Nickel News
- August 2022: NMDC Ltd. announced its decision to explore opportunities overseas in a bid to mine lithium, nickel, and cobalt in order to meet the growing demand in India. The state-run iron-ore producer is planning to start mining in Australia, as it holds a 90.02% stake in the country's Legacy Iron Ore Ltd.
- December 2021: Mitsui & Co. Mineral Resources Development (Asia) Corp. (MMRDA) and Sojitz will sell all their shares in CBNC (36% in total to Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd (SMM). With the sales of the shares, SMM's shareholding ratio in CBNC will increase from the current 54% of the outstanding shares to 90%.
- October 2021: Renault Group announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Terrafame, for a future supply of nickel sulphate. With this agreement, Renault Group will secure a significant annual supply of nickel sulphate from Terrafame, representing up to 15 GWh of annual capacity.
- In July 2021: BHP announced the signing of a nickel supply agreement from its Nickel West asset in Western Australia, with one of the world's leading sustainable energy company, Tesla Inc.
Related Metals and Minerals Industry News
- December 2023: Echion Technologies (Echion), a pioneer in battery materials, has forged a multi-year manufacturing partnership with CBMM. This collaboration will lead to the establishment of a new facility in Araxá, Brazil, with a capacity of 2000 tonnes per year. With this strategic initiative, Echion becomes the market's first entity to ensure a commercial supply of niobium-based battery anode oxides, positioning itself to cater to the surging demand in industrial electrification applications.
- December 2022: CBMM announced a USD 80 million investment to expand niobium oxide capacity from 500 tons to 3,000 tons in 2024. This strategic move positions the company to cater to the surging demand across diverse industries, broaden its revenue avenues, and uphold its market edge.
- November 2023: Adani Power, as part of its decarbonization initiatives, started a pilot project for green ammonia combustion that will co-fire up to 20% green ammonia in its coal-fired 330 MW Unit at the Mundra plant in Gujarat, India.
- February 2023: Uniper and Greenko signed an agreement for the purchase of 250,000 tons of green ammonia per annum from Greenko’s Kakinada green ammonia project.
- December 2022: Moroccan state-owned company OCP announced an investment of USD 13 billion for its Green Investment Strategy for 2023-2027, as part of which the company aims to produce 1 million tons of green ammonia by 2027 and will triple it to 3 million tons by 2032.
- October 2023: Materion Corporation secured a USD 5.0 million contract from the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (US-AFRL) to further its research and development efforts in additive manufacturing, specifically focusing on beryllium and aluminum-beryllium alloys. This expansion in additive manufacturing for these specialized materials is poised to offer substantial benefits in producing optic structures, guidance systems, and thermal management applications.
- April 2022: IBC Advanced Alloys inaugurated its copper alloy casting facility and expanded its copper alloy foundry in Franklin, Indiana. This strategic move allowed the company to merge its three production sites into one cohesive, vertically integrated operation dedicated to manufacturing copper and copper alloy products.
- June 2024: Vale SA announced that it would invest up to USD 3.3 billion in enhancing its mining operations in Brazil and Canada, aiming to elevate its copper and nickel production capacity over the next four years. This strategic initiative is designed to leverage the surging demand for these metals, broaden the company's revenue streams, and secure a competitive edge in the market.
- February 2024: Jubilee Metals announced that it would ramp up its copper production in Zambia to an annual target of 25,000 tonnes (t). This expansion strategy centers on augmenting the company's copper resource base and refining its processing capabilities. With this initiative, Jubilee aims to solidify its foothold in the region's copper landscape.
- June 2024: SHENMAO Technology Inc. launched a new thermal fatigue-resistant solder paste, PF918-P250. This paste can meet high-reliability requirements and offers advanced features and superior performance for electronic products requiring exceptional durability.
- October 2023: AIM Solder (UK) Ltd acquired William Rowland Limited’s solder products business, encompassing solders and alloys. Through this acquisition, the company would expand its capabilities and enhance customer offerings in the metal industry.
- September 2023: Stannol GmbH & Co. KG launched its new SP6000 solder paste in Munich. This solder paste has been developed as a standard for use with the alloys TSC305 (Sn96.5Ag3Cu0.5) T4 and TSC105 (Sn98.5Ag1Cu0.5) T4. Compared to conventional solder pastes, it can save more than 85% of CO2 emissions.
- November 2022: Yildirim Group announced the acquisition of 100% shares of Elementis plc's chromium business for an enterprise value of USD 170 million. With this agreement in place, Yildirim Group has acquired Elementis Chromium's two production facilities in Corpus Christi (TX) and Castle Hayne (NC), as well as three facilities in Amarillo (TX), Dakota (NE) and Milwaukee (WI).
- June 2022: Tenaris announced that it would invest nearly USD 29 million in its steel shop in Dalmine to expand the facility's capacity to produce specialty steels with a high chromium content, such as chromium 13. The investment was projected to be completed by the first part of 2023 and involve three stages of the production process.
- January 2022: Yildirim Group acquired Albchrome Holding, an Albanian chrome and ferrochromium company. The main motive of this acquisition is to support the continuation of its progress and to further strengthen the company's position in the world markets.
- October 2023: ProChem joined the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates (SOCMA). SOCMA is the only US-based trade association that is completely dedicated to the specialty and fine chemicals industry. SOCMA provides a legislative and regulatory advocate, promotes the highest level of safety, and strengthens business intelligence and production operations to support and stimulate growth in the specialty chemicals sector.
- November 2023: Glencore signed an agreement with Teck Resources Limited for the acquisition of a 77% effective interest in the entirety of Teck’s steelmaking coal business, Elk Valley Resources. This acquisition amounted to USD 6.93 billion.
- April 2022: Glencore and General Motors announced their multi-year sourcing agreement. It involves Glencore supplying GM with cobalt from its Murrin operation in Australia. Also, the cobalt processed from Australia is expected to be used in GM's Ultium battery cathodes, powering electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC HUMMER EV, and Cadillac LYRIQ.
- March 2022: MMG announced the expansion of the Kinsevere operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with an investment between USD 500 million and USD 600 million, extending the project's operational life by at least 13 years. MMG expects that the expansion project will increase the production of the copper cathode to up to 80,000 tpa and 4,000-6,000 tpa of cobalt in cobalt hydroxide.
- June 2023: Nemaska Lithium announced the commencement of construction of its new production facility in Bécancour. This new facility would produce lithium hydroxide for batteries, which the Whabouchi mine would supply.
- May 2023: Nemaska Lithium collaborated with Ford to provide lithium hydroxide produced at the company's production facility in Bécancour. According to this collaboration, Nemaska Lithium would provide up to 13,000 tons of lithium hydroxide to Ford for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries.
- March 2023: Albemarle Corporation expanded its lithium-processing facility in Chester County, South Carolina. This production facility is expected to support the production of around 2.4 million electric vehicles annually. Albemarle Corporation has announced a new lithium processing facility that will produce approximately 50,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide.
The recent developments pertaining to the major players in the market are being covered in the complete study.