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Nickel shortage in view unless China-led projects in Indonesia succeed: analysts

admin — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:10:39 +0000

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The global nickel market and its key growth sector, electric vehicle (EV) batteries, will face grave supply shortages unless key Chinese-led projects in Indonesia start up in a timely and cost-effective manner, analysts said on Thursday.

The outlook, issued by delegates attending an industry gathering, comes after China’s Tsingshan Group last year surprised the market with a low-cost estimate and short time frame to launch a $700 million high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) plant with partners on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. HPAL is a process used to extract nickel from laterite ore.

Tsingshan’s ambitious project targets production on Sulawesi – including of 131,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate crystals – by the end of 2020. At the same time, the company is working on another new Indonesian nickel project, at Weda Bay alongside Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.

“The real issue is how quickly the Chinese investors and technology can deliver these projects to the market,” Jim Lennon, senior commodities consultant at Macquarie, told the Fastmarkets Battery Materials conference in Shanghai.

Chinese investment in Indonesia is based on its successful development of the Ramu nickel and cobalt HPAL project in Papua New Guinea, said Lennon, but the technology still needs to be successfully transplanted to Indonesia.

Macquarie sees the world needing an incremental 1.3 million tonnes of nickel over the next 10 years. But Lennon said the real number would be 1.45 million tonnes, due to expected depletion of stocks.

“If these projects don’t deliver, there’s not going to be enough nickel,” Lennon said.

Ken Hoffman, leader of the McKinsey EV battery materials research group, concurred that Ramu has been a “phenomenal success” that battery companies hope can be replicated. “But if it cannot…this industry is going to be in serious trouble,” he said.

“From the EV standpoint, there is a lot of concern…but you don’t see that sense of urgency from many senior mine managers” who want the nickel price to be over $20,000 a tonne before committing to any big investment, he said.

Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange are currently trading at just over $13,000 a tonne.

“When you talk to the battery companies and the auto companies, they are petrified about supply because they don’t see it coming on line,” Hoffman said.

Alex Khodov, principal nickel analyst at Russian giant Norilsk Nickel, said the market would need more nickel than the volumes expected to come from Indonesia.

He said HPAL projects outside of Indonesia would require a “significantly higher incentive price of at least $20,000” a tonne.

Ref: http://nanthavictor.com

New $135m battery research centre puts Australia at ‘cutting edge’ of global Lithium industry

admin — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:09:11 +0000

A new national lithium research hub in Western Australia is hoped to take the state a step closer to developing a battery manufacturing industry.

Key points:

WA sees itself as a hub for battery minerals and manufacturing
Politicians say Australia’s ability to viably produce lithium batteries is still a way off
Much of the research will be carried out in Kwinana, South West, Goldfields and Pilbara regions

The $135 million centre, announced today, will operate out of Curtin University in Perth and will look at how to better source minerals and process them into chemicals that are used to develop batteries.

The research centre will be jointly funded by the Federal Government, the State Government and industry to the tune of $53 million.

It will also receive $82 million of in-kind support from the sector.

Federal Minister for Industry Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, said the cooperative research centre was about lifting Australia’s role in the battery value chain.

“We are clearly not just digging these minerals out of the earth,” she said.

“We will be extracting, processing and looking at the technology to develop the components to go into energy storage systems.”

Ms Andrews said WA was well placed to host the centre.

“It’s quite clear that Australia has an abundance of resources and minerals, in particular, that are essential to the development of battery and energy storage systems,” she said.

“Western Australia clearly has many of those minerals.”

A step to battery making

Premier Mark McGowan said the news was a big victory for WA.

“I want Australians and the rest of the world to see Western Australia as a hub for battery minerals and a manufacturing centre for some of the processes along the way to making a battery,” he said.

“That will create thousands of jobs for our state and put us at the cutting edge of industry and technology development around the world.

Mr McGowan said the centre could pave the way for a battery-making industry in WA.”There are a number of steps to go until you get to batteries but a [research centre] means that the research capacity will be here and the world interest will be here in WA,” he said.

Ms Andrews said lithium battery manufacturing was still a way off.

“There’s a little bit of uncertainty about whether or not developing a battery manufacturing centre here in Western Australia or even in Australia is viable at the moment,” she said.

“We certainly know that there is an opportunity for us to manufacture the components, for example the cathodes in the battery, but at this point in time it would seem a way off before we look at lithium batteries.”

Future Battery Industries CRC chairman Tim Shanahan said one of the goals of the centre would be to undertake research that supports the viability of making batteries in Australia.

