Volkswagen will secure supplies of nickel and cobalt for its electric vehicles from Chinese producers Huayou Cobalt and stainless steel maker Tsingshan, in a deal that aims to provide enough metal for around 2 million electric vehicles. The three companies said they will form a joint venture to develop annual production of 120,000 tonnes of […]
> Eramet has bought out Tsingshan’s 49.9% stake in its lithium operations in Argentina in a deal worth around $699 million. The move gives the French miner complete control of its Centenario direct lithium extraction (DLE) project and removes any concerns associated with Chinese ownership. This is the latest deal in the lithium space in recent […]
> The Volkswagen Group has invested C$69 million (US$48 million) for a 9.9% stake in Canadian lithium developer Patriot Battery Metals. Patriot also signed a binding offtake agreement to supply PowerCo, Volkswagen’s battery making subsidiary, with 100,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate per year (~10,000 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent) over a decade. The lithium will come from […]
> Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, specialising in battery supply chain research and insights, reports that 12.7GWh of new operational capacity entered operation in October 2025. Operational Capacity The grid-scale BESS market saw 12.7GWh of new capacity enter operations globally in October 2025, a y-o-y increase of 29%. China led new operational capacity with just under 8.8GWh of […]
> Freeport-McMoRan has declared force majeure at its Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia – the world’s second largest – following a serious accident earlier this month, warning of severe supply disruption until the end of 2026. The news triggered a sharp reaction on the London Metal Exchange with the three-month copper price hitting a high of […]
> China’s stainless steel giant Tsingshan has invested $375 million to build a lithium plant in Argentina with France’s Eramet, as it expands its presence in the battery supply chain. The Wenzhou-based company, which is the world’s largest producer of stainless steel, will contribute the bulk of the funding to build the plant, which will supply […]
> Toyota has signed a KRW 2.9 trillion ($2.2 billion) contract with LG Chem to supply cathode material to its North American operations until 2030. The deal comes not long after the Japanese automaker announced it would secure 20 gigawatt-hours of cells a year from LG Energy Solution, a subsidiary of LG Chem, from its gigafactory […]
> Since January 2025, 108GWh of LFP production capacity has been announced in North America through to 2030, bringing the total to 281GWh. These announcements have been driven by the increasing importance of the BESS industry in the US, as tax credits for EVs have been phased out. How is future capacity changing? The new capacity […]
> Payables for nickel in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) have remained at elevated levels (84–86%) since April, according to the Benchmark Nickel Price Assessment. This is despite structural oversupply and macroeconomic uncertainty weighing on nickel prices more broadly. Payables initially rose to a three-year high following extensive flooding at the Morowali Industrial Park, which caused a […]