GLOBALIZATION IS FORDISM

India Becomes World's 3rd Largest Car Market

By ZeroHedge - Jan 09, 2023

India has officially booted Japan out of the number three spot in the global automotive market. Latest industry data, reported on by Nikkei, shows that for the first time ever, India is now the third largest global auto market. 

For 2022, the country's new sales came in at 4.25 million units, based on preliminary results from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. This figure tops Japan's 4.2 million units for the year. Japan's sales in 2022 were down 5.6% from 2021. 

Between January and November, India had delivered 4.13 million new vehicles. The total hits 4.25 million after adding December's sales volume reported Sunday by Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker, the report says. And sales volume in the country is expected to rise: there are still year-end results and sales figures for commercial vehicles that have yet to be included into the 2022 totals. 

China led the global market in 2021 with 26.27 million vehicles sold and the U.S. came in second with 15.4 million vehicles sold. India's market has been volatile over the last few years, the report notes. 4.4 million vehicles were sold in 2018, but volume plunged back below 4 million vehicles in 2019 as a result of a credit crunch. 

After Covid, vehicle sales fell to under 3 million as the country locked down. A recovery started in 2021, approaching 4 million units, leading the country to its accelerated growth in 2022. The country is still dealing with the residual effects of the semiconductor shortage that shocked the industry during the Covid. Aftershocks of the shortage continue to work their way out of the supply chain heading into 2023. 

Most vehicles sold in the country were gas based, which includes some hybrid vehicles. While EVs are driving sales in places like China and the U.S., they have yet to be adopted in any meaningful fashion in India yet, the report says. 

Still, British research firm Euromonitor estimated that only 8.5% of Indian households owned a passenger vehicle in 2021. The country's population of 1.4 billion is expected to keep growing until the early 2060s.

By Zerohedge.com

Russian Lukoil To Sell Strategic Italian Refinery To Trafigura-Backed Company

By Charles Kennedy - Jan 09, 2023

In its first major overseas asset sale following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions, Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil company, has agreed to sell its Italian ISAB refinery to a Cypriot company backed by Geneva-based commodities trader Trafigura. 

The deal will see Lukoil’s 100% subsidiary, Litasco S.A., sell the ISAB refinery to Cyprus-based G.O.I. Energy Limited, a private equity firm backed by Trafigura, according to a statement on Lukoil’s website. The deal value was not disclosed. 

According to Lukoil, the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of March this year upon fulfillment of “certain conditions precedent including receipt of necessary approvals of competent authorities, particularly the Italian Government”. 

ISAB encompasses a large petrochemical complex in Italy, which combines refining, gasification and electricity cogeneration plants. 

Cyprus-based G.O.I Energy is run by Israeli Green Oil CEO Michael Bobrov, according to Reuters, while Green Oil holds a major stake in Bazan Group, Israel’s largest refiner. 

The deal will allow Western-based Trafigure to handle oil supplies for the Italian refinery, should the Italian government agree to the sale. 

ISAB is an important strategic asset for Italy, refining approximately one-fifth of Italy’s crude oil, according to Reuters. As of December 5th, in line with the European Union ban on Russian seaborne crude, the ISAB refinery is no longer permitted to import Russian oil. 

In early December, the Italian government said it was considering direct state intervention to keep the refinery running after December 5th, noting that ISAB had been forced to rely fully on Russian oil because banks halted financing and guarantees for other oil purchases, Reuters reported. 

Lukoil also owns a network of some 230 branded gas stations in the United States, distributing in 11 states. 

At the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, these gas stations garnered much media attention, with vague calls for boycotts. Those calls, however, dissipated by the end of March, when it became clear that boycotting them would harm the American franchise owners. 

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

US Judge Dismisses Lawsuit About Big Oil Conspiracy

By Charles Kennedy - Jan 10, 2023

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought to a California court last year by a group of individuals claiming the Trump administration and U.S. oil producers colluded with Russia and Saudi Arabia to keep oil and gasoline prices high.