“That’s what we would like to see, so that all the materials that we produce in Australia will eventually be put into a factory that might be here in Australia,” he said.

“That would certainly be the holy grail of this activity.”

But Mr Shanahan said the very first step would be recruiting researchers from across Australia to get battery research up and running by July 1.

“We are keen to hit the ground running and get this thing started as soon as possible,” he said.

Jobs for regional WA

Although the centre will be based in Perth, Mr Shanahan said a lot of research would be carried out on the ground in the state’s lithium hotspots: Kwinana, the South West, the Goldfields, and the Pilbara.

“One of the key things that we’re interested in is what can be done to develop those precincts from what they are today to perhaps be multifaceted and more interdependent business environments [to] create economic growth in the regions,” Mr Shanahan said.

WA’s South West is home to the world’s largest lithium mine and work is underway in Kwinana and Kemerton on major WA refineries to process the lithium.

Ref: http://nanthavictor.com

United States sets sights on China in new electric vehicle push

admin — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:06:57 +0000

(Reuters) – U.S. government officials plan to meet with executives from automakers and lithium miners in early May as part of a first-of-its-kind effort to launch a national electric vehicle supply chain strategy, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

While Volkswagen AG, Tesla Inc and other electric-focused automakers and battery manufacturers are expanding in the United States and investing billions in the new technology, they are reliant on mineral imports without a major push to develop more domestic mines and processing facilities.

China already dominates the electric vehicle supply chain. It produces nearly two-thirds of the world’s lithium-ion batteries – compared to 5 percent for the United States – and controls most of the world’s lithium processing facilities, according to data from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, which tracks prices for lithium and other commodities and is organizing the Washington, D.C., event.

U.S. imports of lithium have nearly doubled since 2014 due in part to rising demand from Tesla, SK Innovation Co and others building battery plants in the country, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“We need to find ways to more efficiently develop our nation’s domestic critical mineral supply because these resources are vital to both our national security and our economy,” North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement to Reuters when asked about the meeting.

Hoeven and Senator Lisa Murkowski, chair of the Senate’s energy committee, have been invited to attend the meeting. Officials from the U.S. Department of State, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and the U.S. Geological Survey plan to attend, according to two of the sources.

As part of the effort, Murkowski is expected to introduce standalone legislation aimed at streamlining the permitting process for lithium and other mines, bolstering state and federal studies of domestic supplies of critical minerals and encouraging mineral recycling, among other topics, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Some of those efforts were part of broader energy legislation in prior Congresses that failed, and Murkowski hopes that similar legislation will draw broader attention to the topic, according to the source.

Five companies, including Lithium Americas Corp, are developing U.S. lithium projects that plan to use new technologies to extract the metal from clays, bromine and even oilfield waste, processes not common elsewhere and considered game-changing by some analysts. But not all of them have secured financing.

If all five come online by 2022 as planned, the country would produce at least 77,900 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent each year, making the country one of the world’s largest lithium producers. Lithium development projects have historically faced numerous obstacles, so that production number is far from guaranteed.

“Creating a domestic electric vehicle supply chain is the perfect blueprint to make America great again,” said Jesse Edmondson, chief executive officer of U.S. Critical Minerals, a start-up firm buying lithium mineral rights in the U.S. Southeast.

Representatives from Tesla, Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co plan to attend the Washington meeting and discuss with federal officials potential policy changes that could encourage development of a domestic supply chain to mine, process and supply lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite for battery manufacturers and automakers, according to the sources.

Tesla and GM did not respond to requests for comment.

A Ford spokesperson said that the company regularly engages with stakeholders on various supply chain topics.

Albemarle Corp and Livent Corp, two U.S.-based companies that mine lithium in South America, also plan to attend, as do executives from the handful of lithium mines under development in the United States, according to the sources.

“We are looking forward to participating in a forum with policy makers and industry participants who are focused on ensuring the U.S. remains a leader in the development of the electric vehicle industry,” said Paul Graves, CEO of Livent, which has said it is eyeing expansion opportunities.

Albemarle, which operates the only existing lithium mine in the United States, declined to comment.

The one-day meeting will be divided into morning workshops focused on financing and permitting obstacles, with one-on-one afternoon meetings between regulators and industry executives, according to the sources.

“We’re trying to make sure policymakers have an understanding of this complex situation,” said James Calaway, chairman of ioneer Ltd, which is developing a lithium project in Nevada that also hold a large concentration of boron, used in a plethora of consumer goods.

