Deep in the Earth? Worry not, we dig well. Have a peek, you will not be disappointed.

Demand for lithium is at record levels. The US currently sources most of its supply from China – but now intends to mine large quantities of the metal in Nevada. But those plans face resistance from indigenous tribes.

DW News

Lithium: High in demand, bad for the environment

For those betting against the world’s ability to kick its carbon addiction, the commodities boom of the past few years has provided fresh ammunition.

The Washington Post

We’re Not Even Close to Running Out of Green Minerals

Indonesia is courting Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) to invest in the country, which has become a key player in the electric vehicle industrythanks to its rich nickel reserves.



Reuters

Investments in Indonesia's nickel industry

The Net Zero Roadmap for Copper and Nickel Mining was prepared by International Finance Corporation (IFC) as part of the World Bank Group’s Climate Smart Mining Initiative.

World Bank

Net Zero Roadmap To 2050 For Copper & Nickel Mining Value Chains

Savannah Resources (AIM: SAV), the company trying to build western Europe’s largest lithium mine in Portugal, said on Monday it had found a way to significantly cut the project’s direct emissions (or Scope 1) to zero.

Mining.com

Savannah Resources aims to cut lithium mine’s direct emissions to zero

Company rebuts claims by scientists that ‘uncontrolled and unscientific’ practices highlight dangers of going ahead with seabed mining

The Guardian

Leaked video footage of ocean pollution shines light on deep-sea mining

Battery storage is critical for electric vehicles and to connect solar, wind power to the grid, but raw materials such as lithium and cobalt are scarce and need to be imported, the Science Minister says.

The Hindu

Raw material shortage hinders battery-storage research in India

The global battery metals market was valued at USD 14.5 billion in 2021, and it is expected to attain a value of USD 25.66 billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 8.5% over the forecast period (2022-2028).

Digital Journal 

Global Battery Metals Market To Show Significant Growth Prospects

Chris Ellison’s $16.9 billion iron ore and lithium producer Mineral Resources said via a spokesman it couldn’t comment on reports in The West Australian on Friday that it’s building a stake in Canadian lithium explorer Patriot Battery Metals.

Australian Financial Review

Is Chris Ellison’s MinRes buying Patriot Battery Metals?

Lithium-air batteries have scope to compete with gasoline in terms of energy density. However, in most systems, the reaction pathways either involve one- or two-electron transfer, leading to lithium peroxide (Li2O2) or lithium superoxide (LiO2), respectively.

Science.org

A room temperature rechargeable Li2O-based lithium-air battery enabled by a solid electrolyte

A new system rooted in harvesting renewable energy is necessary and much better than oil, but it’s not guaranteed to be perfect. If we don’t take advantage of opportunities to do better, we could end up in another system where our land is ravaged by mining for technologically valuable minerals and ravaged again through the disposal of toxic waste after too short of a useful life

Environment America

Renewable Energy and Conservation: Is there an elephant in the room?

Congo is “not a mine to be exploited nor a land to be plundered,” the pontiff said in Kinshasa, before calling for free elections and de-escalation of the DRC’s civil conflicts.

The European Conservative

Pope Francis: ‘Economic Colonialism’ Must Stop

In its rush to secure and build America’s electric vehicle and battery-supply chains, the U.S. government is reaching far and wide, splashing out billions in commitments. But the desperation is leading it astray.

Japan Times

‘Blood batteries’ drive America’s frantic EV ambitions

Latin American countries rich in the mineral are not giving it up so easily

Quartz

The world needs lithium more than ever, and Latin America knows it

CMBlu Energy, the designer and maker of a proprietary organic flow battery, has won its first deal in the US since the company’s expansion into the market.

Energy Storage News

First US project for European long-duration organic flow battery maker CMBlu

Lawyers for the mining company and the US government told a judge during a Jan. 5 hearing the project is critical to meeting the growing demand for lithium to make electric vehicle batteries

El Pais

GM conditionally OKs $650-million Nevada lithium mine investment

Companies like Ola Electric, Reliance Industries and Rajesh Exports were shortlisted by the government to avail of the Rs 18,000 crore production-linked incentive scheme to make batteries that power EVs domestically.

The Economic Times

Duty exemption on battery cell equipment may reduce prices of EVs in India

Mineral supply chains with traceability and transparency will revolutionize commodities, protect the climate, and advance environmental justice.

MIT Sloan Management Review

Commodities Markets Are Broken. Responsible Supply Chains Can Fix Them.

General Motors’ announcement on Tuesday that it plans to invest $650 million into Lithium Americas to secure access to lithium is the first of what surely will be more to come, according to Simon Moores, the CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.


