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1、Everything you need to know about the battery metals lithium,nickel,cobalt and copper!Battery Metals Report 20222DisclaimerDear reader,Please read the complete disclaimer in the following pages carefully before you start rea-ding this Swiss Resource Capital Publication.By using this Swiss Resource C
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95、 information from your browser including cookie information,IP address and the accessed websites.Reading and accepting our terms of use and privacy statement are a prerequisite for permis-sion to read,use and interact with our website(s).67Disclaimer 02Table of Contents|Imprint 07Preface 09Battery m
96、etals are running into a supply deficit of un-imagined proportions!More than a hundred new mines will be needed by 2030!10Interview with Tobias TretterManaging Partner of Commodity Capital AG 28Company Profiles Alpha Lithium.30Canada Nickel.34Cypress Development.38Hannan Metals.42Kutcho Copper.46Sur
97、ge Copper.50EditorSwiss Resource Capital AG Poststr.19100 Herisau,Schweiz Tel:+41 71 354 8501Fax:+41 71 560 4271inforesource-capital.ch www.resource-capital.chEditorial staffJochen StaigerTim RdelLayout/DesignFrauke DeutschAll rights reserved.Reprinting material by copying in electronic form is not
98、permitted.Editorial Deadline 09/30/2022Cover:284374276,adobestockp.11:ser_igor/stock.adobep.14:florian-delee,unsplashp.17:paul-alain-hunt,unsplashp.20:Benjah-bmm27,CC BY 3.0p.21:david-preston,unsplashp.23:ra-dragon,unsplashBack:#1:ssarwas0,Pixabay#2:TravelCoffeeBook,Pixabay#3:andreas160578,Pixabay#4
99、:Hookyung Lee,PixabayAll images and graphics are,unless otherwise stated,by the companies.Charts 10/12/2022JS Charts by amCharts.You do not have to be a stock market professional to make wise investment decisions.Invest together with Swiss Resource Capital AG and Asset Management Switzerland AG in t
100、he mega-trend commodities.Since 05.03.2020 the experts specialist knowledge has been available as a Wikifolio certificate:SRC Mining&Special Situations ZertifikatISIN:DE000LS9PQA9WKN:LS9PQA Currency:CHF/Euro*Certificate fee:0,95%p.a.Performance fee:15%We recommend that interested parties and potenti
101、al investors obtain comprehensive information before making an investment decision.In particular,about the potential risks and rewards of the security.You are about to purchase a product that is not simple and can be difficult to understand.Further,important information can be found at:www.resource-
102、capital.ch/de/disclaimer-agb*Trading in Euro is possible at the Euwax in Stuttgart.Invest with the commodity professionalsCurrently the following titles are represented in the SRC Mining&Special Situations Certificate(10/2022):AGNICO EAGLE MINES|ALPHA LITHIUM CORP.|ANGLO AMERICAN|ARIS MNG.CORP.|AURA
103、NIA RESOURCES|BARRICK GOLD|BHP BILLITON|CALEDONIA MINING|CALI-BRE MINING|CANADA NICKEL|CHESAPEAKE GOLD|CONDOR GOLD|CONSOLIDATED URANIUM|COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING|CYPRESS DEVELOPMENT|DENARIUS METALS CORPORATION|DISCOVERY SILVER CORP.|ENDEAVOUR SILVER|FRANCO-NEVADA|FREEPORT-MCMORAN|FURY GOLD MINES|GOLD R
104、OYALTY CORP.|GOLD TERRA RESOURCE|GOLDMINING|HANNAN METALS|ISOENERGY|KARORA RESOURCES|KUTCHO COPPER|LABRADOR URANIUM INC.|LI-METAL CORP.|MAG SILVER|MAPLE GOLD MINES|MAWSON GOLD|MEDMIRA INC.|NEWMONT GOLDCORP|OCEANAGOLD|OSISKO GOLD ROYALTIES|PETROBRAS(ADR)|REVIVAL GOLD|RIO TINTO|SATURN OIL&GAS|SIBANYE
105、STILLWATER|SKEENA RESOUR-CES|SUMMA SILVER CORP.|TIER ONE SILVER INC.|TORQ RESOURCES INC.|TRILLIUM GOLD MINES|TUDOR GOLD|URANIUM ENERGY|VICTORIA GOLD|VIZSLA SILVERTable of ContentsImprint9Dear Readers,We hereby present the latest edition of our Battery Metals Report.Our special report series started
106、in the fall of 2016 with lithium,as we see this metal,along with cobalt,nickel and copper,as one of the great energy metals of the future and as a great opportunity with a lot of potenti-al.E-mobility has really taken off and regis-tration figures have doubled worldwide in 2022.This can be seen in t
107、he absolute re-cord price level of the lithium prices where meanwhile 72,000 US$are called for a ton in China.Lithium now has an enormous supply deficit.By 2030,global lithium pro-duction must triple!Rio Tinto estimates that current supply and promised production expansions can only meet 15%of deman
108、d growth through 2050.85%will have to be met from other sources,i.e.new mines.It also fits into the picture that two of our for-mer report stocks(Millennial Lithium and NeoLithium)were recently taken over for a lot of money.In the case of nickel,there was a short squeeze in March 2022 that was quite
109、 a surprise and shook the foundations of the LME.But this too is likely to be just the be-ginning of an unstoppable upward spiral in battery metal prices.According to one stu-dy,we need 26 new nickel mines by 2035 to match supply with demand.This is because the electric car has become established an
110、d has won a place among consumers,partly because politicians have recognized that a world that is as CO2-free as possible will only be possible with elec-tric mobility.Lithium,nickel and cobalt are the main components of all batteries and accumula-tors available in large series and thus the main lin
111、k in the electric vehicle dream.The movements in Germany are interesting,where not only Tesla was able to open a factory(Gigafactory)only recently,but in the meantime several well-known battery manufacturers have pitched their tents.PrefaceJochen Staiger is founder and CEO of Swiss Resource Capital
112、AG,located in Herisau,Switzerland.As chief-editor and founder of the first two resource IP-TV-channels Commodity-TV and its German counterpart Rohstoff-TV,he reports about companies,experts,fund managers and various themes around the international mining business and the correspondent metals.All the
113、se factories will be enormous drivers of demand for lithium,cobalt and nickel,but also for copper.Millions of tons of cop-per will be needed in the future not only for cars,but especially for the charging infra-structure.2020 was clearly the start of a decade for raw materials,as they are and will r
114、emain the basis of everything we do economically.Swiss Resource Capital AG has made it its business to inform commodity investors,interested parties and those who would like to become one,up-to-date and compre-hensively about various commodities and mining companies.On our website www.resource-capit
115、al.ch you will find more than 35 companies and a lot of information and articles about commodities.We would like to give you the necessary insights and inform you comprehensively through our special reports.In addition,our two commodity IPTV channels www.Com-modity-TV.net&www.Rohstoff-TV.net are ava
116、ilable to you free of charge at any time.For on the go,we recommend our new Commodity TV App for iPhone and And-roid,which provides you with real-time charts,quotes and also the latest videos.My team and I hope you enjoy reading the Battery Metals Special Report and we hope to provide you with lots
117、of new information,impressions and ideas.Yours,Jochen StaigerTim Rdel is Manager Newsletter,Threads&Special Reports at SRC AG.He has been active in the commodities sector for more than 15 years and accompanied several chief-editor positions,e.g.at Rohstoff-Spiegel,Rohstoff-Woche,Rohstoffraketen,the
118、publications Wahrer Wohlstand and First Mover.He owns an enormous commodity expertise and a wide-spread network within the whole resource sector.The whole world of commodities in one App:Commodity-TV CEO and expert interviews Site-Visit-Videos Reports from trade shows and conferences around the worl
119、d Up-to-date mining information Commodity TV,Rohstoff-TV and Dukascopy TV Real-time charts and much more!Swiss Resource Capital AG|Poststrasse 1|9100 Herisau|Schweiz|www.resource-capital.ch|inforesource-capital.chcreated byFree download here:1011numbers indicate the ratio of nickel,man-ganese and co
120、balt)to a higher proportion of nickel(NMC 811),although development is currently still at corresponding intermediate stages(NMC 622/NMC 532).NMC 111 is considered the simplest battery version,based on an equal number of atoms of the three elements,NMC 532/622 have a hig-her energy density and a lowe
121、r price than NMC 111 due to a lower cobalt content,and NMC 811 is the newest and most ad-vanced battery version with the highest the-oretical lithium and cobalt performance.The lithium-ion battery is the heart of every electric vehicleIn addition to the engine,the heart of every electric vehicle is
122、the energy storage unit,i.e.a rechargeable battery.In order to be operated economically in the long term,electric vehicles,but also increasingly emerging decentralized storage systems such as for photovoltaic or wind power plants require ever more powerful rechar-geable batteries.The lithium-ion bat
123、tery has emerged as the most efficient,mass-market type of energy storage cur-rently available for vehicles.One of the rea-sons for this is that within a lithium-ion bat-tery,the voltage is achieved by exchanging lithium ions.Because of their high energy density,lithium-ion batteries deliver cons-ta