In Arkansas, Standard Lithium Ltd is developing a pilot project to extract lithium from the bromine waste of a Lanxess AG chemical facility.

“We have an opportunity to take a huge step forward in lithium production, and we want to support that,” Asa Hutchinson, the governor of Arkansas, told Reuters.

Hutchinson and some other U.S. officials want U.S. lithium projects to stand alone without financial support from the government, a potential impediment as financiers often look for even tacit government support before investing in new, unproven technologies.

“There’s a real opportunity in the electric vehicle supply chain if the United States wakes up,” said Jonathan Evans, president of Lithium Americas, which is developing a lithium project in Nevada expected to open by 2022.

Ref: http://nanthavictor.com

Carbontech: How Business is Creating Wealth from Waste

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 19:56:26 +0000

CVMR was invited to participate in the Carbontech event organized by Energy & Environment Canada and Columbia University Center for Global Energy Policy (CEGP), at the Canadian Consulate in NYC on 25 March 2019.

Chinese electric vehicle makers are gorging on Nickel

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 19:55:59 +0000

Battery metals tracker Adamas Intelligence says Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers deployed 253% more nickel in passenger EV batteries in January this year compared to 2018.

The Dutch-Canadian research company, which tracks EV registrations and battery chemistries in more than 80 countries says the jump is due to an ongoing shift from lithium iron phosphate (LFP) to nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathodes.

First generation NCM batteries contained around a third cobalt with a chemical composition of 111 – 1 part nickel, 1 part cobalt and 1 part manganese, but NCM batteries with higher nickel content (622 and 523 chemistries) have become standard in China.

According to Adamas, China is now the the largest market for passenger EV battery nickel, ahead of Japan and the US, which were the two largest markets in January 2018. Nickel used in car batteries jumped 88% in Germany and 54% in the US year-on-year.

The EV boom in China is only accelerating, and Adamas says despite being a seasonally slow month in January 2019, 3.27 GWh of passenger EV battery capacity was deployed in the world’s largest car market, an increase of 439% over January 2018 levels:

Even more remarkable, from January 2018 through January 2019, the sales-weighted average passenger EV battery capacity in China increased by a staggering 95%, from 14.9 kWh to 29.1 kWh, meaning that the average EV registered in China in January 2019 contained nearly double the mass of battery metals/materials as the year prior.

The price of nickel is up more than 20% in 2019 as stocks held in warehouses around the world registered with the London Metal Exchange fall to multi-year lows.

Ref: http://nanthavictor.com

Read more from original source: http://www.mining.com/chinese-electric-vehicle-makers-gorging-nickel

CO2 Solutions – Saint-Félicien Project Update

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 19:55:31 +0000

QUEBEC CITY, Feb. 28, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ – CO2 Solutions Inc. (the “Corporation” or “CO2 Solutions”) (TSXV: CST) today announced its financial results for the three-month period ended December 31, 2018. The Corporation’s detailed financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis (“MD&A”) will be filed and available on www.sedar.com.

Three-month Period ended December 31, 2018 and Subsequent Operational Highlights

Update on the Saint-Félicien Project

The Corporation announces that the commissioning of the CO2 capture unit at Saint-Félicien will begin shortly. This milestone is occurring later than originally planned given the late delivery of certain components and the difficult weather conditions experienced during equipment installation this fall and winter. Currently, the Corporation estimates that, due to such delays, unforeseen equipment costs, and exchange rate variations, the total cost of the CO2 capture unit and ancillary equipment could attain $11M, approximately $2.5M higher than the October 2017 estimate provided by the Corporation’s consulting engineers. Therefore, the Corporation is evaluating financing options given its current cash situation.

The CO2 capture unit is currently undergoing pre-operation verifications of each of the unit’s systems, after which the unit is expected to begin its operation and the first tonnes of CO2 are expected to be captured. Shortly thereafter, the Corporation expects to ramp up the overall capture rate to reach the unit’s nominal capacity of 30 tonnes of CO2 per day. Once the capture unit reaches its nominal capacity, a six-month demonstration period is expected to begin, after which the Corporation would begin generating revenues from the sale of the CO2 to Serres Toundra. This unit will be the Corporation’s second operating CO2 capture unit and its first commercial unit. It is expected to provide several benefits to its stakeholders, from generating revenues for CO2 Solutions, to reducing the CO2 emissions of Resolute pulp mill and enhancing the growth of Serres Toundra’s greenhouse production. The Corporation continues to attract strong interest from corporations worldwide seeking a cost effective and environmentally friendly CO2 capture technology.

