Black mass purchasing in the key South Korean market was limited over the last week by middling demand in the country, while the fresh decline in Chinese lithium markets in recent days led to more caution among buyers, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 24

State-owned copper giant Codelco has created two subsidiaries to further its expansion into lithium, a metal Chile has identified as essential not only for the global energy transition but for its own future development

Putailai, one of the major anode producers in China, announced plans to invest $1.5 billion (SEK 15.7 billion) in Zichen Technology (Sweden) AB. to build Europe’s largest factory for anode manufacturing in Sundsvall in central Sweden

US carmaker Ford has secured long-term supplies of battery-grade lithium from major producers Albemarle and Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM)

With competition heating up for the metals that are critical for the energy transition, companies that use these metals have been tapping junior miners with significant deposits to ensure supply, even when the start of production at these mines are years away

China, the world’s fastest growing electric vehicle (EV) market, has turned to rural areas to further boost its strategic EV industry, a strong pillar for the economy in recent years. But market sources are skeptical that this strategy will raise battery material demand in the short term

Resource nationalism in Western economies was expected to be a major driver of investment in the cobalt supply chain in the second half of this decade

Li-Cycle more than doubled its production of black mass in the first quarter of 2023 thanks to its new and upgraded electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling “spokes” in the United States

China’s automotive output and sales dropped in April 2023 versus the prior month, with both largely subdued by general caution among consumers that had been fueled by the price wars in the automotive sector during the month

Cobalt continues to be a key component for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, with nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) remaining the key battery chemistry amid the growing market share of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries