered to customers.

Singapore makes a good starting point as it is already a location for LME warehouses, which means the regulatory framework already exists.

All of the people who spoke to Reuters asked not to be named as their conversations with ShFE were private.

Rivals take market share

The Shanghai exchange faces a difficult road countering the LME, even as China consumes more than half of global supplies of copper, aluminum and zinc and produces large amounts of these metals.

“Any exchange that wants to achieve internationalization would face challenges … ShFE would face many challenges and various constraints if it aims to become a global pricing center,” Luo Xufeng, chairman of Nanhua Futures told Reuters.

Ultimately the exchange aims to list aluminum, zinc, nickel, lead and tin on the INE, sources with knowledge of ShFE’s plans said. Those metals are already traded on the LME, the world’s largest and oldest forum for metals, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx).

On the LME, volumes for copper, essential in construction, power systems and electrical goods, have stabilized at around 60% of copper futures globally.

But ShFE’s domestic market has lost ground to US-based COMEX, part of CME Group, since 2015, with ShFE last year accounting for around 15% of copper futures traded globally, while COMEX’s share was 22%.And in the first nine months of 2024, trading volumes on ShFE’s INE copper futures have dropped nearly 43% from the same period last year.

“The only way to increase volumes is get more international involvement in ShFE,” a metals trader with direct knowledge of the matter said, adding that China’s government was behind the project to internationalize ShFE’s contracts.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which regulates ShFE, and the State Council, China’s cabinet, did not respond to questions from Reuters.

Meanwhile, LME is working on plans to list new contracts using ShFE prices and is set to approve the expansion of its metals warehousing network into Hong Kong before the end of this year.

LME said it intends to “deepen our collaboration with ShFE by working together in product innovation to better serve international participants in risk management and price discovery,” in response to a request for comment on its plans.

Hurdles for ShFE

ShFE’s ambition has been long in the making. When HKEx bought the London exchange in 2012 with a plan to turbo-charge revenues by expanding LME warehousing into China, ShFE told local authorities it could mimic the LME’s network and give China power and influence over global metals markets.

Some of that influence would come from more foreigners trading on ShFE having to hold yuan accounts, which would boost Beijing’s aim to gain global acceptance of its currency. Contracts on ShFE and its INE platform are priced in yuan.

“ShFE has been trying to do this for over 10 years,” said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.

“The biggest challenge is that there are still restrictions on the conversion of yuan to dollars.”

China’s currency exchange controls that limit the amount of money companies can take out of the country at any one time, partly a measure to control currency volatility, are potential deterrents for foreign investors.

Sources also mentioned fear of Chinese authorities’ policies designed to steer commodities markets and government market interventions, such as on margin requirements – the deposits of cash or collateral clearing houses need to cover potential losses.

“They don’t like volatility. They could double, triple transaction fees and margins overnight if they want. It makes people nervous,” a source familiar with the matter at a resources-focused fund said.

(By Pratima Desai, Siyi Liu and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Veronica Brown, Tony Munroe and Sonali Paul)

After losing out on a copper mine in Botswana last year, chief executive officer Nombasa Tsengwa is prioritizing manganese in the company’s latest bid to diversify its business. South Africa is the world’s largest exporter of mid- to high-grade manganese ores, which are mainly used in steelmaking.

While Exxaro doesn’t currently own manganese mines, it’s told other players that it’s interested in acquiring projects, according to the CEO. South32 Ltd., Anglo American Plc and African Rainbow Minerals Ltd. are among the shareholders in manganese mining joint ventures, which are found primarily in Northern Cape province.

“We believe that the manganese industry requires a South African champion,” Tsengwa said. Exxaro is aiming to buy “a very good asset or two,” as well as undertake exploration, she said.

The steel industry accounts for 93% of manganese demand and will remain the dominant consumer of the metal, according to Tanisha Schultz, a Cape Town-based senior research analyst at Project Blue, which provides market intelligence on critical minerals. Batteries – including those used in electric vehicles – will triple their share of consumption to more than 7% by 2040, she said.

Exxaro, founded in 2006 on coal, zinc and titanium assets split from a unit of Anglo American, has previously diversified into clean power projects, including wind farms.

Like many other mining companies, Exxaro is also keen to add copper to its portfolio in anticipation of spiking demand driven by EVs, artificial intelligence and renewable energy. The firm reached a shortlist to acquire the Khoemacau copper mine in Botswana, before China’s MMG Ltd. came out on top last November, agreeing to pay $1.9 billion.

Exxaro remains interested in operating copper mines, “but with partners,” Tsengwa said. “They’re not affordable on their own.”

The firm would also like to develop a copper exploration program, according to the CEO, who highlighted Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

Exxaro remains one of the top suppliers of coal to South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.

The company sold almost 41 million tons of coal last year, of which about 13% was exported. It could ship up to 10 million tons a year to overseas markets, but that’s hampered by the poor performance of state-owned rail and freight operator Transnet SOC Ltd, Tsengwa said.

(By William Clowes)

The company has successfully developed and validated its next-generation lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) cathode active material, which it says could increase electric vehicle (EV) range by up to 20%. In addition, it has overcome the drop in specific capacity compared that typically occurs as the percentage of manganese in increased.

The result, according to Integrals Power, is cathode active materials that support higher voltages and high energy density.

By overcoming this trade-off, these cathode active materials combine the best attributes of the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries — relatively low cost, long cycle life and good low temperature performance — with energy density comparable to more expensive nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) chemistries.

The company said this means EV range could increase by up to 20%, or — for a given range — allow battery packs to become smaller and lighter.

The LMFP materials feature 80% manganese, instead of the 50-70% typically found in competing materials, and have higher specific capacity: 150mAh/g, while delivering a voltage of 4.1V (Vs 3.45V for LFP).

Third-party testing by experts at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) have been completed on coin cells and now evaluated using EV-representative pouch cells, the company said, adding that the developed materials will soon be available for cell suppliers, battery manufacturers and OEMs to evaluate and benchmark.

“The challenge that the automotive industry has been trying to overcome for some time is to push up the percentage of manganese in LMFP cells to a high level while retaining the same specific capacity as LFP,” Integrals Power CEO Behnam Hormozi said in a news release. “Using traditional methods the more manganese you add, the more specific capacity drops, and this has meant it can’t deliver a high energy density. 

“With the third-party evaluation from the Energy team at GEIC, we’re proud to have developed a world-class cell material in the UK that can rival the performance of NCM but is more sustainable and more affordable, and will accelerate the transition to e-mobility.”

Integrals Power produced the LMFP cathode active materials at its new UK facility, alongside its proprietary LFP chemistry.

The capability to manufacture materials such as these in the UK is critical to the development of a sustainable domestic battery industry and supporting not just the 2030 ban on sales of new combustion engine vehicles, but also 2050’s net zero emissions targets, the company noted.

On Tuesday, the Australian miner said it has been awarded the energy permit for the manganese sulphate facility. This, in addition to the safety and environmental permits secured previously, gives Firebird all three key permits required to operate the plant.

Firebird says obtaining the permits in under four months underscores the strong level of support from the Jinshi government, as well as the experience of the company’s manganese sulphate team in China. Including non-operational aspects of the project, the company has now secured six of eight total permits. The next step is the social stability permit, for which work has already begun, followed by the final construction permit.