Update on the VCQ Project

The Corporation continues to lead the world’s most comprehensive CO2 capture and utilization demonstration project, Valorisation Carbone Québec (VCQ). Launched in February 2017, the objectives of this project are to develop and demonstrate commercially viable end-to-end solutions to capture and utilize CO2 in various applications while reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. The first CO2 conversion technology, the conversion of captured CO2 into methanol and then dimethyl ether, is expected to be deployed in mid-2019.

CO₂Solutions Welcomes Suncor as Industrial Partner in the VCQ Project

On November 28, 2018, CO2 Solutions announced that Suncor (TSX: SU) joined the VCQ project as its second Industrial Partner. The Industrial Partner category is one of five partnership types in the VCQ project along with the Founder, Supplier, Utilization Technology and End-Use categories. Industrial partners make financial contributions to the VCQ budget in exchange for access to the techno-economic reports covering the capture and utilization technologies and generated throughout the project. Continuous collaboration with partners is intended to ensure the success of the VCQ project and enable significant progress in the development of utilization technologies for captured CO2.

CO₂Solutions Enters into a Research Agreement with CNETE

In December 12, 2018, the Corporation announced that it had entered into a research agreement with the Collège de Shawinigan’s Centre National en Électrochimie et en Technologies environnementales (“CNETE”). CNETE’s expertise lies in the areas of bioprocess, membrane separation technology and electrochemistry. Under the terms of the agreement, CNETE assists the Corporation in enhancing and managing key components of its enzyme production process. The expected result is a further decrease in the Corporation’s enzymatic carbon capture technology’s operating costs.

Financial Update

Revenues

The Corporation recorded no revenues for the three-month periods ended December 31, 2018 and 2017. For the six-month periods ended December 31, 2018, and 2017, the corporation recorded $0 and $0.02 million respectively. For the same period in 2017, the Corporation recorded $0.02 million. Funds received from subsidy or grant agreements signed with federal or provincial government agencies are not treated as revenue. Rather, these amounts are accounted for as a deduction from research and development expenses in the period the contribution is claimed and accrued (see Research and development expenses below).

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses, before tax credits and government assistance, increased by $4.43 million to $6.40 million for the three-month period ended December 31, 2018, compared to $1.97 million for the same period in 2017. Increases in the three-month period from that of the prior year reflect the significant increase of work associated with the VCQ and Saint-Félicien projects. These expenses will vary based upon the development phase and activity levels of ongoing projects undertaken by the Corporation.

For the six-month period ended December 31, 2018, research and development expenditures, before tax credits and government assistance, increased by $5.65 million to $11.24 million from $5.59 million for the same period last year. As was the case above, this increase reflects the higher volume of research and development activities associated with the VCQ and Saint-Félicien projects.

Quebec provincial research and development tax credits accrued during the quarter were $3.55 million and $7.4 million for the 6-month period ended December 31, 2018.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses totalled $0.93 million for the three-month period ended December 31, 2018, compared to $0.74 million for the same period in 2017, representing an increase of $0.2 million. This net increase is predominantly related to an increase in compensation-related expenses (cash-based salaries and benefits and non-cash stock-based compensation) of $0.05 million, an increase of $0.15 million in advertising, travel and other general office expenses.

General and administrative expenses totalled $1.39 million for the six-month period ended December 31, 2018, compared to $1.18 million for the same period in 2017. This net decrease of $0.21 million is predominantly related to a net increase in travel expenses for the six month-month period of $0.15 million and $0.06 million in professional fees primarily related to legal and professional fees associated with public relations, investor relations and communications.

Loss and Comprehensive Loss for the Quarter

The Corporation recorded a loss of $3,77 million, or $0.02 per share, for the three-month period ended December 31, 2018, an increase of $2,67 million from the loss of $1,10 million or $0.01 per share, for the same period in 2017. For the six-month period ended December 31, 2018, the Corporation recorded a loss of $5,34 million or $0.03 per share, an increase of $3.50 million from the loss of $1,84, or $0.01 per share, for the same period in 2017. No significant factors, other than those described above, contributed to the change in the loss for the three-month or the six-month periods.

Liquidity and Financial Position

As at December 31, 2018, the Corporation had an aggregate balance of cash and cash equivalents of $1.17 million and negative working capital (current assets less current liabilities) of $8.09 million.

The unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the six-month period ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, and related notes included therein and the Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the period ended December 31, 2018, and additional information regarding the Corporation, are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Going Concern

To date, the Corporation has financed its operations mainly through cash flow obtained from technology development collaborations, the issuance of common shares or convertible securities and government assistance.

