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Seven Year Niche","the-seven-year-niche","article/the-seven-year-niche",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":1098,"featured":50,"reporter":1099,"_editable":1103,"component":1104,"seo_title":553,"categories":1105,"visibility":1112,"author_company":49,"featured_image":1113,"seo_description":1098,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":1118,"formattedArticleDate":1119},"53718a1f-1924-4d46-9fe4-ad9c8c33bbe1","2018-02-25 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":567},"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":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,580,585,590,595,600,603,608,613,618,623,628,633,638,643,646,651,656,661,666,671,676,681,690,695,698,703,708,713,718,723,728,733,740,745,750,753,761,766,771,776,781,786,791,796,801,810,815,820,823,828,833,838,843,848,864,869,874,879,884,887,892,900,905,910,915,920,925,930,935,940,948,953,958,963,968,973,978,983,988,993,998,1003,1006,1011,1016,1021,1026,1031,1036,1039,1044,1049,1054,1059,1067,1072,1077,1082,1087],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"Until 2010, minerals such rare earths, lithium, cobalt and graphite were flying well below the radar of the mainstream mining industry. These speciality products, tailored for each customer, were being locked into long term supply contracts between buyer and seller and prices were stable.","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"The evolution of China and emergence of new technologies saw an unpredicted phase of price volatility for these minerals between 2010 and 2012. Price spikes and surges began, a global exploration rush ensued, and billions of dollars of investment followed.",{"type":574,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":579},"As prices subsided and the excitement calmed, very little in these niche industries changed and much money was lost.",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":579},"In 2017, for the first time in seven years, prices of these speciality minerals are once again rising in unison prompting the question: is it different this time?",{"type":574,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":579},"Simon Moores explores the similarities and differences between 2010 and 2017.",{"type":574,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":579},"They say everything occurs in cycles but it has been a long seven years for many suppliers of niche minerals and metals.",{"type":574,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":579},"Prices of rare earth elements, graphite, nickel and vanadium joined lithium and cobalt in exhibiting firm, strong price rises in 2017 that can now be called a rising trend for this basket of speciality minerals and metals.",{"type":574,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":579},"Not since 2010 has the niche sector of the mining industry seen across-the-board price rises.",{"type":574,"attrs":619,"content":620},{"textAlign":49},[621],{"text":622,"type":579},"Seven years ago, price increases for specialities occurred for various reasons that were fundamentally tied to supply-side pressures. For most minerals, it was predominately a China-centric story which was the major contributor to a commodity super cycle.",{"type":574,"attrs":624,"content":625},{"textAlign":49},[626],{"text":627,"type":579},"Whether this was China’s decision to ban rare earth exports to Japan in retaliation to a fishing vessel incident – a move which sparked a rare earths price surge from between 1,000% and 4,000% in a 12-month period – or the country’s surging steel industry, a rising tide saw nearly all mineral fortunes head skywards.",{"type":574,"attrs":629,"content":630},{"textAlign":49},[631],{"text":632,"type":579},"These price rises were not, however, as a result of a singular demand-side event that could alter the course of the industry’s future.",{"type":574,"attrs":634,"content":635},{"textAlign":49},[636],{"text":637,"type":579},"For a selection of niche minerals today, the outlook is different.",{"type":574,"attrs":639,"content":640},{"textAlign":49},[641],{"text":642,"type":579},"The rise of a global energy storage revolution in electric vehicles (EVs) and utility storage is changing the supply and demand dynamics industries such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earths.",{"type":574,"attrs":644,"content":645},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":647,"content":648},{"textAlign":49},[649],{"text":650,"type":579},"And this is resulting in significant