The energy permit was granted to Firebird after demonstrating low energy consumption for its main products: manganese sulphate (MnSO4) and manganese tetraoxide (Mn3O4). Further reductions in energy consumption are also expected following tests on the new energy-efficient pilot-scale calcining kiln, the company said.

“Testing of our pilot scale calcining kiln, which boasts the potential to lower energy consumption by up to 80%, is underway and the team look forward to assessing and releasing results in the next 6 weeks,” Firebird managing director Peter Allen said in a news release.

Allen added that the company, with the progress it has made since executing its LMFP (lithium manganese iron phosphate) battery strategy in China over the past 12 months, has now set a strong platform to work towards a final investment decision in coming quarters.

Firebird previously indicated that it would make a final investment decision in the second half of 2024 once it has secured all permits to construct and operate the manganese sulphate plant. According to a feasibility study released in May, the project has a projected capex of $83.5 million and opex of roughly $609/metric tonne for the production of battery-grade manganese sulphate.

The plant will utilize manganese ore provided by third parties to produce high-purity manganese sulphate (MnSO4). It is expected to have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum of battery-grade MnSO4 plus 10,000 tonnes of manganese tetraoxide (Mn3O4), or the equivalent of 72,500 tonnes of MnSO4 per year.

Located in the Patagonia Mountains, about 80 km southeast of Tucson, the Hermosa project is targeted to produce two federally designated critical minerals — zinc and manganese — from the Taylor sulphide and Clark oxide deposits, respectively.

The Taylor deposit represents the first phase of the project, targeting first production in fiscal 2027. It has the potential to become one of the world’s largest, lowest-cost zinc producers, with a nameplate capacity of 4.3 million tonnes annually and unit costs of $86/tonne of ore processed, as shown in its feasibility study. Its initial mine life is estimated at 28 years.

Following the delivery of the feasibility study, the board of South32 approved an investment of $2.16 billion to fund the construction of key infrastructure for the zinc mine, which had already begun last year.

Also last year, Hermosa became the first mining project added to the US FAST-41 permitting process designed to promote faster development of clean energy assets.

According to South32, the infrastructure at the zinc mine would support future potential development of other deposits at the site, including the battery-grade manganese deposit at Clark, which is subject to further study.

Manganese facility

The DOE funding, once negotiated and secured, would provide 30% of the cost of its proposed commercial-scale manganese production facility, the Australian miner said in a press release on Friday.

While the exact location of the facility is yet to be determined, it will be in southern Arizona, South32 said. Construction for the manganese decline to enable bulk sampling through a demonstration plant and further underground exploration are continuing on schedule, with access targeted for the end of 2025.

The funding follows a $20 million award to the Hermosa project earlier this year from the Department of Defense Production Act Investment (DPAI) program to help accelerate the domestic production of battery-grade manganese.

“This project has the potential to provide a reliable, lower carbon and cost-effective domestic option for manganese products within the electric vehicle battery supply chain that currently relies entirely on foreign imports,” Pat Risner, president of South32 Hermosa said in the statement.

South32 says Hermosa could be scaled up as the only fully integrated source of battery-grade manganese for EV battery chemistries sufficient to supply the emerging North American market. Based on a third-party life cycle assessment, production from its deposit at Hermosa is projected to be the lowest carbon impact project in manganese chemicals in North America.

The US has not mined any manganese since the 1970s, and more than 95% of the current production of battery-grade manganese is currently in China, according to company estimates.

K.Hill is a near-surface manganese oxide deposit located about 60 km southwest of Gaborone, Botswana’s capital.

The miner will process manganese oxide material on-site to produce high-purity manganese sulphate, making it one of the few battery-grade manganese projects outside China, which controls 90% of global high-purity manganese supply.

The K.Hill mine is set to produce 80,000 tonnes of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate annually, with a projected lifespan of 57 years. Over this period, the mine is expected to supply more than 3.5 million tonnes of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate to the electric vehicle industry.

“The next step is production of battery-grade manganese from our demonstration plant, which is under construction in Johannesburg, South Africa, and due to be commissioned during Q4 of this year,” the company said in a statement.

Botswana, the world’s biggest diamond producer by value, is looking to diversify within the mining sector with minerals such as copper, nickel, coal and iron ore.

Shares of Giyani Metals rose 6.7% by 12:10 p.m. EDT in Toronto. The miner has a market capitalization of C$22 million ($16 million).

The miner is reshaping its portfolio since being spun off a decade ago from BHP to produce mostly base metals, and CEO Graham Kerr is, like many miners, keen to get his hands on more of the metal deemed key to the energy transition.

“We would love, in the ideal world, to buy a larger stake in Sierra Gorda because we see a lot of opportunity and potential there,” Kerr told Reuters in an interview.

South32 owns a stake of 45% in the northern Chilean mine with Poland’s KGHM, which has not so far indicated it is open to selling, he said. The mine produced 86,200 tonnes of copper last year.

KGHM said it was not engaged in talks with South32 and any such proposal would require discussion, but it treated the miner as a long-term partner.

Miners are having to become more aggressive to secure new projects or risk missing out, given the anticipated demand for the metal.

From existing operations, South32 expects to be able to quantify in the next year the size of copper potential around its Peak deposit in Arizona.

Manganese

South32 outlined a return to growth for its Australian manganese operations as it posted a drop of 59% in annual profit, beating market expectations, and said it would buy back shares worth $200 million.

The world’s biggest producer of manganese said it is working to restore its GEMCO operations in far north Australia that suffered major damage from a cyclone this year.

Kerr has said he would be open to buying out partner Anglo’s stake of 40% in GEMCO, as Anglo undergoes a restructure, but added on Thursday he was not in any talks to do so at the moment.

The company expects to produce about 1 million wet metric tons (wmt) of manganese in fiscal 2025 from its Australian operations before the figure rises to 3.2 million wmt in fiscal 2026.

Underlying profit at South32 for the reported period dropped to $380 million, from $916 million a year ago, but outstripped a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $334.2 million.

“Overall they have done a bit better than people expected on production,” said Sudhir Kissun, an investment analyst at Allan Gray. Shares traded up 0.7% at A$3.1 as other miners slipped.

South32’s Illawarra metallurgical coal operations, recently sold for $1.65 billion to an Indonesian-led consortium, were hurt by lower realized prices and reduced shipments, leading to a fall in its underlying EBIT to $441 million from $714 million a year ago.

The miner said it aims to secure the necessary environmental approvals for its Worsley alumina development project by the end of 2024.

South32 declared a final dividend of 3.1 cents per share, compared with 3.2 cents a year earlier.

(By John Biju, Sneha Kumar and Melanie Burton; Editing by Miral Fahmy and Clarence Fernandez)

While sales growth has certainly slowed down from the torrid pace of the last few years, in part due to base effects, the global EV market, including plug-in and conventional hybrids, should easily top 20 million units this year.

In combined battery capacity deployed – a better indicator of battery materials demand than unit sales alone – the global electric car market expanded by 23% during the first half of the year. 

In total, 365.5 GWh of fresh battery power hit the globe’s roads from January through June, according to data from Adamas Intelligence. The robust growth rate also comes despite a noticeable swing towards hybrid vehicles which have inherently smaller batteries. 

