Recharge By Battery Materials Review

In December's Recharge Matt Fernley and Cormac O'Laoire round up all November's news, including EV sales and production, the BNEF battery survey and outlook for battery prices, Umicore's and Johnson Matthey's travails in cathode materials and the outlook for graphite. This month's interview is with Ken Brinsden, MD of ASX-listed lithium producer Pilbara Minerals. In a far-reaching interview Ken discusses the state of lithium inventories, the move towards spot pricing and his company's impact on that, the benefits of going downstream and Pilbara's plans for expansion.

November's edition of Recharge has the usual discussion of all the month's news by Matt Fernley and Cormac O'Laoire. This month we focus on pack and cell costs, the length of the supply chain, battery trends in China and a comparison of the ESG implications of different nickel offtake announcements. This month's interview is with David Archer, CEO of AIM-listed Savannah Resources (AIM:SAV) who talks about the Mina do Barroso project in Portugal and its potential as a strategic lithium asset in Europe.

October's Recharge has the usual news recap from Matt Fernley and Cormac O'Laoire, this month discussing how China's power shortages could upset the battery supply chain; the importance of Nio's new hybrid LFP/NMC battery; the Fluence IPO; the GM/LG recall and how battery manufacturing could be related; as well as the raw material shortage and it's likely impact on battery prices.

September's edition of Recharge contains the usual news recap from Matt Fernley and Cormac O'Laoire, this month discussing EV and battery developments in China, the impact of the chip shortage on Q4 EV sales, ownership models of the future for EVs and the supply and demand of lithium and its impact on pricing.

August's edition of Recharge contains the usual news recap from Matt Fernley and Cormac O'Laoire, focusing on CATL's new sodium-ion battery, the run up in lithium prices and their impact on the battery industry, the emergence of M&A in battery raw materials and its implications and a recap on China. This month's interview is with Mark Selby, CEO of TSXV-listed Canada Nickel (TSXV:CNC). We discuss the Crawford project PEA, M&A in the nickel industry and the potential for zero carbon nickel. We are grateful to this episode's sponsor, ICC Sino, an essential source of lithium battery market research.

In June's edition of Recharge there's the usual update on all the previous month's news from Matt Fernley and Cormac O'Laoire, which includes discussion on the lithium market, an update on Ford's EV and battery strategy as well as thoughts on M&A and resource nationalism in the sector. This month's interview is with Iggy Tan, MD of ASX-listed Altech Chemicals (ASX:ATC). We discuss HPA demand growth in lithium-ion batteries HPA (High Purity Alumina) is rapidly becoming essential for use in the development of high density lithium-ion batteries and Iggy introduces the industry and his company's development plans. We are grateful to this episode's sponsor, ICC Sino, an essential source of lithium battery market research.

In May's edition of Recharge there's the usual update on all the previous month's news from Matt Fernley and Cormac O'Laoire, which includes an update on China, discussions on LFP vs Ternary batteries, cathode capacity additions and Hard Rock prices and outlook. This month's interview is with Ken Hoffman from McKinsey's Basic Materials Institute, who talks in more detail about the fascinating tear-down report  on a number of batteries recently released by his team and gives some insight about their thoughts on future strategy in batteries and battery raw materials.  Enjoy our podcasts? Check out our free Investor's Guide to Battery Materials series.

In this month's Recharge, co-hosts Matt Fernley from Battery Materials Review and Cormac O'Laoire discuss all the news in the world of EVs, batteries and battery materials over the past month. This month's interview is with Rodney Hooper from RK equity, a long-time expert on lithium and co-host of the Lithium-ion Rocks podcast and the Rock Stock channel.

March's edition of Recharge, co-hosted by Matt Fernley from Battery Materials Review with Cormac O'Laoire from Electrios Energy, discusses all the key newsflow from February, including an update on developments in China, the uptick in materials capital raisings, the Tsingshan nickel developments, the situation between SK Innovation and LG Chemical in the US, and cathode capacity additions. This month's interview is with Mark Saxon, CEO of Medallion Resources (TSXV:MDL) who talks about supply and demand for critical rare earths as well as his company's revolutionary technology for extracting rare earths from mineral sands. Enjoy our podcasts? Why not check out our Investor's Guide to Battery Materials series?

February's edition of Recharge, co-hosted by Matt Fernley from Battery Materials Review with Cormac O'Laoire from Electrios Energy, discusses all the key newsflow from January, including China's REE exports hitting a 5-year low, China EV and battery developments (CATL, BYD, NIO), the uptick in equity raisings in battery materials and the GM rebrand. This month's interview is with Chris Shepherd, Partner and Managing Director of The Pallinghurst Group [30.22], who discusses his company's strategy as a key investor in Battery Materials, both in terms of what they're looking for in a new investment and what attracted them to their existing investments in Nouveau Monde Graphite (TSXV:NOU) and Nemaska Lithium. Enjoy our podcasts? Why not check out our Investor's Guide to Battery Materials series?

It's a New Year and a new format for Recharge in our January 2021 edition. I'm very happy to welcome guest host Cormac O'Laoire, MD of Electrios Energy. Cormac has over 10 years of experience in the battery industry and has been specialising in the Chinese battery industry for the last 7 years. He brings some fascinating perspectives to our discussion of December's key developments. This month's interview is with Stephen Biggins, MD of Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) [30:32] who gives some interesting detail on his company's Finniss project, which is shaping up to be the next cab off the rank in Australia's hard rock lithium sector.

