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centre stage in CATL’s multi-billion dollar supply chain offensive","lithium-centre-stage-in-catls-multi-billion-dollar-supply-chain-offensive","article/lithium-centre-stage-in-catls-multi-billion-dollar-supply-chain-offensive",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":655,"featured":50,"reporter":656,"_editable":660,"component":661,"seo_title":553,"categories":662,"visibility":666,"author_company":49,"featured_image":667,"seo_description":655,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":672,"formattedArticleDate":673},"dd6233dc-32a2-4f3b-a23a-413f5485dad5","2020-09-16 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"catl","CATL",[564],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":567},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":568,"image":569,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":570},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":574,"content":575},"doc",[576,583,588,593,600,605,610,615,620,625,630,635,640,645,650],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"Chinese battery manufacturer CATL has taken a stake in lithium developer Neo Lithium as it begins its latest foray into the lithium ion supply chain in what is expected to be a multi-billion dollar spending spree.","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":582},"The deal sees CATL take a C8.5$million, 8% stake in Neo Lithium — which owns the Tres Quebradas Lithium Project (3Q Project) in Catamarca, Argentina. The investment brings Neo Lithium a step closer to finishing its definitive feasibility study for the project, which has a nameplate capacity of 20,000 tpa of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), with the potential to expand to 40,000 tpa.",{"type":577,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":582},"Argentinian brine is forecast to play a growing role in the supply of lithium through the next five years, with a number of projects in development. Benchmark’s Lithium Forecast shows that in 2019 Argentina produced approximately 34,900 tonnes of LCE – 10% of global production. Benchmark is forecasting this to increase by 3.8x by 2025, and Argentina’s share of production to increase to 14% of global production as a number of projects come online and existing projects ramp up production.",{"type":594,"attrs":595,"content":597},"heading",{"level":596,"textAlign":49},4,[598],{"text":599,"type":582},"CATL’s latest spending spree",{"type":577,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":582},"In August, CATL announced plans to invest up to CNY 19 billion (approximately $2.75 billion USD) – equal to 50% of its net assets in 2019 — in companies across both downstream and upstream segments of the supply chain over the next 12 months.",{"type":577,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":582},"While the investment in Neo Lithium is the first in an expected 12-month flurry of supply chain spending from CATL, in reality it represents an extension of the company’s aggressive deal-making efforts since 2018. During that time CATL has signed a host of supply agreements, established joint ventures and taken equity in various companies across the supply chain.",{"type":577,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":582},"CATL’s investment in Neo Lithium reflects how securing battery raw materials sits at the core of the company’s strategy. Lithium has been at the heart of this — 2020 marks the third year in a row in which CATL has taken stakes in overseas lithium projects having previously invested in North American Lithium in 2018, and taken an 8.5% holding in Pilbara Minerals in September last year.",{"type":577,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":582},"These investments are key to the company securing a future supply of raw materials ahead of expected tightening supply and demand dynamics. Following the investment in Pilbara, Chinese lithium producer Yibin Tianyi – a joint venture company backed by CATL – announced a five-year 75,000 tonnes per annum offtake agreement from the operation, which would ultimately be destined for CATL battery cells.",{"type":577,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":582},"These developments are not limited to lithium and CATL has also made strides in developing its other raw material supply. In 2018, a joint venture (JV) was announced that saw CATL take a 25% stake in a battery-grade nickel project in Morowali, Indonesia. The JV sees CATL collaborating with Chinese stainless-steel manufacturer Tsingshan and battery materials producer GEM to establish a nickel high pressure acid leach (HPAL) project.",{"type":577,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":582},"While CATL has been proactive in securing supply of battery raw materials it is not alone and this reflects the wider trend of OEMs securing raw materials, such as Tesla’s offtake deal with Kidman Resources and production from the Mount Holland mine in 2018, or Volkswagen’s supply MoU with Ganfeng Lithium announced in 2019.",{"type":577,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":582},"Mid-stream cathode companies are also undertaking similar strategies. Last year, Ningbo Shanshan – one of China’s leading producer of anode and cathode materials, invested in Australian spodumene producer Altura Mining, in which it currently holds a 15% stake. This strategic investment was followed up on in June of this year when the two companies announced a five-year offtake agreement to supply Shanshan’s lithium chemical plant, which is under development in Changsha, Hunan, China.",{"type":594,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"level":596,"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":582},"Megafactory expansions underway",{"type":577,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":582},"CATL’s investments across the supply chain will support its massive battery megafactory expansions. It’s taken the company less than a decade to build itself into the world’s leading lithium ion battery manufacturer in terms of production capacity. According to data from Benchmark’s Lithium ion Battery Megafactory Assessment, as it stands CATL will have 423 GWh of production capacity in 2029 based on its plans in the pipeline, extending its battery cell production dominance out through to the 2030s.",{"type":577,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":582},"The company has continued to make inroads into the supply chain and in Q1 this year it was announced that it would be supplying Tesla with new prismatic LFP cells for the standard range Model 3s made in China for Chinese consumers. However, the bulk of CATL’s expansions are in China – with only one megafactory to be located overseas: its Erfurt factory in Germany.",{"type":577,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":582},"With 12 megafactories in the pipeline, CATL will need more than just lithium and this week it was also confirmed that the company had invested CNY 2.5 billion (US $37 million) in Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment Co a leading battery equipment company based in China.","Chinese battery manufacturer CATL has taken a stake in lithium developer Neo Lithium as it begins its latest foray into the lithium ion supply chain in what is expected to be a multi-billion dollar spending spree. The deal sees CATL take a C8.5$million, 8% stake in Neo Lithium — which owns the Tres Quebradas Lithium […]",[657],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":658},{"job_title":568,"image":659,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"dd6233dc-32a2-4f3b-a23a-413f5485dad5\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[663],{"slug":664,"name":665},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":668,"name":668,"focus":668,"title":668,"source":668,"filename":669,"copyright":668,"fieldtype":670,"meta_data":671,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/9b199b342b/bm-neo-lithium-catl.jpg","asset",{"alt":668,"title":668,"source":668,"copyright":668},"Sep 16, 2020","16th September 2020",[],[],1790082844529]