124、nt power over the entire discharge period and do not exhibit any so-called memory effect,i.e.successive loss of capacity over many years of use or frequent partial discharge.The name lithium-ion battery“is only the generic term for a whole range of possible chemical structures,such as the lithium-co
125、balt(dioxide)battery,the lithi-um-manganese(dioxide)battery,the lithi-um-iron phosphate battery and less com-monly the lithium-titanate battery and the tin-sulfur lithium-ion battery.The most common battery is currently the lithium-ni-ckel-manganese-cobalt(abbreviated NMC)battery.Cobalt will be larg
126、ely replaced by nickel in future battery generationsAlthough the basic principle of the lithi-um-ion battery has not changed much over the past few years,development is continu-ing steadily.The main focus is on efficiency and charging capacity(in the case of elec-tric vehicles,this is often referred
127、 to as ran-ge),but also on the use of metals and ele-ments.In this respect,a transformation is currently taking place away from high pro-portions of cobalt(NMC 111,where the Battery metals are running into a supply deficit of unimagined proportions!More than a hundred new mines will be needed by 203
128、0!Electromobility is still in its infancy,but demand for the necessary materials is already beginning to explodeFor many years,Tesla Motors was alone in researching,developing and finally building electric cars and the batteries needed for them,but today virtually every well-known automaker has hybr
129、ids or pure electric ve-hicles in its range.Nevertheless,the indus-try is still in its infancy in terms of unit sales,even though registration figures have pi-cked up noticeably recently.While only around 125,000 pure electric vehicles and(plug-in)hybrids were registered worldwide in 2012(market sha
130、re of all registrations:0.2%),by 2020 this figure had risen to 3.24 million(market share:4.2%).In 2021,re-gistrations then exploded by over 100%to 6.75 million newly registered e-cars(mar-ket share 8.3%).For 2022,the British bat-tery sector analyst Rho Motion expects a further fulminant increase in
131、e-car registra-tions to 10.3 million units(market share 12.6%).By 2025,e-car registrations are expected to double again,to 20.9 million units per year.At the same time,the capa-cities of the lithium-ion batteries required continue to rise,from around 46 KWh in 2022 to around 54 KWh in 2025.Figures t
132、hat make one thing quite clear:In the co-ming years and decades,the demand for the elements and especially metals requi-red for battery production will develop in an almost explosive manner.Corresponding,massive supply deficits are therefore inevi-table,since the mining industry will no lon-ger be a
133、ble to keep up with production.The demand for battery metals is already higher than the existing supply and the gap will continue to widenFor nearly all elements that go into batte-ries,such a supply shortfall is already beco-ming apparent,even before the big jumps in unit sales come.These include p
134、rimarily the battery metals lithium,nickel,manganese and cobalt,as well as copper and graphite.Some of these materials have so far hardly been used in conventional models with internal combus-tion engines,or in some cases in signifi-cantly smaller quantities.The prices for most of these materials an
135、d metals have therefore already skyrocketed.In the case of lithium and nickel in particular,the mining industry is miles away from being able to satisfy the coming demand volumes.This became all the more apparent when Tesla CEO Elon Musk literally begged correspon-ding mining companies to develop ne
136、w ni-ckel mines in 2020.The International Energy Agency(IEA)goes even further,recently stating in a high-profi-le report that the industry will need to bring 50 more lithium mines,60 more nickel mi-nes and 17 more cobalt mines on stream by 2030 to meet global net carbon emission targets.It is import
137、ant to note that such mi-nes take 10 years from the initial discovery of a relevant deposit to first production.Ac-cordingly,the de facto supply deficit alrea-dy existing for battery metals is expected to widen massively in the coming years,which will inevitably lead to higher prices for these metal
138、s.For investors,therefore,there is an excel-lent entry opportunity into the world of bat-tery metals right now,as we will explain in detail below.Basic information about the lithium-ion battery(Source:Alpha Lithium)SEPARATORELEKTROLYTANODE(-)KUPFERKATHODE(+)ALUMINIUMSAUERSTOFF+METALL KOBALT/NICKEL/M
139、ANGANLITHIUM IONKOHLENSTOFF(GRAPHIT)ELEKTRONAUFBAU UND FUNKTIONSWEISEEINES LITHIUM-IONEN-AKKUSStructure and function of a lithium-ion battery Positive electrode(cathode):Lithium-Cobalt(III)-oxide,Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt-Oxide,Oxygen,Aluminum as conductor material Negative electrode(anode):Gr
140、aphite or related carbon materials,Silicon,Tin dioxide,Copper as conductor material Electrolyte(solution)Polymer membrane separatorEssentially a lithium-ion accumulator consists of the following components and materials:1213over the next 5 to 10 years,largely due to an expected multiplication in the
141、 number of units of rechargeable batteries.Other ma-jor suppliers of lithium-ion batteries,inclu-ding South Korea and Japan,are also ex-pected to guarantee robust increases in lithium and cobalt demand.Foremost among these are electronics giants Panas-onic,Samsung,LG Chem,BYD,CATL,SK innovation,and
142、Great Wall,which accoun-ted for 78%of global lithium cell producti-on in 2020.The EU launches major funding programsThe EU,which seemed to sleep through the development of battery production for years,has been able to catch up powerful-ly with China thanks to many governmental and also private suppo
143、rt programs and not least thanks to its strong industrial base.Teslas Gigafactory near Berlin and North-volts Gigafactory in Skellefte in northern Sweden are just a taste of what is to come in the next 10 years.By 2030 alone,more than 40 corresponding production sites for batteries and/or cathode ma
144、terials are planned.At the same time,there is current-ly a planned battery capacity of at least 600 GWh by 2030.The established automakers in particular are driving European lithi-um-ion battery production.North America is slowly emancipa-ting itself from TeslaIn North America,Tesla holds the domina
145、nt position in lithium-ion battery production.The company has been operating the so-called Gigafactory 1“in Nevada since 2016.Lithium-ion batteries,battery packs,electric motors and drive units for up to 500,000 electric vehicles per year are built there.Gigafactory 5“was opened in Aus-tin/Texas in
146、April 2022 and is by far the lar-gest gigafactory in North America.Tesla,however,is far from the only lithium and cobalt consumer planning major lithi-um-ion battery production.LG Chem alrea-dy started production for Chevy in Mi-chigan in October 2015 and is current-ly working with General Motors on
147、 a larger battery production.Foxconn,BYD(the worlds largest producer of rechargeable batteries,especially for cell phones),Lishen,CATL and Boston Power are also working on the const-ruction of their own gigafactories,in-cluding for so-called power banks,i.e.decentralized power storage systems,which
148、are likely to become increasingly important in the future.The most important battery metals are lithium,nickel and cobalt copper provides the component linkage In addition to the already mentioned raw materials lithium,cobalt,nickel and manganese,a lithium-ion battery essentially also consists of al
149、uminum,graphite,zinc,tin and steel.The majo-rity of(lithium-ion)batteries currently on the market are lithium-cobalt(dioxi-de)batteries,which is why this report deals primarily with the battery metals lithium,nickel and cobalt.We will also take a look at copper,which is beco-ming increasingly import
150、ant.How a lithium-ion battery worksIn simple terms,a lithium-ion battery generates an electromotive force th-rough the displacement of lithium ions.During the charging process,positively charged lithium ions move through an electrolyte and the separator from the positive to the negative electrode.In
151、 the process,lithium ions can move fre-ely within the battery through the elect-rolyte between the two electrodes.Un-like the lithium ions,the transition metal and graphite structures of the electro-des are stationary and protected from direct contact by a separator.The mo-bility of the lithium ions
152、 is necessary to balance the external current flow during charging and discharging so that the electrodes themselves remain(largely)electrically neutral.The negative elec-trode is a so-called graphite intercalati-on compound,with lithium present as a cation.During discharging,the inter-calation comp
153、ound emits electrons that flow back to the positive electrode via the external circuit.At the same time,an equal number of Li+ions from the intercalation compound also migrate through the electrolyte to the positive electrode.At the positive electrode,it is not the lithium ions that accept the elect