Defendants named in the lawsuit included the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron, Exxon, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips 66, and Energy Transfer.

The plaintiffs—about two dozen of them—alleged that the defendants conspired with Saudi Arabia and Russia, with the help of the Trump administration, to keep the prices of oil and fuels high.

The suit cites events from 2020, when Russia and Saudi Arabia temporarily locked horns and flooded the market with oil, causing prices to plunge. The plaintiffs also cite a statement made by API chief Mike Sommers, who said that “What we have here is . . . a supply shock because of the decision by Russia and the Saudis to flood the market with oil. Ultimately the solution here is to work in a diplomatic way to make sure that oil markets are well balanced.”

The statement is taken by the plaintiffs to mean it was made at the instigation of the companies named as defendants and that it prompted API’s Sommers to seek consultation with the White House on remedying the matter.

The plaintiffs also targeted President Donald Trump for taking part in the conspiracy, citing a couple of tweets from April 2020, when the President first hailed lower fuel prices resulting from the price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, only to do a U-turn a few days later and suggest that an end to that production conflict would be good news for everyone, especially the U.S. oil industry.

In his ruling, Judge Jeffrey White said, as quoted by Courthouse News Service, that “The allegations include specific foreign policy decisions allegedly made by the Trump administration in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy.”

“The court lacks jurisdiction over a complaint that 'requires and inquiry into' whether foreign nations entered an agreement with defendants at the behest of the President of the United States,” he also wrote.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

Shell Nearly Sold Its Norwegian Oil And Gas Assets In Late 2022

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Jan 10, 2023, 

Shell held talks last year with the biggest UK North Sea producer Harbour Energy to sell its oil and gas fields offshore Norway and some mature assets offshore the UK, but a deal ultimately couldn’t be reached due to price volatility, company sources told Reuters on Tuesday. 

Shell, as well as other majors, have worked in recent years on streamlining asset portfolios to focus on the most profitable projects. Back in 2021, Shell said that its oil production peaked in 2019 and is set for a continual decline over the next three decades as it looks toward the renewables side of the business. Shell said its carbon dioxide emissions also likely peaked—a year earlier, in 2018.  

The UK-based supermajor and Harbour Energy were in the advanced stages of talks for the sale at the end of 2022, according to Reuters’ sources.

Just then, Norway had ramped up its natural gas production and become the single largest gas supplier to Europe’s biggest economy, Germany. Yesterday, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said that Norway would continue to pump the current high volumes of natural gas for at least another five years as operators have pledged $30.3 billion (300 billion Norwegian crowns) to develop new fields and extend the lifetimes of producing fields.  

Shell, which has been present in Norway since 1912, would have been the latest supermajor to quit the region. U.S. majors Chevron and ExxonMobil exited operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Now Wael Sawan, Shell’s new CEO who succeeded Ben van Beurden on January 1, is not currently reviewing the Norwegian assets, according to two Reuters’ sources. 

Apart from oil and gas assets, Shell’s business in Norway includes participation in the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) project together with Norway’s Equinor and France’s TotalEnergies. Northern Lights is Norway’s first license for CO2 storage on the Shelf. 

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Philippines Supreme Court Voids Major International Oil And Gas Deal

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Jan 10, 2023

A 2005 deal for oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea signed by the Philippines with companies from China and Vietnam is illegal, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, saying the country’s constitution bars foreign firms from exploring Philippine natural resources.

The ruling, 14 years after an appeal was lodged, could make talks between China and the Philippines on energy exploration in non-disputed parts of the South China Sea more complicated, according to Reuters.

The long-running dispute in the South China Sea involves territorial claims by China as well as Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, and Malaysia. China has territorial claims to about 90 percent of the South China Sea, which has put it at odds with its neighbors.

A court in The Hague in 2016 ruled against China’s claims and in favor of the Philippines. China, however, has not acknowledged the ruling, which has heightened tensions in the area. Instead, it has continued with its agenda, according to which most of the sea is Chinese waters. 

