In today’s talking points: Canada’s Lithium X swooped up by Chinese groups for $C265m; China’s start-up, Nio, announces new model to rival the Model X in the Chinese EV market; BHP threatens to leave World Coal Association and Australian Minerals Council; Commodities prices rise as Chinese steelmakers restock before the end of winter
Canada’s Lithium X swooped up by Chinese groups for $C265m
In the latest move by Chinese companies, Beijing based Next View Capital and partner Tibet Summit Resources have agreed to buy Canadian lithium producer Lithium X for $C265m. This is the second investment by Next View Capital into battery metal lithium after last week’s agreement to buy a 20 per cent stake in London-listed Bacanora Minerals. There has been a focus by many Chinese companies to secure battery raw materials for the world’s largest electric car market due to many Chinese carmakers announcing aggressive plans to make electric vehicles in the country.
Read more at: Financial Times
China’s start-up, Nio, announces new model to rival the Model X in the Chinese EV market
Nio has announced the launch of its first mass-produced model over the weekend that will soon rival the likes of Tesla, BMW and Volkswagen. The model ES8, starting at 448,000 Chinese yuan undercuts the main rival model x by about half the cost, a demonstration of the current advantageous subsidies for China-made EV’s. Infrastructure of 1,100 “Power Swap” charging stations to support the Nio rollout will be built by 2020, that will allow owners to easily swap out the car battery for a fully charged battery under a subscription model at 1,200 yuan per month, a differentiation to the charging station model of Tesla.
Read more at: CNBC
BHP threatens to leave World Coal Association and Australian Minerals Council
Leading Australian mining company BHP has issued notice to both the World Coal Association (WCA) and the Mineral Council of Australia (MCA). It has released a 22-page report on the differences between its climate and energy policies with the above associations. The main areas of policy variance as identified by BHP, is BHP’s insistence that reliability and affordability should be prioritised over other policy goals although climate and energy are also ‘inextricably linked’, and its disagreement with the MCA’s advocacy for High-Efficiency Low-Emissions (HELE) coal power stations. BHP’s exit from the MCA would be a sizeable loss to MCA with its 1.86 million subscription fee accounting for 17% of its yearly revenue. BHP is also reconsidering its membership with the US Chamber of Commerce.
Read more at: ABC News
Commodities prices rise as Chinese steelmakers restock before the end of winter
Prices of raw materials for steel production, such as iron ore and cocking steel have soared recently as Chinese steel mills restock ahead of resuming full production after the end of the winter. Chinese policy makers placed restrictions on steel makers with cuts as much as 50% from October (2017) to March (2018) among other industries to curb pollution and smog in the cities. With the prospect of returning to normal production, the northern Chinese import price of Fe content ore has increased 5.2% to $74.40 per dry metric tonne since September while Coking Coal has risen 37% since the beginning of November.
Read more at: mining.com