154、rons from the external circuit,but the structures of the transition metal compounds present there.Depending on the type of accumulator,these are cobalt,nickel,manganese or iron ions,which change their charge.The number and production capacity of global gigafactories is growing rapidlyAfter Tesla Mot
155、ors popularized the name Gigafactory“in 2014,it came to stand for large manufacturing plants that produce lit-hium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.Since the beginning of the new decade,the construction and commissioning of such gigantic production facilities has multip-lied.China in particular h
156、as shone with ever new production facilities and capacity ex-pansions.Currently,about 160 of the wor-lds 215 gigafactories in the pipeline are in China,while Europe has about 40 and North America only about 15 gigafactories in the pipeline.Globally,about 140 gigafac-tories are already in operation,o
157、f which only about 10 are currently producing in the EU.Global lithium-ion cell production capacity is expected to reach 1,250 GWh by the end of 2023 a fourfold increase compared to 2018,with an additional ex-pansion of production capacity to around 2,000 GWh in 2028 and 3,000 GWh in 2030.However,th
158、is would only cover the demand from the electric vehicle sector ex-pected by then.Added to this is demand from the stationary storage sector and other industry(batteries for small applian-ces,etc.).Asia is clearly ahead in battery productionToday,China alone provides a large share of the total deman
159、d for lithium-ion batte-ries.China is expected to continue to see the strongest annual increase in battery metal demand of any major market player(Source:own representation)Basic information about the battery sector2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 20355.0004.5004.0003
160、.5003.0002.5002.0001.5001.0005000Lithium-ion battery demand outlookGWh/yearOtherCommercial EVsPassenger EVsLithium-ion battery demand outlook1415ly confidential.One reason for this,which the few suppliers always like to give,is that the available and required lithium qualities are too different for
161、a standardized exchan-ge trading place.Main applications have been alloys and lubricants and will be batteries in the futureIts above-mentioned special and versatile properties make lithium a sought-after ma-terial in very many different areas of appli-cation.It should therefore come as no sur-prise
162、 that the main area of application for lithium has changed constantly in the past.Initially used mainly in medicine,the ele-ment began its triumphant advance in the 1950s as a component of alloys.Its low weight,but also its positive properties in terms of tensile strength,hardness and ela-sticity,ma
163、de it an integral part of aerospa-ce technology in particular.In the past 20 years,this picture has changed once again.As the electric revolution got underway,it was quickly recognized that its low normal potential made it almost perfect for use as an anode in batteries.Lithium batteries are charact
164、erized by a very high energy density and can generate particularly high volta-ges.However,lithium batteries are not rechargeable.Lithium-ion batteries,on the other hand,have this property,with lithium metal oxides such as lithium cobalt oxide connected as the cathode.However,as a raw material for th
165、e production of accumu-lators and batteries,purity grades higher than 99.5%are required.Lithium hydroxide in the Industrial“grade is used,among other things,as a raw material for lubri-cants and coolants;with the higher Techni-cal“grade,it is also used in accumulator and battery production.Lithium c
166、arbona-te crystalline,granulated or in powder form is used,for example,in the elect-rolytic production of aluminum,in the cera-mics and pharmaceutical industries,and in alloying technology.Special purity grades of lithium carbonate in the form of very fine powder(battery grade powder)are suitable as
167、 a raw material for the production of lithi-2.So-called hard rock spodumene“,i.e.hard rock pegmatite deposits:Here,lit-hium compounds are not extracted from the salt of lakes,but from spodumene,a lithium-bearing aluminum silicate mine-ral.Mined by conventional mining tech-nology,the concentrate obta
168、ined is of-ten converted to lithium carbonate with a purity of more than 99.5%.The inten-sive thermal and hydrometallurgical pro-cess required for this is considered to be very costly.Such deposits are currently exploited almost exclusively in Australia,with most of the further processing ta-king pl
169、ace in Chinese facilities.Three quarters of the worlds lithium deposits are located in just three countries Lithium accounts for about 0.006%of the Earths crust,making it slightly less abun-dant than zinc,copper and tungsten,and slightly more abundant than cobalt,tin and lead.Estimates from the U.S.
170、Geological Survey(USGS)in 2021 suggest that about 22 million metric tons of lithium are recover-able as reserves and 89 million tons are re-coverable as resources worldwide.About 51.8%of the reserves are located in the South American countries of Chile and Ar-gentina alone,and 25.9%in Australia.The
171、largest lithium carbonate production cur-rently takes place in the Salar de Atacama,a salt lake in the northern Chilean province of Antofagasta.In addition,significant lithi-um deposits are found mainly in North America and China.Lithium mining takes place in a few countriesAustralia,Chile,China and
172、 Argentina recent-ly accounted for around 95 percent of the worlds total lithium production,which is shared among only a few companies.As a result of this supply oligopoly,lithium is cur-rently not traded on the stock exchange,and the actual trading prices are kept strict-The industry essentially di
173、stinguishes bet-ween three types or qualities of lithium compounds:1.Industrial Grade“,with purity over 96%,mainly for glass,casting powder and lu-bricant,2.Technical Grade“,with a purity of about 99.5%,mainly for ceramics,lubricants and batteries,and3.Battery Grade“,with purity above 99.5%,mainly f
174、or high-end cathode ma-terials in batteries and rechargeable bat-teries.There are two types of lithium depositsLithium is generally obtained from two dif-ferent sources.1.So-called brine“,i.e.(salt)sheet or bri-ne deposits:Mainly in salt lakes,lithium carbonate is extracted from lithium-con-taining
175、salt solutions by evaporation of the water and addition of sodium carbo-nate.To extract metallic lithium,the lithi-um carbonate is first reacted with hy-drochloric acid.This produces carbon dioxide,which escapes as a gas,and dissolved lithium chloride.This solution is concentrated in a vacuum evapor
176、ator until the chloride crystallizes out.LithiumThe element lithiumLithium is a light metal from the group of alkali metals.It has the lowest density of all known solid elements.It is only about half as heavy as water,naturally silvery white and relatively soft.Lithium is highly reacti-ve,which is w
177、hy it basically always occurs as a lithium compound in the wild.It tar-nishes rapidly in air,due to the formation of lithium oxide and lithium nitride.In pure oxygen,it burns with a bright red flame at 180C to form lithium oxide.Lithium reacts very strongly with water to form lithium hy-droxide.Lith
178、ium extraction is either lengthy or expensiveGlobal lithium production is divided into se-veral different variants,producing the follo-wing types of lithium compounds:1.Lithium carbonate,2.Lithium hydroxide,3.Lithium chloride,4.Butyllithium and 5.Lithium metal.Metallic lithium is usually produced fr
179、om lit-hium carbonate in a multi-stage process and is usually traded with a purity of 99.5%.This metallic lithium is used as a catalyst in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as for the production of aluminum-lithium alloys.Lithium as a brine deposit(Source:florian-delee by )Melting P
180、oint 180,54 CBoiling Point 1330CLiHE 2s1 3LITHIUM1617NickelThe element nickelNickel is a metallic,silvery shiny transition metal.It is medium hard,malleable and ea-sily polished.Like cobalt,nickel is ferroma-gnetic and also highly resistant to air,water,hydrochloric acid and alkalis at room tem-pera
181、ture,which makes it ideal for use in lit-hium-ion batteries.The main driving factor will be demand from the battery sector and the associated auto-motive industry.Assuming that a maximum of 700,000 tons of LCE per year can be ex-tracted from existing mines and that new mines cannot be brought on str
182、eam in the short term,a supply deficit of well over 300,000 tons is indicated for 2025 alone!For 2030,the outlook is even bleaker.A bottleneck of unimagined proportions is looming here.with todays mining activity,whereby only limited efforts have been made so far for concrete mine expansions or new
183、mines,so that lithium is practically running into a huge supply deficit.In addition,recent re-ports about several postponed mine starts caused additional uncertainty on the supply side.The price explosion of lithium in early 2022 is relatively insignificant for battery manufacturing!Ultimately,the p
