GEMOLOGY

World’s largest ruby, most vivid pink diamond unveiled in Dubai

The unveiling of the pink diamond and the ruby highlights Dubai’s leading role in the diamond industry and growing presence in coloured gems

BY MARISHA SINGH
MAY 22, 2023


Eternal Pink and Estrela de Fura, two of the world’s most precious gemstones have been unveiled at the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE). The pink diamond and the ruby were unveiled by Sotheby’s and hosted by DMCC, the flagship free zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise.

The pink diamond and the ruby will be available at auction in New York on June 8.

The ‘fancy vivid’ pink diamond

The Eternal Pink was a 23.78-carat rough yield mined by De Beers at the Damtshaa mine in Botswana. It was cut and polished by gem cutter Diacore and today measures at 10.57-carat in cushion shape. It is described as an internally flawless “fancy vivid purplish-pink diamond.”

Its per-carat estimate of more than $3.3m is the largest such estimate ever placed on a diamond or gemstone, according to Sotheby’s. The auction house said the Eternal Pink is “the most vivid pink diamond to come to market” and is estimated to fetch in excess of $35m.
World’s most valuable ruby

The Estrela de Fura which measures at 55.22 carats was first unveiled at the DDE in its rough state as a 101 carat stone in 2022. Sotheby’s describes the stone’s journey from its rough state to the auction stage on its website.



It was mined at Fura Gems’s Montepuez mining operation in Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique. The ruby was packed and exported under the supervision of the Mozambiquan government to Fura’s headquarters in Dubai, where it was displayed for several days last year. It was then sent to Bangkok to be cut and polished by gem cutter Chirapat under the supervision of the Fura team.

The red gemstone today commands the title of being the world’s largest and most valuable ruby to ever appear at auction. Gübelin Gem Lab, an authority on gemological analysis, states: “The ruby is setting a new record not only for Mozambican rubies, but also for rubies in general.” It is expected to command a price tag in excess of $30m.

Katia Nounou Boueiz, head of Sotheby’s UAE, said, “After being unveiled in Dubai last autumn as an astonishing 101 carat rough, it is especially thrilling to see Estrela de FURA 55.22 in its newly crafted state and return triumphantly to the DMCC as the world’s largest and most valuable ruby to ever come to market. Exhibiting these one-of-a-kind stones – both in our DIFC gallery and at the unparalleled Dubai Diamond Exchange – is a clear continuation of our dedication to showcasing the best of the best in the UAE.”

The unveiling of the two precious stones highlights Dubai’s leading role in the diamond industry and growing presence in coloured gems. The UAE witnessed a strong 17 per cent year-on-year increase in the value of diamonds traded in 2022, totalling $37.4 bn combined for rough and polished diamonds. This was driven by a 42 per cent rise in the polished category and maintaining a solid growth trajectory through a 7 per cent rise in rough, as per a press release by state news agency WAM.

Dev Shetty, founder and ceo, Fura Gems, said, “In connecting East and West, Dubai has offered Fura Gems the perfect platform to access global markets. The emirate’s precious stone trade infrastructure has been invaluable to us as we build our status as a premier supplier of coloured gemstones for the global industry. We are also delighted to work with Sotheby’s in bringing the magnificent Estrela de Fura ruby to the world.”

Most recently, the DDE has hosted tenders with leading coloured gemstone companies including Belmont Group, Bonas & Co., Fura Gems and Grizzley Mining Company.
Image credit: DMCC

Sotheby’s Dubai to exhibit two of the world’s rarest jewelry pieces

The jewelry pieces will be exhibited at Sotheby’s DIFC Gallery until May 26. (Supplied)

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https://arab.news/474nr

Updated 23 May 2023

ARAB NEWS

May 23, 202317:05

DUBAI: Sotheby’s Dubai on Monday unveiled two rare jewelry pieces, The Eternal Pink diamond and the Estrela de FURA ruby, at Dubai Diamond Exchange.

The diamond, said to be the most significant pink diamond to come to market, is estimated at $35 million, while the ruby, a 55.22-carat stone that is the largest and most valuable to appear at an auction, is estimated at $30 million. 

The jewelry pieces are now exhibited at Sotheby’s DIFC Gallery until May 26 before heading to Sotheby’s New York auction on June 8.  

The jewelry pieces are now exhibited at Sotheby’s DIFC Gallery. (Supplied)

“We are honored to display these exceptional rarities in our Dubai gallery and to continue to make Sotheby’s Dubai the leading showcase in the Middle East for the world’s rarest and most valuable diamonds and gemstones,” Katia Nounou Boueiz, head of Sotheby’s UAE, said in a statement. 

FURA Gems announced the uncovering of the world’s largest gem-quality ruby at Dubai’s DMCC in September 2022.

