The US Department of Treasury has released its definition of a Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) for the purposes of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – and there are big implications for nickel.

Black mass payables dropped during the week to Wednesday November 29 with insufficient demand for the shredded, sorted lithium-ion battery packs in key buying markets restricting trade.

Spot lithium prices in China further extended losses over the week to Thursday November 30, depressed by continuous weakness in the futures market and tepid spot demand

Some cathode makers have been switching back to lower-nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) from high-nickel NCM cathodes to reduce costs and encourage consumers amid slowing demand for electric vehicles (EVs), Fastmarkets understands

Nearly 18 months since the first nickel-related lawsuit was filed against it in the English High Court, the London Metal Exchange has been cleared on all grounds and the charges against it dismissed.

The UK government’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) will consider all scenarios before a 10% import tariff on electric vehicles and their battery materials comes into effect on January 1 next year, it told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 29

Western Australia (WA), Australia’s largest state, will evaluate the possibility of developing cathode active materials (CAM) production once precursor CAM (pCAM) output is up and running, Bill Johnston, the state’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum, told Fastmarkets

Black mass payables have weakened in the key South Korean import market over the past week, with battery recyclers in the country cutting back on production amid a continued downtrend in metal prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 24

There is a sense of cautious optimism in the mining sector following the election of Javier Milei as the new president of Argentina on Sunday November 19, Fastmarkets understands

Fastmarkets presents the key discussion topics across the battery raw materials sector ahead of Fastmarkets’ China Battery Raw Materials conference taking place in Shanghai on December 6-7