Volcanoes house more than molten rock. Alongside the magma sits a mysterious substance called magmatic brine, a mineral-rich soup that collects underneath both active and dormant volcanoes. Geologists are now exploring whether these deep subterranean pools can be tapped for dissolved treasure such as lithium, copper and cobalt. The extraction could be powered by geothermal energy, leading some scientists to call it “green mining”…Sub-volcanic brine mining could also be of strategic geopolitical importance, by expanding the supply of critical minerals and breaking the stranglehold enjoyed by China…But he added that “this would be a viable alternative to scraping polymetallic nodules off the seabed — and it would do less damage to vulnerable ecosystems”…With the minerals already in solution, the brine requires less processing, and creates less waste, than land-mined material…As Ingenia reports, different groups are exploring the concept of recovering magmatic brine from geothermal energy sites in Japan, New Zealand, Iceland and Germany. The engineering challenge is immense: finding ways of drilling boreholes up to 4km down into rocks as hot as 400C; protecting wells from collapse and corrosion by the highly acidic fluid; and guarding against the metals being prematurely deposited, like limescale inside a kettle, on their long journey up…But with 1,500 volcanoes dotted around the planet and critical minerals for the energy transition running low, the payback could be explosive.

Australia will spend A$566 million ($373 million) over the coming decade to map out resource deposits with a focus on reserves of critical minerals, which are vital for high-tech manufacturing and the green-energy transition…“The world needs more of these resources — and our government is going to help Australia find more,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a speech delivered on Wednesday in Western Australia…“Some 80 per cent of Australia is unexplored,” Warren Pearce, chief executive officer of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, said by email. “This program has the potential to open new mineral jurisdictions and unlock immense new mineral wealth for Australia.”…The US and its diplomatic allies are keen to use Australian battery minerals as part of an effort to break reliance on Chinese supply for the materials, which are used in the production of solar panels, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries.

A wave of restocking throughout the first quarter of 2024 provided some relief in the ternary battery raw materials market in China, stopping the declines in prices for various products that had been seen late last year…Market sources said that typically there is more buying activity in the battery raw materials market late in May and in June for seasonal reasons, but this year consumption over the first quarter had already reached a level normally seen in the peak season. This led them to say that demand was brought forward from the second quarter, and eventually will go “back to normality.”…The growth of demand in China, particularly for ternary battery materials, slowed following the country’s discontinuation of a subsidy program at the end of 2022, but the recently improved sentiment gave evidence of downstream market share…The lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) chemistry, long favored in the Chinese market because of its price and safety competitiveness, had increased in market share over the past year, but that trend was reversed in the first quarter of 2024…In that quarter, the market share taken by nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) battery materials rose by 1.8% to 36.7%. Meanwhile, the size of the LFP battery market contracted by 2% to 63%, according to data from research firm Gaogong Industry Institute (GGII)…Meanwhile, a renewed price war among automakers in China since the start of the year has pushed prices for electric vehicles (EVs) below those for cars with internal combustion engines. 

Struggling foreign automakers in China are looking for help from local tech giants to try to stay competitive in the world's biggest electric car market, where shiny smart screens, assisted driving and sophisticated map technology are in high demand…At the recent Beijing Auto Show, China's biggest car expo, a number of foreign firms announced tech partnerships -- from Nissan joining forces with Baidu to Toyota signing a cooperation agreement with Tencent…"They are notoriously conservative companies and their competencies aren't technology," Tu Le, managing director of Sino Auto Insights, told AFP…"But they are being forced to try to be more open-minded towards technology due to where the market is moving in China and the new entrants into the space -- companies like Xiaomi and Huawei with high tech consumer products backgrounds."…Those firms are now in a brutal price war with more than 100 Chinese electric car brands, all fighting to offer the most attractive prices and the most advanced tech to wealthier consumers…"Foreign car makers in China in general, but particularly Japanese car makers, have really been... hammered in the last 12 to 18 months in the Chinese market," he said…BYD, which has emerged in recent years as the country's undisputed champion of the sector, beat Tesla in the final quarter of 2023 in global EV sales…Smart technology features are among the new set of requirements for obtaining a leading edge in China's EV race…"China wants to be seen as playing by the rules, letting foreign players access the market," he said. "But they really don't want to give up on the security side of things." The solution is to work with a Chinese partner."If you want to offer highly advanced mapping solutions in China, you need to work with a local company and either licence their mapping data or enter into a joint venture," Sebastian told AFP…And Tu Le said the possibilities of AI in smart cars could be huge. "Imagine the autonomous system in a vehicle has access to all your historical data along with your ride and drive data, buying habits and preferences," he said. "It could create ways to try to monetize you every few minutes."

