Amendment to black mass payable indicators

The consultation period ended on Thursday April 18. The change came into effect from Wednesday April 24.

Technological advances in black mass production, together with high standards among hydrometallurgical consumers of the material, mean that impurity levels for black mass have been dropping in the global market since Fastmarkets launched its first raft of payables in May 2023.

Payables for nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) black mass material, with more than 2% copper and aluminium content, have been seen at heavy discounts in the market and, when they do appear, they often appear as outliers in Fastmarkets’ pricing sessions.

As a result, following the consultation period which began on March 21, Fastmarkets has amended the maximum aluminium metal content permitted in the methodology for all its CIF South Korea, CIF Southeast Asia and ex-works Europe black mass payable indicators, to 2% from the previous 6%.

The maximum limit for copper content across Fastmarkets’ black mass payables indicators was already 2%.

The change affects the methodology specifications of the following prices:

MB-BMS-0001Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, cif South Korea, % payable LME Nickel cash official price

MB-BMS-0002Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)

MB-BMS-0003Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, lithium, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea

MB-BMS-0004Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, exw Europe, % payable LME Nickel cash official price

MB-BMS-0005Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)

MB-BMS-0006Black mass, LCO, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)

MB-BMS-0007Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, cif Southeast Asia, % payable LME Nickel cash official price

MB-BMS-0008Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, cif Southeast Asia, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)

MB-BMS-0009Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, lithium, cif Southeast Asia, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea

MB-BMS-0010Black mass, LCO, payable indicator, cobalt, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)

MB-BMS-0011Black mass, LCO, payable indicator, lithium, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea.

To provide feedback on these prices, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these assessments, please contact Lee Allen by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading: “FAO: Lee Allen re: Asia black mass payable indicators.”

Please indicate if comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.

To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to the Fastmarkets Methodology.