CNBC

The ‘land grab’ for lithium is just getting started with GM deal, says EV materials expert

Engineers at Australia’s RMIT University are proposing the idea of incorporating a 2D material into lithium-ion batteries to extend their lifetime up to three times longer than today’s technology, that is, to about nine years. 



New tech may help lithium-ion batteries last for nine years

GM will get exclusive access to the first phase of lithium production and the right of first offer on the second phase of lithium production that will come out of Thacker Pass in Nevada.

GM to invest $650 million in a lithium company to support its electric vehicle business

Lithium Americas Soars After GM Invests $650 Million. The EV War Is Escalating.

Barron's

The world is trying to switch from electricity produced by burning fossil fuels to cleaner wind and solar power, but some people have worried that  there aren't enough rare earth minerals to make the green electricity switch.

ABC News

 Enough rare earth minerals to fuel green energy shift

Australia's Lynas Rare Earths (LYC.AX) on Monday reported a 14.8% rise in second-quarter revenue from growing demand for specialised metals used in components of electric vehicles amid a global push toward green energy and decarbonisation.



Australia's Lynas Rare Earths' quarterly revenue rises on strong demand

China’s big lithium miners are set to reap record earnings after booming demand for the electric vehicle battery material sent prices surging to an all-time high last year. 



Bloomberg

Lithium’s Historic Rally Fuels Record Profits for China’s Miners

A Norwegian study has found a “substantial” amount of metals and minerals ranging from copper to rare earths on the seabed of its extended continental shelf, authorities said on Friday in their first official estimates.



Norway discovers huge trove of metals, minerals and rare earths on its seabed

Shares in European Metals Holdings jumped on Monday in both Sydney and London after it said its Cinovec lithium project had been classified as strategic for the Czech Republic’s Usti region.



European Metals soars as Czech lithium project labelled “strategic”

Bullish new forecasts for lithium demand have coincided with setbacks to new supply projects. That’s ultimately good for prices, but not for the electric vehicle sector’s big ambitions.  

Why bad news is good news for lithium stocks

Market optimism is spurring a rush of investments into Zambia’s agriculture and mining sectors, giving the economy new growth impetus.


Mail & Guardian

Global tech billionaires eye Zambia’s electric vehicle battery mines

As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed.

EcoWatch

Deep Seabed Mining Plans Pit Renewable Energy Demand Against Ocean Life in a Largely Unexplored Frontier

Mr. Raffaello Follieri was able to take control of 8% of the global rare metal market in the last year

Forbes

The King of rare earth metals

Gregg Smith, President and CEO of Grounded Lithium Corp, explains how the company is working to bring lithium production to market in Canada.


Innovation News Network

Facilitating sustainable lithium production for Canada’s energy transition

With an anticipated operational life of 18 years, the Songwe Hill project will require an initial capital expenditure of $277.4m.



Mining Technology

Mkango gets environmental clearance for Malawi rare earths project

REEs include 17 elements that are vital for advanced batteries, lasers, electronics, and all emerging technology of the 21st century.

The Future Battlefields: Rare Earth Elements

Mining group Eramet said on Thursday it could produce 10,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year in France in a geothermal project with power company Electricite de Strasbourg.

Eramet targets 10,000 tonnes of lithium per year in French project

There are many questions over the project’s prospects and its potential to spur the green transition in Europe



Financial Times

Reasons for scepticism over Swedish rare earths find

The Biden administration and a host of U.S. allies are looking abroad to mineral-rich countries to secure vulnerable supply chains for EV batteries and renewables.
Jose Fernandez, the State Department's undersecretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, is trying to make sure the effort keeps ESG at the forefront.

Politico

The diplomat securing responsibly sourced critical minerals

The EU can end its reliance on China for lithium-ion battery cells by 2027, Transport & Environment (T&E) has forecast. Europe is on track to produce enough Li-ion cells by then to fully meet domestic demand for electric vehicles and energy storage, according to the new analysis of battery-makers’ announcements.

Batteries News

Europe Could End Reliance on Chinese Li-ion Battery Cells by 2027 

Top metal producers called on the European Union to follow the White House’s lead in rolling out financial support to help the bloc keep control of raw materials critical to the green-energy transition.



EU Metals Industry Urges Aid to Rival US Green-Energy Package

By 2050 electric vehicles could require huge amounts of lithium for their batteries, causing damaging expansions of mining
The US's transition to electric vehicles could require three times as much lithium as is currently produced for the entire global market, causing needless water shortages, Indigenous land grabs, and ecosystem destruction inside and outside its borders, new research finds.