However, when pairing metals demand with prices in the EV battery supply chain the picture looks very different. 

The graphs from Toronto-based EV supply chain research firm Adamas Intelligence show the sales weighted average monthly dollar value of the lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite contained in the batteries​​ of the average EV based on global end-user registrations, battery capacity and chemistries.

Put it all together and the raw materials bill for the average EV is down to $655 so far this year from $1,674 over the same period in 2023 and a monthly peak of more than $1,900 at the beginning of last year, according to Adamas Intelligence analysis.      

While the year on year comparisons are brutal, nickel, manganese and graphite have been on a noticeable upswing since the start of 2024. The sales weighted average value of nickel per EV is up 32% since January. 

Nickel is being boosted by the slow rollout of LFP battery chemistries outside China, a long-running trend towards high-nickel cathodes, and the growing popularity of NCM batteries for larger plug-in and range-extending hybrids where the energy density of nickel-based cathodes makes more sense given the weight of these vehicles. 

The price falls are great news for automakers struggling to bring prices for their EV offerings in line with internal combustion engine vehicles and should provide fresh impetus for consumer adoption.

For battery metals miners however, healthy demand growth from the EV sector is now entirely overshadowed by fears of a prolonged slump in prices.

Judging by the positive trends on a monthly basis since the start of the year, some of those fears can be allayed.   

For a fuller analysis of the battery metals market check out the Northern Miner print and digital editions. 

* Frik Els is Editor at Large for MINING.COM and Head of Adamas Inside, Toronto-based provider of battery metal and EV supply chain analysis.  

Under a term sheet signed with Blue Grass Chemical Specialties, Euro Manganese will make deliveries of its high-purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM) for a initial term of seven years. Offtake tonnages will represent a portion of the project’s planned production, which is projected at 14,890 tonnes of HPEMM annually.

The offtake term sheet is contingent on successful qualification of the HPEMM in Blue Grass’ supply chain. An HPEMM sample from the project’s demonstration plant is currently under evaluation by Blue Grass as part of the qualification process.

According to Euro Manganese, specifications of the product produced at the demo plant recently tested by third-party laboratories met the required specifications shared by Blue Grass.

Pricing for the HPEMM will be on a take-or-pay basis, based on an index-adjusted Western benchmark price. This benchmark price represents HPEMM with the following attributes: high quality, secure, traceable, Western supply source, and market leading ESG credentials, including a low CO₂ footprint.

The price is intended to be linked to the movement of a published index for high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM), over a rolling three-month quotational period, as there is no current published market index for HPEMM, said the company. HPMSM was selling in Shanghai for around $700 a tonne in March, according to S&P Global Markets.

The offtake deal with Blue Grass follows a similar term sheet signed last week with San Diego-based Wildcat Discovery Technologies, which plans to build a plant in the US in 2026-2027 to produce cobalt/nickel-free cathode materials for electric vehicle battery cells and other markets including stationary storage.

“The fact that Blue Grass Chemical requires high-purity manganese metal for their existing operations, and potential for increased tonnages as they evaluate new opportunities, demonstrates the value of designing our flow sheet to produce both high-purity manganese metal and sulphate at Chvaletice, thus giving customers optionality for their manufacturing processes,” Euro Manganese CEO Dr. Matthew James said in a news release.

The government plans to announce a 100% levy on electric cars and 25% on steel and aluminum, according to people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition they not be identified because the matter is still private. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to unveil the policy in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he’s gathered with the rest of his cabinet for a series of meetings about the economy and foreign relations.

Canada, an export-driven economy that relies heavily on trade with the US, has been closely watching moves by the Biden administration to erect a much higher tariff wall against Chinese EVs, batteries, solar cells, steel and other products. Canada’s auto sector is heavily integrated with that of its closest neighbor: The vast majority of its light vehicle production — which was 1.5 million units last year — is exported to the US.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, the most powerful person in Trudeau’s cabinet, has been one of the most prominent voices in favor of a harder approach to Chinese vehicle exports, and becoming a closer trade ally with the US.

In June, she announced a public consultation on possible measures to make it more difficult for Chinese companies to sell electric vehicles in the Canadian market. The auto industry, she said, is “facing unfair competition from China’s intentional, state-directed policy of overcapacity that is undermining Canada’s EV sector’s ability to compete.”

In July, Freeland went further. During an interview with Bloomberg News, she said the tariffs consultation might go beyond electric cars.

“Geopolitics and geoeconomics is back,” she said at the time. “That means that Western countries— and very much the US — is putting a premium on secure supply chains and is taking a different attitude towards Chinese overcapacity.”

‘No illusion’

The European Union has also announced proposed new tariffs on electric vehicles important from China, though at lower levels than the US and now Canada are proposing.

Products made by SAIC Motor Corp. face additional duties of 36.3%, while Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. and BYD Co. each face tariffs of 19.3% and 17%, respectively, according to a draft decision released last week. Tesla Inc. will see an extra 9% charge on Chinese-made vehicles.

Chinese leaders plan to raise the issue of tariffs when US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visits this week, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Sullivan is due to meet with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and may also meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

China has retaliated against Canada before. It previously restricted imports of Canadian canola seed for three years — a move seen as retribution for a decision by Canada authorities to arrest Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a US extradition warrant. Meng returned to China in 2021.

The value of Chinese electric vehicles imported by Canada surged to C$2.2 billion ($1.6 billion) last year, from less than C$100 million in 2022, according to data from Statistics Canada. The number of cars arriving from China at the port of Vancouver jumped after Tesla Inc. started shipping Model Y vehicles there from its Shanghai factory.

However, the Canadian government’s main concern isn’t Tesla, but the prospect of cheap cars made by Chinese automakers eventually becoming available. BYD informed the Canadian government in July that it intends to lobby lawmakers and officials about its plans to enter the country.

Trudeau also faced political and industry pressure. The Canadian auto sector had been pushing him to hike tariffs to protect domestic jobs and wages, arguing that China’s EVs are cheaper due to much weaker labor standards. The government has also bet big on automakers and manufacturers from democratic allies: the government has agreed to to multibillion-dollar subsidies for electric vehicle plants or battery factories for Stellantis NV, Volkswagen AG and Honda Motor Co., among others.

Steel and aluminum producers in Canada have also publicly and repeatedly urged the government to restrict China’s access, saying that Xi’s industrial policy allows the Asian powerhouse to unfairly flood foreign markets, putting local jobs at risk.

“China does not play by the rules,” Catherine Cobden, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, told reporters earlier this month. “Government should be under no illusion that they do.”

(By Brian Platt)

The project aims to annually produce 98,600 tonnes of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) at 32.3% manganese and 14,890 tonnes of high-purity electrolytic manganese metal at 99.9%. HPMSM was selling in Shanghai for around $700 a tonne in March, according to S&P Global Markets.

No specific tonnage amounts nor dollar figures were given in the news release on Monday about the offtake term sheet with Wildcat. It would run for an initial seven years with an opportunity for renewal, Euro Manganese said.

“This long-term offtake term sheet represents a significant percentage of the planned production of the Chvaletice manganese project over time,” Euro Manganese CEO Matthew James said in a news release.