As at December 31, 2018, the Corporation had an accumulated deficit of $45,296,161 compared to $39,858,682 as at December 31, 2017. In addition to ongoing working capital requirements, the Corporation must secure sufficient funding to meet its capital and operational expense commitments related to its research and development projects as well as its general and administration expenses. As at December 31, 2018, the Corporation showed a working capital deficiency of $8,095,548 compared to $3,631,747 at the same time last year. The working capital deficiency includes cash and cash equivalents of $1,162,821 ($2,101,425 in 2017) and deferred grant of $6,017,380 ($3,553,770 in 2017). As at December 31, 2018 and currently, management estimates that these current funds alone would not be sufficient to allow the Corporation to continue its operations over the next twelve (12) months especially given the cost increase related to the Saint-Félicien project.

Through current and ongoing negotiations with potential funding partners and provincial and federal government agencies, the Corporation’s management is actively seeking to raise the necessary capital to meet its funding requirements. However, there can be no assurance that management’s plans or current negotiations will be successful. Until such time as financing at terms acceptable to the Corporation can be confirmed or negotiations with potential funding partners are successfully concluded, the Corporation may have to act to limit the ongoing project and development work and reduce its operating costs.

Accordingly, these conditions have resulted in an uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the Corporation’s ability to continue as a going concern and accordingly, the appropriateness of the use of IFRS applicable to a going concern as described in the following paragraph.

If management is unable to obtain new funding, the Corporation may have to act to limit ongoing projects and development work and reduce its operating costs or take other measures as deemed necessary. In the case that the Corporation is unable to continue its operations, amounts realized for assets might be less than amounts reflected in the Corporation’s consolidated financial statements.

The consolidated financial statements of the Corporation do not reflect the adjustment to the carrying values of assets and liabilities, expenses and consolidated balance sheet classifications that would be necessary were the going concern assumption inappropriate. These adjustments could be material.

About CO2 Solutions Inc.

CO2 Solutions is an innovator in the field of enzyme-enabled carbon capture and has been actively working to develop and commercialize the technology for stationary sources of carbon pollution. CO2 Solutions’ technology lowers the cost barrier to Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS), positioning it as a viable CO2 mitigation tool, as well as enabling industry to derive profitable new products from these emissions. CO2 Solutions has built an extensive patent portfolio covering the use of carbonic anhydrase, or analogues thereof, for the efficient post-combustion capture of carbon dioxide with low‐energy aqueous solvents. Further information can be found at www.co2solutions.com.

CO2 Solutions Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release may be forward-looking. These statements relate to future events such as (i) the Corporation’s projects, including their costs, progression and benefits, (ii) the Corporation’s expected activities, expenditures and capital requirements, (iii) the Corporation’s ability to continue as a going concern, (iv) anticipated developments in the Corporation’s operations foreseeable future, (v) the adequacy of the Corporation’s financial resources and (vi) other events or conditions that may occur in the future, and reflect the current assumptions and expectations of management. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “predicts”, “potential”, “targeted”, “plans”, “possible” and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions or results “will”, “may”, “could” or “should” occur or be achieved.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (i) availability of funding, (ii) general business and economic uncertainties, (iii) third party events and adverse market conditions, as well as those risks set out in the Corporation’s public documents filed on SEDAR and (iv) the adequacy of the Corporation’s available cash resources. The Corporation’s forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made. Consequently, all forward-looking statements made in this news release involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. CO2 Solutions undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

www.co2solutions.com

SOURCE CO2 Solutions Inc.

For further information: Investor and Media Contact: CO2 Solutions: Jérémie Lavoie, 418-842-3456, ext. 223, jeremie.lavoie@co2solutions.com

CHILE: COPPER AND LITHIUM GIANT SQUEEZING WATER RIGHTS FOR MINERS

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 19:55:01 +0000

Officials plan to more than double number of prohibited zones
BHP and Antofagasta have requested water-rights extensions

In a belated response to falling fresh-water levels in desert areas, Chile is moving to protect a natural resource that has been depleted after decades of mining activity.

With complaints from local communities rising and the effects of climate change worsening, the world’s largest copper producer is planning to implement measures that will make it more difficult for miners to pump fresh water.

Chile’s water authority DGA will more than double the number of so-called prohibition areas across the country this year to at least 70 from 30, according to general director Oscar Cristi. No new licenses can be awarded within prohibition zones and any extension to existing permits will need to be approved by environmental authorities.