How US transition to electric cars threatens environmental havoc

Nevada Lithium Resources Inc. announce a proposed non-brokered private placement offering of subscription receipts for gross proceeds of a minimum of $3,250,000 with an over-allotment option to increase the private placement offering up to $5,000,000

Nevada Lithium Announces $3,25 Million Financing

Cypress Development Corp. provide a progress update on its ongoing Feasibility Study being conducted on the Company’s Clayton Valley Lithium Project near Silver Peak, Nevada, and on its operational Lithium Extraction Facility in Amargosa Valley, Nevada.




Cypress Development Provides Progress Update on Feasibility Study and Lithium Extraction Facility

News of Ioneer Lithium reaching a $700 million loan commitment for a new plant in Nevada sent its stock price soaring.

Ioneer Lithium Stock Shoots Up On News Of A $700 Million Loan Commitment For A New Plant In Nevada

By 2050 electric vehicles could require huge amounts of lithium for their batteries, causing damaging expansions of mining.



Rare Earth Elements are vital to a green energy future. These elements are vital components of hundreds of products across many applications including: high-tech consumer products, such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, and flat-screen monitors and televisions.



Rare earth mining may be key to our renewable energy future  

Europe could end its reliance on China for electric car batteries by 2030 but only if it keeps pace with Joe Biden’s $369bn (£298bn) green subsidy spree, experts predict.



EU 'could end reliance on China for electric car batteries by 2030'

Giving Ukraine modern tanks remains a key question facing Kyiv’s allies, but perhaps the most exposed link in supply chains for producing such weapons runs on train tracks through the foe they’re trying to defeat.



How Europe needs freight trains to cross Russia from China

The Australian Government has released guidelines for new grants, with rare earths developer Hastings Technology Metals already benefitting from the announcement.




Australian Mining

Critical minerals to get funding boost

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have arrested five men, including two Chinese nationals, for allegedly trying to smuggle an estimated 1,000 metric tons of lithium-bearing rocks out of the country.



Taliban Arrest Chinese Nationals for Allegedly Smuggling Afghan Lithium

The U.S. effort to wrest control of the supply chain for electric car batteries from China is playing out in African mines, where reports of child abuse and forced labor are rampant.

Biden turns to Africa to counter China

Mining & Metals | Battery Metals

The Spanish Energy Ministry has upheld its refusal to authorise the construction of a uranium mine near the western city of Salamanca by London-listed Berkeley Energia (BKY.L), sending its shares down 16%.

Spain sticks with decision to block Berkeley's uranium mine

There’s little debate that phasing out coal-fired power plants is necessary to avoid the worst climate change scenarios. Yet rather than fade away, coal, the biggest source of carbon emissions, is experiencing a renaissance. 

Why Coal Staged a Comeback Despite Climate Worries

Climate change has kept Europe warm enough this winter to save it from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s energy crisis, but the respite may prove fleeting if—perhaps when—those same climate changes cause a crisis this summer. A warm and dry winter usually means a hot and dry summer, and Europe’s short-term relief could keep the continent from preparing for the next wave of energy crunches.

Time

Climate Change Saved Europe From Putin This Winter

Rail disruptions on the key line to Africa’s biggest coal-export terminal are intensifying, choking off more than half the fuel the facility is capable of shipping.

BNN Bloomberg

South Africa’s Coal Export Snags Worsen as Rail Shipments Slump

India, the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, is planning for an expansion of its oil and gas sectors even as it aims to hit net-zero by 2070.

The nation intends to increase oil refining volumes to 450 million tons a year by the end of decade, from about 250 million tons, and will also boost LNG import capacity, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Energy Voice

India can add oil and gas while it chases green goal

At a nuclear waste site in Normandy, robotic arms guided by technicians behind a protective shield maneuver a pipe that will turn radioactive chemicals into glass as France seeks to make safe the byproducts of its growing reliance on atomic power.

France seeks strategy as nuclear waste site risks saturation point

Mitigation research lacks the tools to assess whether this bottom-up momentum can self-propagate toward Paris alignment. Here, we introduce dynamic policy evaluation (DPE), an evidence-based approach for emulating real-world policy-making.

Nature

Coal-exit alliance must confront freeriding sectors to propel Paris-aligned momentum

Not far from the white sand beaches on the island of Borneo, the Indonesian government is building what it calls a "green industrial park." In the ground-breaking ceremony, Indonesia's president said this area of more than 40,000 acres would become a hub for green manufacturing using the country's vast mineral reserves.

