Yanks are a bit alarmed they won't have enough of the good stuff. 
As EV demand rises, Biden officials warm to new mines
U.S. regulators are warming to approving new domestic sources of electric vehicle battery metals, as Washington bids to avoid a reliance on strategic minerals imports similar to that on crude oil.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials speaking at this week’s CERAWeek energy conference in Houston said the need to domestically produce more metals is rising as EVs go mainstream, but that new mines must not harm the environment.
Granholm told conference attendees she would work to streamline permitting for new sources of EV minerals, eliciting loud applause.
“It takes forever to get a new permit. How crazy is that?” said Granholm.
Granholm’s department has already received applications for $2 billion in loans to fund U.S. strategic minerals projects from Lithium Americas Corp, ioneer, Piedmont Lithium Inc and others.
The department is also proactively contacting junior miners to discuss potential loans.
“The goal here is to make sure that people know that it’s not a lack of capital that’s holding back the development of these assets in the United States,” said Jigar Shah, head of the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office. “
While the loan office is reviewing loan applications from some lithium projects that have faced opposition, funds will not be distributed to proposed mines that have not passed full regulatory review.
“We know that there will be some domestic mining,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Michael Regan said on the sidelines of the conference.
“But it can’t take place in the ways that it has in the past, which skirted some of the environmental laws and disproportionately impact communities of color and tribal communities.”
To be sure, President Joe Biden’s administration is not moving carte blanche to approve all mines.
Last month, for instance, it effectively killed Antofagasta Plc’s
Twin Metals copper project in Minnesota due to concerns the mine would harm an important watershed.
But mining executives said comments from Regan, Granholm and others show the White House is beginning to view mining with a more-nuanced lens and understand its role in a clean energy transition.
www.mining.com/category/battery-metals/
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*To add and remind,
Supply shortage
Global demand for lithium, as well as prices for the metal used in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) continues to grow.
The EV industry
will dominate demand for lithium in the coming years, accounting for almost three quarters of the battery metal’s consumption by 2030, up from 41% in 2020.
Chile, which has one of the world’s largest lithium reserves and hosts the two biggest producers, sees lithium hydroxide taking the lead with about 56% of the total consumption versus 44% for carbonate by the end of the decade. This switch can be mainly explained by manufacturers’ growing preference for nickel-intensive cathodes, which tend to favour the use of hydroxide over carbonate, Chilean copper agency Cochilco said
in a January report.
Demand associated with cell phones, computers and tablets and other consumer goods would reach 411,000 tonnes in 2030, compared with the 79,000 tonnes expected for this year.
The world’s second largest miner, Rio Tinto, which saw its lithium plans in Serbia
crushed this year, sees EV sales accounting for up to 55% of the world’s total light vehicles sales as early as 2030, with about 65 million units.
This means manufacturers would need about three million tonnes of lithium, compared with the roughly 350,000 tonnes they consume today.
Existing operations and projects combined, however, are slated to contribute one million tonnes of lithium, Rio Tinto has warned.
A recent report by the International Energy Agency recommended governments start stockpiling battery metals, noting that lithium demand could increase 40-fold over the next 20 years.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said this would become an “energy security” issue.
China dominates lithium processing, while mine supply largely comes from Chile and Australia.
www.mining.com/category/battery-metals/
*So who ya gonna call when your backs against the "Great EV Wall" Joe, C'mon, you know you want it / need it, now call your DRC Bro
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