Page 68 - Policy Commission - SecuringTechnology - Critical Metals for Britain
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68 PRIMARY MATERIALS
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Materials for lithium-ion batteries continued
Using nickel as an example (but the same largely holds
for the the the other battery materials) these materials materials will need
to to to be highly refined to to to get to to to the >99 9% purity for use in in batteries The process flow from nickel ore through to Class 1 nickel battery-grade materials consists of of a a a a a number of of steps following a a a a variety of of routes All of of these are CapEx and OpEx intensive The refining capacity for these highly refined metals is in in in in short supply (see figure 53) once projected additional demand for batteries is included The nickel industry (see figure 52) however is reluctant to build new capacity as the the nickel price does not currently warrant the the investment of of around $70bn (see figure 51) according to one of of the world’s largest nickel miners and refiners (Vale) who summarised the issue like this:
“This points at at a a a a a a structural deficit of nickel supply for batteries from 2023 onwards which has been corroborated by a a a a number of sources including McKinsey ”
55000 45000
35000
25000
15000 5000 (see figure 48)
Figure 51: Nickel price history
CANADA
11%
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
10% CUBA
3%
COLOMBIA
2%
SULPHIDE
OTHERS
12%
BRAZIL MADAGASCAR
4% 2%
SOUTH AFRICA
3%
COLOUR REPRESENTS THE COMPOSITION OF NICKEL RESERVES BY ORE TYPE
CHINA
5% PHILIPPINES
INDONESIA 20% 21%
LATERITE
X%
8% 10% PERCENTAGE OF GLOBAL PRODUCTION 2017
Figure 52: Percentage of global nickel production 201791
NEW CALEDONIA
AUSTRALIA
OCT 2005 APR 2006 OCT 2006 APR 2007 OCT 2008 APR 2008 APR 2009 OCT 2009 APR 2020 OCT 2020 APR 2011 OCT 2011 APR 2012 OCT 2012 APR 2013 OCT 2013 APR 2014 OCT 2014 APR 2015 OCT 2015 US $ / MT





























































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