upward price pressures.",{"type":574,"attrs":652,"content":653},{"textAlign":49},[654],{"text":655,"type":579},"The rare earths of neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pd) saw price increases of 81% in 2017 due to the elements being the critical components in high strength permanent magnets used in the vast majority of EVs including Tesla’s new long-range Model 3.",{"type":574,"attrs":657,"content":658},{"textAlign":49},[659],{"text":660,"type":579},"While in 2010 rare earths’ prices were forced upwards in a very short space owing to political events and lack of investment in supply globally, this time around nothing significant has changed on the supply-side yet it is the emergence of EVs that is impacting the status quo.",{"type":574,"attrs":662,"content":663},{"textAlign":49},[664],{"text":665,"type":579},"And rare earths prices are reacting.",{"type":574,"attrs":667,"content":668},{"textAlign":49},[669],{"text":670,"type":579},"Tesla’s decision to use rare earth-based magnets is a significant short-to-medium term demand event for the industry. As the EV producer ramps up its production capacity, it will become a single new customer commanding 500,000 vehicles worth of Nd and Pr elements.",{"type":574,"attrs":672,"content":673},{"textAlign":49},[674],{"text":675,"type":579},"This is a new move for Tesla which previously relied on an induction motor to keep the metal in the motor magnetised.",{"type":574,"attrs":677,"content":678},{"textAlign":49},[679],{"text":680,"type":579},"Demand for high strength neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnets in EVs is rising and particularly for praseodymium which can substitute neodymium in these magnets.",{"type":574,"attrs":682,"content":683},{"textAlign":49},[684,686,688],{"text":685,"type":579},"“Strong NdFeB demand and moderated supply is primarily what’s driving up NdPr oxide prices,” explained Ryan Castilloux, director of rare earths information publisher, Adamas Intelligence to ",{"text":687,"type":579},"Benchmark Mineral Intelligence",{"text":689,"type":579},".",{"type":574,"attrs":691,"content":692},{"textAlign":49},[693],{"text":694,"type":579},"“The prices of nearly all major rare earth oxide products in China have increased sharply year-to-date in 2017. In particular, the price of NdPr oxide – the bread-and-butter of China’s rare earth industry – has increased by more than 80% year-to-date and we expect will remain strong in the near-term on account of thinning spot supplies and an increasingly tight supply-demand balance,” Castilloux explained.",{"type":574,"attrs":696,"content":697},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":699,"content":700},{"textAlign":49},[701],{"text":702,"type":579},"Rare earths are an example of how, despite experiencing the most aggressive price spikes of all speciality minerals, the resulting profile and fund raising did not do much to change the industry’s structure – China still produces over 85% of the world’s supply.",{"type":574,"attrs":704,"content":705},{"textAlign":49},[706],{"text":707,"type":579},"“For the rare earth element suite as a whole, prices are up as a result of increased industry oversight and consolidation, which has left excess inventories and production capacity in the more disciplined hands of the China’s 6 large government-controlled groups,” he said.",{"type":574,"attrs":709,"content":710},{"textAlign":49},[711],{"text":712,"type":579},"In quite an interesting development, Castilloux explained, the fundamentals driving the rare earths prices increases this time is different from 2010.",{"type":574,"attrs":714,"content":715},{"textAlign":49},[716],{"text":717,"type":579},"“Unlike the previous rare earth price spike of 2010-2011, which was induced by Sino-Japanese tensions, panic buying, and artificial shortages, the current upturn in prices is being driven by strong supply-demand fundamentals in China, coupled with increased industry oversight and a coordinated effort to moderate output,” he added.",{"type":574,"attrs":719,"content":720},{"textAlign":49},[721],{"text":722,"type":579},"In 2010, the EV industry was just a seed. Within China, policies were being discussed but not enforced, the Nissan LEAF was just being launched, and Tesla has not even rolled out its Model S let alone the X and 3.",{"type":574,"attrs":724,"content":725},{"textAlign":49},[726],{"text":727,"type":579},"Today, nearly every major car manufacturer has committed tens of billions of dollars to building out its EV production – of which nearly all are lithium ion powered and use permanent