184、rice alone will determine the economic extractability of the existing lithium deposits.While the price was still around US$6,000 per ton of lithium carbo-nate in mid-2015,it shot up to around US$78,700(500,000 yuan)at the beginning of 2022.Despite all the prophecies of doom,it remained just above th
185、e 500,000-yuan mark until recently.This is a lucrative busi-ness for the producers,as the pure extrac-tion costs for the current projects are only around US$2,500(Chile)to US$8,000(Chi-na)per ton.This is similarly the case for lit-hium hydroxide.Since lithium makes up a significant part of a battery
186、 in terms of volume but is only responsible for less than 10%of the costs of a battery,the lithium price is ultimately relatively insig-nificant for the production of lithium-ion batteries and should therefore be able to be maintained at an economic level for the lithium producers.Demand for lithium
187、 is increasing rapidly high supply deficit foresee-able from 2023!The demand for lithium appears to be al-most gigantic,not only due to,but primarily because of the new boom sector of electro-mobility!While in the case of lithium this was still around 65,000 tons of LCE in 2000,in 2020 there was alr
188、eady 305,000 tons of LCE in demand per year.Experts expect LCE demand to rise to over 600,000 tons in 2022,to around 1 million tons by 2025 and to around 2.5 million tons per year by 2030.um-ion batteries.The extraction and pro-cessing of(especially high-grade)lithium is considered very costly.The p
189、roduction of lithium-ion batte-ries requires a large amount of lithiumA large amount of lithium is required for the production and operation of lithium-ion batteries.Each smartphone contains bet-ween 5 and 7 grams of LCE(lithium carbo-nate equivalent;conversion factor LCE:pure lithium=5.323:1).For a
190、 notebook or tablet,this is already 20 to 45 grams.Pow-er tools such as cordless screwdrivers or electric saws require about 40 to 60 grams for their batteries.A 10 KWh storage unit for household use requires about 23 kilo-grams of LCE,while batteries for electric cars need between 40 and 80 kilogra
191、ms.An energy storage system with 650 MWh capacity needs about 1.5 tons of LCE.Lithium production will increase sharplyIn 2021,global lithium production was around 560,000 tons of LCE.Projections assume that this figure could be increased to a maximum of about 700,000 tons LCE Global lithium demand i
192、n tons(Source:own representation)Lithium Carbonate Price in Yuan/Ton(Source:own representation)Price development of lithium carbonateExtractionMost of the nickel is extracted from nickel-and copper-bearing iron ores.A multi-layer process is used to produce copper-nickel fines,which consist of about
193、80%copper and nickel and about 20%sulfur.To obtain the crude nickel,the nickel must be separa-ted from the copper.To obtain pure nickel,Ore containing copper,cobalt and nickel(Source:paul-alain-hunt by )Global lithium demand in tons Melting Point 1455 CBoiling Point 2730CNiAr 3d8 4s2 28NICKEL1819the
194、 crude nickel is electrolytically refined.The purity of electrolytic nickel is about 99.9%.Occurrence and extractionNickel occurs in the earths crust with a content of about 0.008%,i.e.with about twice the amount of cobalt and somewhat more frequently than lithium.Solid nickel,i.e.,in elemental form
195、,occurs only rarely.As of 2020,only about 50 occurrences of nati-ve nickel were known worldwide.The most important deposits are found in Canada,New Caledonia,Russia,Australia and Cuba.The majority of nickel production comes from sulfide ores.In addition,lateritic nickel ores are also mined as raw ma
196、terials for ni-ckel production.Due to the exploitation of the classic sulfide deposits,mining is in-creasingly shifting to lateritic nickel ores,which,however,means more expensive ex-traction.In 2021,around 2.7 million tons of nickel were mined worldwide.The largest pro-ducer was Indonesia with arou
197、nd 1,000,000 tons.However,the country imposed an ex-port ban on nickel at the beginning of 2020,mainly to promote its own stainless-steel industry and conserve its own resources.Other major producers include the Philippi-nes(370,000 tons),Russia(250,000 tons)and New Caledonia(190,000 tons).These cou
198、ntries account for around 60%of total nickel production worldwide.Main application:steels and nickel alloysMost of the annual nickel production(around 85%)goes into the production of stainless steels and nickel alloys.Nickel is one of the most important alloying metals,used mainly for steel refining
199、.It makes steel corrosion resistant and increases its hard-ness,toughness and ductility.Steels highly alloyed with nickel are used in particularly Stocks fall to dramatic level nickel short squeeze A foretaste of what may lie ahead was pro-vided by LME inventories,which have known only one direction
200、 since mid-2021:down!Since June 2021,LME inventories after remaining at a level of around 250,000 tons for a good year and a half have fallen continuously to a level of around 80,000 tons and since mid-2022 further to around 50,000 tons.In March 2022,one of the most spectacular short squeezes of all
201、 time also took place.The nickel future,which had already risen by 66 percent the previ-ous day,March 7,2022,moved vertically early in the morning.In a few minutes,it went up by US$30,000 until the price broke through the US$100,000 per ton mark after a few minutes.Within less than 20 minutes,an ent
202、ire commodity market was unhinged.The main player was the Chinese Tsingshan Group,which had built up a large short po-sition of about 150,000 tons over months in order to hedge its own expected future pro-duction increase.All in all,it looks as if nickel and the corres-ponding producers and develope
203、rs will be the next big beneficiaries of the electric(mobility)boom!It is not for nothing that Elon Musk called nickel the New Gold“in the middle of 2020 and literally begged the corresponding mining companies to de-velop new nickel mines.corrosive environments.Around 20%of the nickel mined is used
204、to produce nickel allo-ys such as constantan,nickel silver and monel.Other usesPure nickel metal is used in finely divided form as a catalyst in the hydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids.Due to its chemical resistance,nickel is used for apparatus in chemical laboratories and the chemical in-dustr
205、y,such as nickel crucibles for dige-stions.Nickel alloys,for example for coins,are produced from nickel metal.Nickel-ba-sed superalloys are alloys specially desi-gned for use at high temperatures and un-der corrosive media.They are used,for ex-ample,in aircraft turbines and gas turbines in power pla
206、nts.High-purity nickel is needed for accumulators and batteriesSo-called class 1 nickel with a purity of at least 99.98%is required for batteries and accumulators.Only about 45%of the total nickel production of about 2.7 million tons per year is suitable for the production of class 1 nickel.Of this,
207、more than half is re-quired for alloys and other applications.Less valuable Class 2 nickel is used exclu-sively in steel production.A supply deficit has already pre-vailed since 2016The nickel market has been in a supply de-ficit since 2016.Only the corona year 2020 produced a supply surplus.In 2021
208、 the supply deficit amounted to 168,000 tons.In 2030,the nickel shortfall is expected to be 900,000 tons.In 2040,the supply deficit is expected to widen to as much as 2 million tons per year and this includes new nickel projects.Estimates suggest that demand for nickel from the automotive sector alo
209、ne will increase more than tenfold from 130,000 tons in 2020 to 1.5 million tons in 2030.Nickel price development over the last 5 years (Source:own representation)nickel supply(+)or demand(-)surplus(Source:own representation)Price development of nickelGlobal supply and demand surplus for nickel Tsd
210、tons2021netic alloys,as a drier for paints and coa-tings,as a catalyst for desulfurization and hydrogenation,as a hydroxide or lithium cobalt dioxide(LiCoO2)in batteries,in cor-rosion-or wear-resistant alloys,and as a trace element for medicine and agriculture.In addition,cobalt is used in the produ
211、ction of magnetic data carriers such as tape and video cassettes,where it improves mag-netic properties through doping.Since the 1990s,cobalt has served as an anode ma-terial in the anode of lithium-ion batteries.Electric vehicles require a lot of cobalt.As with lithium,the quantities of cobalt used
212、 in the corresponding batteries are si-milar.Depending on the model,between 5 and 10 grams of cobalt are used in a single smartphone.For a notebook or tablet,the figure is 30 to 100 grams.Power tools need about 50 grams for their batteries.A 10 KWh storage unit for home use(such as Teslas Powerwall)
213、requires about 7 kilo-grams of cobalt,while the batteries for hyb-rid vehicles need about 4 kilograms and for purely electric cars 10 kilograms of cobalt.Teslas Model S even comes in at 22.5 kilo-grams.A passenger plane gobbles up about 4,000 kilograms of cobalt.war country.Russia accounted for a fu