“After being unveiled in this city last autumn as an astonishing 101-carat rough, it’s especially thrilling to see Estrela de FURA 55.22, in its newly crafted state, return triumphantly to Dubai’s DMCC as the world’s largest and most valuable ruby to ever come to market,” she added.

Meanwhile, Quig Bruning, head of jewelry for Sotheby’s America, said: “This season is shaping up to be one of our most valuable jewelry auctions ever staged in New York, offering two exceptional world-class jewels, each expected to achieve more than $30 million.

“Their sale represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire two of the rarest wonders known to humankind,” he added. 

• Deep anoxic aquifers could act as sinks for uranium through microbial-assisted mineral trapping

• • Article
  • Open Access
  • Published: 21 April 2023

• Ivan N. Pidchenko, 
• John N. Christensen, 
• Martin Kutzschbach, 
• Konstantin Ignatyev, 
• Ignasi Puigdomenech, 
• Eva-Lena Tullborg, 
• Nick M. W. Roberts, 
• E. Troy Rasbury, 
• Paul Northrup, 
• Ryan Tappero, 
• Kristina O. Kvashnina, 
• Thorsten Schäfer, 
• Yohey Suzuki & 
• Henrik Drake 

Communications Earth & Environment volume 4, Article number: 128 (2023) Cite this article

• details

Abstract

Uptake of uranium (U) by secondary minerals, such as carbonates and iron (Fe)-sulfides, that occur ubiquitously on Earth, may be substantial in deep anoxic environments compared to surficial settings due to different environment-specific conditions. Yet, knowledge of U reductive removal pathways and related fractionation between 238U and 235U isotopes in deep anoxic groundwater systems remain elusive. Here we show bacteria-driven degradation of organic constituents that influences formation of sulfidic species facilitating reduction of geochemically mobile U(VI) with subsequent trapping of U(IV) by calcite and Fe-sulfides. The isotopic signatures recorded for U and Ca in fracture water and calcite samples provide additional insights on U(VI) reduction behaviour and calcite growth rate. The removal efficiency of U from groundwater reaching 75% in borehole sections in fractured granite, and selective U accumulation in secondary minerals in exceedingly U-deficient groundwater shows the potential of these widespread mineralogical sinks for U in deep anoxic environments.

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Deep anoxic aquifers could act as sinks for uranium through microbial-assisted mineral trapping | Communications Earth & Environment (nature.com)

Subsurface microbes capture toxic uranium and remediate groundwater

Credit: Linnaeus University

26/04/2023
Linnaeus University
Linnaeus University is located in Växjö and Kalmar

A new research study describes a previously unknown chemical process for removal of uranium from groundwater. Deep down in the bedrock, in an oxygen-free environment, microbes assist in the process of turning uranium “into rock”. This finding might be an important tool for inhibiting the spread of toxic uranium in groundwater.

Uranium is a radioactive element that occurs naturally in the bedrock, and is harmful to humans and ecosystems. Exposure through drinking water, for example from drilled wells in bedrock, may lead to renal and reproductive effects, as well as DNA damage.

– Uran-rich drinking water is a major global health issue. To inhibit the spread of uranium in groundwater is a topic of high concern, says Henrik Drake, Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, Sweden, and senior author of the study.
Minerals entrapped uranium

In a 17 years long experiment, the team of researchers explored deep boreholes drilled into the bedrock, and identified minerals that had entrapped large amounts of uranium. It turned out that microbes living in the oxygen-free environment were the key to the process.

The microbes produce substances that help to transform the uranium, so that it is more easily incorporated into minerals. This sink stabilizes the uranium, and restrain further transport with groundwater.

Ivan Pidchenko, post doctoral fellow at the Linnaeus University, and lead author of the study, explains the discovery:

– The findings suggest that naturally occurring bacteria affect the uranium removal. The microbes contribute to form sinks for toxic elements in the subsurface environment. This process has large potential to prevent the spread of hazardous elements in the environment.

The results are important for remediation of contaminated groundwater, but also for spent nuclear fuel repositories.

– Uranium is the main component in spent nuclear fuel that will be deposited in long-term geological storage in deep bedrock systems. Our finding is an additoinal brick to the foundation of long-term safety assessment of geological nuclear repositories planned for construction in Sweden and elsewhere, says Ivan Pidchenko.

Impact of microbial processes on the safety of deep geological repositories for radioactive waste

 Front Microbiol. 2023; 14: 1134078.