Shares of Euro Manganese surged 14% by early afternoon in Toronto on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $16 million.

San Diego-based Wildcat plans to build a plant in the US in 2026-2027 to produce cobalt/nickel-free cathode materials for electric vehicle battery cells and other markets including stationary storage.

High purity

The Chvaletice project envisions selling 2.5 million tonnes of HPMSM and 372,300 tonnes of high-purity electrolytic manganese metal over its life.

The project entails re-processing manganese deposits contained in tailings from a decommissioned mine that operated between 1951 and 1975.

Euro Manganese plans to convert the carbonate to high-purity manganese metal and sulphate and send them to its planned processing facility in Quebec, where they will be converted into a liquid sulphate.

The site is adjacent to two proposed cathode plants, allowing the liquid sulphate to be piped directly into the cathode production processes.

The company has been searching for assets to buy in copper and manganese as it positions to benefit from surging demand for the minerals, vital in the global transition from polluting fossil fuels to cleaner energy technologies.

Exxaro was among the investors that lost out to China’s MMG in a bid for Botswana’s Khoemacau copper mine last year, and it is now conducting due diligence on some potential acquisitions, chief growth officer Richard Lilleike said in an interview.

He said Exxaro has changed the “intensity and level of engagement with potential targets, partners and investors”, but declined to provide more details on a potential acquisition.

“My hope would be to announce a deal in 2024,” Lilleike said after the company posted half-year earnings. “We are certainly working forward that timeline with a number of opportunities.”

A race among global miners for copper assets has driven up valuations for potential acquisition targets, forcing Exxaro to change its strategy to focus on partnerships and early-stage development projects, he added.

Exxaro mines mostly thermal coal burned in power stations and has also invested heavily in renewable energy projects.

Potential deals for manganese projects in its home country are being held back by complex shareholding structures and joint venture agreements, Lilleike said. South Africa is the world’s top producer of manganese – a steelmaking ingredient that’s also found increasing use in electric vehicle battery technologies.

Exxaro’s plan to diversify into other metals comes at a time when it is also battling declining earnings due to lower prices and lack of rail capacity to ship coal to ports for export.

Six-month results for the company showed headline earnings slumped 37% to 3.7 billion rand ($205 million). It said it would pay an interim dividend of 7.96 rand, compared with 11.43 rand last year.

($1 = 18.0469 rand)

(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Felix Njini and David Holmes)

One such practice investors should watch out for is ‘grade smearing.’ That’s when companies stretch high-grade results over larger intervals to create the illusion of more substantial findings, the economic geologist and adviser to the Exploration Insights newsletter explained.

“Most of what we do is try and find the fatal flaw as soon as possible,” Cook said last month during the Rule Symposium in Boca Raton, Fla. “We know most of these companies aren’t going to find anything economic.”

Cook also discusses the worrying trend of traditional mining investors retreating and younger investors turning to tech stocks, leaving the sector underfunded.

Watch the full interview with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby.

When Leticia Carvalho takes office on Jan. 1, she’ll become the first woman and the first scientist to helm the United Nations-affiliated organization responsible for the fate of 54% of the world’s seabed. A former environmental regulator in Brazil, Carvalho, 50, currently serves as an official at the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi.

Carvalho’s election Friday at the annual summer meeting of the ISA Assembly in Kingston, Jamaica, ends the two-term tenure of Michael Lodge, a 64-year-old British attorney. Lodge aggressively pushed for the completion of regulations that would allow a potentially multibillion-dollar industry to begin, and drew scrutiny for his closeness to the mining companies the Authority regulates.

The vote by ISA member states — which came down 79-34 for Carvalho — also follows a contentious election campaign. It was marked by accusations that a key Lodge supporter tried to bribe Carvalho to drop out of the race in exchange for a top job at the ISA.

In an interview last month, Carvalho told Bloomberg Green that as secretary-general she would focus on science and act as a neutral administrator of the ISA, which includes 169 member states and the European Union. “Transparency and accountability is my top priority,” Carvalho said.

The ISA has already issued 32 contracts to private and state-backed companies to prospect for cobalt, nickel and other metals across more than 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000 square miles) of the seabed in international waters. Last year, the organization set a target of July 2025 for the adoption of complex rules to govern those mining efforts. But Carvalho said years of negotiations may still be needed to ensure that biodiverse and little-known deep sea ecosystems are protected from the most harmful effects of mining.

“There is a big amount of work to be done,” she said. “Logically, I can tell you that it’s unlikely that this is going to be accomplished by the current deadline.”

Complicating matters, scientists last month published findings that the polymetallic nodules targeted for mining in the Pacific Ocean actually produce oxygen — an extraordinary discovery that several ISA delegates cited in Kingston as a reason to slow mining efforts.

A record number of member states were present at this year’s meeting, where tensions over the future of deep sea mining were on display. Some 32 ISA member states have called for a moratorium or a pause on seabed mining, with five countries joining this week.

Adding urgency to the proceedings is The Metals Company (TMC), a Canadian-registered mining venture that has made clear its intention of applying for a mining license this year, regardless of whether regulations are in place, and its plans to start mining operations in early 2026 if the application is approved. TMC has mining contracts with the small Pacific island nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga. The first area of the ocean to be mined is a vast stretch of the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico.

“This is colonialism by another name, economic imperialism, where multinational mining companies prioritize profits over the wellbeing of our people and ecosystems,” Surangel Whipps Jr., the president of the Pacific island state of Palau, told delegates this week.

Palau has led the efforts to impose a moratorium on deep sea mining until its environmental impacts are better understood. Numerous delegations stated that they would not approve any mining licenses until regulations are adopted.

Although her home country of Brazil has urged a 10-year moratorium on mining, Carvalho said it’s not appropriate for the secretary-general to take a position on the issue. “A pause or moratorium is an advocacy position of many, but so far it hasn’t got onto the agenda of the ISA,” she said.

Other delegations, including China, Japan, and some African nations, pressed the ISA to fulfill its legal mandate to enact regulations so mining can begin. “Within our blue Pacific continent, deep seabed minerals hold immense potential for our prosperity,” said Sonny Williams, a delegate for the Cook Islands, a South Pacific archipelago.

TMC chief executive officer Gerard Barron said that he has met with Carvalho several times. “We like her,” he said. “I think she can bring harmony to the ISA at a time when it could really do with some.”

(By Todd Woody)

Recall when Glencore heralded a new dawn for mining thanks to EVs – telling the audience at its 2017 investors day that “as early as 2020, when electric vehicles would still make up only 2% of new vehicle sales, related metal demand already becomes significant.”

That prediction proved conservative – global penetration reached over 5% in 2020. The data is still trickling in, but the second quarter of this year is on course to set a new record for the electrification of the global car parc with 26% of passenger vehicle sales either full electric, plug-in or conventional hybrids. 

Traditional hybrids remain a meaningful source of battery metals demand (thanks to large volumes and the widespread use of nickel metal hydride batteries) and even when stripping out Priuses (Pria?) with new owners, nearly one in five vehicles sold worldwide in Q2 was electrified.     

Yet, when pairing robust metals demand with often volatile prices in the EV battery supply chain the picture looks very different. 

