U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Angus King (I-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) introduced legislation to strengthen America’s national security by ensuring the U.S. and its allies can count on diverse and secure end-to-end supply of critical minerals. Critical minerals, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements, are necessary inputs for technologies that play critical roles in our national security, including military equipment, defense systems, and storage for our power grid. However, China currently dominates the mining, processing, and manufacturing of the majority of these minerals raising substantial economic and national security concerns…“The global demand for critical minerals continues to grow at exponential rates, and it is crucial that the U.S. identify secure sources of these minerals so that we can count on them for national security and critical infrastructure applications,” said Senator Warner. “Currently, China dominates the critical mineral industry and is actively working to ensure that the U.S. does not catch up. The U.S. must, alongside allies, take meaningful steps to protect and expand our production and procurement of these critical minerals. This legislation will serve as a roadmap for the U.S. to counter China’s dominance in this sector.”…The legislation would enhance diplomatic and financial tools to support public and private sectors in securing and processing these minerals by…Streamlining diplomatic efforts for securing minerals; Establishing diplomatic support for private sector investments abroad; Enhancing financial tools of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM); Creating a fund to assist investments in critical minerals; Enhancing public-private information sharing on manipulative adversary practices; Creating a public website to assist private sector companies in navigating government resources and financial support; and Expanding allied partnerships to secure critical minerals.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., the world’s biggest maker of electric vehicle batteries, is in talks to launch a $1.5 billion fund to expand its global supply chain, according to a person with knowledge of the plans…The battery giant has approached sovereign wealth funds and key customers like Mercedes-Benz Group AG to invest in the fund, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the development. The fund would help the battery maker expand its supply chain in Europe and other foreign markets…“The purpose of the fund is to facilitate the global energy transition with support from like-minded partners from all over the world,” the spokesman said…A key supplier to Tesla Inc., CATL maintains a clear lead in the global battery market with a 37.5% share in May, according to SNE Research. Within China, the world’s biggest EV market, it is even more dominant, with a 45% share.

Lithium boom has turned to lithium bust over the last two years as a wave of new supply overwhelms weaker-than-expected demand for electric vehicle (EV) batteries…The CME contract for lithium hydroxide has collapsed from a 2022 high of $85,000 per metric ton to $11,930. The CME carbonate contract was above $40,000 when it began trading in July 2023 and has since slumped to $12,850…The longer-term picture is more positive as governments force the transition to electric vehicles but there will be no return to the giddy heights of 2022 in the next 10 years, according to analysts at BMI, a Fitch Solutions company…Don't be too quick to write off either lithium or the electric vehicle sector, though…Yet lithium's price behaviour is that of any other commodity, periods of high pricing encouraging over-production which must then be weeded out by periods of low pricing…Compounding lithium's price weakness has been a downgrade in expectations for EV sales as the Chinese market matures and the Western market loses some of its recent momentum…The EV revolution has hit a slow patch but is far from going into reverse. BNP Paribas, for example, is still expecting global sales growth of 23% this year, equivalent to over 18.7 million vehicles…What has changed, however, is the product mix. Sales of pure battery vehicles are flat-lining, while sales of hybrid gas-electric vehicles are booming, even in China…Chinese sales of plug-in hybrids jumped by 90% year-on-year in April and May, while those of pure electric vehicles rose by a comparatively modest 10%, according to BNP…Hybrids, once viewed as a mere stepping stone on the journey from internal combustion to fully electric engines are proving remarkably popular with consumers worried about charging infrastructure and the relatively high cost of pure battery vehicles…The automotive energy transition is still in full swing but is not matching the exuberant forecasts made a couple of years ago…The slowdown could easily reverse…The second key factor is price, with electric vehicles still more expensive than traditional cars everywhere outside of China…The average Asian nickel-cobalt-manganese battery cell price fell to $90 per kilowatt hour in May, according to analysts at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. That was the lowest since 2021 and a long way off the March 2022 peak of $166.