Published online 2023 Mar 16. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1134078

PMCID: PMC10062484  PMID: 37007474

Miguel A. Ruiz-Fresneda, * Marcos F. Martinez-Moreno, Cristina Povedano-Priego, Mar Morales-Hidalgo, Fadwa Jroundi, and Mohamed L. Merroun

Author information Article notes Copyright and License information 

Abstract

To date, the increasing production of radioactive waste due to the extensive use of nuclear power is becoming a global environmental concern for society. For this reason, many countries have been considering the use of deep geological repositories (DGRs) for the safe disposal of this waste in the near future. Several DGR designs have been chemically, physically, and geologically well characterized. However, less is known about the influence of microbial processes for the safety of these disposal systems. The existence of microorganisms in many materials selected for their use as barriers for DGRs, including clay, cementitious materials, or crystalline rocks (e.g., granites), has previously been reported. The role that microbial processes could play in the metal corrosion of canisters containing radioactive waste, the transformation of clay minerals, gas production, and the mobility of the radionuclides characteristic of such residues is well known. Among the radionuclides present in radioactive waste, selenium (Se), uranium (U), and curium (Cm) are of great interest. Se and Cm are common components of the spent nuclear fuel residues, mainly as 79Se isotope (half-life 3.27 × 105 years), 247Cm (half-life: 1.6 × 107 years) and 248Cm (half-life: 3.5 × 106 years) isotopes, respectively. This review presents an up-to-date overview about how microbes occurring in the surroundings of a DGR may influence their safety, with a particular focus on the radionuclide-microbial interactions. Consequently, this paper will provide an exhaustive understanding about the influence of microorganisms in the safety of planned radioactive waste repositories, which in turn might improve their implementation and efficiency.

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Impact of microbial processes on the safety of deep geological repositories for radioactive waste - PMC (nih.gov)

Column: Aluminum is the West’s critical minerals blind spot
Reuters | May 23, 2023 

Aluminum. Stock image.

Aluminum is classified as a critical mineral by both the United States and the European Union.


You wouldn’t know it from the perilous state of primary metal production on both sides of the Atlantic.

High energy costs, particularly in Europe, have caused multiple smelters to close or curtail output with the result that run rates are the lowest this century.

Back in 2020, the World Bank identified aluminum as a “high-impact” and “cross-cutting” metal in all existing and potential green energy technologies.

Yet aluminum hasn’t even made it onto the list of metals covered by the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which will set targets for both domestic production and import dependency.

The United States has tried via import tariffs to support its domestic producers but with little lasting success.

Even the Inflation Reduction Act with its generous subsidies for domestically-sourced metal is unlikely to work without addressing aluminum’s green energy paradox.

Production slump

Western European primary aluminum production has been sliding since 2017 but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting spike in energy prices have accelerated the downtrend.

Output fell by 12.5% last year and has slipped further this year with the region’s annualized production averaging 2.7 million tonnes in the first four months of 2023, according to the International Aluminium Institute (IAI). West European run rates exceeded 4.5 million tonnes fifteen years ago.

US primary metal production has been falling since 2019 with two out of seven domestic smelters fully curtailed and three operating at reduced capacity, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The USGS estimates domestic production was running at just 52% of capacity at the end of last year with import dependency growing to 54% from 41% in 2021.

The decline in Western production contrasts with the rise of China, which now accounts for around 58% of the global output, the sort of dominance that has triggered significant re-shoring efforts in other critical minerals such as lithium and rare earth.

While the US market can lean on Canada for primary aluminum supply, Europe has traditionally relied on Russia, now a highly problematic long-term partner.

Green demand

Even allowing for greater recycling, the world will need another 25 million tonnes of primary production capacity if it is to meet its emissions reduction goals, according to the IAI.

Aluminum is used directly in all new energy technology, particularly in solar power, where it accounts for 85% of photovoltaic (PV) components in the form of the frames that hold the PV panels together.

The metal’s future demand profile is also tied to the accelerating roll-out of electric vehicles. Automakers are using more aluminum to light-weight their cars to get greater efficiency out of batteries.

The amount of aluminum used in European cars increased by 18% from 174kg in 2019 to 205kg in 2022, according to automotive consultancy Ducker Carlisle in a report commissioned by European Aluminium.

The report predicts this trend will continue, with the average aluminum content projected to increase from 205kg in 2022 to 237kg by 2026 and 256kg per vehicle by 2030.

The future should be bright for the West’s beleaguered aluminum smelters, particularly as Europe and the United States channel government funding down green accelerator paths.

Widening the supply-demand gap

The problem, however, is that too much of that government largesse is going to aluminum’s demand side and not enough to supply.

The Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will channel $1.25 trillion to green energy sectors, according to US think-tank SAFE’s Center for Strategic Industrial Metals. (“Legislative Analysis for the US Aluminum Industry”, May 2023)

Since all green energy applications from solar to wind to electric vehicles use aluminum, the combined effect is to accelerate demand.

However, the amount of funding available to aluminum’s supply side in the form of manufacturing credits and grants for domestic processing comes in at just $126 billion, according to SAFE. Moreover, investment is “contingent on decarbonization and funding is highly competitive,” it notes.

Being left behind

Carbon is at the heart of aluminum’s green energy paradox.

The metal is a critical material for enabling economy-wide decarbonization but at the same is one of the highest emitting industrial metals, particularly those smelters powered by fossil fuels.