rare earth magnets. Nissan and Ford have been the latest in 2018 to commit $9bn and $11bn to developing EVs, respectively.",{"type":574,"attrs":729,"content":730},{"textAlign":49},[731],{"text":732,"type":579},"A multi-billion dollar groundswell of EV and battery activity is underway with China at the centre. China’s EV sales are also surging in both electric buses and passenger vehicles. The biggest seller in 2017 was the BAIC EC-Series with 125 miles of range and a selling price of $22,000. It averaged 10,000 units each month since its launch and over 13,000 registrations in December alone. The battery is a 20kWh lithium ion chemistry with a 31kW motor.",{"type":734,"attrs":735,"content":737},"heading",{"level":736,"textAlign":49},3,[738],{"text":739,"type":579},"Battery driver ",{"type":574,"attrs":741,"content":742},{"textAlign":49},[743],{"text":744,"type":579},"Critical elements used in the manufacturing of lithium ion battery cathodes and anodes have experienced some of the strongest price rises in the last 12 months as new demand from EVs takes its toll on these traditional, inflexible industries.",{"type":574,"attrs":746,"content":747},{"textAlign":49},[748],{"text":749,"type":579},"On the cathode side, lithium has been the star.",{"type":574,"attrs":751,"content":752},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":754,"content":755},{"textAlign":49},[756,758,759],{"text":757,"type":579},"It has continued its stellar rise and is up 31% year-on-year in January 2018 according to ",{"text":687,"type":579},{"text":760,"type":579},"’s Lithium Price Index that weights both carbonate and hydroxide trades. Over the last two years, both lithium grades central to lithium ion batteries have more than tripled in price as the market continues to be dominated by battery demand – now accounting for over 50% of the market.",{"type":574,"attrs":762,"content":763},{"textAlign":49},[764],{"text":765,"type":579},"Lithium’s initial price spike was driven by lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode demand, the latter from electric bus (e-bus) production in China. This was exacerbated by slow building out of new lithium supply from the major producers.",{"type":574,"attrs":767,"content":768},{"textAlign":49},[769],{"text":770,"type":579},"Cobalt has had similar fortunes.",{"type":574,"attrs":772,"content":773},{"textAlign":49},[774],{"text":775,"type":579},"A price surge has returned to cobalt in 2017 with London Metal Exchange (LME) metal prices up 143% since Q1 2017 to a new high of $80,250 in on 5 February 2018. The last time cobalt experienced significant episodes of price volatility was in 2007.",{"type":574,"attrs":777,"content":778},{"textAlign":49},[779],{"text":780,"type":579},"Meanwhile, nickel – the largest component into a lithium ion battery cathode – has finally gained profile due to its rising price trend and growing awareness of its importance in cells.",{"type":574,"attrs":782,"content":783},{"textAlign":49},[784],{"text":785,"type":579},"It has taken nickel some-time to gain profile as the industry waited for a Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese (NCM) cathode evolution from a 1:1:1 chemistry to higher nickel chemistries of 5:2:3 (5 parts nickel), and ultimately a holy grail for nickel demand of 6:2:2 and 8:1:1.",{"type":574,"attrs":787,"content":788},{"textAlign":49},[789],{"text":790,"type":579},"While the latter chemistries are yet to hit the mainstream battery market, the path is set and nickel’s importance in batteries is only now becoming widely understood.",{"type":574,"attrs":792,"content":793},{"textAlign":49},[794],{"text":795,"type":579},"This rising profile has been helped by a major announcement from BHP Billiton to build the world’s largest nickel sulphate plan in Australia and pivot from a struggling nickel metal miner to a battery grade chemical producer.",{"type":574,"attrs":797,"content":798},{"textAlign":49},[799],{"text":800,"type":579},"It is also key to note that the lithium ion battery megafactory build out continues.",{"type":574,"attrs":802,"content":803},{"textAlign":49},[804,806,808],{"text":805,"type":579},"Today, the ",{"text":807,"type":579},"Benchmark Mineral Intelligence ",{"text":809,"type":579},"megafactory tracker includes 25 battery cell plants that are either in production and due to expand capacity or new operations due to be in production by 2023.",{"type":574,"attrs":811,"content":812},{"textAlign":49},[813],{"text":814,"type":579},"The combined planned capacity of these plants is 338GWh. To put that into perspective total