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Excerpt from September 29, 2021 BMO Metals Brief:

Latest data from BNEF shows that the global network of public electric vehicle chargers rose 13% in the first six months of 2021, taking the total to 1.5 million connectors. However, monthly installation rates in the major electric vehicle regions of China and Europe have both been slowing, with average monthly H1 2021 installations ~15% than H2 2020. Even so, China is set to exceed one million charging points by the end of the current year, up from just 300,000 in 2018. To put this in context, this means China alone will have more public charging stations by end 2021 than was available worldwide at end 2019. Meanwhile, Europe is set to exceed 400,000 at the end of this year, a four-fold increase over 2016, with the U.S. continuing to lag. Public charging stations are central to the electric vehicle revolution, and we expect more pressure on corporates to install charging stations for mass employment sites in order to help governments meet aggressive build-out targets.

 
Cobalt
 
Metal Bulletin - September 29, 2021
Limited supplies of cobalt hydroxide on the spot market and rising feedstock prices have revived interest in cobalt briquettes among ...
they added. “Demand for cobalt briquettes is good. Cobalt salts refineries are buying them as feedstock,” a cobalt trader said, adding that

Limited supplies of cobalt hydroxide on the spot market and rising feedstock prices have revived interest in cobalt briquettes among refineries looking to secure near-term supplies of raw materials…Early in the first quarter of this year, the market witnessed a strong appetite for cobalt briquettes as an alternative feedstock in cobalt salts refining, but that interest waned in the second quarter and for most of the third quarter, they added…Amid the tight availability, the cobalt hydroxide payable - a percentage of the standard-grade cobalt metal price - has reached close to 90% and the upward trend in the standard-grade price makes procuring cobalt hydroxide more expensive…Fastmarkets' benchmark price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, stood at $25.50-26.00 per pound on September 28…Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China was 82,000-84,000 yuan per tonne on September 24, unchanged from September 22…"Compared to cobalt hydroxide, the [amount] of cobalt briquettes on the market is very limited. So they can't meet the mass production need of cobalt salts producers. Briquettes can only be used in case of emergency and can't replace cobalt intermediates for a long period of time," a second cobalt trader told Fastmarkets.

 
Reuters - September 28, 2021
FILE PHOTO: A sign of Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) is seen on its building in Ningde, Fujian province, ...
its subsidiary agreed to take a stake in China Molybdenum Co’s Kisanfu mine, a major source of battery metal cobalt, in the DRC for $137.5

Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) said on Wednesday it has agreed to acquire Canada’s Millennial Lithium Corp, as it looks to shore up supply of key ingredients for electric vehicle (EV) batteries…The deal is the battery maker’s second upstream investment this week, after AVZ Minerals said on Monday that it won funding of $240 million from a private investment firm, jointly owned by CATL, to develop a lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)…The Fujian-based company, which supplies to carmakers Tesla Inc and Volkswagen AG, said the acquisition is to secure a stable long-term supply of lithium…CATL’s outright acquisition of a lithium miner follows its purchase of stakes in Argentina-focused lithium company, Neo Lithium Corp, Greenland-focused North American Nickel and Australia’s Pilbara Minerals…In April, CATL said its subsidiary agreed to take a stake in China Molybdenum Co’s Kisanfu mine, a major source of battery metal cobalt, in the DRC for $137.5 million.

 
S&P Global Market Intelligence - September 28, 2021
A copper and cobalt mine located in Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo, is pictured above. Plans to expand cobalt mines in DRC have ...
after cobalt prices crashed in response to increasing production from China and oversupply. The company produced 27,400 tonnes of cobalt in

A market deficit for cobalt is narrowing as the world's leading producers of the prized metal expand production to meet the spike in demand for batteries used in electric vehicles…Amid the surge in EV sales this year, hunger for cobalt drove major producers to announce plans to increase output at multiple mine sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo and balance the market…The market is expected to move into surplus in 2022 after suffering an estimated shortage of 1,800 tonnes of refined cobalt this year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence's latest forecast published Sept. 22…"The situation is not as dire as it was," Caspar Rawles, head of price assessments at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said in an interview. "The supply chains have responded, and I think the cobalt picture does look a lot better."…Global refined cobalt production is expected to rise 38.5% between 2021 and 2025, reaching 223,000 tonnes, according to Market Intelligence, thanks to the expansion and restart of multiple production sites. Leading cobalt producers Glencore PLC and China Molybdenum Co. Ltd. are expected to boost production at mines in the DRC in the coming years. About 68.6% of the world's 139,480 tonnes of cobalt supply last year came from the DRC, followed by 4.2% from Australia and 3.3% from the Philippines…"We are starting the ramp-up, starting to come back into production [at Mutanda]," Gary Nagle, Glencore CEO and director, said on the Aug. 5 call. "We will take our time with the ramp-up to ensure we can match the supply that comes from Mutanda with the demand growth that we see in the market."…Glencore stopped operations at the Mutanda mine and placed the facilities on care and maintenance at the end of 2019 after cobalt prices crashed in response to increasing production from China and oversupply. Glencore produced 27,400 tonnes of cobalt in 2020, according to the company, making it one of the world's leading producers of cobalt…China Molybdenum, the second-largest cobalt producer in terms of volume, plans to pump $2.51 billion into its 80%-owned Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine in the DRC by 2023, increasing cobalt production capacity by 17,000 tonnes. In 2020, the mine's cobalt output totaled 15,436 tonnes, according to Market Intelligence data. Gécamines SA, a state-run company, holds the remaining 20% of the Tenke Fungurume mine…In recent months, a semiconductor chip shortage dampened the need for cobalt, which is used in electronics and certain batteries. The continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and hiccups at a port in South Africa have continued to upend several parts of the supply chain as well, according to Market Intelligence analyst Alice Yu…Still, analysts foresee another supply deficit cropping up in 2025, and cobalt's use in next-generation EV batteries is far from certain. Some battery manufacturers have sought ways to wean themselves off the metal due to chronic supply chain constraints, high prices and alleged human rights abuses associated with its mining and processing…Yet cobalt provides stability and safety in batteries. Even as some manufacturers eschew the metal in favor of other materials, cobalt will still likely play a sizeable role in battery supply chains for the foreseeable future, industry experts said…"Despite the trend of cobalt thrifting in vehicle batteries, we forecast total cobalt demand to rise 74% between 2020 and 2025 to 229,000 tonnes from rising [plug-in] EV sales, offsetting the impact of lower cobalt intensity," Yu said…Cobalt's use in EV batteries globally is forecast to surge to 97,203 tonnes by 2025, about 293.8% higher than in 2020. 