The graph from Adamas Intelligence below shows the monthly dollar value of lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite contained in the batteries​​ of EVs based on global end-user EV registrations, battery capacity and chemistries.

When looking at a streamgraph you don’t want the bulge to be at the start, but a chart that looks like an ink blot Rorschach test like the one below is hardly better. 

December 2022 saw a record $4.2 billion worth of battery metals business done. 

December is usually a blowout month for the global EV industry and the final month of 2023 was no exception. During December 2023 battery metals consumption was up another 20% year-over-year to a combined 140,000 tonnes on the back of a 23% increase in total giga-watt hours of battery capacity hitting the world’s roads that month. 

However, more than $2.8 billion had disappeared from the value chain as metal prices capitulated. 

During calendar 2022, the monthly value of combined battery metals deployment averaged $2.6 billion. In 2023, that number was $2.1 billion. So far this year? Down to $1.5 billion. 

In the analysis below, materials deployed constitute installed terminal tonnes and do not take into account yield losses during conversion, refining and manufacturing processes, or production scrap.

This means that at the mine mouth the required tonnes (and values) to feed the supply chain are considerably higher. 

Also, with 2023’s slump still in the rearview mirror, there is growing consensus that battery metals prices have bottomed out.

And combined with still healthy, albeit slowing EV sales growth should provide battery metals miners some comfort. But right now, that’s mostly cold comfort. 

Leticia Carvalho, a Brazilian ocean scientist, says Kiribati’s ambassador tried to bribe her to drop out of the race to run the International Seabed Authority that’s responsible for both the exploitation and conservation of more than half the ocean floor. The ambassador, Teburoro Tito, says he merely suggested Carvalho step aside to clear the path for Kiribati’s own nominee, incumbent Michael Lodge. Lodge denies any involvement.

The dispute is characteristic of what’s become the most contentious election ever held by the obscure, Kingston, Jamaica-based organization. On one side is Lodge, 64, who says one of his top priorities is finalizing mining regulations that would kickstart a potentially multi-billion-dollar deep sea metals industry.

On the other is Carvalho, 50, who says finishing the regulations may take years more of negotiations to protect the deep sea from the most harmful effects of mining. The next leader of the UN-affiliated ISA will wield significant influence in determining whether companies can begin to exploit the world’s largest known reserve of electric vehicle battery metals. And he or she will have the sole power to negotiate confidential contracts with mining companies.

“This is a turning point,” says Andrew Thaler, a Maryland-based deep sea scientist and consultant who closely follows the ISA. “Whoever is secretary general during this moment will have an enormous role to play, as the only thing that’s really holding up the commercialization of deep sea mining is the finalization of mining regulations.”

Kiribati has plenty to lose or gain in the contest. The Pacific archipelago operates its own mining company, Marawa Research and Exploration Ltd., which holds an ISA contract to explore and potentially mine 75,000 square kilometers of the Pacific seabed.

As of this summer, Marawa’s mining concession is potentially at risk after an ISA inspection of the company found serious failures to comply with its contract, according to documents seen by Bloomberg Green and people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information. The report on the inspection is due to be released later this year.

Kiribati nominated Lodge for a third term after his home country, the UK, declined to do so. (A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office declined to comment on why.) The nation has stated its support for Lodge is based, in part, on his commitment to finalizing international mining regulations so commercial exploration of cobalt, nickel and other metals in the deep sea can begin. Lodge has aggressively pushed to finish the so-called Mining Code as soon as this year, ahead of the ISA’s official 2025 target is to adopt regulations.

Now, with just days before the Aug. 2 election, the ISA’s dueling pro-mining and conservation-minded factions are ramping up pressure on the candidates. While 19 of the ISA’s 168 member states have sponsored exploration licenses, another 27 have called for a moratorium or a pause on mining until its impacts on the deep sea are better understood.

Canadian-registered The Metals Company (TMC) has mining contracts with three Pacific island nations, including Kiribati. TMC has said it will apply for a mining license after July. Scientists just this month published findings that polymetallic nodules found in one of TMC’s mining areas actually produce oxygen, an extraordinary discovery that two ISA delegates cited Thursday in remarks urging the agency to slow efforts to mine the seabed. The company has challenged the study’s scientific credibility.

Until Brazil announced Carvalho’s candidacy in March, Lodge seemed to be on a glidepath to re-election. For decades, the British attorney has been the public face of the ISA, joining as legal officer in 1996 and rising to deputy secretary-general before being first elected to the top post in 2016.

He ran unopposed in 2020 and has helped oversee the exploration of more than 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000 square miles) of seabed by private and state-backed metals companies.Click and drag to move

Carvalho, a former federal environmental regulator and an official with the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi, is campaigning as his antithesis: the first woman and scientist to potentially lead the ISA. She says her priorities as secretary-general would be transparency and accountability.

She had been considered the underdog. But the different versions of her meeting with Tito under the soaring ceiling of the Rem Koolhaas-designed UN Delegates Lounge in New York in June has catalyzed her supporters and raised tensions at the ISA.

Carvalho’s version is that Tito offered her a job to drop out of the race, an account corroborated by another person at the meeting Tito requested with Brazil’s UN delegation and to whom the proposal was directed. “The deal was that I would become Michael Lodge’s deputy and then after four years it would be my time to be secretary-general,” she tells Bloomberg Green.

“Never in my career in international civil service have I ever heard of or seen something so explicit and inappropriate.” The New York Times first reported that an offer had been made.

Tito, for his part, denies a quid pro quo. “We like the lady but unfortunately she doesn’t have any experience in seabed mining,” Tito tells Bloomberg Green. “It was a suggestion.” But he says he told Lodge of his plans to ask Carvalho to step aside.

Lodge in a statement denied any involvement in or knowledge of the claims.

Since then, Carvalho has made other accusations against Lodge, alleging in an interview that he inappropriately used his position to campaign in eight countries since March. Her supporters, including Germany and Costa Rica, have asked the ISA for a detailed accounting of travel by top ISA officials in 2023 and 2024; questioned whether the ISA’s leadership had authorization to promote certain individuals, including Lodge’s current chief of staff; and requested information about his office’s spending.

Lodge dismissed the claims in a statement, saying: “Any allegations of financial impropriety, on their face, lack any probative weight and persuasive force.”

The ISA, which provided an itinerary of Lodge’s engagements in each country he visited, said his travel has been for official business, and that all hiring followed rigorous international standards.

(By Todd Woody)

The company reported a 27% drop in first-half adjusted earnings before interest, tax, debt and amortization (EBITDA) to 247 million euros ($268.17 million), notably pressured by weaker nickel prices in a sector faced with a supply surplus.

However, a rally in manganese ore prices, triggered by weather-related disruption to Australian production, led the group to increase its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance range to 1.2 billion to 1.3 billion euros from the 750 million to 900 million euros projected previously.

The manganese rally, which saw ore prices double in the second quarter, would be fully reflected in Eramet’s activity from the third quarter and represented “the main if not to say the sole reason” for the increased guidance, Eramet chief financial officer Nicolas Carre told reporters on a call.

Eramet’s manganese mine in Gabon is one of its biggest activities.

The group continued to expand nickel output in Indonesia in its joint venture with Chinese steel giant Tsingshan, though it lowered its full-year volume sales target after failing to secure permits for marketing lower-content ore.