China and the Philippines agreed at the end of 2019 to pursue joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.

The South China Sea may hold 28 billion barrels of oil, according to an estimate from the U.S. Geological Survey from the mid-90s. Since then, with improvements in technology, this figure could have increased substantially.

However, in June 2022, the Philippines ditched talks with China on a potential joint exploration for oil and gas in the South China Sea due to sovereignty issues and constraints in the Philippines’ constitution.

Because of the Chinese claims over most of the South China Sea, the Philippines has struggled to find partners willing to engage in the exploration of resources in the basin.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Stellantis seals batteries material deal with Element 25
Reuters | January 9, 2023 | 

Stellantis italian headquarters Turin (Stock Image)

Carmaker Stellantis has signed a deal with Australian miner Element 25 for the supply of manganese sulphite for batteries for its electric vehicles (EVs), the two companies said on Monday.


The agreement marks another step in efforts by Stellantis to secure long-term supplies of raw materials essential for electric vehicles as carmakers prepare for a surge in global demand for EVs in the transition towards cleaner motoring.

Stellantis, the world’s third-largest carmaker by sales, has previously signed deals with GME Resources for supply of nickel and cobalt sulphate and with Vulcan Energy Resources and United States-based Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) for lithium hydroxide.

Related Article: Manganese batteries market may face deficit in 2024

Based on the five-year binding agreement announced on Monday, Element 25 will supply Stellantis with high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate to be used in battery packs.

Shipments, for a total of 45 kilotons, are expected to begin in 2026, with options to extend term and volumes.

No financial details for the deal were provided.

Element 25 will source the material from its Butcherbird project in Western Australia and plans to construct a processing facility in the United States. Stellantis, meanwhile, will make an equity investment in Element 25, the two companies added in a statement.

“Our commitment to a carbon net-zero future includes creation of a smart supply chain to ensure we meet our customers’ desire for EVs,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said.

Stellantis, formed through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA, wants 100% of its European passenger car sales and 50% of its US passenger car and light-duty truck sales to be battery electric vehicles by 2030.

(By Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by David Goodman)

Startup’s satellite technology could change weather forecasting for mining

Amanda Stutt | January 6, 2023 |

Image from Tomorrow.io.

Tomorrow.io, a Boston-based climate and weather intelligence company has been making news headlines with its technology and is partnering with miners to schedule blasting operations, monitor routes and highways and put protocols in place to protect workers from extreme weather, based on its forecasts.


For the past 40-50 years companies that once comprised the private weather industry would repackage data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its predecessor agencies to sell it. NOAA is a public data model which was not built for regional forecasts or mass alerts and does not cover remote locations well.

Its data, by the time it reaches people, is already three days old.

Tomorrow.io said its technology can refresh data every three hours and plans to launch 30 satellites equipped with meteorological radar that can monitor ocean activity many weather stations aren’t able to decipher until it hits the coast.

Last month, the six-year-old company was named a leader among climate risk analytics providers. It has raised $260 million and has a team of over 40 data scientists. Its three founders met in the Israeli air force.

Rei Goffer, co-founder and its chief strategy officer, recalls piloting an F-16 with a “super generic” one-page report listing winds and cloud patterns, without any specifics for his route or aircraft.

“It’s a little more technical than what you’d see on TV,” he told Bloomberg. “That’s the state of the art in weather.” The veterans formed their company to tailor forecasts for specific industries that depend on predictable weather, such as airlines and sports leagues. Tomorrow.io aggregates existing data—from weather stations and sensors slapped on buoys and balloons—and mixes in other signals it collects from cell towers and car windshield wipers, an approach the company calls the “weather of things.”

It has built its own proprietary network of weather forecasting technology, satellites equipped with radar, for a fraction of the cost of a regular satellite and about the size of a mini-fridge.

This year, it will deploy two more satellites adding to the one already in space. It is collaborating with NOAA and the satellites were funded in part by a $19 million grant from the US Air Force.