214、rther 4.5%at last count,the Philippines for 2.6%and China for 1.3%.All countries that are not necessarily considered to inspire confi-dence.The remaining production is split between Canada(2.5%),Australia(3.3%)and several other countries,some with even lower production volumes.Future security of sup
215、ply appears to be ex-tremely critical based on current producers,which is why more and more attempts have been made recently to develop new mines and increase production accordingly,espe-cially in Canada,Australia,the USA and Finland.Main applications are paints,alloys,medicine,magnets and rechargea
216、b-le batteriesHistorically,cobalt has been used in the form of oxides,sulfates,hydroxides or car-bonates for heat-resistant paints and pig-ments.Probably the best-known decorati-ve application is blue cobalt glass.Today,cobalt is used primarily as an alloying com-ponent to increase the high-temperat
217、ure strength of alloyed and high-alloy steels,especially high-speed steel and superallo-ys,as a binder phase in hard metals and diamond tools,as a component of mag-duced to cobalt with coke or aluminum powder.The majority of global cobalt depo-sits lie beneath the seabedCobalt is a rare element with
218、 a frequency of 0.004 percent in the earths crust.This puts it in thirtieth place in the list of elements or-dered by frequency.Cobalt is found in many minerals,but usually occurs only in small amounts.The element is always associated with nickel,often also with copper,silver,iron or uranium.The wor
219、lds known cobalt resources are about 25 million tons,reserves 7.6 million tons,with the largest deposits located in the Democratic Republic of Congo,Zambia,Canada,Morocco,Cuba,Russia,Australia,Uganda and the USA.Cobalt deposits of more than 120 million tons have been iden-tified in polymetallic nodu
220、les and crusts on the floor of the Atlantic,Indian and Pacific Oceans.Cobalt mining mainly takes place in problematic“regionsThe majority of the annual cobalt producti-on of 160,000 tons in 2021 came from mi-nes in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Around 70%of the total production volume in 2021 cam
221、e from the Central African civil CobaltThe element cobaltCobalt is a steel-gray,very tough heavy metal(ferromagnetic transition metal)with a density of 8.89 g/cm3.As a typical metal,it conducts heat and electricity well,the elec-trical conductivity is 26 percent of that of copper.In chemical behavio
222、r it is similar to iron and nickel,resistant to air by passivati-on;it is dissolved only by oxidizing acids.Cobalt extraction is relatively simple and inexpensiveCobalt extraction is a well-known,relatively simple process.Cobalt is mainly extracted as a by-product from copper and nickel ores.First,s
223、ome of the iron sulfides present are converted into iron oxide by roasting and slagged with silicon dioxide as iron sili-cate.The result is the so-called crude sto-ne,which contains nickel,copper and other iron as sulfide or arsenide in addition to co-balt.Further sulfur is removed by further roasti
224、ng with sodium carbonate and sodi-um nitrate.In the process,sulfates and arsenates are formed from some of the sul-fur and arsenic,which are leached out with water.The corresponding metal oxides re-main,which are treated with sulfuric or hy-drochloric acid.Only copper does not dis-solve,while nickel
225、,cobalt and iron go into solution.With chlorinated lime,cobalt can then be selectively precipitated as cobalt hydroxide and thus separated.This is con-verted to Co3O4 by heating and then re-One passenger plane alone gobbles up about 4,000 kg of cobalt.(Photo:david-preston,)Benjah-bmm27,CC BY 3.0Melt
226、ing Point 1495 CBoiling Point 2927CCoAr 3d74s2 27COBALT2223CopperAlthough copper is not a classic battery metal,nothing works without the red metal in the implementation of the electric revolu-tion.After all,copper has the property of being the most conductive of all known me-tals after silver.And w
227、ithout reliable inter-connection of the individual electrical com-ponents,a world of electromobility and electrical storage cannot function.The element copperCopper is a chemical element with the ele-ment symbol Cu and the atomic number 29.Like silver and gold,it is one of the tran-sition metals tha
228、t occur naturally in pure form,i.e.in elemental form.The name cop-per comes from the Latin cuprum,which is derived from Cyprus,where the most im-portant copper mines were located in an-cient times.It is the 26th most common element in the earths crust(share of about 0.006%)and has been mined for abo
229、ut 7,000 years.Copper has a reddish luster and,as a relatively soft metal,is easily mal-leable and ductile.It has a very high thermal and electrical conductivity.The deposits are concentrated in a few areas worldwide;extraction is simpleThere are several thousand sites around the globe.Significant c
230、opper production,ho-.even if the quantity per vehicle will decreaseThe automotive sector will demand ever greater quantities of lithium-ion batteries in the coming years even if the further de-velopment of batteries suggests that cobalt will increasingly be replaced by nickel and thus also ever grea
231、ter quantities of cobalt.Leading experts believe that it will be diffi-cult to expand production above 180,000 tons per year with the current mines.The fact is that despite this,Congo will remain the absolute world market leader for the time being and will even expand its market share to over 75%.Th
232、e two largest cobalt mines in the world,Kamoto and Kolwezi,which alone can produce about 50,000 tons of cobalt per year,have a large share in this.Outside Congo,several companies are wever,exists in only a few regions.By far the most recent leader in copper producti-on was Chile,with an annual produ
233、ction of 5.6 million tons in 2021.It was followed by Peru(2.2 million tons),China(1.8 million tons),the Democratic Republic of the Con-go(also 1.8 million tons)and the USA(1.2 million tons).Together,these five countries account for around 60%of world producti-on of around 21 million tons per year.In
234、 smelting,China(10 million tons)is by far the leader.In addition,there is recycled copper of about 900,000 tons per year.Copper is extracted by smelting and refi-ning.The corresponding processes have long been perfected,and processing is cor-respondingly simple and relatively inexpen-sive.The USGS e
235、stimates that around 5.6 working to expand their existing mines(in-cluding Glencore,Norilsk,Umicore,Sumi-tomo and Vale).Cobalt price fluctuates stronglyMany market participants have already re-cognized that cobalt production cannot be expanded quite so easily from one moment to the next.For example,
236、the price of a me-tric ton of cobalt exploded from US$20,000 at the beginning of 2016 to US$95,000 in March 2018.After an interim low of around US$27,000 in July 2019,it fell back to around US$80,000 in March 2022.Current-ly,the price of cobalt has leveled off at around US$52,000 per metric ton.A fu
237、rther sharp rise is expected as soon as the lea-ding automakers drastically expand their model ranges.Cobalt is already in a supply deficitThe demand for cobalt will almost certainly explode in the coming years!While this was still around 60,000 tons in 2008,in 2017 it was already 125,000 tons that
238、were deman-ded per year.In 2021,about 173,500 tons of cobalt were in demand,of which about 34%came from the automotive sector.Ex-perts expect cobalt demand to rise to over 270,000 tons per year by 2025.The main driving factor will be demand from the battery sector.In fact,cobalt already had a supply
239、 deficit of around 13,000 tons in 2021.This is likely to multiply again in the coming years.Cobalt price development(US$/ton)over the last 5 years(Source:own representation)Cobalt price development(Quelle:ra-dragon )(Source:own representation)Largest copper producers worldwide(in thousand tons)(Sour
240、ce:own representation)Annual cobalt demand in thousand tonsTsd tonsMelting point 1357,77 KBoiling point 2868 KCuAr 3d10 4s1 29COPPER2425ture and electric vehicle support programs of many governments are likely to lead to a further boom in demand for copper.Experts predict that copper demand from the
241、 auto-motive sector alone will increase to over 4 million tons per year by 2030.Mining activities can no longer meet higher demandIn addition to an expected increase in de-mand from the current level of around 21 million tons of copper per year to 25 million tons in 2030 and 28 million tons by 2035,
242、copper production with the current mines is expected to fall to less than 15 million tons at the same time.This is because at present it is mainly the expansion of exis-ting mines that accounts for the bulk of new copper production,which is expected to come on stream by 2025.After that,new projects
243、will be needed to close the gro-wing gap expected by analysts.However,this will require significant investment.Goldman Sachs estimates that over US$150 billion will have to be invested in mining projects worldwide by 2030 alone in order to be able to handle the expected in-crease in demand.Many copp
