extract of article appearing in The Australian...Billionaire likes our elements for electric cars...by Matt Chambers
12:00AM February 7, 2017
The growing trend towards electric vehicles has spurred graphite and lithium booms in recent years.
But Panoramic Resources managing director Peter Harold, who is studying restarting the Savannah nickel and cobalt mine in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, said electric vehicles were also expected to boost demand for nickel and cobalt.
“People have been focused on graphite and lithium, but cobalt and nickel are going to play a big part and I think demand could come on a lot quicker than everybody thinks,” Mr Harold told The Australian yesterday.
“There are forecasts the cobalt market will grow substantially and electric cars could account for 200,000 tonnes of annual nickel market growth, or 10 per cent of the global market.”
He said there were some forecasts a tipping point, where electric vehicles were competitive with petrol and diesel, could come in three to five years.