“It’s a changing of the tides – it’s the next generation of climate impact,” Dan Slagen, Tomorrow.io’s chief marketing officer told MINING.com. “Climate security is the new cyber security.“

Sample dashboard with insights on when to not blast, increase in dust. Image from Tomorrow.io.

“We’ll be the only company in the world with that, and additionally the only company that is able to really look in depth at remote parts of the world such as South America, Australia and Africa. Right now we basically don’t have access to real time weather forecasting over the oceans.”

“We’ve been able to basically translate weather data into weather insights,” Slagen said.

“We work with mining companies to identify specific job use cases that are impacted by weather and how to get around them so they are not impacted anymore,” Slagen said. “It’s a changing of tides – the next generation of climate impact.”

Monica Leal, director of mining sales said the technology signals a new generation of sustainable mining.

“Weather costs this industry millions – we need to have better systems in place,” she said.

“Companies are trying to reach sustainability goals by 2030 or 2050, but what can we do in the short term – what can we do now to decrease risk and to increase operational efficiency? This is where we come in.”

(With files from Bloomberg)

Finnish technology improves lithium’s production efficiency

Staff Writer | January 6, 2023 | 

The µDOES technology installed at Keliber’s site. (Image courtesy of Sensmet).

Finnish company Sensment announced the launching of a new technology that improves the production efficiency of lithium.


In a press release, the Oulu-based firm explained that, traditionally, battery metal manufacturers had to rely on batch sampling and laboratory analyses to control their processes but this is costly, labour intensive, and typically involves a delay of 4–10 hours.

In contrast, Sensmet’s technology, dubbed Micro-Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (µDOES), is able to measure multiple metals, such as any battery metal and their impurities, in real time.

The solution is based on atomic emission spectroscopy. A micro-discharge or electric spark is created directly inside the aqueous sample, causing a microscopic volume of the fluid surrounding the spark to be flash-heated to 10,000 °C.

Molecular species in the micro-discharge are dissociated into atoms, which are excited to their respective higher electronic states. Upon returning to their ground state, these atoms release their excess energy by emitting light at their characteristic wavelengths. The µDOES, then, measures this atomic emission spectrum to derive a quantitative analysis of the metals contained in the sample.

According to Sensment, data from the system’s analyzer are displayed locally showing the concentrations and trends for each metal, and peak levels can be set for each element. Results are transferred digitally to users’ databases and/or the cloud.

“In hydrometallurgical processes that cannot be controlled by monitoring pH, direct measurements of dissolved metal concentrations are essential,” the brief states. “There are alternative methods of monitoring, but all of these have major limitations. For example, online XRF is unable to measure light elements such as lithium and sodium, and it is almost impossible to calibrate XRF for low concentration impurity measurements.”

In the view of the team at Sensmet, given the large sums of money involved in lithium production, the accurate dosing of precipitation chemicals is extremely important.

“For example, when sodium carbonate is added to a slurry containing beta spodumene under high temperature and pressure, lithium carbonate and analcime solids are formed. If insufficient sodium carbonate is dosed, some of the lithium will not react to form lithium carbonate, and unreacted lithium will be lost in the side product analcime sand,” the statement reads. “This is extremely undesirable because it represents a loss of revenue. Overdosing is also undesirable because it would result in a waste of process chemicals.”

In addition to lithium manufacturing, the technology is also suited for the ‘black mass’ recycling of battery metals. Strict online monitoring and control are implemented to reduce impurity levels and thereby prevent the cost and delay incurred by retreatment.

At Keliber’s site

Keliber, a subsidiary of Sibanye-Stillwater in Finland, ran a pilot-scale test program in 2022 to evaluate the µDOES analyzer in the continuous optimization of precipitation chemical dosing during lithium production.

Battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate was produced from spodumene concentrate treated by high-temperature conversion in a rotary kiln. A hydrometallurgical technology was developed to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate by soda pressure leaching. The pilot ran continuously at the demonstration plant for 400 hours and achieved a total lithium recovery rate of more than 88%.