244、er projects benefit from the production of valuable by-products such as gold,silver,cobalt gineering as well as piping,i.e.infrastruc-ture.It is used,among other things,for electrical lines,switching wires,power cab-les,overhead lines,conductors on printed circuit boards,wire windings in transfor-me
245、rs,chokes/coils and in electric motors.Furthermore,as cable connection between electrical components like accumulators,motors and applications.Other applica-tions include water piping,roofing,glass coatings,tableware,and in the arts and crafts sector for the production of printing plates for copper
246、engravings and etchings,and in the jewelry sector for alloys.Supply deficit already exists Drastic expansion is to be expectedThe International Copper Study Group cal-culated a supply deficit of around 300,000 tons for 2020.Due to the fact that in the future more and more copper will be used in elec
247、tromobility(an electric car requires about 90 to 100 kilograms of copper,while a combustion vehicle often gets by with 20 kilograms),but also in the connection of re-generative power generators to the power grid(an onshore wind power plant requires about 5,4 tons of copper per megawatt,an offshore w
248、ind power plant even 15.3 tons of copper per megawatt),experts reckon that by 2035 there will be a gap of no less than 15 million tons per year,i.e.about 75%of current production.Furthermore,infrastruc-billion tons of copper are available worldwi-de as resources and 880 million tons of copper are mi
249、neable as reserves.Main features:High thermal and electrical conduc-tivity,soft,antibacterial,red.By far the most important ability of copper is its high electrical conductivity.Its con-ductivity is only slightly worse than that of silver and significantly better than that of gold,but copper is far
250、less expensive than the other two metals.Since all admixtures dissolved in copper,especially impurities such as phosphorus and iron,greatly re-duce its conductivity,the highest degrees of purity are often sought for conductor ma-terials.Its softness and red color also make it interesting for the jew
251、elry and art indust-ries,among others in the form of alloys(brass,bronze,nickel silver,red gold).In addition,it has an antibacterial and partially antiviral effect and can render bacteria,vi-ruses and fungi harmless within a few hours.Main fields of application:Electrical engineering,piping,art,cons
252、tructionBy far the largest area of application for copper is electronics and electrical en-and molybdenum,without which copper mining would often not even be possible,i.e.profitable.Another aspect is the lack of exploration for large copper projects,which has been extremely sparse over the past ten
253、years.In addition,strikes,mine closu-res and nationalization tendencies have in-creasingly hampered mining activities in South America.60%of current copper mines are in deficit,so the price MUST riseAs a result,there is currently a shortage of high-quality development projects.Since the quality of m
254、any new copper projects is far inferior to that of current mines,an in-crease in production,i.e.exploitation of mi-nes of poorer quality,can only be achieved by adjusting the price.The fact is that at the current copper price level of around US$7,800 per ton,60%of the current cop-per mines cannot be
255、 operated economical-ly.According to Goldman Sachs,the cur-rent incentive price for building a new cop-per mine is around US$9,000 per ton.If the expected wave of demand from the auto-motive industry,renewable energies and the power infrastructure comes soon,the copper price could make unprecedented
256、 price jumps.(Source:own representation)Price development of copperConclusion:The electric revolution is at the beginning of a demand explosion,with which several metals slip into supply deficits upward price adjustments ahead!The demand for lithium,cobalt,nickel and,to a lesser extent,copper will b
257、e deter-mined by three different parties in the fu-ture:1.From the(Asian)electronics companies,which are mainly targeting the mass pro-duction of powerful lithium-ion batteries and accumulators for everyday use,in multimedia devices,etc.2.From almost all established car manu-facturers worldwide.3.Fr
258、om the manufacturers of decentrali-zed energy storage systems,which are used wherever electricity is generated by means of photovoltaic or wind power plants and is to be used later by means of storage.2627This constellation will cause demand for lit-hium,cobalt and nickel to increase many times over
259、 in the coming years in some ca-ses,and for copper it will also increase sharply,with decentralized storage in parti-cular generating the greatest growth in de-mand and likely to dwarf even the other two areas.A look at the most important number esti-mates is basically enough to come to this conclus
260、ion.The number of electric vehicles will multiply in the coming years:From 1.2 million electric cars in 2017 to at least 20 million electric vehicles per year from 2025.From 2030,30 million electrically powered vehicles are expected annually,and from 2040,as many as 60 million vehicles per year.In p
261、arallel,the lithium-ion battery ca-pacity in demand will increase from 290 GWh in 2018 to 3,000 GWh in 2030!Large portions of(future)funding comes from uncertain jurisdictionsIn the EU and thus also in Germany,lithium,cobalt and graphite belong to the so-called red group“,i.e.materials with a very h
262、igh supply risk.In the USA,lithium is also con-sidered a critical mineral“.Currently and in the future,however,many of these metals(in the case of copper,around 50%of the most advanced projects)will come from countries with dubious mining methods or high political risk,such as the Democratic Republi
263、c of the Congo,Russia or Papua New Guinea.Moreover,in addition to the actual procurement risk,issues such as lack of environmental compatibility or lack of social acceptance also play a role here.China controls global lithium pro-cessingAnother crucial point is that China currently controls a large
264、part(about 80%)of the lit-hium refining.A circumstance that will and must lead to either more projects outside Chinas sphere of influence or to higher prices in the future.Recycling currently plays no role at all for lithium and cobalt and therefore cannot be seen as a source of needed materials.The
265、 impending supply shortfall for all battery metals will reassess producers and advanced developers in particularOverall,there are signs of a supply deficit in the near future for the lithium,cobalt,nickel and copper markets,as the increase in de-mand is likely to(far)exceed the expansion in supply i
266、n the future.It can be assumed that the supply shortage for individual me-tals will be brought forward from around 2025/26 to 2023.This is strongly indicated by recent reports of projects stalling,pro-duction being curtailed,and expansion plans being delayed.Since demand growth will continue to in-c
267、rease strongly beyond 2025 and,in additi-on,there are still no significant large pro-duction projects in the pipeline,this situati-on is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.Especially producers and development companies,which have already advanced their respective projects,should offer the
268、 greatest share price opportunities in the co-ming months and years,also with regard to a possible consolidation,i.e.through ta-keover scenarios.Some of these dedicated development companies,as well as prospective pro-ducers,are presented below.You do not have to be a stock market professional to ma
269、ke wise investment decisions.Invest together with Swiss Resource Capital AG and Asset Management Switzerland AG in the mega-trend commodities.Since 05.03.2020 the experts specialist knowledge has been available as a Wikifolio certificate:SRC Mining&Special Situations ZertifikatISIN:DE000LS9PQA9WKN:L
270、S9PQA Currency:CHF/Euro*Certificate fee:0,95%p.a.Performance fee:15%We recommend that interested parties and potential investors obtain comprehensive information before making an investment decision.In particular,about the potential risks and rewards of the security.You are about to purchase a produ
271、ct that is not simple and can be difficult to understand.Further,important information can be found at:www.resource-capital.ch/de/disclaimer-agb*Trading in Euro is possible at the Euwax in Stuttgart.Invest with the commodity professionalsCurrently the following titles are represented in the SRC Mini
272、ng&Special Situations Certificate(10/2022):AGNICO EAGLE MINES|ALPHA LITHIUM CORP.|ANGLO AMERICAN|ARIS MNG.CORP.|AURANIA RESOURCES|BARRICK GOLD|BHP BILLITON|CALEDONIA MINING|CALI-BRE MINING|CANADA NICKEL|CHESAPEAKE GOLD|CONDOR GOLD|CONSOLIDATED URANIUM|COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING|CYPRESS DEVELOPMENT|DENAR
273、IUS METALS CORPORATION|DISCOVERY SILVER CORP.|ENDEAVOUR SILVER|FRANCO-NEVADA|FREEPORT-MCMORAN|FURY GOLD MINES|GOLD ROYALTY CORP.|GOLD TERRA RESOURCE|GOLDMINING|HANNAN METALS|ISOENERGY|KARORA RESOURCES|KUTCHO COPPER|LABRADOR URANIUM INC.|LI-METAL CORP.|MAG SILVER|MAPLE GOLD MINES|MAWSON GOLD|MEDMIRA