“By setting the decarbonization conditionality for supply-side support and simultaneously increasing demand across multiple sectors, the United States entraps itself in this cycle,” SAFE contends.

In other words, simply providing funds for smelters to reduce their direct emissions won’t solve the problem unless there is a simultaneous investment in greening their power supply.

The carbon problem is compounded in Europe by the proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which “will do more harm than good”, according to Emanuele Manigrassi, European Aluminium’s Senior Manager of Regulatory Affairs.

“We expect the CBAM to only increase the costs of production and consumption of aluminum in Europe, with no reduction in global emissions,” Manigrassi wrote in a May 17 blog.

Energy, particularly green energy, holds the key to preserving a primary aluminum production base in both Europe and the United States.

US policy in its current form “threatens to leave its own aluminum behind” by neglecting to recognize the metal’s green power paradox, SAFE warns.

Both US and European sectors need a more holistic approach from policymakers.

The EU could start by including aluminum in the CRMA.

Europe’s primary aluminum sector is facing an existential crisis, according to Europe Aluminium’s general secretary Paul Voss, speaking at a forum jointly hosted with Eurometaux last month.

“If the political signal is this material isn’t very important, of course, you could just let it go to the wall,” he said.

But if Europe wants to stay in the business of making primary aluminum, “just put us on the damn list.”

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Sharon Singleton)

LITHIUM

Battery boom sparks revival for Quebec’s formerly failed lithium miners

Bloomberg News | May 24, 2023 

Nemaska’s Whabouchi lithium deposit in Quebec’s James Bay region, 300 km northwest of Chibougamau. (Credit: Nemaska Lithium)

Nemaska Lithium Inc. was once a cautionary tale for commodities investors betting on North America’s battery metals supply chain.


Shareholders lost money when the Canadian mining firm went broke in late 2019, collapsing under cost overruns and a crash in lithium prices. Four years later, a restructured Nemaska under new ownership is back developing a lithium deposit that could ultimately supply Ford Motor Co. with the key battery ingredient.

Ford’s supply deal with Nemaska — one of several battery-material sourcing pacts the automaker announced Monday — is the latest sign of optimism for lithium projects once left for dead. Halted operations like Nemaska’s Whabouchi mine have been resurrected by lithium prices that have nearly quadrupled since 2019. Also helping are policy initiatives such as the Inflation Reduction Act, which encourage American automakers to source battery metals from the US and allies including Canada.

“This has created the conditions for Nemaska to succeed,” said Steve Gartner, vice president of finance at Nemaska, which is now jointly owned by the Quebec government and US lithium producer Livent Corp. “The market, and institutional and government direction, has really created a condition where there’s more and more incentive to start and develop a supply chain in North America.”

North American Lithium, a Quebec mining operation now owned by Sayona Mining Ltd. and Piedmont Lithium Inc., faces a similar turnaround after its previous owner suspended operations and sought creditor protection for the business in 2019. The open-pit operations restarted in March, with some production earmarked for EV automaker Tesla Inc. and South Korean battery maker LG Chem Ltd.

(By Jacob Lorinc)

Emerging lithium supplier Argentina says it’s close to US deal under IRA

Bloomberg News | May 23, 2023 

|
Lithium evaporation ponds in Argentina. (Stock image.)

The world’s fastest-growing lithium producer says it could soon gain access to the US market.


Argentina has been lobbying to get in on President Joe Biden’s electric-vehicle drive. Landmark climate legislation, called the Inflation Reduction Act, features tax credits for vehicles that have a portion of their battery metals sourced in the US or a free-trade-agreement country. Australia and Chile, the top two lithium suppliers, have FTAs with the US. Argentina doesn’t.

Officials in Buenos Aires have been working on the issue with US diplomats and believe they are close to getting Argentina an exemption, Fernanda Avila, the federal mining undersecretary, and Franco Mignacco, president of top industry group Caem, said Tuesday on the sidelines of an event in the Argentine capital.

Argentina’s push comes amid a global tug of war for key EV minerals between the US and China.

The country’s only two producers as of now, Livent Corp. and Allkem Ltd., are set to merge to become the world’s third-biggest lithium company focused on supplying the US.

A third Argentine project is on the cusp of starting production. But the Lithium Americas Corp. operation will supply China’s Ganfeng Lithium Co. as Beijing commits more broadly to helping Argentina develop a lithium processing industry.

That project, which will be separated from Lithium Americas’ US assets, should come online next month, Mignacco said.

(By Jonathan Gilbert)

Allkem, set for merger, talks up Argentina’s ‘enormous’ lithium riches

Reuters | May 23, 2023 

Allkem’s Olaroz facility in Argentina. Credit: Allkem

Australian-based lithium miner Allkem Ltd, set for a $10.6 billion merger with US-based Livent Corp, sees “enormous” opportunity in Argentina, a top executive said on Tuesday.