“There are mining areas that will fall within new prohibition areas,” Cristi said, declining to identify the areas to avoid possible speculation around water rights. “In some places, mining companies are allowed to pump more than is flowing into the basin, and that’s threatening the sustainability of the water systems.”

Chile’s Atacama desert in the country’s north, the driest place on Earth, hosts some of the planet’s largest copper and lithium mines. While it’s occasionally hit by heavy rains and floods, the region has become drier over the last few decades, according to the DGA. At the same time, mining companies’ demand for water is expected to soar as ore grades decline, forcing them to process more material to maintain production levels.

In response, miners are building large desalination plants, and seawater use is expected to more than triple through 2029, according to the latest forecast from Chile’s copper commission, Cochilco. Despite that, use of ground water at the country’s giant mines still is set to increase 12 percent through 2029, Cochilco said.

The DGA’s plan to boost water-protection areas is part of a larger overhaul in Chile that includes conducting independent studies to determine water levels in 10 different basins. At the moment, the agency depends on the information in company reports when awarding water rights.

‘Complex Case’

This has proven a challenge in the Atacama. The world’s largest copper mine, BHP Group’s Escondida, and Antofagasta Plc’s Zaldivar are requesting permit extensions to pump water from southern Atacama. Further north, the two top lithium miners, Albemarle Corp. and Soc. Quimica y Minera de Chile SA, also pump fresh water and lithium-rich mud from underneath the salty plain.

“This is the most complex case we have at the moment,” Cristi said. “It is important that Escondida and Zaldivar adjust their current extraction levels if they want to continue operating because the availability of water in the basin doesn’t support the current extraction rate.”

BHP’s Escondida, which is authorized to pump 1,400 liters per second, is vowing to cut the rate to 640 liters a second starting from 2020 through 2030, according to company filings. BHP wants to completely stop using fresh water in Chile by 2030, and last year it inaugurated a $3.4 billion desalination plant that pumps seawater 3,000 meters above sea level to the Escondida mine.

BHP declined to comment on the state of its request to extend its water permits.

No Backup Plan

Zaldivar’s case is different because it has no backup plan. The mine will have to close down if its water license isn’t renewed, the company said in an emailed response to questions. The mine is in the last years of its life and will probably stop producing in 2029. The current license allows the company to pump 500 liters a second through 2025 and Antofagasta is asking for a license to pump 213 liters a second through 2029.

Water levels in the Atacama salt flats are now lower than they were before mining operations started decades ago, Cristi said. If companies reduce their water usage, the basins could recover to pre-mining levels by 2040, according to DGA calculations.

Local communities disagree and are asking the government to reject the companies’ requests to keep pumping water. The Chilean environmental service SEA has halted the evaluation process for Escondida and Zaldivar as it studies reports from the companies and local communities. At the end of the process, a technical committee that includes the DGA will vote on whether to approve or reject the license extensions.

“Every company has a different hydro-geological model and they’re all designed to basically blame the miner next door if water levels go down,” said Felipe Lerzundi, a lawyer representing the Coyo community in the process. “Wetlands have been dried out, the environment has been damaged. For the salt flat and for local communities, it is already too late.”

Ref: http://nanthavictor.com

New technique successfully converts power plant CO2 to graphite

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 19:54:39 +0000

Posted on January 31, 2019 by James Ockenden in Technology, Carbon & climate

A Canadian project has successfully captured power plant flue gas CO2 and converted it into value-added products including graphite and graphene. The project, run by CVMR and EnerCarbon and partially funded by the”Solutions 2030 Challenge” program of the Ontario Centers of Excellence (OCE), involves capturing CO2 emissions from industrial operations of various scales through a novel modular technology, replacing conventional absorption towers and scrubbers.

The goal is to capture CO2 from industrial plants such as utility plants, oil sands producers, chemical manufacturers as well as those that have much smaller operations. The captured CO2 is then converted into stable and value-added carbon byproducts, such as graphite and graphene. CVMR and EnerCarbon have established the concept for the economic capture of CO2 at various scales of emission. They have successfully bench-tested the production of graphite and graphene from the captured CO2 at their own joint facilities located in Toronto, Ontario.

Existing technology offers poor payback

The existing technologies for post-combustion application rely mostly on absorption towers that suffer from complicated operational problems such as large footprint, inflexibility for treating diverse flue gas streams and toxic chemical carryover, all of which are impediments to small and medium size companies. In addition, it is challenging to convince the producers to integrate currently available CO2 capture technologies into their plants due to the high costs and the potential for interruption in their production flow. Another major challenge is the disposal of captured CO2 or its conversion into stable products that are simple to transport and do not require elaborate infrastructures.

