Huayou, LG to develop overseas battery material plants

Spanish Market: Battery materials, Metals
25/09/23

Major Chinese battery metals and cathode producer Huayou Cobalt plans to partner with South Korea's lithium-ion battery producer LG Chem to build some production plants in Indonesia and Morocco.

The two firms are on track to set up a joint venture (JV) in Indonesia to build a 50,000 t/yr production facility with for cathode active material (CAM) precursors and matched refining products, as well as a high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) plant with 60,000 t/yr nickel metal equivalent of capacity to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP).

Huayou and LG Chem will also establish a JV in Morocco to develop a 52,000 t/yr production project for lithium salts. The two firms have signed initial agreements for these projects, with more details including the construction schedules and launch dates undisclosed.

A growing number of Chinese companies in the lithium-ion battery industry chain — including Huayou Cobalt, GEM and CNGR — have accelerated their investment in overseas production projects to meet market entry conditions to the US as required by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and to cope with restrictions on key battery materials in the EU's Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Act. Major Chinese lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) precursor manufacturer CNGR Advanced Material is also on track to build a production and recycling facility for battery materials in Morocco, which is one of the US' free trade agreement (FTA) countries.

Huayou has invested in a number of nickel and cobalt projects in Indonesia to meet growing demand from the electric vehicle battery industry chain. The firm launched its first Indonesian project Huayue in December 2021, with a capacity of 60,000 t/yr nickel metal equivalent and 5,000 t/yr cobalt metal equivalent. It also launched the second Huafei project in June this year, with a capacity of 120,000 t/yr nickel metal equivalent and 15,000 t/yr cobalt metal equivalent. Huayou is building the Huashan project in Indonesia with a capacity of 120,000 t/yr of nickel and 15,000 t/yr of cobalt, likely to start production in 2025.

The firm's nickel shipments more than trebled from a year earlier to 53,700t in the first half of 2023.

Huayou is also partnering Brazilian nickel producer Vale to develop a plant for 60,000 t/yr metal equivalent for nickel and 5,000 t/yr for cobalt. The facility is expected to begin production in 2027.

Huayou shipped over 46,000t of CAM in this year's first half, including 40,900t of ternary CAM, up by 23pc from a year earlier, and 5,200t of lithium cobalt oxide, up by 1.2pc on the year. Its shipments of ternary precursors rose by 42pc to 52,500t over the same period. The company's deliveries of cobalt products rose by 11pc on the year to 20,500t of metal equivalent during January-June.

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14/05/25

Mauritania weaves GTA project into industrial strategy

Paris, 14 May (Argus) — Offshore gas production could help to meet Mauritania's power demand by 2030 while also supporting mining activity, particularly of iron ore, energy minister Mohammed Ould Khaled told the Invest in African Energy forum today. BP last month loaded the first LNG shipment from its 2.7mn t/yr Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) joint venture in Mauritanian and Senegalese waters. GTA is export-oriented, but Mauritania could still tap the project for power, Khaled said, although he added that infrastructure would need to be built to facilitate this. A tender to build a power plant fired by GTA gas will be launched in the next couple of weeks, he said. Mauritania wants to become a regional power hub within 20 years, Khaled said, and hopes to see construction of a power link "to the north" — in the direction of Western Sahara/Morocco. The Mauritanian power grid is already connected to Senegal and Mali, he said. Future power generation projects will be funded by the private sector and incentivised through tax breaks, Khaled said, with 550MW set to become available to the domestic market through private-sector projects over the next couple of years. Mauritania is also looking for partners to develop the 50 trillion-60 trillion ft³ Bir Allah gas field for export and domestic markets. The area lies 50km north of GTA and exclusively in Mauritanian waters, according to Khaled, with two wells already having been sunk. Bir Allah is "three times bigger than GTA", he said. BP and Kosmos Energy signed an exploration and production-sharing agreement for the site in late 2022 , with BP saying gas from the field will be used to expand GTA to 10mn t/yr. It is unclear whether BP or Kosmos Energy are still partners in the Bir Allah development project. By George Maher-Bonnett Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Quotas most likely option for DRC cobalt export restart

