The Swedish Tycoon Hunting for Commodities Says He Makes His Own Luck
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... eing-deals
New York-listed Albemarle and Australia's Orocobre, two companies producing lithium, a key element in electric car batteries.
Most electric car batteries use lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) cathodes and graphite anodes. "Rare earth" metals dysprosium, neodymium and terbium, chiefly mined in China by companies including Xiamen Tungsten and China Minmetals Rare Earth Co
Much of the world's lithium comes from an area called the "Lithium triangle" in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.
Prices of battery grade lithium in China, the biggest lithium ion battery producer, surged to above $20,000 a tonne this summer, nearly three times higher than a year earlier, as demand grew.
"The lithium industry is going from 160,000 tonnes of LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent) today to at least 260,000 tonnes by 2020,"
Critics caution against expecting shortages of lithium as there is an abundance of it in the earth's crust.
Others warn against jumping too quickly into smaller companies that may not produce the high grade lithium needed for the batteries.
Cobalt prices, up 16 percent this year, are expected to rise another 45 percent by 2020. The U.S. Defense Logistics Agency starting to stockpile cobalt compounds highlights their importance.
Green vehicle technologies, most notably hydrogen fuel cells, being mooted as possible rivals to batteries. But developing new technology to the point where it can be commercialized takes time.
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