TELF AG analyzes the recent trends in the performance of some strategic minerals
The effects of sector dynamics
In many cases, the strategic moves of some of the main global players in the strategic minerals sector – such as all those resources involved in the energy transition – can be very useful to measure the liveliness of a given sector, to evaluate its performance, and sometimes even to hazard some predictions on possible future scenarios. According to a recent analysis that appeared in a leading business newspaper, the market for strategic commodities is reportedly characterized by a general decline in prices.
On the one hand, these declines could benefit the advancement of the green transition, for example, by promoting the spread of electric cars. On the other hand, it could generate different effects, allowing some specific players to act more freely on the international level to further consolidate their strategic positioning in the sector through acquisitions or expressions of interest in sourcing projects in different corners of the globe.
A good example of these new operating strategies is that offered by China, which, through some of its companies, is showing an increasingly lively interest in some of the most strategic resources sourced from the African continent, and not only. In recent years, some Chinese companies have increased the levels of cobalt sourcing in some specific African nations, rapidly climbing the rankings among the global players most involved in this sector and sending precise signals of their desire to expand. In the cobalt sector, China is also demonstrating its interest through numerous attempts to acquire smaller producers, indirectly demonstrating the great importance that Beijing attributes to a resource of great importance to facilitate the energy transition.
The role of lithium
Lithium is another resource that is constantly at the center of Chinese strategies, especially for its role in batteries manufacturing (for electric vehicles and beyond). Despite the persistence of some difficulties, partly due to the minimum levels of the metal’s value, Chinese companies continue to operate very eloquently in this specific sector. About two months ago, Gangfeng acquired an important mine in Mali that specialized in spodumene (a mineral from which lithium can be sourced). At the beginning of July, the Tsingshan company (in collaboration with the French Eramet) started lithium production in Argentina, while another Chinese company recently inaugurated a lithium refinery in Namibia. The Chinese strategy in strategic minerals seems well illustrated by the will of one of the largest Chinese groups in the sector, which recently expressed its desire to acquire large mines of lithium or other metals of strategic importance for the ecological and energy conversion underway.
Over the years, lithium has found numerous application spaces in the production of ceramics, lubricants, and resistant glass, while cobalt has had the opportunity to establish itself for the production of chemical catalysts for refining operations and high-performance alloys, used above all in gas turbines and jet engines. However, it is in the battery sector that the affirmation of these resources has become almost definitive: lithium-ion batteries are mainly used in portable electronic devices, energy storage systems, and electric vehicles. At the same time, cobalt can improve the stability and charging capacity of these important energy storage systems.