Speaking at a mining event in Buenos Aires, chief sustainability and external affairs officer Karen Vizental said Argentina’s strong pipeline of lithium projects could lure billion of dollars in investment by the end of the decade, while the country’s lithium exports could rise to $10 billion.

“The size of the opportunity, if we look forward to 2030, is enormous,” Vizental said.

“We have a range of projects that are in different stages, of feasibility or exploration. If these projects end up being completed, we are talking about investment over $7 billion.”

Argentina, the No. 4 lithium producer globally, sits within the so-called “lithium triangle” and has been luring investment. Allkem and Livent run the two projects currently in production, but a pipeline of others is set to come online.

The two firms announced a planned merger this month, a deal which would create the world’s third-largest producer of the metal used to make electric vehicle batteries needed by carmakers from Tesla Inc to BMW

Vizental said the merger, which she hoped would be completed by the end of November, would bring benefits of “scale”, more exchange of technology and innovation, and speed up investment.

“It is extremely positive for the projects we have here in Argentina,” she said.

Argentina has benefited, analysts say, from a decentralized and market-led model, even as others in the region including Bolivia, Mexico and recently Chile, have touted more state-led development and even the idea of an OPEC-style lithium cartel.

“I don’t agree with the idea of an OPEC for lithium,” Gerardo Morales, the governor of northern mining province Jujuy, said at the Arminera mining conference. Other governors from key lithium regions Catamarca and Salta said the same.

Argentina, Bolivia and Chile together sit atop of half the world’s lithium riches, under salt flats in the high Andean plains. Chile, the world’s No. 2 producer, unveiled plans for a state-led public-private lithium strategy last month.

“They are going backwards,” Morales said of Chile. “And Bolivia too. That means more investment for us.”

(By Lucila Sigal; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Marguerita Choy)

Li-Metal Becomes First Company to Produce Refined Metal from Patented Lithium Carbonate Process

Tuesday, May 23, 2023 

Li-Metal Corp.
https://li-metal.com/

Successfully demonstrates patented lithium metal production process at Ontario pilot facility

Critical development milestone for commercial scale lithium metal production accomplished

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 23, 2023 / Li-Metal Corp. (CSE:LIM)(OTCQB:LIMFF)(FSE:5ZO) ("Li-Metal" or the "Company"), a developer of lithium metal and lithium metal anode technologies critical for next-generation batteries, today announced it has successfully produced its first lithium metal at the Company's lithium metal piloting facility in Markham, Ontario.

Domestic lithium metal production capacity is essential for the development of a sustainable supply chain for next-generation batteries. Conventional lithium-ion battery anodes do not contain lithium metal and the supply chain depends heavily on materials such as graphite, which presents energy density and sustainability challenges. Li-Metal's successful demonstration of lithium metal production from carbonate further advances the Company's vision to establish North American based lithium metal production capacity that next-generation battery developers can leverage. Additionally, this milestone will allow the Company to secure its own supply of lithium metal for its anode production, in order to implement its vertically integrated business model.

"We are thrilled to have successfully produced lithium metal demonstrating that our patented technology can produce this highly valuable and strategic material," said Maciej Jastrzebski, co-founder and CTO of Li-Metal. "This marks a major milestone for Li-Metal as we work toward scaling our vertically integrated anode production operations. This is an important precursor to establishing commercial scale metal production and we believe it is the foundation for cost-effective and more sustainable lithium metal production in North America."

Mr. Jastrzebski continued, "We believe we are one of the first internationally to produce lithium metal directly from lithium carbonate at this scale. The ability to produce metal from carbonate is a metallurgical process breakthrough and we are pleased to have accomplished this in Canada."

The production of lithium metal directly from lithium carbonate removes the need for corrosive lithium chloride feedstock material which consequently eliminates the production of chlorine gas encountered in conventional lithium metal production processes. This reduces the environmental impact of Li-Metal's lithium metal production and minimizes the need for costly treatment equipment, enhancing the cost-effectiveness of the Company's technology. Li-Metal was recently granted a patent for the production of lithium metal from carbonate (patent CA3179470 issued by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office), which further supports its growth strategy for its sustainable lithium metal business.

The ability to produce lithium metal is a significant step towards the Company's goal to demonstrate continuous lithium metal production as it builds on its piloting program in Markham, Ontario. Li-Metal plans to continue running piloting campaigns on the Company's pilot scale process to refine the product quality and process economics in preparation for commercial deployment. This is in parallel to advancing work on the engineering study for a commercial-scale lithium metal facility and exploring opportunities for sale of lithium metal into the next-generation battery industry and conventional lithium metal markets to build a healthy order book for the Company's businesses.

