There is a lot of talk about the future of motor vehicles, battery storage and all things green when it comes to electricity. But the talk doesn’t seem to be reflected in the commodity prices of those materials required to make up batteries for our EV and home battery storage future. Is it because that is all it is, talk, or are we waiting for the worlds collective mind to realise that the future is now and we need to start doing it now?
There have been huge gains in EV and battery storage and I think once we refine processes further and increase battery duration, especially in EVs, it will really take off. If I was to build a new house today I would have to be talked out of a battery storage solution rather than be talked in to it. As for EVs, living in the country and driving long distances, it doesn’t stack up and diesel is the go to for me. I hope that can change but I can’t see it happening in the short term.
Regardless of when it really takes off the minerals will be needed. However the commodity prices seem to be struggling. Lithium carbonate was the market darling a few years back when it reached a peak of $25,000/mt. It is now trading at about $9,000/mt. With the downward spiral of the carbonate the share prices of many lithium miners has followed and their debt increased.
Yesterday came news that Altura Mining was forced into receivership and administration by its lenders. It came as a surprise to the company as it was in the process of restructuring its debt and had not received any notification of the move by the current lenders when they had flagged October 31 as the deadline. It has left 13,000 shareholders holding the bunny as it looks like their hard earned has gone down the gurgler.
Cobalt is the other battery metal trying to gain traction in the market. Most of the cobalt is found in Africa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Politically it is not the most reliable place to do business and the rules often change, especially for operators from foreign countries. Their human rights record isn’t squeaky clean either and the place is renowned for using child labour. Cobalt could become the market darling as stockpiles are predicted to fall to critical levels by the end of the year. Cobalt prices are about a third of what they were two years ago and are back at 2014 levels.
Nickel is fairing pretty well at the moment. It is the main component in batteries and used in many products too numerous to list. The price seems to be on the up at the moment and is giving some momentum to nickel miners across the world.
There is no doubt that the EV and battery storage revolution will come. If you had listened to some people we would have all been driving EVs now. Alas that market is only a fraction of the new car sales market world-wide. In Australia the market is far below other countries uptake of the technology.
The critical metals used in batteries will have their day in the sun again. When? I can’t tell you but it will be an interesting market to watch and hopefully, those Altura shareholder will be able to recoup their losses on the next big thing.