Most of the approaches for valorising CO2 are either energy-intensive or suffer from low payback rates, neither of which is financially attractive for the private sector. The rationale behind the development of the new technologies by CVMR and EnerCarbon are:

unavailability of a modular, retrofittable CO2 capture unit in the market that would be cost-effective for small- to medium-size companies;
inability of the available technologies to convert captured CO2 into physically stable and useful forms of carbon; and,
the investors’ uncertainty about returns on such investments.

Going industrial

In May 2018, CVMR was awarded a substantial grant provided by the Government of Ontario, through OCE, under a three-phase competition over three years, called Ontario’s Solutions 2030 Challenge. Since May 2018, when the grant was awarded, a joint team of engineers and researchers at CVMR and EnerCarbon have successfully designed, built and commissioned their proprietary bench-scale prototype for capturing CO2 and converting it into graphite.

Their CO2 capture unit offers a modular technology and easily scalable membrane scrubber units that enable efficient CO2 capture at a reduced capital cost and reduced footprint (up to 50%) as compared with conventional absorption towers. CVMR and EnerCarbon have successfully advanced this phase, explored availability of diverse membrane materials among various manufacturers, worldwide, and have built different membranes and tested them at simulated conditions of flue gas from power plants using commonly available basic chemical absorption liquids. They have explored the optimum operational conditions of the system through numerous trials and have achieved CO2 capture results of over 97%.

The task ahead, the company says, is to prove the efficiency of the modular units under diverse conditions and applications with significant variations in process parameters such as inlet gas flow rate, gas composition, temperature, and pressure. The company’s engineers and research scientists have collected a wide range of operational data, including screening of absorbent chemicals for efficient CO2 loading, required membrane surface area, operating pressure and temperature and effective release of CO2 from these chemicals, in order to enable CVMR to scale up the operating units.

Low energy solution

The CO2 regeneration of conventional absorption systems is always a challenge and requires a large thermal input and, therefore, it imposes a large energy penalty to the process. To address this issue CVMR and EnerCarbon have developed a novel concept, as part of their ongoing phases of the OCE supported project resulting in the release of CO2 at lower energies as compared with the conventional thermal regeneration operations. This system reduces the energy consumption significantly and minimises the operational cost.

To valorise the captured CO2, CVMR and EnerCarbon are developing an approach that relies on CVMR’s proprietary chemical vapour deposition technology for oxidation (exothermic), reduction (endothermic) reactions of CO2 with catalytic mineral materials. This is achieved through a controlled gas-solid reaction. The process is energy-efficient and can increase the revenue from the sale of the valuable CO2-sourced byproducts such as graphite and graphene. Since their OCE project started, the team of researchers at CVMR have designed and commissioned a bench-scale catalytic carbon production unit from CO2 gas that has successfully produced graphite products at preliminary testing conditions.

The process targets a wide range of small to large-scale industrial CO2 emitters. Kamran Khozan, Chairman of CVMR and EnerCarbon stated that “Upon completion of our partially funded project by OCE, it is expected that we will have collected enough information for the design and construction of our pilot unit bringing the system closer to commercial readiness.”

The production of graphene and graphite from captured CO2 is in line with CVMR’s creed of environmental protection and development of technologies that help reduce environmental pollution. For the past 30 years, CVMR has been engaged in mining and metal refining of some 36 metals, using its proprietary vapour metallurgy processes and technologies and its own mineral resources. The processes it uses are completely neutral to the environment. They produce no air, water or soil pollution. CVMR continues to produce high value metal powders, nano-powders, sub-nano-powders, net shapes and super alloys, using CVMR’s proprietary processes. The metal powders provide the feed materials for 2D and 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing) and Metal Injection Moulding (MIM).

The pure graphite and graphene produced by CVMR through the new system will be used in nano-flowcell vanadium batteries and batteries based on various combinations of lithium, manganese oxide (LMO); lithium, manganese, nickel oxide (LMNO); lithium, nickel, cobalt, aluminium oxide (LNCA). According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, the market projection for Vanadium Redox Flow Battery demand in the top 10 industrialised countries is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 80% from 2013 to 2020, ultimately culminating in more than 7,000MW of vanadium-flow capacity needed by 2020.