Lower nickel prices and unrest in New Caledonia have increased pressure on Eramet’s troubled subsidiary SLN.

SLN recorded another operating loss in the first half as violence in the southern Pacific territory brought its nickel production to a near standstill.

Eramet this year agreed with the French government to remove SLN debt from its group balance sheet. The government this month provided 80 million euros in funding to keep SLN operating, on top of 140 million euros in the first half of this year, Eramet said.

In a shift towards producing minerals for electric vehicle batteries, Eramet is due to start lithium production at a mine in Argentina later this year, also in partnership with Tsingshan.

The group has delayed to next year the start of work on a second lithium plant at its Argentine mine as it studies potentially more favourable investment terms under new legislation, it said.

($1 = 0.9211 euros)

(By Gus Trompiz; Editing by Paul Simao)

Under the agreement, Macro plans to invest A$150,000 over 12 months and complete at least 10 reverse circulation drill holes, with 100 metres to be drilled on each of the three project tenements, to earn an 80% interest.

Firebird’s remaining 20% interest will be free carried until Macro makes a decision to mine. At that time, the companies will then form an incorporated joint venture, contracting Macro’s mining services unit for the life of mine.

Under the JV structure, Firebird will retain the ability to transfer its 20% interest into a 1% royalty, and can earn a 1% sales commission based on free on board revenue.

The transaction, says Firebird’s managing director Peter Allen, would allow the company to continue advancing its flagship Oakover project, also located in East Pilbara, with an existing resource totalling 172 million tonnes grading 9.9% manganese.

The plan for Firebird is to eventually process ore from the Oakover project at its proposed manganese sulphate operations based in China, which has demonstrated low-cost production of material used in lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) batteries.

“By partnering with Macro, we leverage their expertise and resources to drive the development of these tenements, which not only ensures that they receive the necessary investment and development attention but also allows Firebird to benefit from potential production and value growth without immediate capital outlay,” Allen added.

The Wandanya project is the most advanced of the three projects, comprising two exploration licences with a total area of 51 sq. km. Work to date has outlined three prospects, one of which has mineralization defined by drilling.

The Disraeli and Midgengadge projects are both near the Woodie Woodie manganese mine that has been in operation since the 1950s.

The team, led by Professor Andrew Sweetman at the UK’s Scottish Association for Marine Science, found that oxygen is produced in complete darkness approximately 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) below the ocean’s surface. It was previously thought that only living organisms, such as plants and algae, could use energy to create the planet’s oxygen through photosynthesis, which requires sunlight.

“For aerobic life to begin on the planet, there had to be oxygen, and our understanding has been that Earth’s oxygen supply began with photosynthetic organisms,” Sweetman said in a statement.

“But we now know that there is oxygen produced in the deep sea, where there is no light. I think we, therefore, need to revisit questions like: where could aerobic life have begun?”

The mechanism behind this oxygen production remains a mystery.

Sweetman and his collaborators first noticed something amiss during fieldwork in 2013.

The researchers were studying seafloor ecosystems in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone, an area between Hawaii and Mexico, and a potential target for mining metal-rich nodules.

During such expeditions, the team releases a module that sinks to the seafloor to perform automated experiments. Once there, the module drives cylindrical chambers down to close off small sections of the seafloor — together with some seawater — and create “an enclosed microcosm of the seafloor,” the authors note. The lander then measures how the concentration of oxygen in the confined seawater changes over periods of up to several days.

Around the world, seafloor ecosystems owe their existence to oxygen carried by currents from the surface and would quickly die if cut off. But in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone, the instruments showed that the sequestered water became richer, not poorer, in oxygen.

At first, Sweetman attributed the readings to a sensor malfunction. However, the phenomenon continued during subsequent trips in 2021 and 2022 and was confirmed by measurements with an alternative technique.

“I suddenly realized that for eight years I’d been ignoring this potentially amazing new process, 4,000 meters down on the ocean floor,” Sweetman said.

According to the scientists, the amounts of oxygen produced are higher than those seen in algae-rich surface waters. None of the other regions surveyed contained polymetallic nodules, suggesting that these rocks are essential in producing this ‘dark oxygen.’

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone is earmarked for mining potato-size polymetallic nodules by companies like The Metals Company, which funded the research.

Metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium and manganese contained in the nodules are in high demand for solar panels, electric car batteries, and other green technologies. Scientists estimate that mining the seabed could provide up to 45% of all the world’s critical metal needs by 2065.

The study comes as three civil society groups have filed a formal complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against TMC.

Deep Sea Mining Campaign (DSMC), The Ocean Foundation (TOF) and Blue Climate Initiative (BCI) allege the company has significantly mislead investors, government officials and the public through material misrepresentations and omissions.

Shares of The Metals Company fell 5.4% by 12:40 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $394 million.

Deep Sea Mining Campaign (DSMC), The Ocean Foundation (TOF) and Blue Climate Initiative (BCI) have filed a formal complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against TMC. They accuse the company of significantly misleading investors, government officials and the public through material misrepresentations and omissions.

In the submission, they claim a pattern of overly optimistic and deceptive shareholder communications regards TMC’s financial forecasts, the feasibility of the mining operation, the level of demand for the battery metals that would be recovered, and the company’s environmental and socially responsible efforts.

Furthermore, TMC is accused of under-reporting the opposition to its plans and its “dubious” claims about using renewable power in their processes.

The lawsuit also alleges that the company misrepresents its ties and economic benefits to the united States, omits the impacts on Indigenous communities, misrepresents pricing data and asset values, and not updating its financial models.

DSMC, TOF and BCI say the new complaint builds on a previously closed investigation by the SEC into the company’s practices.

Last month, TMC and SGS Canada successfully produced cobalt sulphate from deep seafloor polymetallic nodules.

According to the report, lithium-ion batteries will remain dominant for the foreseeable future.

The report highlights that nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) will be the dominant cathode chemistries. LFP and NMC chemistries together currently make up more than 90% of lithium-ion battery sales for EVs.

“Emerging technologies such as solid-state and high-density sodium-ion are still in the prototype and pilot manufacturing stages, and their market share is expected to stay in the single-digit range until 2030,” the firm said.

“Batteries are the single biggest cost driver for OEMs and they influence product performance. However, ongoing flux across battery chemistries, especially within lithium-ion batteries, is affecting OEM product roadmaps,” said Mahadevan Seetharaman, partner at Bain & Company’s advanced manufacturing services practice.

“OEMs across the world face the critical choice of which battery type to use and whether to develop batteries in-house or through collaboration with other companies.”

According to the global consultancy, LFP will become more dominant in China due to robust demand for mass-market EVs and established supply chains, in addition to the emergence of LFP variants with improved energy density, such as M3P and lithium manganese iron phosphate (LFMP).

In the USA and EU, LFP will gain share but will still be lower than that in China for multiple reasons, according to the report.

“First, domestic LFP production is nearly nonexistent, and existing iron and phosphorous supply chains are significantly less mature in these regions compared to those in China. Consequently, the cost advantage of LFP versus NMC will be undercut by the costs of importing LFP from China,” the report states.