NPR 

Despite billions to get off coal, why is Indonesia still building new coal plants?

It’s Wednesday, February 1, and clean energy investments reached a new milestone in 2022.

Grist

New renewables outcompete 99% of coal plant

State lawmakers want to cut ties with banks that they believe are discriminating against Indiana coal companies, firearm makers and others. Some banks have environmental, social and governance policies — or ESGs — that consider the environmental or social impacts of their investments.

WBOI News

Lawmakers try again to cut ties with banks that divest from coal, study says it could be costly

A Georgia resident files a wrongful death lawsuit against Georgia Power, saying his daughter contracted fatal breast cancer from toxic coal ash contaminating her well water near a power plant.

WGXA

Georgia resident’s lawsuit blames coal ash for daughter’s death

Slimy biofilms made up of bacterial and eukaryotic life forms have taken over an abandoned, flooded uranium mine in Germany.

Big Think

Strange life forms create an “alien” ecosystem in an abandoned uranium mine

European coal prices declines more than 5% as muted spot demand, abundant supply and weakening gas prices continue to weigh on the market.

Montel

Coal slides 5% on sluggish demand, gas

Bangladesh has sent a letter to Adani Power Ltd to negotiate a lower import price for coal under a power purchase agreement.

Bangladesh asks Adani Power for lower import price for coal

Coal is a booming business among communities living in or near Ermelo, the commercial hub of Gert Sibande district municipality in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. Situated about 200km east of Johannesburg, Ermelo is home to Camden coal power station, scheduled to be shut down by 2025.

Climate Home News

Coal communities fear South Africa’s clean energy transition

The U.N. nuclear watchdog criticised Iran on Wednesday for making an undeclared change to the interconnection between the two clusters of advanced machines enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons grade, at its Fordow plant

IAEA chides Iran for undeclared change to Fordow uranium enrichment setup

Uranium prices continue to drift higher as demand grows and supply remains both constrained and at risk of disruption by Russia and Russian controlled entities. In the past month, uranium prices are up ~4% and they are up 15.72% over the past year

Investorintel

Lining up uranium production, Ur-Energy responds to new sale agreements and rising demand

Greens leader’s criticism suggests party will rekindle demands to add climate trigger in safeguards scheme or limit use of carbon offsets

Adam Bandt accuses Albanese government of ‘greenwashing’ for allowing new coal and gas mines

The White House declined to say whether the US will provide Ukraine with depleted-uranium ammunition for Bradley infantry fighting vehicles despite having concrete evidence showing that the weapon has the potential to cause cancer and birth defects.

First Post

US refuses to say if Ukraine will receive toxic depleted uranium ammunition for Bradleys

 India’s power generators have struggled to rebuild coal stocks so far this winter because consumption is rising faster than the rail network can deliver more fuel from the mine

 India’s low coal stocks threaten electricity supply

Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build “several” nuclear weapons if it chooses, the United Nations' top nuclear official is now warning. 

Euronews

Iran has enough uranium to build 'several' atom bombs, UN warns 

Nuclear energy is seen as a preferable energy source to a fall back to burning coal.
For decades, Germany has maintained a love-hate relationship with nuclear power. Currently, Germany has three existing nuclear reactors that produce ~6% of the country's power supply, a far cry from the 1990s when 19 nuclear power plants produced about a third of the country's electricity supply.

Oil Price

In Unexpected Swing, Germany's Public Now Favors Nuclear Power

Indonesia aims to issue emission quotas for some coal-fired power plants within this month as a first step towards creating a mechanism for domestic carbon trading, energy officials said on Tuesday.


Indonesia to set coal power plants emission quotas this month

Western Uranium & Vanadium has already acquired a site in Utah and begun work on designing and permitting the facility to process uranium, vanadium and cobalt. The new plant will process feed from Western's restarted Sunday Mine Complex.



World Nuclear News

Company reveals plans for new US uranium plant

A toxic smog engulfs India's capital every winter, as particles from bonfires of crop stubble and vehicle exhausts hang in the air, but New Delhi is enforcing a ban on coal burning from this month that is forcing industry to shift to biomass.




Indian industry turns to biomass as capital bans coal in pollution fight

Though the Ukraine crisis and summer power demand are short term events, they have influenced India’s long-term position on coal.

Observer Research Foundation

Coal Phase Down: Miles to Go

The National Grid is readying three coal power plants in anticipation for increased demand for energy on Monday night as the cold weather continues.
The electricity grid operator said that they have "instructed coal-fired power units to be available to increase electricity supplies should it be needed".

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