Keliber tested the analytical performance of the µDOES analyzer for the continuous optimization of precipitation chemical dosing. Nearly 80 samples were drawn from the process and the sodium and lithium concentrations were analyzed in parallel using both the µDOES continuous analyzer and a laboratory ICP-OES. The results showed a correlation between the methods.

“Chemical dosing based on reliable real-time data brings stability to the process, which is very important because it avoids drift and optimizes both yield and quality while minimizing cost,” Sami Heikkinen, site manager at the Keliber lithium chemical plant, said in the release.

Fortuna Silver stock tanks as Mexico challenges environmental approvals for San Jose mine

MINING.COM Staff Writer | January 5, 2023 | 

San José silver mine in in the southern portion of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Image courtesy of Fortuna Silver Mines.)

Fortuna Silver Mine stock fell 11% on Thursday after a decision to re-asses the extension of the San Jose mine Environmental Impact Authorization.


The company reported that its Mexican subsidiary, Compania Minera Cuzcatlan, has received written notice of a resolution issued by the Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), re-assessing the 12-year extension to the environmental impact authorization (EIA) for the mine, located in Oaxaca.

According to the company, SEMARNAT has issued two multi-year environmental authorizations over the last four years for the mine and tailings facility.

After the grant of the EIA extension on December 2021, SEMARNAT suggested that it had made a typographical error in the EIA extension and that the correct term was two years. As a result, Minera Cuzcatlan initiated legal proceedings to challenge and revoke the alleged typographical error.

On November 2022, Fortuna Silver announced that the Mexican Federal Administrative Court had issued a judgment in favour of the company and re-confirmed the term of the EIA extension for San Jose for 12 years.

On Monday, however, Minera Cuzcatlan received another resolution from SEMARNAT, which annuls the EIA extension and requires SEMARNAT to re-assess its decision to extend the EIA by conducting a review.

“It is incomprehensible that we find ourselves again having to contest a controversial resolution issued by SEMARNAT. This specific authorization, one of the many under which San Jose operates, was confirmed by the Federal Court last November, with a ruling in our favor against SEMARNAT,” said Jorge A. Ganoza, Fortuna Silver CEO.

Minera Cuzcatlan said it would initiate legal proceedings against SEMARNAT to contest and revoke the annulment of the EIA.

The San Jose Mine was commissioned in July 2011 and began commercial production in September 2011 at 1,000 tonnes per day. In 2021, the mine produced 6.43 million ounces of silver and 39,406 ounces of gold.

Activists fighting coal mine expansion in Germany in standoff with police

Staff Writer | January 8, 2023 

Activists protesting the expansion of RWE’s open-pit coal mine in Lützerath, Germany. (Image by Lützerath Bleibt, Twitter.)

Activists in Germany were in a standoff with the police on Sunday, as they protested against the expansion of RWE Group’s Garzweiler open-pit coal mine on the western side of the country.


The expansion demands the demolition of Lützerath, an abandoned village 40 kilometres west of Cologne. Since there are no permanent residents there, it has been declared an exclusion zone and police are allowed to do what it takes to remove people or materials hindering its clearance, which is scheduled to start on January 10, 2023.

According to DW, some activists began occupying the town two years ago but as the deadline to demolish it approaches, more protesters have joined the action and are now estimated at 1,500 people. They live in tents, treehouses, huts and other precarious accommodations.

On the other side of the skirmish, about 100 police keep dismantling the blockades the protesters set up and delaying buses taking supporters to Lützerath.

For the activists, the tiny village has become an emblem of the fight against doing business as usual, seriously comitting to the Paris Agreement and, thus, keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

Back in December, RWE, the German government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ratified a deal that pushes the country to phase out coal by 2030 instead of the previously set 2038 deadline. The agreement saved several villages from destruction but Lützerath wasn’t among them.

RWE has said that coal from Lützerath and nearby areas will be needed to supply power stations from 2024 onwards, as other mines in the region continue to shut down and Germany reduces its dependence on Russian energy imports.