Hi All
It is all coming together for SGQ to capitalise on the Nickel Boom that is definitely approaching at a rapid pace. Maybe not this March but it is definitely coming and soon.
Nickel price up again last night and has gone up around US$2,500 per ton since 1 January 2019.
Below are some very impressive statistics on the increasing demand for Nickel. It was presented to the US Congress a few days ago by an industry credible resource called Simon Moores from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence.
The statistics will in my opinion jolt the US into action especially given the current Trade Wars and Trump’s push to bring manufacturing back “inhouse”. I suspect the focus will soon be on more US owned battery megafactories within the US rather than just Tesla and more sourcing of the high quality sulphide class 1 Ni and Co from the likes of Australia to derisk supply.
Ni price will keep going up as this news gets out and as Ni supply issues continue and manufacturers start to panic about secure quality Ni supply. St George is in a fantastic position but moreso once they do the JORC and especially if they hit more $M sulphides and / or the main feeders, and then transition into production.
Extract:
Simon Moores, managing director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Tuesday. Moores was summoned by the Senate Committee to testify on the lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite supply chains for energy storage.
"Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is now tracking 70 lithium ion battery megafactories under construction across four continents, 46 of which are based in China with only five currently planned for the US. When I gave my last testimony in October 2017, the global total was at 17," Moores said.
Moores said that these megafactories are being built almost exclusively to make lithium ion battery cells using two chemistries: nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA). “This means the supply of lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese to produce the cathode for these cells, alongside graphite to produce battery anodes, needs to rapidly evolve for the 21st century," Moores testified.
Moores presented a chart based on the assumption that all of these megafactories are built and run at 100% capacity utilization. "Under this scenario, lithium demand will increase by over eight times, graphite anode by over seven times, nickel by a massive 19 times, and cobalt demand will rise four-fold, which takes into account the industry trend of reducing cobalt usage in a battery," Moores testified.Further evidence on what is happening in the world of Nickel.
Full article and testimony here:
http://www.mining.com/battery-megafactories-buildout-nickel-demand-19-fold-benchmark/
Happy days will be upon us soon.
Cheers SandyC
(20min delay)