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) adoption has grown exponentially due to its use in a wide variety of applications, including consumer electronics, energy storage facilities, and electric vehicles (EVs). However, conventional LIB chemistry has many limitations and is unable to meet the increasing range and energy density demands of EVs and advanced battery powered applications, such as electric aviation. Several aspiring and established battery manufacturers and automotive OEMs are rushing to scale up and deploy alternate LIB technologies, including solid-state batteries. A key component of these next generation batteries are the lithium metal anodes, which offer substantial energy density improvements compared to conventional LIBs. Currently, more than 90% of the lithium metal produced globally is concentrated in China, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, and Li-Metal continues to progress its plans to commercialize its patented lithium metal production technology to meet the accelerating domestic demand for this material.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Srini Godavarthy
CEO

About Li-Metal Corp.

Li-Metal (CSE:LIM)(OTCQB:LIMFF)(FSE:5ZO) is a Canadian-based vertically integrated battery materials company and innovator commercializing technologies to enable next-generation batteries for electric vehicles and other applications. We believe our patented lithium metal technology, next-generation battery anode technology and production methods are significantly more sustainable than existing solutions and offer lighter, more energy-dense and safer batteries. Li-Metal's battery materials support battery developers' ability to power more cost-effective electric vehicles that go farther and unlock the future of transportation. For more information, visit: www.li-metal.com.

ExxonMobil Dips Its Oily Toe Into Lithium
The fossil fuel giant is joining the race to mine lithium for the clean energy revolution.

By Molly Taft

GIZMONDO
Published  Tuesday May 22,2023

Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

Well, well, well—look who’s decided electric cars aren’t such a bad idea after all. Oil giant ExxonMobil is investing in the future by buying drilling rights for lithium in Arkansas, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

There’s a lot of profit to be made in finding and harvesting new lithium reserves right now. As the world pivots away from Exxon’s main product, experts project that demand for lithium could soar up to 40 times by 2040, thanks to the large-scale shift to electric vehicles. The Biden administration is actively encouraging the development of domestic lithium reserves as carmakers express mounting concerns over a possible shortage. (We may not actually need all that lithium, especially if we choose to prioritize things like public transit and making smaller vehicles rather than mammoth SUVs—but I digress.)

Exxon paid more than $100 million for 120,000 acres in Arkansas, which it plans to drill in the upcoming months, according to the Wall Street Journal. That sounds like a lot, but it’s chump change when you consider that last month Exxon posted a record-breaking $11.43 billion first-quarter profit. It’s not exactly the mark of a serious pivot to clean energy—especially when Exxon has said it has no plans to cut oil production or invest substantially in renewables. Still, Exxon buying into lithium is a sign of the rapid worldwide shift toward clean energy; insiders familiar with the deal reportedly told the Journal that the company would consider expanding its operations if the region in Arkansas, which could hold enough lithium to juice 50 million EVs, proves profitable.

Exxon’s investment is “a classic hedge against the prospect of eventually declining oil demand,” Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at investment bank Raymond James, told the Journal.

Weirdly, Exxon actually has a historic foothold in the lithium industry. Some of the earliest foundations in lithium research were made at the oil giant, when British chemist Stanley Whittingham made key discoveries in battery technology while working at Exxon. Exxon manufactured an early prototype of the lithium battery to use in vehicles but stopped that effort due to lack of demand. Whittingham and two other scientists won a Nobel Prize in 2019 for their work on the batteries. Exxon, for its part, has continued to make small investments and innovations in lithium ion technology throughout the years.

Even though the modern EV battery was born in an Exxon lab, and even though Exxon has had a foothold in the industry for decades, the company hasn’t always been so keen on seeing lithium batteries succeed—or, at least, replacing its main product. In 2016, documents obtained by Unearthed, Greenpeace’s investigative arm, show how the company lobbied the UK government and governments in the EU against the adoption of electric vehicles. In 2019, CEO Darren Woods told a crowd at an oil and gas industry meeting devoted to climate targets (lol) that he doesn’t understand the point of electric vehicles.

The company has seemingly since changed its tune on EVs: Last year, Woods told CNBC that he thinks electric cars could become the entirety of the new car market by 2040. The CEO was surprisingly rosy about what that might mean for his company, projecting that that major shift would only reduce demand for oil down to 2013-2014 levels—a time when the company was still making a profit.

Like all climate moves Exxon makes, let’s not forget that the company continues to exert substantial pressures behind-the-scenes in Washington to work against climate action. Making a little cash from electric vehicles isn’t going to change decades of ruining the planet.

Ford strikes lithium deals to support step up in EV output

Bloomberg News | May 22, 2023 

Ford Mustang Mach-E electric car. Stock image.

Ford Motor Co. reached a series of deals to buy lithium from projects in Canada to Chile, as automakers rush to secure the materials needed to build electric vehicles.