274、INC.|NEWMONT GOLDCORP|OCEANAGOLD|OSISKO GOLD ROYALTIES|PETROBRAS(ADR)|REVIVAL GOLD|RIO TINTO|SATURN OIL&GAS|SIBANYE STILLWATER|SKEENA RESOUR-CES|SUMMA SILVER CORP.|TIER ONE SILVER INC.|TORQ RESOURCES INC.|TRILLIUM GOLD MINES|TUDOR GOLD|URANIUM ENERGY|VICTORIA GOLD|VIZSLA SILVER2829Interview with Tob
275、ias Tretter Managing Partner of Commodity Capital AGMr.Tretter,battery metals have been going completely crazy lately.Lithium in particu-lar recorded massive price increases.What do you think was the reason for this?The price increases for lithium were already foreseeable in recent years and we have
276、 cer-tainly not yet reached the end of develop-ments here.The success of electromobility cannot be stopped and it will ultimately be a question of speed.But this is precisely the problem on the production side.New pro-duction facilities for batteries can be set up in 1 to 2 years,and the automotive
277、industry can also react relatively quickly,if it wanted to.The problem,however,is on the produc-tion side for lithium.Despite the enormous margins and the efforts of all companies to build up new production capacities as quick-ly as possible,there was exactly one new producer in 2022.The problem,whi
278、ch is al-ways overlooked,is that rising lithium prices do lead to rising exploration spending.Ho-wever,it takes 10 or more years from disco-very to commercial production.And this time gap is causing significant headaches for the industry and is the main reason why lithium prices continue to rise fro
279、m one all-time high to the next.In the process,there is no hope for a short-term solution to the supply shor-tage either.In addition to special effects such as the Russia-Ukraine crisis,the expected de-mand forecasts will certainly play an im-portant role.What do you expect in this respect in the co
280、ming months and years?Since we launched our lithium fund in 2009,there was one constant.And that was that the demand forecast was seen as far too conservative every year and the build-up of new production was seen as too positive every year.Currently,we also see little rea-son for the forecasts to b
281、ecome more ac-curate in the coming years.In our view,de-mand in the coming years is still being signi-ficantly underestimated.We are currently at the beginning of a new era,and it is perfectly normal that it will take a decade or two for the industry to adjust to the increasing de-mand resulting fro
282、m electromobility.We are primarily looking at the construction and ex-pansion of new battery factories to estimate the future demand for lithium and the other metals.I dont think anyone can estimate fu-ture demand better than the battery manu-facturers themselves.And here we continue to see a clear
283、trend an exponentially in-creasing expansion of capacity.The war in Ukraine or even a global recession is likely to have only a very short-term impact on the expansion of electromobility and thus the demand for lithium.Politicians worldwide have committed themselves to the expansi-on of electromobil
284、ity and,in our opinion,will no longer leave this path.A global recession as a result of the interest rate hikes by the U.S.Federal Reserve,for example,is thus likely to even lead to an accelerated expan-sion of infrastructure and additional subsi-dies for electromobility in order to stimulate the ec
285、onomy and lead it out of a possible recession.The biggest problem I currently see for the demand for lithium is that there could be such a massive undersupply of lit-hium in the coming years that ultimately it is no longer decisive what price you have to pay for lithium,but whether and where you can
286、 get the necessary lithium at all.Is a move away from lithium-based batte-ries to other storage technologies expec-ted in the foreseeable future,and if so,what impact would this have?The developments in lithium batteries are enormous and a wide variety of composi-tions are being worked on and resear
287、ched.However,all batteries have one constant and that is the proportion of lithium,which changes only marginally.Ultimately,we be-lieve the solid-state battery will prevail as the ideal“battery,but it will still take a few years before commercial production.Alternatives such as hydrogen or synthetic
288、 fuel will cer-tainly find their niche,but we do not believe that the success story of electromobility can be stopped.The efficiency of a lithium bat-tery is clearly superior to the two alternatives and is also preferred by politicians.Although copper is not a classic battery metal,it is considered
289、an important link between the battery and the correspon-ding control units.What can we expect from the red metal in the future?Copper plays a crucial role in electromobility.Not only does an electric car require signifi-cantly more copper than a car with an inter-nal combustion engine,but the entire
290、 char-ging infrastructure will need vast amounts of copper.Not to mention the consumption for wind turbines,solar cells and their connecti-on to the power grid.Copper has historically doubled its demand every 10 years regard-less of economic crises or wars and we ex-pect at least a doubling of deman
291、d in the next 10 years.Knowing full well that this fo-recast is almost certainly too conservative.In recent years,the industry has primarily lived off existing storage capacity and,while not in the short term,we see a significant undersupply of copper over the next 5 to 10 years.Finding and developi
292、ng new projects is becoming more difficult every year and it will be almost impossible to adequately replace the old mines that will be phased out in the coming years.Let alone to serve an increasing demand.For us as investors,ho-wever,it is difficult to invest in copper mines because most of the ne
293、w“projects are located in unstable regions such as Africa or South America,or the initial investment is too high for smaller or even medium-sized companies to bring into production themsel-ves.However,this is also where the opportunity lies.Much of the new“production in recent years has come from ne
294、w projects in politi-cally unstable regions such as Mongolia,Af-rica or even South America.Here,however,we see considerable difficulties in the co-ming years.If it is already difficult to bring other raw material mines in South America into production,it will be almost impossible to finance a copper
295、 project in South Ameri-ca,because the political security is not given and it makes a difference whether you as an investor invest a few hundred million,which are amortized after 1 to 2 years,or whether you invest 4 or 5 billion dollars,which are amortized after 5 or more years.Who knows if you will
296、 still own the mine in Chile or Bolivia in 5 years and how high the taxes will be at that time.Many investors still see battery metals as a hot potato.What advice do you have for in-vestors who want to get involved in this sector?What should they pay attention to?Electromobility and therefore batter
297、y metals are still in their infancy,and it is therefore normal for investors to expect higher volatili-ty.We have been investing in lithium stocks since 2009 and in our investments we stick to Andre Kostolanys stock market wisdom of buying the shares,taking a sleeping pill and looking at the shares
298、again in many ye-ars to find that they are worth much more.Thats not really possible for us as fund ma-nagers,however,I think the best strategy is to pick companies with excellent manage-ment,invest early and benefit from the sec-tors long-term prospects.Timing short-term fluctuations correctly is a
299、lmost impossible and is not in line with our investment philo-sophy.The primary goal is to participate in the success of e-mobility and the best way to do this continues to be lithium stocks.And this year alone,the lithium sector was one of the very few sectors to suffer only very small losses.The o
300、utlook and the growth figures of the companies are so good that even volatile stock markets have done little to harm the sector.It was astonishing that Australian companies were able to perform significant-ly better than North American companies.The main reason for this is probably that Australian i
301、nvestors have more experience in the sector and can see from the examples of Allkem or Pilbara how much potential there is in a budding new producer.North America is still in its infancy here and we are curious to see when the first new company in North America will go into production and how the sh
302、are price will develop.However,there is certainly significant catch-up potential.Tobias TretterAs Managing Partner,Tobias Tretter has led Commodity Capital AG since its foundation in 2009 and supports it with his many years of experience and expertise in the commodities sector as Portfolio Manager a
303、nd Chief Investment Officer(CIO).He is responsible for the investment advice for the Commodity Capital Global Mining Fund and establishes the basis for the long-term success of Commodity Capital AG with his analyses on mining companies.Tobias Tretter obtained his predicate degree at the University o