INDIA, CHINA CONTRIBUTE MOST TO GLOBAL GREENERY: NASA

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 19:53:56 +0000

WASHINGTON: India and China are leading the way in greening lands, thanks to ambitious tree-planting programs and intensive agriculture in both countries, Nasa satellite data has shown.

The world is getting literally greener than it was 20 years ago, the study published in the latest edition in Nature Sustainability on Monday said.

It showed that at least 25 per cent of the global foliage expansion since the early 2000s came from China, with India close behind.

This surprising new development detected by Nasa satellites showed that the two nations with the world’s biggest populations were leading the way with their ambitious tree planting programs and intensive agriculture.

In 2017 alone, India broke its own world record for the most trees planted after volunteers gathered to plant 66 million saplings in just 12 hours.

The greening phenomenon was first detected in the mid-1990s, but they did not know whether human activity was one of its chief, direct causes, said researchers from the Boston University, who found that the greenery increase in the new century has been by five per cent — an area equivalent to the entire Amazon rainforest.

Rama Nemani, a research scientist at Nasa’s Ames Research Center and a co-author of the study said: “When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

But with data from Nasa’s Terra and Aqua satellites, scientists realised that humans are also contributing. “Humans are incredibly resilient. That’s what we see in the satellite data,” said Nemani.

“China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only nine per cent of the planet’s land area,” said lead author Chen Chi of Boston University.

“That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from over-exploitation,” said Chen.

The new insight was made possible by a nearly 20-year-long data record from a Nasa instrument orbiting the Earth on two satellites. It’s called the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS.

The high-resolution MODIS data provides very accurate information, helping researchers work out details of what’s happening with Earth’s vegetation, down to the level of 500 metres on the ground.

The land area used to grow crops in the two nations have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production.

The researchers found that through multiple cropping practices, where a field is replanted to produce another harvest several times a year — production of grains, vegetables, fruits and more have increased by about 35-40 per cent since 2000 to feed their large populations.

How the greening trend may change in the future depends on numerous factors, both on a global scale and at the human level in these countries.

Nemani explained that icreased food production in India is facilitated by groundwater irrigation so in case groundwater is depleted, the trend may change.

“But, now that we know direct human influence is a key driver of the greening Earth, we need to factor this into our climate models,” Nemani said.

“This will help scientists make better predictions about the behaviour of different Earth systems, which will help countries make better decisions about how and when to take action.”

The researchers, however, also pointed out that the gain in greenness does not offset the damage from loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions, such as Brazil and Indonesia.

The consequences for sustainability and biodiversity in those ecosystems remain, but overall, Nemani sees a positive message in the new findings.

Ref: http://nanthavictor.com

NASDAQ: BOLIVIA PICKS CHINESE PARTNER FOR $2.3 BLN LITHIUM PROJECT

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 19:53:18 +0000

By Daniel Ramos

LA PAZ, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Bolivia has chosen a Chinese consortium to help it produce lithium, the government said on Wednesday, giving China a potential foothold in the country’s huge untapped reserves of the prized electric battery metal.

China’sXinjiang TBEA Group Co Ltd will hold a 49 percent stake in a joint venture with Bolivia’s state lithium company YLB, the Bolivian firm said. Together, the two companies will produce lithium and other materials from the Coipasa and Pastos Grandes salt flats in the Bolivian Andes, with an estimated investment of at least $2.3 billion.

The preliminary deal gives Beijing a second chance in Bolivia after German firm ACI Systems GmbH was chosen last year over Chinese rivals as strategic partner on Bolivia’s largest lithium deposit in the salt flats of Uyuni.

Xinjiang TBEA beat six rivals that also sought to partner with Bolivia on Coipasa and Pastos Grandes, including ACI, Uranium One – a subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom – and the Irish company Clontarf Energy Plc.

China’s ambassador in La Paz, Liang Yu, hailed the agreement as “historic” at a ceremony with Bolivian officials in the highland city of Oruro, broadcast on the state TV channel.

China, the biggest global consumer of lithium, will need 800,000 tonnes of it per year by 2025 to support its growing electric vehicle industry, he said.

“We’re going to establish a strategic alliance,” Liang said.

There are no official estimates yet for how much lithium Coipasa and Pastos Grandes hold.

Bolivia said last month that a new study found that Uyuni likely has at least 21 million tonnes of lithium, more than double a previous estimate.

YLB and Xinjiang TBEA will produce hydroxide, lithium carbonate and lithium chloride from Coipasa and Pastos Grandes, as well as potassium sulfate, boric acid and sodium brome, YLB said.

Ref: http://nanthavictor.com