14/05/25

Quotas most likely option for DRC cobalt export restart

London, 14 May (Argus) — The resumption of cobalt exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under a quota system appears almost inevitable, market participants said ahead of the Cobalt Institute's annual conference in Singapore this week. With cobalt prices rising and stocks tightening globally, market participants increasingly expect that the DRC's blanket cobalt export ban — implemented in late February — will transition into a more sustainable quota system. The current freeze has pushed up global cobalt prices, but also blocked the flow of royalties to the Congolese treasury, creating what several traders described as a politically deliberate but ultimately transitional phase. "This is not [Congolese trading and mining firm] Gecamines — it's Kinshasa, it's the ministry of mines, and ultimately it's the presidency," one trader said, emphasising the centralised nature of the decision-making this time around. The government's key grievance is financial, multiple sources agreed. Cobalt royalty revenues have collapsed in recent years, according to several market participants. "They've lost billions," said one source with direct links to the ministry of mines. "This only makes sense if they replace the ban with something dynamic that keeps prices up and restarts the royalty flow." Prices up, revenues frozen Prices for cobalt hydroxide have nearly doubled since February, from $6/lb cif China to close to $12/lb — a sharper jump than during than any previous bans on DRC exports, including the ban on Chinese producer CMOC's Tenke Fungerume mine in 2022, now the largest cobalt mine in the world ( see graph ). But with exports halted, the Congolese government has reaped none of the upside. "They got the prices up, sure — but right now, there's nothing coming in. No exports mean no royalties," one trader noted, "A quota is the only real way forward." Market participants expect any such quota regime to be modelled loosely on Opec, with the DRC restricting supplies in a co-ordinated way to support pricing. "The officials running this are oil and gas guys," one source who has met with the DRC delegation said. "They want Opec on steroids. They've said that outright." Others draw comparisons with Indonesia, which already operates a quota system for its nickel ore mining permits and mixed-hydroxide-precipitate (MHP), which contains cobalt. "Indonesian quotas are real, but they're built into nickel flows. It's not exactly apples to apples," a trader said. "So for Indonesia to reduce cobalt output, they'd have to reduce nickel output, which they don't want to do." Stockpiles thinning, squeeze ahead Record-high first-quarter cobalt hydroxide production by CMOC and global trafing and mining firm Glencore — at 30,000t and 9,500t, respectively — suggests a healthier supply picture than is really the case. "Production hasn't stopped, but that's the point — if exports don't resume, stocks will just build up inside the DRC or dry up abroad," a trader said. Some estimates place global cobalt hydroxide inventories at 50,000–70,000t, but availability depends heavily on who holds what. "20,000t with a larger producer is not the same as 20,000t with a small recycler," one trader said. "Some are more inclined to sit on it and wait for prices to jump." Multiple participants expect a squeeze to emerge in the international market by August, as final pre-ban shipments are consumed and no new material enters the pipeline. "One producer told people there'd be no more shipments after May/June," one source with direct knowledge of trading flows said. "That means by July, China is chewing through remaining stocks — and by August, you're in crunch territory." Some traders are already stockpiling, with exporters deliberately delaying cargoes to benefit from rising prices, market participants said. Strong enforcement The DRC's export restrictions are being heavily enforced. A customs brigade with military backing was deployed recently to Kasumbalesa on the DRC-Zambia border — the country's only significant cobalt export route — to prevent smuggling and enforce the ban. "People writing about illegal smuggling clearly haven't been to Katanga. There's one road. One crossing. It's tightly controlled," a trader told Argus . The new level of sophistication, some argue, is why a transition to quotas feels inevitable. "Extending the ban helps no one in the long term — not the DRC, not Chinese refiners, not the market," an industry consultant said. "A quota system is the only option that gives them both price and payment." Market sentiment remained mixed ahead of next week's conference, with cobalt spot trading thin, ranging from $15-16/lb in-warehouse Rotterdam for Chinese material, $17-18/lb for western standard grade and $19-20/lb for alloy grade. Whether the announcement comes in Singapore or in the weeks that follow, few now doubt the final outcome. "This [export ban] isn't a one-off," one participant said. "It's the start of a new model. The days of Congo flooding the market and watching others profit are over." By Chris Welch Cobalt prices post-DRC supply shocks pc Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Indonesian cobalt output capacity to double by 2027