Some Chinese carmakers are looking to set up manufacturing and assembly plants in Europe as they aim to ramp up sales in the region of lower costs cars to rival their European competitors amid slowing demand at home, the world's largest car market…European imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) have soared in recent years, raising concerns among domestic EV producers that could suffer significant losses by a wave of cheap Chinese electric vehicles, and politicians alike…Chery Auto, China's largest automaker by export volume, announced on April 16 that it has signed a joint venture with Spain's EV Motors to open its first European manufacturing site in Catalonia…The world's largest EV maker BYD announced in late 2023 that it will build its first European electric vehicle production base in Hungary…Chinese Leapmotor partnered with Stellantis last year and after receiving a green light by the Chinese government for a joint venture, Reuters reported the company will start producing small EVs at Stellantis' Tychy plant in Poland…State-owned SAIC, China's second-largest auto exporter with its MG-branded cars, is looking for a site in Europe to set up a plant for EV production…In 2022, a Polish state-led venture to produce the country's first electric car, known as Izera, signed a licence agreement with China's Geely Holding to build the country's first EV plant.

China unveiled draft rules that appear aimed at slowing the breakneck expansion of its battery industry — a key target of US and European complaints about Chinese overcapacity. Firms in the lithium-ion battery sector should avoid building plants that “simply expand production capacity,” the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a proposal issued on Wednesday. The document also suggests minimum standards for energy density and a range of other battery specifications…China’s battery production in 2023 was roughly equal to the entire world’s demand, and the sector has seen a swathe of new entrants competing for market share. Exports have also soared, fueling trade tensions, with shipments growing 28% last year to about $65 billion…Beijing’s proposed new guidelines aim to accelerate the “upgrading and structural adjustment” of the battery sector, the ministry said, as well as to improve technical innovation and product quality, and to reduce production costs.

Automakers across Europe and Asia are warning of a challenging year as rising costs and waning demand for electric vehicles weigh on profits…Mercedes-Benz Group AG on Wednesday said it will sell combustion-engine cars longer than expected amid disappointing EV sales. Toyota Motor Corp., which sees operating income slumping by a fifth this fiscal year, is relying on hybrids to counter lower output. BMW AG, even as it’s doing better on EVs, flagged problems including higher manufacturing expenses…“The price war in China is getting tougher everyday,” Toyota Chief Financial Officer Yoichi Miyazaki said. “We’ll have to continue enduring for several years until we have more battery EVs to offer.”… BMW’s EV sales jumped 28% after the German brand introduced a range of battery-powered models that look very similar to its comparable gasoline models…But most carmakers are feeling the pain of the EV slowdown after governments ended lucrative subsidies for the technology, making the already more expensive EVs even less attractive…While the shift to EVs has slowed somewhat due to the demand issues, carmakers aren’t making u-turns…Toyota said it’s committed to EVs in the long term, and that it will invest an additional ¥500 billion ($3.2 billion) in plans to decarbonize and develop next-generation software…Ferrari, which on Tuesday reported underwhelming earnings and failed to raise its outlook, is building a factory in Italy to make hybrid and electric cars that will be ready next month. Both BMW and Mercedes plan to introduce a new generation of EVs around mid-decade.