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Tinto and SK On outline lithium plans as shortage fears weigh across supply chain","rio-tinto-and-sk-on-outline-lithium-plans-as-shortage-fears-weigh-across-supply-chain","article/rio-tinto-and-sk-on-outline-lithium-plans-as-shortage-fears-weigh-across-supply-chain",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":684,"featured":51,"reporter":685,"_editable":689,"component":690,"seo_title":553,"categories":691,"visibility":697,"author_company":49,"featured_image":698,"seo_description":684,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":702,"formattedArticleDate":703},"c70d4caa-0b1c-4c4d-9817-8be93648d4e5","2022-09-30 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"rio-tinto","Rio Tinto",[564],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":567},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":568,"image":569,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":570},"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":574,"content":575},"doc",[576,583,598,603,608,613,618,623,628,633,642,649,654,659,664,669,674,679],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"Rio Tinto and Korean battery maker SK On told Benchmark’s Gigafactories Asia Pacific conference this week that rising electric vehicle sales were accelerating the search for new lithium resources.","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586,588,596],{"text":587,"type":582},"Rio Tinto said it is looking to build a “much larger” portfolio of ",{"text":589,"type":582,"marks":590},"battery minerals assets",[591],{"type":592,"attrs":593},"link",{"href":594,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":595},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/rio-tinto-commits-2-4bn-to-arrive-at-lithiums-main-stage/","url",{"text":597,"type":582}," while SK On said it was looking to find “reliable, long-term critical mineral” supplies.",{"type":577,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":582},"The comments come as lithium prices in the Chinese domestic market continue to climb with average battery grade lithium carbonate prices now increasing to above the RMB 500,000/tonne threshold, according to Benchmark’s latest Lithium Price Assessment.",{"type":577,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":582},"“Lithium consumption needs to surge way above anything that is currently being planned to be mined,” Sinead Kaufman, head of minerals at Rio, told the conference. “Even with every project in the world that’s project to come on we’ll still be short 50% of the amount of lithium that’s required to build the electric vehicles.”",{"type":577,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":582},"SK On said it had signed an agreement this week with Australia’s Global Lithium Resources to explore future lithium supplies. The company’s lithium demand will increase by seven times to 300,000 tonnes of lithium a year by 2030.",{"type":577,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":582},"“We will invest .. we need significant amounts of critical minerals to support our growth,” Donghoe Gu, team leader of corporate strategy at SK On, said. “If we cannot control the critical minerals properly we cannot achieve [our] long-term cost roadmap.”",{"type":577,"attrs":619,"content":620},{"textAlign":49},[621],{"text":622,"type":582},"Traditionally, SK On would sign long-term agreements with “major” raw material suppliers, but to meet its growing demand the company would now need to “consider a variety of sourcing options including investment,” as well as supply from junior miners, Gu said.",{"type":577,"attrs":624,"content":625},{"textAlign":49},[626],{"text":627,"type":582},"“The market is not easy right now so we are open to talk to junior mining players to source and support our future growth,” he said.",{"type":577,"attrs":629,"content":630},{"textAlign":49},[631],{"text":632,"type":582},"However Gu said the company was a cell producer and not a miner so would focus its capital allocation on investing in manufacturing plants globally.",{"type":577,"attrs":634,"content":635},{"textAlign":49},[636],{"type":637,"attrs":638},"image",{"id":49,"alt":639,"src":640,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":641},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/252e5c6f1d/bm-lithium-market-balance-2-1.png",{},{"type":643,"attrs":644,"content":646},"heading",{"level":645,"textAlign":49},3,[647],{"text":648,"type":582},"Rio’s battery minerals ambition",{"type":577,"attrs":650,"content":651},{"textAlign":49},[652],{"text":653,"type":582},"Rio Tinto finalised its $825 million acquisition of the Rincon lithium project in Argentina in March, which was the biggest move by a major western mining company into the lithium sector.",{"type":577,"attrs":655,"content":656},{"textAlign":49},[657],{"text":658,"type":582},"The project in Salta province will start producing lithium carbonate in 2024 using direct lithium extraction technology, Kaufman said.",{"type":577,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662],{"text":663,"type":582},"Kaufman said that the “linear mining model” that was applicable to bulk commodities such as iron ore was not applicable to lithium.",{"type":577,"attrs":665,"content":666},{"textAlign":49},[667],{"text":668,"type":582},"“It’s actually a chemical process not a bulk mining process and that complexity that’s added to it as well is something we really see has to drive the strength of diversity of the supply chain,” she said.",{"type":577,"attrs":670,"content":671},{"textAlign":49},[672],{"text":673,"type":582},"Rio Tinto was looking at building diversity across hard rock mining, lithium brines, and also mining old mine tailings for the mineral, she said.",{"type":577,"attrs":675,"content":676},{"textAlign":49},[677],{"text":678,"type":582},"In addition Rio is looking to “diversify beyond lithium, to other battery materials and ways in which we can leverage existing operations,” she said.",{"type":577,"attrs":680,"content":681},{"textAlign":49},[682],{"text":683,"type":582},"“We don’t intend to mine the entire periodic table but we will for example, do what it takes to explore opportunities for waste to be processed to create by-products that are important in the energy transition,” she said.","Rio Tinto and Korean battery maker SK On told Benchmark’s Gigafactories Asia Pacific conference this week that rising electric vehicle sales were accelerating the search for new lithium resources. Rio Tinto said it is looking to build a “much larger” portfolio of battery minerals assets while SK On said it was looking to find “reliable, […]",[686],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":687},{"job_title":568,"image":688,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"c70d4caa-0b1c-4c4d-9817-8be93648d4e5\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[692,695],{"slug":693,"name":694},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":696,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":639,"name":639,"focus":639,"title":639,"source":639,"filename":699,"copyright":639,"fieldtype":700,"meta_data":701,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/163a329ed0/bm-bolivia-lithium-1.jpg","asset",{"alt":639,"title":639,"source":639,"copyright":639},"Sep 30, 2022","30th September 2022",[],[],1789982590452]