“In addition, many companies are looking into no cobalt or low-cobalt NMC variants, which would further reduce the cost advantage of LFP.”

Finally, import tariffs and broader geopolitical challenges may make LFP less suited for Western OEMs looking to build more resilient supply chains.

Bain says solid-state and sodium-ion will be the only commercialized emerging technologies by 2030. The consultancy firm expects commercial availability of sodium-ion-based EVs by the first half of 2025.

Gathered in Kingston, Jamaica, until July 26, the 36-member ISA council will negotiate the latest draft of the anticipated seabed mining rules. It will also meet on July 29 to elect a new secretary-general, with Brazilian marine scientist Leticia Carvalho standing against the incumbent, Michael Lodge, a UK lawyer.

Despite the absence of formal rules, Canada’s The Metals Company (NASDAQ: TMC), one of the companies with the most advanced plans to extract key metals from nodules covering the seafloor, is expected to submit a mining license application before the end of 2024. Production, however, would start in the first quarter of 2026 at the earliest.

One of the TMC’s ISA contracts is sponsored by the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, which in 2021 triggered a provision requiring the ISA to enact mining regulations by 2023. The ISA missed that deadline, and so must start accepting license applications.

Leadership battle

How the ISA will respond to applicants is a key question for the coming weeks. Under existing rules, a mining application must be approved by the group’s Legal and Technical Commission (LTC), which then issues recommendations to the body’s ruling council. For a licence to be granted, it would need the support of one-third of the council’s 36 members.

The issuing of mining licenses will also depend on who is elected as the new secretary-general, particularly if regulations are enacted. The individual in this position holds the power to oversee the administrative functions of the ISA and is responsible for negotiating contracts with mining companies. 

The new leader’s commitment to environmental sustainability will impact how strictly environmental assessments and safeguards are enforced, potentially influencing the approval or denial of seabed mining licenses based on habitat impact considerations.

Analysts predict that the election of Carvalho, the head of the marine and freshwater division at the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi, could signal a significant shift from the current leadership of Michael Lodge. Lodge, whose second four-year term concludes in December, has faced criticism for his dismissive stance on environmental opposition to deep-sea mining and his close ties with mining contractors regulated by the ISA.

Trillions of dollars

Ocean floor mining supporters estimate the activity could provide up to 45% of all the world’s critical metal needs by 2065. They also believe that the UN High Seas Treaty agreed in March last year by member countries won’t jeopardize exploration efforts. 

The accord aims to place up to 30% of the world’s oceans that lie outside national boundaries under protection by 2030.

A study commissioned by The Metals Co says that mining metals such as cobalt and nickel from the seafloor dramatically lowers the environmental impact of producing battery metals the traditional way.

Minerals and metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese can be found in potato-sized nodules on the ocean floor. Reserves are estimated to be worth anywhere from $8 trillion to more than $16 trillion and they are in areas targeted by potential seabed miners companies, such as TMC.

While some countries fiercely oppose the activity until scientists can clearly estimate the potential damage to aquatic ecosystems, others are ready to kick off mining the seabed.

Norway’s parliament greenlit in January seabed mining exploration in the country’s territorial waters. Only five months later, the nation opened up vast areas of its Arctic region for a first seabed mineral licensing round.

Nine countries, including France and Chile, are set to urge the Assembly this week to discuss specific policies for safeguarding the marine environment in anticipation of potential mining activities.

Last year, a similar proposal was blocked by China. This year, China has taken a key step in the global race to explore the ocean floor for minerals after one of its deep-sea mining vehicles reportedly broke multiple national records during a recent trial operation.

The government proposed putting forward 386 blocks in the Arctic as part of the round. The area comprises about 38% of the 280,000 square kilometers approved by the parliament for exploration earlier this year.

The country plans to grant exploration permits in the first half of 2025.

“The world needs minerals for the green transition, and the government wants to explore if it is possible to extract seabed minerals sustainably from the Norwegian continental shelf,” said Terje Aasland, Norway’s minister of energy.

“Environmental considerations are taken into account in all stages of the activities,” Aasland added.

At least two companies have applied for licenses already, as Oslo emphasizes the importance of deep-sea mining the Arctic to increase Europe’s supply of essential rare earth minerals and battery metals such as copper, nickel and manganese.

Mining is not expected to start before 2030.

Environmentalists, however, are challenging the plans in court.

“Researchers have been unanimous; we have too little knowledge about the deep sea, and even just exploring it can have catastrophic consequences for marine life and the vital ecosystem processes we find there,” Gytis Blazevicius, leader of the Norwegian environmental organization Nature and Youth, told Bloomberg.

“In the future, we will look back at 2024 as the fateful year when we could have made the right choice.”

Greenpeace said on Wednesday the proposed blocks constituted a “shockingly large” area given previous warnings from scientists regarding the potential impact on fragile ecosystems.

The European Parliament GreenDeal chief Maros Sefcovic said in March that the European Union would monitor the process. Norway is not a member of the bloc.

(With files from Bloomberg and Reuters)

The team of experts from the University of Tokyo and the Nippon Foundation said the fist-sized nodules cover an extensive area of the seabed near Minamitorishima, a remote Tokyo Island. 

These metals-rich rocks are located at depths of about 5,500 metres and are thought to be very similar to the polymetallic nodules found in the Clarion-Clipperton zone in the Pacific, as they hold cobalt, nickel and copper in addition to manganese.

The team estimates the deposit contains 610,000 tonnes of cobalt (equivalent to 75 years of Japan’s consumption) and 740,000 tonnes of nickel (11 years), according to the Japan Times.

The Nippon Foundation and other entities expect to start large-scale extraction of nodules next year, to be delivered to Japanese companies with the capability to process them. Starting in 2026, the non-profit plans to set up a joint venture with multiple Japanese companies to develop the minerals as locally sourced materials.

The University of Tokyo will contribute to the project from an academic standpoint by conducting detailed analysis of the material extracted from the seabed.

The presence of manganese nodules in the area was first found during a survey in 2016, which involved a team from the university and other organizations.

A thorough sampling survey was carried out from late April to early June this year to calculate the deposit estimates.

BMO analyst Colin Hamilton said the depth at which the nodules are found makes mining them more complex than it sounds. “Extraction will not be simple, and we see this as a potential test case for the benefits versus disadvantages of deep sea mining of materials relating to the global fuel to materials transition,” he wrote in a brief on Tuesday. 

Hamilton noted that several key metals consumers have already stated they will not buy deep-sea-sourced materials until further studies are conducted on the potential impact of these activities.

Major global banks such Credit Suisse, Lloyds, NatWest, and Standard Chartered, Dutch bank ABN Amro, and Spanish group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, have also make a point. They have all recently introduced policies that rule out funding deep-sea exploration and extraction.

Demand for nickel and cobalt is expected to surge in the coming decades. According to a White House paper, the demand for these metals is estimated to increase by 400% to 600% as battery-powered technology replaces oil and gas-powered systems.

The Metals Company (Nasdaq: TMC), one of the most advanced firms scooping up nodules from the seafloor, announced in early June that it had successfully produced the world’s first cobalt sulphate derived exclusively from seafloor polymetallic nodules.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is currently working on the world’s initial regulations for underwater mining, with plans to finalize the code by 2025. Despite the absence of formal rules, deep sea mining could technically start as soon as July, coinciding with the ISA’s upcoming meeting.