Ford has struck deals with Albemarle Corp., the world’s top producer, Chile’s SQM and Canada’s Nemaska Lithium, according to separate announcements Monday. The deals come ahead of the second day of an investor event focused on Ford’s $50 billion plan for electric models. The agreements will look to take advantage of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which contains incentives for battery manufacturing and sourcing of materials from the US and its allies.


The availability and cost of crucial battery materials, including nickel and cobalt, have been key concerns for years among EV makers trying to build out their electric lineups. The issue has gained more urgency in recent months due to rising competition to strike supply pacts with miners and project developers and by wild swings in raw material costs. Processing is the “limiting factor,” said Ford chief executive officer Jim Farley.

“The mining part is not the constraint. It’s really the processing,” Farley said Monday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “So turning those raw materials, especially lithium and nickel, into processed materials we can put into a slurry to make the cells themselves.”

Companies including Ford and General Motors Co. have included prepayments or loans in recent pacts to help accelerate the development of new projects.

Farley is seeking to use the two-day investor event in Dearborn, Michigan, to convince investors on the merits of a strategy to lift annual electric vehicle output to 2 million by the end of 2026. The company has already locked up the lithium and cobalt supplies it requires for that expansion, the CEO said.

Albemarle said Monday that it will supply more than 100,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide to Ford, enough to make for about 3 million EV batteries. The deal will start in 2026 and run to 2030.

Ford also agreed a supply deal with Energysource Minerals.

Ford in March agreed to take a direct stake in a battery-nickel plant under construction in Indonesia, and last year sealed a pact with Liontown Resources Ltd., the developer of an Australian lithium mine.

The processing constraints are also political, Farley said, since 80% of the processing is now done in China.

“Onshoring the processing is going to be the most important controller of cost and also politics,” the CEO said. “Eighty percent of the processing for nickel and lithium are being done in China and we need to localize that.”

(By Keith Naughton, David Stringer and Matthew Miller, with assistance from Thomas Biesheuvel and Mathieu Dion)

AUSTRALIA

Aboriginal group says remediation at Juukan rock shelters has begun

Reuters | May 24, 2023 | 

The Juukan 2 cave destroyed during works with explosives. 

Photo: The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation

The Aboriginal group whose rock shelters Rio Tinto Ltd destroyed for an iron ore mine three years ago said remediation efforts have begun at the site under a co-management model that gives them more agency over mine development.


The destruction of the culturally significant site at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia which sheltered the group’s ancestors over 46,000 years triggered a public outcry and the exit of Rio’s CEO, chairman and two senior executives.

It also set off a government inquiry, paving the way for stronger legal protection and more of a say for Indigenous groups over how their traditional lands are impacted by mining.

“The events of May 24, 2020 … were distressing to the PKKP community and will remain that way for their lifetimes,” the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation (PKKP) said in a statement.

To ensure the devastation does not occur again, the group is working towards a co-management process of land development with mining companies, land committee chair Burchell Hayes said. As well as Rio Tinto, the world’s fourth largest iron ore miner, Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AX mines on PKKP land.

Rio Tinto said it had made many changes to deliver better outcomes for the PKKP including moving to a co-management model and signing a remedy agreement to develop cultural and social projects but there was more to do to build trust.

Fortescue said it was working towards a co-management model with PKKP and that discussions were well-advanced.

The committee has asked Rio Tinto to rehabilitate areas surrounding the two impacted rock shelters to a pre-mining landscape and seeding and replanting the area with native plants has begun.

The PKKP said new laws in Western Australia better protected their heritage sites, but miners still need to gain the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous groups with which they work.

“As Traditional Owners, the PKKP People can coexist with companies that wish to impact our traditional country but the best path forward for these mining companies is stepping up to the co-management agreement.”

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

The US Supreme Court Just Gutted the Clean Water Act

The U.S.'s highest court has ruled, counter to science, that it's not important to protect all wetlands from unfettered pollution.

By Lauren Leffer

GIZMONDO
Published May 25,2023


Clean water activists protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court during arguments over Sackett v. EPA in October 2022.

Photo: Jacquelyn Martin (AP)

The Supreme Court has ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency in a decision that significantly narrows the Clean Water Act’s protections. The majority, 5-4 opinion was authored by Justice Samuel Alito and supported by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett—all conservative judges, two of whom were Donald Trump appointees.

Technically, the decision was unanimous, with all nine SCOTUS judges agreeing that the EPA did not have the authority to intervene in the plaintiff’s case. However, the minority opinion credited to the remaining four justices used reasoning that handed a victory to the plaintiffs, but would have triggered fewer changes to the scope of the decades-old Clean Water Act had it been accepted by the majority.

Regardless, it’s an odd and confusing decision that will have widespread implications for wetlands and streams nationwide, Mark Ryan, a retired former EPA lawyer who is an expert in the Clean Water Act, told Gizmodo in a phone call. “It’s a mess,” Ryan said. This is a “very significant haircut of the Clean Water Act,” he added.