14/05/25

Indonesian cobalt output capacity to double by 2027

Singapore, 14 May (Argus) — Indonesian cobalt production capacity from its high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) operations will more than double to 114,000t in 2027 from 55,000t in 2024, National Economic Council member and executive secretary Septian Hario Seto has said. But there will probably not be significant capacity expansion beyond 2027, Seto told the Cobalt Congress 2025 conference on 14 May in Singapore. Xu Aidong, cobalt branch chief expert and adviser at the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, agreed that capacity will probably stick given slower-than-expected nickel consumption growth and rising costs for HPAL projects that include increasing sulphur prices used in hydrometallurgical production lines. Seto expects cobalt prices to trend up further if the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) cobalt export ban continues but warned that the measure could backfire as it could prompt technology adaptation to lower the cobalt content in batteries. "I think we [saw] in 2017 and 2018 [that the battery sector] responded with massive adoption of the [nickel-cobalt-manganese] NCM 811, so you are compromising long-term demand of cobalt with this one," Seto said. Mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) production in Indonesia is still able to generate 30-40pc profit margins even with nickel prices around $15,000/t, Seto added, attributing that partly to the cobalt content. The country exported almost 1.56mn t of MHP last year, with cobalt exports up to around 44,350t. Indonesia previously separated the MHP before further processing into nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate. "But nowadays, we directly ship the MHP and there is one factory in Indonesia that can process further the MHP going into the precursor without doing the crystallisation of the nickel sulphate," Seto said. "As long as we are increasing the MHP production in Indonesia, it's not possible to [be asked] to control this cobalt," Seto said, adding that the country does not see cobalt as an "independent mineral" but one closely intertwined with nickel. Indonesia's position on nickel is very similar to the DRC's position on cobalt, said Seto, where the biggest producer has to be "careful" and "responsible" in ensuring sufficient supply in the market or risk being treated as "not reliable". A DRC decision on whether to extend the export ban or impose a strict limitation of exports "in part" has yet to be made . The country's mineral markets regulator Arecoms said during the conference that it will communicate its decision as planned at the end of the cobalt export suspension period, at odds with Chinese market participants' expectations for the conference. By Joseph Ho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

UK TRA proposes 40pc cap on other countries' HDG

13/05/25

UK TRA proposes 40pc cap on other countries' HDG

London, 13 May (Argus) — The UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has recommended the imposition of a 40pc cap on the other countries' quotas for hot-dip galvanised (HDG) and plate in its statement of final determination published today. It proposes that the caps come into effect on 1 October to enable material already on the water to clear and avoid supply restrictions. "This would address the concern about crowding out, whilst maintaining a similar volume of imports to come from existing supply countries," the TRA said. The other countries' quota for HDG is 88,075t for July-September, meaning anyone selling into it — the quota is dominated by Vietnam and South Korea — has access to 35,230t before duties become payable. The TRA said there should be no cap on organic coated material, despite requests to the contrary from UK Steel. Going forward, Turkey will not be in scope of the safeguard on HDG as its share during the investigation period was just 0.1pc. The TRA said unused quota should no longer be rolled forward to the next quota, and that countries with their own individual quota should have no access to the residual other countries' quota in the final quarter of the quota year, April-June. These two changes are largely in line with those made by the EU in its recent safeguard review. Vietnam will also come into the residual quota for hot-rolled coil, which is 24,295t/quarter, as its volumes have exceeded the 3pc limit specified by the WTO for developing economy status, reaching 4.3pc in the TRA's investigation period. Vietnam had been a favoured origin for traders and buyers, given its previous exemption from the measures. Egypt remains exempt and will likely be subject to increased interest going forward. Some large buyers have been visiting the country in recent months to establish supply lines. The TRA's recommendation "falls short of what is required, given the scale of the challenge the UK industry is faced with", UK Steel said. By Colin Richardson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Mexico industrial production contracts in March

13/05/25

Mexico industrial production contracts in March

Mexico City, 13 May (Argus) — Mexico's industrial production contracted by 0.9pc in March from the previous month, as declines in mining and manufacturing were only partly offset by continued growth in construction. The drop was not enough to undo the 2.2pc increase in February — the sharpest monthly expansion in four years — as manufacturers ramped up output ahead of incoming US tariffs. The March industrial production index (IMAI), published by statistics agency Inegi, was higher than Mexican bank Banorte's forecast of a 1.4pc decline. Banorte noted signs of volatility affecting manufacturing and other sectors because of a complex trade outlook. Manufacturing contracted 1.1pc in March after expanding 2.9pc in February. The impact varied across subsectors, with metal goods down 5.5pc and transportation, including auto production, down 1.1pc. Volatility may ease in the coming months as US tariff policies become clearer and Mexican officials push to preserve the country's trade edge under US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement rules, Banorte said. Construction expanded 0.8pc in March, following increases of 3.4pc in February and 0.5pc in January, driven by higher public investment tied to President Claudia Sheinbaum's economic plan, "Plan Mexico." Analysts see the plan as a catalyst for continued growth in construction this year, with measures including greater domestic content in public purchases, public-private participation in infrastructure projects and a target of $100bn in private infrastructure investment for 2025. These effects could be amplified by aggressive interest rate cuts from the central bank. Mining contracted by 2.7pc in March, returning to negative territory after a slight 0.1pc uptick in February. Oil and gas output also contracted 2.7pc after rising 1.0pc the month before, while non-oil mining contracted 4.3pc in March after a 0.6pc increase in February. By James Young Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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