 
 
EVs & Energy Storage
 
Reuters - September 29, 2021
BENGALURU, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (MAHM.NS) is considering options to raise funds for its unit Automobili Pininfarina ...

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd is considering options to raise funds for its unit Automobili Pininfarina, as the Indian automaker looks to start production of its $2.2 million electric hypercar, Bloomberg News reported…The Munich-based luxury electric vehicle unit had in 2019 rolled out a prototype of its 1,900-horsepower Battista, which had a top speed of 350 km/hour and a range up to 500 km in a single charge…Mahindra's options include a merger with a blank-check company and a potential overseas listing of the EV supercar business…It could seek to value the unit at around $500 million in any deal, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the matter…Automobili Pininfarina originally planned to build 150 cars beginning 2020, but now deliveries are due to start early in 2022, the report said, citing a spokesperson for Automobili Pininfarina…Mahindra bought a 76.06% stake in Turin-based Pininfarina, the designer of some of the most iconic Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati models, in 2015 for $28 million…As part of its push to become a key player in the high-end electric vehicles segment, it set up Munich-based Automobili Pininfarina in 2018.

 
 
Congo
 
Mining.com - September 28, 2021
, promised a $3.2-billion investment by China in a copper/cobalt mine and another $3-billion worth of infrastructure projects, all paid for

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began reviewing a $6.2-billion minerals-for-infrastructure deal with China that’s faced growing criticism since President Felix Tshisekedi came to power almost three years ago…Congo’s council of ministers agreed to create a commission to investigate “major legal, technical and financial problems observed in the collaboration agreement” between the two countries, according to minutes from the meeting published on the website of the prime minister’s office. The council asked the commission to present its findings in two weeks…The contract, signed in 2008 and renegotiated several times since, promised a $3.2-billion investment by China in a copper/cobalt mine and another $3-billion worth of infrastructure projects, all paid for by mining revenue. More than a decade later, less than a third of the infrastructure funding has been disbursed, and the mining project, known as Sicomines, has only received about three-quarters of the promised investment, according to the government…When Congo signed the contract with China it was emerging from decades of dictatorship and war and newly elected president, Joseph Kabila, was desperate for financing. The agreement gave Chinese companies a stake in Congolese resources — including the world’s largest cobalt deposits and Africa’s second-biggest copper reserves — and the opportunity to build essential infrastructure in a country the size of Western Europe…As part of the original deal, Congo also exempted Sicomines from most taxes and many provisions of the country’s mining code. The infrastructure projects avoided an open tender process…While development of Sicomines has progressed — last year it produced 155,630 metric tons of copper and 886 tons of cobalt — the infrastructure part of the deal has lagged behind. Only about $825 million worth of projects have been built thus far, according to the council minutes…A side deal concerning a $600-million hydropower plant known as Busanga, which will soon provide power for Sicomines, is also facing scrutiny in part because of a “phantom” private company that has a 15% stake in the project, Kazadi said…The company, Congo Management, is directed by a member of the office that oversees the China contract, Claudine Paony, according to publicly available incorporation documents. 

 
 
fortuneminerals
For further information about the NICO Project and its Mineral Reserves, please refer to the Technical Report on the Feasibility Study for NICO, entitled "Technical Report on the Feasibility Study for the NICO-Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper Project, Northwest Territories, Canada", dated April 2, 2014 and prepared by Micon, which has been filed on SEDAR and is available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

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The materials appearing in this email contain forward-looking information. This forward-looking information includes, or may be based upon, estimates, forecasts, and statements as to management’s expectations with respect to, among other things, the size and quality of the Company’s mineral resources, progress in permitting and development of mineral properties, timing and cost for placing the Company’s mineral projects into production, costs of production, amount and quality of metal products recoverable from the Company’s mineral resources, anticipated revenues, earnings and cash flows from the Company's mineral projects, demand and market outlook for metals and coal and future metal and coal prices. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is given, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, uncertainties with respect to the receipt or timing of required permits and regulatory approvals, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other geological data, fluctuating metal and coal prices, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, the possibility that production from the Company's mineral projects may be less than anticipated, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, uncertainties related to metal recoveries and other factors. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred mineral resources are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that mineral resources will be converted into mineral reserves. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information because it is possible that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forms of forward-looking information will not be achieved by the Company. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update them or revise it to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.