304、f Bayreuth,where he wrote his diploma thesis on a practical basis on the life cycle analysis of commodity companies.This study as well as various further education such as the DITA(diploma of international technical analysis)form the theoretical background and thus the basis for his daily work.Tobia
305、s Tretter started his career at Credit Suisse Asset Management and applied his practical experience in advising and supporting the DJE Gold und Ressourcen Fonds of the Dr.Jens Ehrhard Group.The result was the award as best gold fund 2003 as well as a self-employment in the consulting of commodity fu
306、nds.Together with the fund management of Stabilitas Fonds he again achieved the award as best gold fund 2006.3031Alpha Lithium High lithium resource and with big steps to a production plantAlpha Lithium is a Canadian mining de-velopment company specializing in the dis-covery and development of high-
307、grade lithi-um projects in Argentina.Alpha Lithium has found projects in the South American lithi-um triangle,an area with a large number of high-caliber lithium deposits in the border region of the three countries Argentina,Chi-le and Bolivia.There,the company is de-veloping several projects surrou
308、nded by se-veral major lithium mines.Tolillar Salar Location and infra-structureAlpha Lithiums flagship project is called To-lillar and is located in the Tolillar Salar salt lake of the same name.The acquisition was made in March 2020,essentially through the acquisition of a private Canadian company
309、 through the issuance of treasury shares.The project comprises 10 concessions covering a total area of 27,500 hectares.Tolillar Salar is thus located in the well-known lithium tri-angle of Argentina,Bolivia and Chile and wi-thin the Puna geological region in northwes-tern Argentina.Tolillar Salar is
310、 surrounded by multi-billion-dollar lithium assets.Tolillar Salar is located approximately 3 hours by car from San Antonio de los Cob-res(presence of all major services including fuel and medical supplies)and 6 hours by car from the provincial capital of Salta.The project site is served by a well-ma
311、intained paved and unpaved road network,as well as a gravel and dirt road that runs within 10 kilometers of the project.The nearest rail line in the region is an exis-ting narrow-gauge railroad between Salta,Argentina and the Pacific Coast port of An-tofagasta,Chile.A 600-megawatt,375-ki-lovolt powe
312、r line between Salta and Mejillo-nes,Chile runs approximately 150 kilome-ters north of the property.A natural gas pipeline runs less than 10 kilometers east of the project area.Tolillar Salar Own exploration activities.In November 2020,the Company announ-ced that a VES survey suggests that the bri-n
313、e body that predominates in the northern part of the salar extends far to the south and also supports the concept that the basin in the Tolillar salar is similar to the neighboring prolific Hombre Muerto salar.Similar to Hombre Muerto and other nearby lithi-um-rich salar basins in the region,Tertiar
314、y sedimentary rocks form the basin-bounding rocks to the west of Tolillar Salar and likely resulted in similar basin-filling conditions.The potentially favorable aquifer target iden-tified in the VES study extends beyond the southernmost extent of the surveyed area and appears to extend deeper than
315、what the instruments could measure,yielding a thickness of at least 170 meters.In addition,the VES results showed that the brine body,which was identified as pervasive during the initial geophysical survey,extends an additi-onal 10 square kilometers into the southern portion of Tolillar Salar.It is
316、measured to be between 73 meters and at least 267 meters thick and extends deeper than what the VES equipment was able to measure.lead to a first resourceBased on these findings,Alpha Lithium initi-ated a three-phase drilling campaign in December 2020,the purpose of which is to collect lithium brine
317、 samples from depth and use them to begin evaluating the Direct Lithium Extraction(DLE)process that the Company intends to deploy.By November 2021,the drilling campaign was completed with a total of 6 production holes.Drilling re-sults showed continued improvement and the most recently tested holes
318、showed con-sistent lithium grades between 345 and 351 mg/L.The first three exploration wells re-turned lithium grades between 194 and 218 mg/L on pump tests at flow rates between 55 and 100 m3/hour.In the last well with a lithium concentration of 351 mg/L,the flow rate reached 130 m3/hour.A higher p
319、um-ping rate was feasible but was limited by the maximum achievable capacity of the pum-ping equipment.In addition to the high flow rates and lithium concentrations,the Tolillar Salar also produced brine with very low im-purities.For example,the magnesium to lit-hium ratio ranged from 4.90 to 5.37,w
320、ith an average of 5.0 across the five holes,a result that is in the upper quartile of salars in Ar-gentina.Based on promising historical data in the Tolillar Salar,Alpha Lithium elected to drill all holes as production holes rather than core holes.Core drilling,while faster to drill,does not result
321、in pumpable wells where tra-ditional aquifer testing can be conducted to obtain hydraulic parameters.Core samples provide lithologic data that can take months to analyze,with the goal being simply to im-prove knowledge of reservoir properties,such as drainable porosity.Production wells are immediate
322、ly ready for production,can be logged to determine effective porosity and permeability,and can be flow tested to determine brine pumpability parameters and the chemistry of the composite brine that will ultimately be required for lithium processing.In August 2022,Alpha Lithium released an initial pr
323、eliminary resource sta-tement for its Tolillar Brine Project.The re-source estimate includes 2,119,000 tonnes of indicated and 1,158,000 tonnes of infer-red lithium carbonate equivalent(LCE).The resource estimate also includes 7,387,000 tonnes of potassium equivalent(KCI)in the indicated category an
324、d an additional 4,786,000 tonnes of KCI in the inferred ca-tegory.It is important to note that only 9,000(33%)of the 27,500-hectare site has been explored.The resource does not include re-sults from two holes that were drilled,com-pleted,flow tested and sampled;however,the results have not yet been
325、received back from the laboratory.In addition,lower lithi-um grades were used in two drill holes,lo-wering the overall average lithium concent-ration,as final lab test results have not yet been received.(Source:Alpha Lithium)(Source:Alpha Lithium)3233Hombre Muerto hoping to more than double our curr
326、ent position,which would make us a bigger landowner than POSCO,our contigous neighbor in Hombre Muerto7.Continue geophysical investigation and hydrogeological understanding of our properties in the Hombre Muerto salar8.Drill significant number of wells(initial stage of 10)in Hombre Muerto9.Complete
327、an initial resource estimate for Hombre MuertoHow do you see the current situation on the market for battery metals?The market for,and interest in owning,bat-tery metals has reached an unprecedented level,which will only continue to strengthen and exacerbate the already undersupplied market for the
328、next 5+years.At Alpha,this is evidenced by the overwhelming interest we continue receiving weekly from the ma-jor global players to acquire or partner with us on our property(ies).What have you and your company achie-ved in the past 12 months?1.Received US$770 million offer for one of our assets,Tol
329、illar,which we declined,since the asset was still very immature 2.Drilled 10 more production wells and published an early draft resource esti-mate for Tolillar:2.1 million tonnes of indicated and 1.2 million tonnes of infer-red LCE.Combined with other factors,such as access to existing pipelines,pow
330、erlines,highways,people,equip-ment,and a highly favorable regulatory regime,rank us well above our peers3.Closed second$25 million Bought Deal and raised corporate treasury to$45 million4.Built a 5,000 hectare position in the worlds best and one of the most sought-after salars,Hombre Muerto(home to
331、Livent,POSCO,Allkem,etc)5.Started exploration and development work in Hombre Muerto salar6.Upgraded listing to Canadas senior stock exchangeWhat are the most important company catalysts for the next 6 to 12 months?1.Complete drilling 10 more production and core wells in Tolillar to finalize the init
332、ial draft resource estimate and im-prove both the(i)quality and(ii)quantity of the resource through horizontal(i.e.areal extent)and vertical(i.e.depth of investigation)drilling2.Complete the construction of pilot plant and commence lithium production 3.Continue to improve our extremely suc-cessful l
333、ithium refinement process,which has already returned incredible results:starting with brine containing less than 200 mg/L of lithium,our pro-cess produced a concentrate of 16,000 mg/L,which was refined to then pro-duce both battery-grade lithium carbo-nate and lithium hydroxide4.Complete Feasibility Study for Tolillar5.Potentially sell,or partner with industry major in,Tolillar6.Add more land to o