Demand for critical minerals to power the global energy transition is forecast to skyrocket in the years ahead, while supply is expected to fail meeting the world’s needs unless alternative ways of securing critical metals are applied, experts warn…It is a bumpy road ahead from a credit risk perspective due to moving parts, analysts at DBRS Morningstar said in a note on Tuesday. These include the role of governments to de-risk investments in exploration and mining innovation and how high critical metals prices remain…They also note that the energy transition trend may lead to rapid depletion of reserves and even shorten mine lives, which will put pressure on cost structures, affecting the overall business risk profiles of miners…One way to mitigate these effects, experts agree, is by creating innovations and alliances that will reshape mining operations to meet the surging demand…One of the alternatives currently available is the extraction of critical metals from used products, such as electronics or e-waste, as well as from mine tailings…Recycling, he said, can offer a sustainable pathway to meet rising demand for these minerals, reducing society’s reliance on mining…The International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecasted that demand for most minerals essential to the clean-energy transition will increase four to six times over the next decade and a half. For some minerals, the jump will be exponential…The IEA estimates that by 2040, recycled copper, lithium, nickel, and cobalt from spent batteries alone could provide 10% these minerals. The Worldwide Wildlife Fund says recycling could potentially supply 20% of total mineral demand between from now until 2050.

A truckers’ strike in the Democratic Republic of Congo that blocked some exports of copper and cobalt has been resolved, according to people familiar with the matter. The drivers stopped shipping the green-energy metals from the mining hub of Kolwezi around the end of October in a dispute over danger pay…Congo is the world’s largest cobalt producer and one of the biggest sources of copper. Almost all the material is trucked by road from southeastern Congo to Zambia, destined for ports in South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique.

Moroccan mining company Managem said on Wednesday an audit of its water supplies showed no irregularities after a German newspaper reported that toxic arsenic had been found in water samples taken from mines in the country…Managem's Bou Azzer mine supplies German automaker BMW with cobalt, widely used in electric car batteries. The company also plans to supply Renault in 2025. BMW told Reuters on Sunday it was seeking clarity on the operations at the mine after the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said its reporters, in collaboration with broadcasters NDR and WDR, had found serious violations of environmental and labour protection standards at mines in Morocco, as well as excessive levels of arsenic in water samples…BMW sources a fifth of its cobalt supplies from Morocco. A spokesman said the automaker, which is in intensive talks with Managem, had commissioned two independent audits into the Bou Azzer mine to "examine social and environmental standards at the location"…Renault also said it would soon launch its first on-site "environmental, social and corporate governance audit" of the mine by a third-party.

A vast treasure of critical minerals lies on the ocean floor. Should they be extracted to help fight climate change?...Click on the blue article title to access graphic/editorial piece 

Maple Ridge, B.C., will be home to a new $1.05-billion lithium-ion battery plant and an anticipated 450 permanent jobs…Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby made the announcement Tuesday, touting the partnership with battery cell maker E-One Moli as a step towards developing B.C.’s clean economy…Under the deal, B.C. will fund up to $80 million for the new advanced manufacturing facility, which the province said will be the first of its kind in western Canada…The federal government is putting up $204.5 million through the Net Zero Accelerator Initiative, which is aimed at supporting companies that can help Canada reach its greenhouse gas emission targets…Battery cells produced in the plant will be used in products ranging from consumer electronics and power tools to medical devices…The plant project will make E-One Moli the largest private-sector employer in Maple Ridge.

Volkswagen has not made a decision on producing a 20,000-euro ($21,714.00) electric car yet, but Chief Executive Oliver Blume is convinced that the company can get there by the second half of the decade, he said at a conference on Wednesday…The main lever to reduce prices of electric cars is reducing battery costs, Blume said at the Sueddeutsche Zeitung Wirtschaftsgipfel conference in Berlin, pointing to the company's plans to produce a unified battery cell that it says will reduce battery costs by half. Volkswagen laid out the details in March of an all-electric car under development for 25,000 euros, to launch by 2025 with a 450-km range and a battery charging from 10% to 80% in around 20 minutes. The company had said at the time it was working on a 20,000-euro vehicle, but did not provide further information.

French car maker Renault said its electric vehicles unit Ampere would see revenue more than treble to 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) in 2025 as it sought to fire up doubtful investors ahead of a planned market listing of the business next year…The group set out financial targets for the unit, including revenue of 25 billion euros in 2031, break-even in 2025 and an operating margin of at least 10% from 2030, ahead of an investor day in Paris…The planned initial public offering (IPO), slated for next spring, has been complicated by slower demand for EVs, choppy markets and increased Chinese competition, with sources close to the deal telling Reuters last month that CEO Luca de Meo's hoped-for valuation of 8 billion to 10 billion euros looked over-ambitious…Sources close to the matter told Reuters last month the company was unlikely to go ahead with the IPO if the overall valuation for Ampere fell below 7 billion euros. De Meo declined to give a red line for the IPO…Renault also announced on Wednesday the launch of a new EV Twingo, called Legend, at less than 20,000 euros as European car makers face increased competition from cheaper Chinese models.

Second life energy storage firm B2U has put its second major project into commercial operation, a 3MW/12MWh system made up of Honda Clarity EV batteries…The Cuyama battery energy storage system (BESS) has begun operations near the community of New Cuyama, B2U Storage Solutions said today (14 November)…Cuyama is connected to the distribution network operated by utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and sells power and grid services into the Californian wholesale power market operated by CAISO…The project is made up entirely of used electric vehicle (EV) batteries from Honda’s Clarity model. That is different to B2U’s flagship 28MWh Sierra facility, also in California, which uses batteries from a range of vehicles including Nissan, Chevy, Tesla and Ford. B2U didn’t reveal the OEM which made the batteries themselves when asked by Energy-Storage.news.

German chemicals maker BASF has struck an agreement with South Korean electric-vehicle battery cell manufacturer SK On to evaluate opportunities to work together on lithium-ion batteries with a focus on North America and Asia…In a joint statement on Wednesday, the two companies said they would initially look into cathode materials production, which has been an area of major global investment for BASF…Other potential areas of collaboration at a later stage include battery recycling, they added.