November 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review discusses how localisation of supply chains can increase the sustainability of battery production. We highlight the key projects which could make up future localised supply chains for both Europe and North America, and also discuss some of the key factors in battery materials production which can impact greenhouse gas emissions. We also include our usual recap of all the key news flow in global batteries and raw materials markets, as well as analysis of key developments. Our interview this month is with Ying Lu, a senior analyst at Roskill who specialises in nickel and nickel sulphate for the battery industry. She provides some fascinating insights into the emerging supply/demand gap in battery grade nickel sulphate and the various attempts to fill it.

October 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review discusses our lead article's view that under-investment in battery raw materials is now the biggest danger to the electric vehicle event. Shortage of raw materials is likely to lead to higher material prices and higher material prices to higher battery prices, which could make electric vehicles uneconomic. We also include our usual recap of all the key news flow in global batteries and raw materials markets, as well as analysis of key developments. Our interview this month is with Marco Romero, CEO of Euro Manganese (TSXV/ASX:EMN). High purity manganese came out as one of the big winners of the Tesla Battery Day and Marco highlights why the industry is so misunderstood and why he believes his company's project is so important.

In September 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review, the Focus article is on the subject of incentive prices in lithium and nickel and we discuss the level that prices need to reach before it will be economic for producers to invest in new capacity. We also include our usual recap of all the key news flow in global batteries and raw materials markets, as well as analysis of key developments. Our interview this month is with Matt Harper of AIM-listed Invinity Energy Systems (AIM:IES), a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) producer. We discuss some of the key challenges and opportunities in the VRFB market and talk in detail about the outlook for Invinity.

In July 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review we discuss this month's focus topic from the Review which is the impact on our materials demand forecasts of an increase in our EV sales forecasts. Basically our more bullish EV sales forecasts bring forward the expected supply/demand gap from the mid-2020s to the early-2020s. This means that it's now more urgent than ever for capital to be invested in the battery raw materials sector. We also have the usual recap of upstream and downstream news, exploration, financing, trade and equity market analysis. Our interview this month is with John Downie, Managing Director of ASX-listed Pure Minerals (ASX:PM1). Pure Minerals is looking to develop a Ni/Co refinery to process laterite nickel ore without going down the HPAL route, utilising a technique piloted in the early-2010s. Given our view that nickel is likely to be one of the most under-supplied battery materials, all methods of expanding production are of interest.

Welcome to June 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review, in which we discuss all the recent news and developments in the batteries, end markets and battery materials sectors. Our Focus topics this month are on (1) EU Green stimulus which I believe will be enormously positive for battery raw materials. European EV sales are set to surprise on the upside this year which will have substantial knock-on impacts on battery demand and hence raw materials demand for batteries. Given that inventories of many products are low, any increase in shipments has the potential to clear them out rapidly, leading to a significant pop in prices; and (2) The importance of Piedmont Lithium’s PFS into a merchant spodumene concentrate/lithium hydroxide converter and what its implications are for hard rock developers around the Atlantic Basin.

Welcome to May 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review. We start with a recap of all the key news items for April in batteries and battery materials, give a little more detail on our Focus article and analyse some of the key data points. Our Focus article in this month's Review is on the topic of Hydrogen. We discuss whether Hydrogen and Batteries should be seen as mutually exclusive or as complementary technologies. Our interview this month is with with Jean-Louis Le Mée, CIO of Westbeck Capital's Energy Opportunities Fund and co-CIO of Westbeck's Volta Fund. Jean-Louis' fund is one of the best-performing energy funds over the past few years and, in a fascinating and far-reaching interview, he discusses the near-term and longer-term outlook for oil prices and the likely impacts of his oil outlook on demand for electric vehicles and batteries. 

Welcome to April 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review. We start with a recap of all the key news items for the month in batteries and battery materials, give a little more detail on our Focus articles and analyse some of the key data points. Our Focus articles in this month's Review are on the Impacts and Opportunities of the Covid pandemic for the battery industry; and also on what battery materials stocks are best to invest in for a recovery Our interview this month is with Ken Brinsden, Managing Director of ASX-listed hard rock lithium miner Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) [08:19]. In a far-reaching interview Ken talks about his company's progress at Pilgangoora, the effects of Covid-19 on the lithium industry, and what differentiates Pilbara Minerals from many other stocks out there.

Welcome to March 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review. This month's edition is a focus on Battery Recycling, which is a topic of great importance in the sector but one that's not well understood. Before that we recap all the key news items for the month in batteries and battery materials, give a little more detail on our Focus articles and analyse some of the key data points. We have two interviews on the Recycling theme: Circular Energy Storage [07:16]: Director Hans Eric Melin shares his thoughts on the efficacy of battery recycling, how much of it is actually happening, how much it can contribute in terms of raw materials supply and how environmentally friendly it is. Lithium Australia (ASX:LIT) [34:44]: MD Adrian Griffin talks about his company's Envirostream subsidiary which, when it IPOs later this year, will be the world's first pure player battery recycling stock. www.batterymaterialsreview.com

Welcome to February 2020's edition of Recharge by Battery Materials Review, in which we discuss all the recent news and developments in the batteries, end markets and battery materials sectors. Our Focus topics this month are on Graphite, which we still believe have significant potential, despite not stellar performance in 2019; and the CoronaVirus. We are particularly concerned that the market is understating the impact that the virus is having on the battery industry in China, given that China is 90-100% of processing capacity in a number of segments. We see potential for significant supply chain disruption which is not priced into equities currently. This is a shame because two key datapoints indicated we may have turned the corner in Q4/19; EV sales rose in December, and the WA spodumene concentrate shipment/inventory ratio troughed in Q3/19. The recovery may now be pushed out further because of the virus. There are no interviews this month because of travel commitments, but we'll have some next month. ww