Prices of 44% grade manganese ore have almost doubled since the start of the year, beating gains of 15% in copper, 12% in gold and almost 30% in tin.

A cyclone hammered into the Groote Eylandt Mining Co. (GEMCO) operation in northern Australia, damaging key port and haulage infrastructure and halting high-grade exports. Shipments are likely to remain suspended until 2025. South32 Ltd. owns 60% of GEMCO and Anglo American Plc has 40%.

While relatively little known, manganese is important in steelmaking to strengthen the metal and reduce its brittleness. Manganese is also used in batteries and in making aluminum alloys.

The surge in manganese prices was delayed due to stockpiles elsewhere that provided a buffer, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence analyst Zach Parsons. The supply shock impacted ore prices in April and took a while to work its way through other manganese products, he said.

Supply constraints and elevated prices would continue until GEMCO is brought back online, Parsons said.

The high prices have prompted pure play manganese miners to sell lower grade material. ASX-listed Element 25 Ltd. told shareholders this week that ore production at these prices “presents an opportunity to generate short-term cash flow.” The producer may sell stockpiles of lower grade manganese from its Butcherbird project, which is profitable in the current market.

Other companies may fast track projects in the development stage. “Miners who were already planning to commence operation might move their timetable up to take advantage of higher prices this year, but this is a small number of producers that would be insufficient to bridge the supply gap,” Parsons said.

(By Paul-Alain Hunt)

“Achieving this milestone brings us one step closer to becoming the first publicly traded mining company in Canada and the US to commercialize high-purity, EV-compliant manganese,” Manganese X CEO Martin Kepman said in a news release.

The Phase 1 testing was conducted in-house at lab scale through New York-based C4V’s digital DNA supply chain qualification program, which consists of three stages. Manganese X’s sample is now moving onto the second phase to validate its long cycling performance and capacity retention of the cells.

In January, the parties entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding for a potential offtake deal on Manganese X’s Battery Hill manganese mine project located in Woodstock, New Brunswick. The project, which is also prospective for iron, is host to one of the largest manganese carbonate deposits in North America, containing a measured and indicated resource of nearly 35 million tonnes grading 6.42% manganese and an inferred resource of 26 million tonnes grading 6.6% manganese.

A preliminary economic assessment in May 2022 outlined a low-capital manganese operation capable of producing 68,000 tonnes of high-purity material over a 47-year mine life. At a 10% discount rate, it would generate a post-tax net present value of $486 million and a post-tax internal rate of return of 25%, using a base case market price for battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphates.

C4V’s supply chain qualification program, said Manganese X, is an important aspect of the MOU as it moves the company closer to an offtake deal. C4V is currently involved in some of the world’s largest gigafactory developments, including Recharge Industries’ factory in Geelong, Australia, and the iM3NY gigafactory in the US.

The stock traded 23.1% higher at C$0.08 apiece by 3:40 p.m. in Toronto, with a market capitalization of C$10.7 million.

Hosting a first-ever summit with the leaders of 48 African nations, Yoon said South Korea would increase development aid for Africa to $10 billion over the next six years as it looks to tap the continent’s rich mineral resources and potential as a vast export market.

“The Critical Minerals Dialogue launched by South Korea and Africa will set an example for a stable supply chain through mutually beneficial cooperation and contribute to sustainable development of mineral resources around the world,” Yoon said in his closing remarks.

He also pledged to offer $14 billion in export financing to promote trade and investment for South Korean companies in Africa.

South Korea is one of the world’s largest energy buyers and is home to leading semiconductor producers. It is also home to the world’s fifth-largest automaker, Hyundai Motor Group, which is making a push for electrification.

Partnering with Africa, which has 30% of the world’s reserves of critical minerals including chrome, cobalt and manganese is crucial, Yoon’s office has said.

In a joint declaration issued by South Korea, the African Union (AU) and its member nations, the leaders pledged to speed up talks for economic partnership agreements and trade and investment promotion frameworks.

They also called for advancing cooperation for Africa’s food security with South Korea’s support with agricultural technology and smart farming.

African leaders welcomed South Korea’s “Tech4Africa” initiative aimed at supporting the education and training of Africa’s young population.

AU chair and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, at a joint news conference with Yoon, said African countries were looking to learn from Korea’s experience in developing human resources, industrialization and digital transformation.

Vast and fast-growing market

Yoon said 33 heads of state participated in the summit.

Yoon has proposed “shared growth” as a pillar of cooperation with the continent and said the leaders agreed to expand trade and investment by establishing institutional frameworks to facilitate them.

By reaching out with offers to help with industrial infrastructure and digital transformation, South Korea is trying to tap into a vast and fast-growing market that is home to 1.4 billion people, the majority of whom are 25 or younger.

The joint declaration said the leaders recognized the instability of global supply chains, and that future industries increasingly depended on the stable supply of mineral resources.

“In this context, we agree to launch the Korea-Africa Critical Minerals Dialogue during this summit which will serve as an important institutional foundation for enhancing cooperation between Korea and Africa,” it said.

Park Jong-dae, a former South Korean ambassador to South Africa and Uganda, argued Western and Chinese models of development had failed African nations, and South Korea offered a valuable alternative path.

“The essence of the Korean model of development cooperation is human development, and about management, rather than about provision of assistance per se,” he said.

“Korea has the experience and know-how of development … while many African countries have immense possibilities for development based on yet to be explored, untapped resources and endowment, and dynamic young population,” he said.

On Wednesday, South Korean business leaders will host a business summit focused on investment, industrial development and food security.

Yoon separately held talks with 25 leaders on the sidelines of the summit, his office said.

Yoon agreed with the leaders of Tanzania to provide $2.5 billion concessional loans and Ethiopia for $1 billion financing to go to infrastructure, science and technology and health and urban development.

Kenyan President William Ruto said South Korea would provide $485 million concessional development funding.

(By Jack Kim, Hyonhee Shin, Josh Smith and Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Jamie Freed and Alex Richardson)

In the first study, published in Advanced Energy Materials, the scientists explain how they successfully engineered iron-based DRX cathodes by modifying the electron storage process, achieving some of the highest storage capacity recorded for iron-based cathodes. The breakthrough could slash lithium-ion battery costs by 20%. 

Until now, existing iron-based cathodes lacked sufficient storage capacity to power a long-range EV. 

In the second study, published in Energy & Environmental Science, the researchers explain how they discovered the potential of another sustainable alternative: manganese-based disordered rock-salts (Mn-DRX). 

The new material offers high energy content at a low cost, but its practical application has been hindered by low electrical conductivity and structural instability. However, in collaboration with a team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the Canadian group found a novel solution. Using multi-walled carbon nanotubes and an adhesive binder as electrode additives, they achieved the highest practical-level energy density ever recorded for Mn-DRX cathodes. 

“Our findings hold immense promise for the future of lithium-ion battery development, offering a pathway towards more affordable and sustainable energy storage solutions,” Jinhyuk Lee, assistant professor in the Department of Mining and Materials Engineering and senior author of both studies, said in a media statement. 

According to Lee, an industry partner is already working alongside the researchers to bring these innovations to market