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Mid-Nickel",103.5,99.73,3.78,13.78,6.78,[518,519,520,522,524,526,528,530,532,534,536,538],{"date":213,"value":512},{"date":216,"value":513},{"date":219,"value":521},99.19,{"date":222,"value":523},96.02,{"date":225,"value":525},98.23,{"date":467,"value":527},99.24,{"date":329,"value":529},101.29,{"date":339,"value":531},87.61,{"date":341,"value":533},92.44,{"date":344,"value":535},90.96,{"date":347,"value":537},92.24,{"date":350,"value":539},95.09,{"id":541,"uuid":542,"name":543,"slug":544,"full_slug":545,"content":546,"relatedArticles":716,"relatedVideos":717},112472696479106,"0a30b31a-d041-4e26-a146-995800971911","BYD eyes African lithium as Chinese companies invest in continent","byd-eyes-african-lithium-as-chinese-companies-invest-in-continent","article/byd-eyes-african-lithium-as-chinese-companies-invest-in-continent",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":550,"content":560,"excerpt":695,"featured":51,"reporter":696,"_editable":700,"component":701,"seo_title":543,"categories":702,"visibility":708,"author_company":49,"featured_image":709,"seo_description":695,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":714,"formattedArticleDate":715},"f77c8787-21f8-4929-af32-66767a699a5b","2022-06-07 00:00",[],[551],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":554},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":555,"image":556,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":557},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":561,"content":562},"doc",[563,570,575,580,585,590,597,612,617,622,627,632,637,642,647,652,665,670,675,680,685,690],{"type":564,"attrs":565,"content":566},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[567],{"text":568,"type":569},"A reported move by Chinese electric carmaker BYD to buy African lithium assets could help cement China’s control over future supply from the continent and help the company secure supplies of the battery raw material in the face of rising prices.","text",{"type":564,"attrs":571,"content":572},{"textAlign":49},[573],{"text":574,"type":569},"BYD has agreed to acquire six lithium mines with enough production for up to 1 million tonnes of lithium carbonate, a report in The Paper, a Chinese publication, said last week. A person close to BYD confirmed to Benchmark that the company was looking at African deposits.",{"type":564,"attrs":576,"content":577},{"textAlign":49},[578],{"text":579,"type":569},"Chinese companies have been the most active investors in African lithium mining projects over the past year, investing in mines from Zimbabwe to Ethiopia. Lithium supply from Africa could increase nearly six-fold by 2025 compared to 2022, to around 40,000 tpa LCE, according to Benchmark’s Lithium Forecast, enough to meet around 14% of forecast global demand.",{"type":564,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":569},"The report said the African mines BYD was considering had 25 million tonnes of ore with a 2.5 percent lithium oxide grade, translating into around 1 million tonnes of lithium carbonate, enough for around 28 million vehicles.",{"type":564,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":569},"Cameron Perks, an analyst at Benchmark, said that indicated the six mines were likely to be small deposits, producing around 15,000 tonnes a year of LCE.",{"type":591,"attrs":592,"content":594},"heading",{"level":593,"textAlign":49},4,[595],{"text":596,"type":569},"Securing lithium supplies",{"type":564,"attrs":598,"content":599},{"textAlign":49},[600,602,610],{"text":601,"type":569},"The effort to secure lithium in Africa comes following efforts by BYD to buy deposits in Chile and develop China’s own domestic resources. In January BYD ",{"text":603,"type":569,"marks":604},"won a tender",[605],{"type":606,"attrs":607},"link",{"href":608,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":609},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/chinas-byd-wins-chile-lithium-tender-incoming-president-pushes-nationalisation","url",{"text":611,"type":569}," for lithium mining rights from the Chilean Ministry of Energy and Mining, but this was later suspended by a Chilean court.",{"type":564,"attrs":613,"content":614},{"textAlign":49},[615],{"text":616,"type":569},"The company has also spent over a decade trying to develop a lithium project in China’s Qinghai province. BYD’s joint venture with Qinghai Salt Lake is set to construct a 30,000 tpa battery-grade lithium carbonate production facility this year, following two years of delays, in part due to the bankruptcy and restructuring of JV partner, Qinghai Salt Lake, in 2019.",{"type":564,"attrs":618,"content":619},{"textAlign":49},[620],{"text":621,"type":569},"Its efforts in Africa could bear more fruit, however. Chinese lithium companies have stepped up investments in hard rock