Battery Metals

Chile’s new public-private participation model for lithium received a conditional endorsement from the United Nations. “There is an integral nature in this strategy that allows trust, transparency and certainty,” said Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, executive secretary of the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Still, it’s success will depend on “the quality of […]

China said on Monday it will impose export restrictions on gallium and germanium products used in computer chips and other components to protect national security interests. The decision, widely seen as retaliation for US curbs on sales of technologies to China, raised concerns that China might eventually limit exports of other materials, notably rare earths, whose production […]

Toyota says it has made a technological breakthrough that will allow it to halve the weight, size and cost of batteries, in what could herald a major advance for electric vehicles. The world’s second largest carmaker was already pursuing a plan to roll out cars with advanced solid-state batteries, which offer benefits compared with liquid-based […]

Gold prices advanced on Monday as both the US dollar and yields retreated on weaker economic readings, casting doubts over whether the Federal Reserve may stick to its hawkish policy outlook. Spot gold gained 0.4% to $1,926.86 per ounce, returning to the same level it traded at this time last week. US gold futures rose […]

PUSHED BY THE threat of climate change, rich countries are embarking on a grand electrification project. Britain, France and Norway, among others, plan to ban the sale of new internal-combustion cars over the coming decade. Even where bans are not on the statute books, electric-car sales are growing rapidly. Power grids are changing too, as […]

A Toyota Corolla with a 1.8L engine requires 6.2 liters of gas to drive for 100 kilometers on a highway. But on city roads, it would require 7.9 liters of gas. A 2022 Ford F-150 requires 9.4 and 12.1 liters per 100 km for highway and city driving, respectively. Traditional fuel-powered automobiles, powered by the […]

After years of outsourcing manufacturing to China, countries are finding that their pools of talent have dried up. Just as they’re looking to produce their own batteries and rare earth permanent magnets—both critical for electric vehicles—they don’t have the skilled professionals for the job. Japan is no exception in this regard—but it now has a […]

As the aviation world looks to battery-powered planes to help sustainability, the rail sector has been quietly working on a faster alternative. Enter Europe’s first battery-powered trains. A 20-strong fleet of Hitachi Masaccio trains is now running in Italy, where they are known as “Blues.” It’s the first phase of a 1.23 billion euros project […]

Global miner Rio Tinto is setting up a battery test plant at an Australian research hub to better understand how its minerals can work for battery makers, an executive said on Wednesday. Rio set up its battery materials business in 2021 before buying the Rincon lithium mine in Argentina the following year. It has put on ice […]

California-based Rondo Energy and Thailand’s Siam Cement Group are going to operate the world’s largest battery factory in Thailand. The world’s largest battery factory The production capacity of Rondo Heat Battery storage at Siam Cement Group’s factory is going to be ramped up from 2.4 GWh to 90 GWh per year – that’s larger than […]