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Cobalt
 
Mining Weekly - January 26, 2023
LONDON - European Commissioner Thierry Breton urged European financiers this week to provide more funding to suppliers of minerals needed ...

European Commissioner Thierry Breton urged European financiers this week to provide more funding to suppliers of minerals needed for the energy transition, as the European Union prepares its Green Deal industrial plan…The EU is due to unveil its Critical Raw Materials Act on March 8 to secure the bloc's supply of critical raw materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite needed for electric vehicles…Breton highlighted two major issues. The first is over-reliance on countries such as major producer China for materials such as magnesium used in electronics, cars and machinery. The second is the expected "colossal" increase in demand…EU dependency on metal imports and security of supply has been reinforced by energy-intensive industries looking to shift production out of the bloc due to soaring power costs after Russia invaded Ukraine…Russia has historically been a major supplier of aluminium, nickel, copper, cobalt and palladium to Europe. "I want you to invest in operations in the critical raw materials value chain," Breton told a roundtable of European banks including Société Générale, Deutsche Bank and Santander Group among others, according to a transcript of his remarks seen by Reuters on Wednesday…Having to coordinate legislation across 27 members, the bloc is lagging other Western countries, such as the United States and Canada, which have already introduced bills to secure clean energy and energy transition materials…"Of course, we can't only invest in Europe. That is why we have established strategic partnerships on critical raw materials with Canada, Ukraine, Namibia and Kazakhstan. And advancing in discussions with other countries."

 
 
EVs & Energy Storage
 
BNN - January 26, 2023
World spent $1.1 trillion transitioning to clean power in 2022, same as amount spent producing oil and gas.

For the first time, the world invested as much money into replacing fossil fuels as it spent on producing oil, gas and coal, according to an analysis from BloombergNEF…Global investments in the clean energy transition hit $1.1 trillion in 2022, roughly equal to the amount invested in fossil fuel production, according to the research firm’s “Energy Transition Investment Trends 2023” report. Never before has the amount spent on switching to renewable power, electric cars and new energy sources like hydrogen topped $1 trillion…While the amount represents a 31% jump from 2021, it’s still just a fraction of what’s needed to slash greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming. BNEF estimates annual investments in the transition must triple for the rest of this decade to give the world a shot at reaching net-zero emissions by 2050…Solar and wind power accounted for the biggest chunk of 2022 investments, reaching $495 billion, a 17% increase from the previous year. But electric vehicles came in close behind, with $466 billion, and the amount invested in them worldwide is growing far faster, at 54%. Nearly half of all global energy transition investments — $546 billion — were in China, while the US came in second at $141 billion. 

 
Reuters - January 26, 2023
Suzuki Motor Corp will invest 4.5 trillion yen ($34.8 billion) through fiscal 2030 in research, development and capital spending to make battery electric vehicles (EVs), it said on Thursday.

Suzuki Motor Corp will invest 4.5 trillion yen ($34.8 billion) through fiscal 2030 in research, development and capital spending to make battery electric vehicles (EVs), it said on Thursday…The Japanese automaker known for making compact "kei" cars said it would invest 2 trillion yen in electrification and autonomous driving technologies, while allocating 2.5 trillion yen to build a battery EV plant and for renewable energy facilities…Of the money earmarked for electrification, 500 billion yen would be invested in batteries, it said…Suzuki's announcement comes after other Japanese automakers have rolled out similar goals to catch up with European and U.S. rivals in the fast-growing battery EV market…Suzuki said it would introduce its first battery EVs, including small sport-utility vehicles and micro "kei" cars, in Japan in fiscal 2023…Suzuki plans to introduce battery EVs in Europe and India, and its first battery electric motorcycles globally, the following year…For India, Suzuki's key market, it predicted EVs would make up 15% of its vehicle line-up in fiscal 2030, while internal combustion engine cars using biofuels and ethanol as fuels would make up 60%.

 
Reuters - January 26, 2023
South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co on Thursday reported a tripling in fourth-quarter profit on strong demand for its high-margin sport-utility ...

Hyundai Motor Co said on Thursday it expects to have solid backorder demand in major car markets and forecast robust growth in electric vehicle sales, including in the United States where regulatory concerns have clouded its outlook…The South Korean maker of the Ioniq 5 model is targeting an ambitious 54% jump in EV sales in 2023 to 330,000 globally and said it wants its U.S. electric car sales to climb 150% to 73,000 to account for 9% of its U.S. vehicle sales…The plans were outlined at its fourth-quarter earnings briefing where the automaker reported a tripling of net profit, albeit one that fell short of expectations…Hyundai's plans come on the heels of a positive outlook provided hours earlier by Tesla Inc which said its aggressive price cuts have ignited a wave of demand for its vehicles.

