Nige could write Elon a letter:
Dear Elon,
CATH were going to pay us 240m for 24% of the worlds largest lithium deposit but their dodgy mates tried to screw us. It will cost us 20m to break that deal. Give us 300m and the 24% is yours.
Regards,
Nige aka Big Swinging Richard
AIMO
Elon Musk says Tesla open to buying a mining company
Tesla is open to buying a mining company if producing its own supply of electric vehicle (EV) metals would speed up worldwide adoption of clean energy technologies, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Tuesday.
Concern is mounting across the EV industry that there may not be
enough supply of lithium, nickel, copper and other metals to match demand later this decade, fueling questions about whether Tesla would
consider jumping into the mining sector.
“It’s not out of the question,” Musk told the FT Future of the Car 2022 conference.
“We will address whatever limitations are on accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy. It’s not that we wish to buy mining companies, but if that’s the only way to accelerate the transition, then we will do that.”
While the auto giant has EV metals contracts with suppliers across the globe, its goal to produce 20 million vehicles annually by 2030 – what Musk called an “aspiration, not a promise” – will require vastly more supplies of metals. Tesla produced just under 1 million EVs last year.
Other automakers and executives including Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Tesla rival Stellantis NV, have warned the auto industry faces a metals supply shortage.
Tesla has no experience with the time-intensive and laborious task of building and operating a mine, so industry analysts have advised the automaker to focus on buying an existing operator.
Many in the mining industry have noted that buying an existing metals producer would cost far less than the $43 billion Musk offered to personally buy social media network Twitter earlier this year.
Tesla has lithium supply deals
with Ganfeng Lithium, Livent Corp and Albemarle Corp, among others.
The company’s lithium supply deal with Piedmont Lithium was
put on hold last year.
www.mining.com/category/battery-metals/
Sama Lukonde at the Mining Indaba/2022: “The DRC carries global hope, not only in the mining sector but also in the environment”
Prime Minister Sama Lukonde represents the President of the Republic, Félix Tshisekedi, at this year’s Mining Indaba Forum where he is the VIP of the DRC, talking about the assets and opportunities for investment in the mining sector and even in the ecological transition of the Central African giant.
It is in this sense that a National Strategic Plan for the exploration and certification of mineral reserves, covering the whole of the National Territory, has been drawn up by the government, said Sama Lukonde, highlighting in particular six blocks of obvious mining interest, containing areas of interesting geological research.
These are the Kasaï, Katanga, Equateur, Kivu, Kongo-Central and Kwilu blocks.
To date, among the minerals under exploitation, according to Sama Lukonde, we can mention: copper, cobalt, zinc, tin, manganese, gold, diamond, cassiterite, wolframite and coltan. as well as a short-term prospect of exploiting lithium and nickel.
Accompanied by the Ministers of Mines, Digital and Communication and Media, the Head of Government, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, arrived Sunday evening in Cape Town, South Africa.
This year’s Mining Indaba Forum is themed “African Mining Evolution: Investing in Energy Transition, ESG and Savings”.
Obviously AVZ have to play the cards they are dealt, yet Z may have out foxed AVZ to get their feet under the table, too early to say for sure of course, and there's a long way to go yet and no doubt more twists and turns to come. My preference is for AVZ to be in a strong position when it comes out of suspension and get on with building a mine ASAP. If that means swapping out one Chinese company for another, so be it, its not right, but it might be necessary.
