US Senate Hearing : Energy & Natural Resources Committee
Sen. Murkowski's Second Round of Questions from Hearing on Energy Storage Technologies
The purpose of the hearing is to examine the status of energy storage technologies, reviewing today’s technologies and understanding innovation in tomorrow’s technologies.
Great Lakes Graphite (GLK on Tsx Venture) Summary :
US Congress hears testimony from experts on battery minerals.
Mr. Moores Goes to Washington
On October 3, 2017, the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee conducted hearings that included testimony regarding critical battery-related minerals. Experts including Simon Moores and others were called to testify and provided some highly useful information.
Congress sounds the alarm on critical mineral supply chains.
Here are some key takeaways from this important testimony:
Graphite, cobalt, lithium and nickel are the most critical battery minerals.
The US is dependent on China for many of these supply chains.
None of the processing for battery minerals is currently done domestically.
Here is a small excerpt from this fascinating exchange:
Simon Moores: It’s quite interesting, it’s not just the resource, it’s the processing now to make these battery grade materials...that’s really where the gap is.
Sen. Murkowski: Is it an issue of investment in the supply chain here in the United States that’s holding us back or is it our regulations? I know that from a processing perspective, that’s a real challenge for us. But is it more on the investment side in your view?
Simon Moores: Yeah, investment would be number one and then regulation would be number two. But I think that investment...as this industry grows ten-fold, lithium-ion battery demand will grow tenfold over the next ten, fifteen years, then the investment should become obvious. The money should come from somewhere. At the moment, it isn’t, but that should sort itself out in a reasonable timeframe.