lithium pegmatite projects across the continent, which could easily provide lithium-bearing ore that can be shipped back to China to be processed.",{"type":564,"attrs":623,"content":624},{"textAlign":49},[625],{"text":626,"type":569},"Currently Australia is the largest supplier of lithium ore to China, but political relations between the two countries have frayed, increasing the case for diversification.",{"type":564,"attrs":628,"content":629},{"textAlign":49},[630],{"text":631,"type":569},"“There’s been lots of investments by Chinese companies in Africa, in a bid to diversify supply,” Daisy Jennings-Gray, an analyst at Benchmark, said. “They can stick to hard rock mining but reduce their reliance on Australia.”",{"type":591,"attrs":633,"content":634},{"level":593,"textAlign":49},[635],{"text":636,"type":569},"Rush of deals",{"type":564,"attrs":638,"content":639},{"textAlign":49},[640],{"text":641,"type":569},"Chinese companies have invested in the majority of existing lithium deposits in Africa in recent years. BYD’s partner and supplier Chengxin Lithium has recently been one of the most active.",{"type":564,"attrs":643,"content":644},{"textAlign":49},[645],{"text":646,"type":569},"In Zimbabwe, Chengxin Lithium recently agreed to set up a 50-50 joint venture with Sinomine Resource Group to explore and develop lithium resources in the country.",{"type":564,"attrs":648,"content":649},{"textAlign":49},[650],{"text":651,"type":569},"In April Chengxin also announced that it had invested AUD 2.8m ($2.1m) to acquire a 3.4% stake in Abyssinian Metals, which owns a 51% share of the Kenticha lithium mine in Ethiopia.",{"type":564,"attrs":653,"content":654},{"textAlign":49},[655,657,663],{"text":656,"type":569},"BYD ",{"text":658,"type":569,"marks":659},"agreed to buy",[660],{"type":606,"attrs":661},{"href":662,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":609},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/byd-secures-lithium-discount-after-buying-stake-in-chinese-lithium-miner",{"text":664,"type":569}," a 5% stake in Chengxin in March, as part of a strategic agreement between the two companies.",{"type":564,"attrs":666,"content":667},{"textAlign":49},[668],{"text":669,"type":569},"Sinomine, which is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, previously spent $180 million to acquire 74% of the Bikita Minerals project in Zimbabwe.  Last month it said it would spend RMBD 1.27 billion at the project to produce 300,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrates with a lithium oxide grade of 5.5% and 90,000 lepidolite concentrates with a grade of 2.5%.",{"type":591,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"level":593,"textAlign":49},[673],{"text":674,"type":569},"Rising sales",{"type":564,"attrs":676,"content":677},{"textAlign":49},[678],{"text":679,"type":569},"BYD is one of the few automakers who produce their own batteries, exposing the company directly to rising lithium prices.",{"type":564,"attrs":681,"content":682},{"textAlign":49},[683],{"text":684,"type":569},"Prices for Chinese battery grade lithium carbonate have risen by more than 400% over the past year. Battery-grade lithium carbonate in China last traded at RMB 463,000 a tonne ($69,450), according to Benchmark’s Lithium Price Assessment.",{"type":564,"attrs":686,"content":687},{"textAlign":49},[688],{"text":689,"type":569},"BYD has managed to substantially increase sales this year in China, despite lockdowns in Shanghai and elsewhere.",{"type":564,"attrs":691,"content":692},{"textAlign":49},[693],{"text":694,"type":569},"BYD sold 114,183 pure electric and plug-in electric vehicles in May, a 143% increase from the same period a year earlier. The carmaker is targeting sales of 1.5 million new energy vehicles for 2022.","A reported move by Chinese electric carmaker BYD to buy African lithium assets could help cement China’s control over future supply from the continent and help the company secure supplies of the battery raw material in the face of rising prices. BYD has agreed to acquire six lithium mines with enough production for up to […]",[697],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":698},{"job_title":555,"image":699,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},{"filename":557},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"f77c8787-21f8-4929-af32-66767a699a5b\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[703,706],{"slug":704,"name":705},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":707,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":710,"name":710,"focus":710,"title":710,"source":710,"filename":711,"copyright":710,"fieldtype":712,"meta_data":713,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/899e43a3ff/bm-byd-car.jpg","asset",{"alt":710,"title":710,"source":710,"copyright":710},"Jun 07, 2022","7th June 2022",[],[],1780670082847]