Car Giants in Mining Race
Due to the increasing demand for vehicles, automobile manufacturers entered the mining race to acquire substances such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper, which are used in vehicles and are expected to not be able to keep up with the increasing demand.
Concern is growing among automobile manufacturers about the availability of lithium, nickel and cobalt used in charging batteries of electric vehicles. For this reason, to guarantee production in the coming years, they prefer to leave the traditional supply chain and make direct supply agreements with the first link of the chain, or even partner with mining companies.
Battery manufacturers, cathode manufacturers, and mineral processing companies are between the automobile groups and the miners. In this supply chain, automakers enter the raw material chains to both obtain materials cheaply and to ensure that their production schedules are met.
American auto giant General Motors announced that it will invest $ 650 million in Lithium Americas.
In parallel with this situation, Stellantis announced that it will pay $155 million for a 14.2% stake in McEwen Copper. Stellantis' breakthrough in the copper processing chain follows deals with Germany's Vulcan Energy for lithium and Australia's Element 25 for manganese.
Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, is allegedly in talks with Glencore to buy a stake in the Swiss commodity group.
Mercedes-Benz, also one of the automobile giants, has an agreement with Rock, which is a lithium mining company in Canada.
BYD, one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers, is trying to secure the shipment of lithium mines in Africa and Chile.
Along with these situations, he states that because of the research conducted by the International Energy Agency, the demand for batteries in electric vehicles may be needed to create 50 new lithium projects, 60 nickel mines and 17 cobalt fields by 2030.
Again, where the need for raw materials is for lithium today, there may be copper soon. All battery chemicals require copper, albeit to varying degrees. According to the research conducted by the International Copper Association, the amount of copper used in a conventionally produced electric vehicle is 83 kg, while it is only 23 kilograms in a typical internal combustion vehicle.
Source:
https://www.ntv.com.tr/otomobil/otomadencilik-devri-basladi-otomotiv-devlerinden-elektrik-yatirimi,hLHIZmfYGk-HMJHGyeCOeQ