 
Korea Bizwire - January 25, 2023
Samples of lithium, cylindrical batteries, nickel, cathodes and cobalt (from L to R) are shown in this photo provided by POSCO Chemical on ...

POSCO Chemical Co., a major South Korean producer of secondary battery materials, said Thursday it has obtained government approval for the export of its technologies related to producing cathodes, a key component used in electric vehicle (EV) cells…High-nickel cathodes with more than 80 percent nickel content are one of the core technologies in the categories for technological and economic value and growth potential. Cathodes determine the power of EV batteries…The government approval will give a boost to POSCO Chemical’s overseas push to expand its global foothold in North America and elsewhere, the company said…POSCO Chemical joined hands with General Motors Co. for their joint venture, Ultium CAM, to build a cathode plant in Quebec, Canada, by 2024…It also has a stake in the project led by Zhejiang POSCO-HUAYOU New Energy Co., a cathode joint venture between its parent, POSCO Holdings Co., and China’s Huayou Cobalt, to boost production capacity to 35,000 tons from the current 5,000 tons by 2025.

 
BNN - January 26, 2023
Tesla Inc.’s biggest competitor is likely to be a Chinese company, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on a call with analysts following the electric-vehicle maker’s quarterly earnings.

Tesla Inc.’s biggest competitor is likely to be a Chinese company, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on a call with analysts following the electric-vehicle maker’s quarterly earnings…Asked about Chinese car companies, Musk said they “work the hardest, and they work the smartest,” describing them as the most competitive in the world. “If I were to guess,” he said, “probably some company out of China is the most likely to be second to Tesla.” …Tesla made more than 710,000 EVs in China last year, about 52% of its global output, even with production being disrupted by the country’s now-abandoned Covid-Zero policy…Without unexpected disruptions, worldwide output could approach 2 million vehicles this year, Musk said…BloombergNEF expects Tesla’s sales to grow by up to 40% in 2023 and its Model Y to be the best-selling EV in the world, likely making it into the top three models of any type. 

 
 
Bismuth
 
AlphaGalileo - January 25, 2023
When you no longer need a well to support oil and gas development, the well must be permanently sealed and taken out of service. This is ...

When you no longer need a well to support oil and gas development, the well must be permanently sealed and taken out of service. This is done by plugging the well with cement 50 meters below the ocean bed. However, this is a risky and expensive operation. First, the cement can shrink, and potential leakages can happen, littering the ocean and posing a risk to the environment. Second, the cost is high, especially in deep waters. Additionally, CO2 emissions from cement production are significant…Therefore, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, Wellstrøm and TotalEnergies recently tested a new method for plugging wells at Ullrigg Test Centre in Stavanger. The new method, called Wellstrøm Bismuth3, uses melted metal instead of cement to plug the well permanently. The metal is called Bismuth and becomes liquid as water at 138 degrees. This enables it to float into every single crack in the cement, even those as thin as strands of hair, sealing the cracks and prevent leakages from happening…Thanks to Ullrigg Test Centre and the crew at NORCE, TotalEnergies and Wellstrøm, the test successful. The Wellstrøm M3 Bismuth plug was tested with three times higher pressure than the required criteria of TotalEnergies, and the tests show that the method fulfills all the requirements…With the current method, where cement is used, you have to set a plug 50 meters below the ocean bed, and the method requires a full-scale drilling rig to transmit the drill string. With the new method, where you only set a plug 1-2 meters below the ocean bed, the whole operation can be done from a cable-laying vessel instead of a full-scale rigg…This new type of metal is both safer and more efficient when it comes to leakage, close to 80 percent cheaper and much more climate- and environmentally friendly, Gert Rege states…The test was a pilot, but the plan – once qualified as per regulatory and internally requirement – is that TotalEnergies, one of the world’s largest energy companies, will start implementing the method globally…The Bismuth method is among the highest priority areas within plug & abandonment technology in TotalEnergies. The potential is huge, and the next step is to test the method offshore in the North Sea during 2023, says Johan Kverneland, Head of research & development within Plug & Abandonment in TotalEnergies.

 
 
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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Fortune Minerals Limited does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any third party publication regarding the Company and accepts no liability for any direct or consequential losses arising from its use. The information contained in third party publications is subject to verification by the user and Fortune is under no obligation to provide, or comment upon, such publications. This communication is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities. Any decision to invest in securities in the secondary market or otherwise should only be made after consulting the investor’s own investment, legal, accounting and tax advisors in order to make an informed determination of the suitability and consequences of such investment.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

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.