During oral arguments at the Sackett v. EPA SCOTUS hearing last fall, it seemed that even the conservative court might side with the federal regulators. But instead, today they opted to favor industry and development over defending unpolluted waterways.

The case had been moving through the courts for more than 15 years. On paper, Sacket v. EPA came down to the question of whether or not the federal government could penalize an Idaho couple (Chantal and Mike Sackett) for building a house on their own land without a permit. But the bigger question at stake has always been about whether the EPA has the authority to meaningfully monitor and protect streams and wetlands from unfettered development and other polluting activities.

With the court’s ruling, the CWA no longer protects isolated wetlands nor intermittent and seasonal bodies of water, Ryan said. It is a massive win for developers, mining companies, and other polluting industries, which will face far fewer environmental regulations and no longer have to apply for permits to fill many wetlands or dump waste in impermanent streams. Concurrently, it is likely to be a loss for the nation’s aquatic ecosystems and even human health.

Healthy, intact wetlands help control flooding, filter water, and provide critical habitat for plants and animals. All of those ecosystem services are endangered nationwide by the SCOTUS ruling, said Ryan.

States like Arizona and New Mexico, wherein most streams are seasonal and ephemeral, now have basically no federal protections under the CWA, he explained. Developers can now opt to fill in wetlands without any federal oversight in places like the prairie pothole ecosystem that spans multiple states in the middle of the country. “And they likely will. Land is much more valuable economically [filled in] as an upland rather than a wetland,” the former EPA litigator said.

Further, mining companies looking for flat land to dump tailing waste in mountainous areas can now bulldoze headwater, intermittent streams without a federal permit. Pollution into intermittent waterways and many wetlands is no longer federally regulated (unless and until somebody proves that that pollution has made its way to a permanent, connected waterbody).

Many aspects of the long-embattled case have come down to semantics: Specifically, there’s been much argument about what it means for waters to have a “significant nexus” of connectivity and what the phrase “waters of the United States” (typically abbreviated as WOTUS) applies to and protects. But in the new ruling, the majority opinion justices abandoned some of those previously well-trod arguments and laid out their own definitions.

“The CWA’s use of ‘waters’ in §1362(7) refers only to ‘geographic[al] features that are described in ordinary parlance as ‘streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes’ and to adjacent wetlands that are ‘indistinguishable’ from those bodies of water due to a continuous surface connection,” Alito wrote for the majority. Per the opinion, WOTUS protects only “a relatively permanent body of water connected to traditional interstate navigable waters” and wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to such waters.

The “significant nexus” terminology appears to be entirely out. Instead, the new decision focuses on this idea of “relatively permanent waters,” a poorly defined concept that was first brought forth by Antonin Scalia in the split Rapanos v. United States ruling in 2006. What does “relatively permanent” mean? For now, no one really knows, said Ryan.

“This is gonna result in a lot of head scratching and a lot of litigation,” he explained—as stakeholders try to work out what counts as relatively permanent. Is it a stream that flows for a week at a time? A day? What about a season? If a wetland overflows into a nearby river once a month, through an ephemeral stream, do all those flows add up to relative permanence? All subsequent decisions on this will have additional, big implications.

Important to note, the new SCOTUS ruling is in clear contradiction to our current scientific and environmental understanding of how the world works. All water is connected. Every drop of rain that falls in the U.S. eventually ends up as part of the larger movement of water, be it in a plant’s roots or a big river. You probably learned about watersheds and the water cycle in grade school, which both clearly outline how water flows overland and below ground from one point to another, generally from smaller to larger bodies of water.

Some streams and wetlands appear isolated or only contain water intermittently, but they’re still part of this broader ecological system. These small or impermanent waterbodies still dictate the quality of what comes out of your tap. Though they may not have a constant, overland flow to other bodies of water—wetland and intermittent streams are, in almost all cases, in continuous contact with larger streams, lakes, and rivers through groundwater, movement of wildlife, and temporary or seasonal overland flows.

Union at Chile’s Centinela copper mine accepts offer to avoid strike

Reuters | May 24, 2023 | 1:06 pm Careers Top Companies Latin America Copper

Centinela copper mine. (Image courtesy of Minera Centinela.)

The mine supervisor union for Chile’s Centinela mine, operated by mining company Antofagasta, accepted contract negotiations to avoid a strike, the union said on Wednesday.


The proposal is set to be formalized by both parties, the union said in a statement. It added that it will take into account “that each and every one of the conditions achieved will be duly incorporated into the collective agreement that will govern us for the next three years.”


Union members had rejected a previous proposal from the mining company in mid May, and began a mediation period with the government last week.

In 2022, Centinela produced 247,600 tonnes of copper, according to data from the state agency Cochilco.

(By Fabian Cambero and Carolina Pulice; Editing by Anthony Esposito)