lithium ion cell demand in 2017 is estimated at 110GWh.",{"type":574,"attrs":816,"content":817},{"textAlign":49},[818],{"text":819,"type":579},"In the past 3 years China has been leading the way in investment for these megafactories, but more recently the rest of the world – most notably Europe – has woken up to the energy storage revolution and the need for regionally produced cells.",{"type":574,"attrs":821,"content":822},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":824,"content":825},{"textAlign":49},[826],{"text":827,"type":579},"China is still by far the dominant force in the industry with 49% of planned capacity totalling 148 GWh, the most recently added Chinese megafactory to the tracker was number 24, Great Power’s planned 10GWh plant in Guangzhou.",{"type":574,"attrs":829,"content":830},{"textAlign":49},[831],{"text":832,"type":579},"Following China is the EU, totalling 23% of planned capacity or 78.5GWh. Prior to 2017, the EU was falling far behind the rest of the world, with just one plant planned by LG Chem in Poland with 5GWh capacity.",{"type":574,"attrs":834,"content":835},{"textAlign":49},[836],{"text":837,"type":579},"The acceleration of activity in the European market was driven by two facilities – TerraE’s 34GWh facility in Germany and Northvolt’s 32GWh offering in Sweden. Europe is also the home for megafactory number 25, SK Innovations plant in Hungary with a capacity of 7.5 GWh.",{"type":574,"attrs":839,"content":840},{"textAlign":49},[841],{"text":842,"type":579},"Whilst the US is third on the list, with 53GWh and 15% of capacity it is worth noting that Tesla has further expansions planned for the Gigafactory beyond 2021 and have stated publicly that they expect to be able to achieve 150GWh out of the plant, no small feat as they get to grips with the scaling of Model 3 production.",{"type":734,"attrs":844,"content":845},{"level":736,"textAlign":49},[846],{"text":847,"type":579},"Pivot of the commodity giants ",{"type":574,"attrs":849,"content":850},{"textAlign":49},[851,853,858,860,862],{"text":852,"type":579},"The ",{"text":854,"type":579,"marks":855},"battery pivot of the commodity giants ",[856],{"type":857},"italic",{"text":859,"type":579},"is a term that we have used at ",{"text":861,"type":579},"Benchmark ",{"text":863,"type":579},"to describe the changing thought process of the big commodity houses.",{"type":574,"attrs":865,"content":866},{"textAlign":49},[867],{"text":868,"type":579},"In 2017, the industry saw commodity majors such as BHP Billiton, Glencore and Rio Tinto either be heavily linked with battery raw material acquisitions or ramping up interest to developing their own sources.",{"type":574,"attrs":870,"content":871},{"textAlign":49},[872],{"text":873,"type":579},"Such was the surge in demand and interest in EVs, the world’s biggest miners and traders were forced to take the basket of EV specialities seriously.",{"type":574,"attrs":875,"content":876},{"textAlign":49},[877],{"text":878,"type":579},"Glencore, for example, used EVs as the primary focus of its marketing efforts to promote its nickel and cobalt businesses.",{"type":574,"attrs":880,"content":881},{"textAlign":49},[882],{"text":883,"type":579},"“We are well-positioned to capitalise on the EV Initiative’s target of 30m EVs by 2030, underpinning our position as one of the leading producers of copper, nickel and cobalt”, Glencore stated on Twitter in January 2018.",{"type":574,"attrs":885,"content":886},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":888,"content":889},{"textAlign":49},[890],{"text":891,"type":579},"Yet, with nearly all mining stocks up and strong market prices across the board for commodities, it has led the industry and investors to question ask: is it really about battery demand or are we the start of another commodity super cycle?",{"type":574,"attrs":893,"content":894},{"textAlign":49},[895,897,899],{"text":896,"type":579},"“In the world market, we have yet to see physical fundamentals develop that are support of these rapid price rises for most commodities with only some exceptions,” explained commodity expert and managing director of FerroMetrics, Phil Price to ",{"text":898,"type":579},"Benchmark",{"text":689,"type":579},{"type":574,"attrs":901,"content":902},{"textAlign":49},[903],{"text":904,"type":579},"“Steel scrap supply, for example, remains extremely tight.”",{"type":574,"attrs":906,"content":907},{"textAlign":49},[908],{"text":909,"type":579},"“But on the whole, we remain unconvinced the recent rally markets the beginning of a wider and more sustained rally for commodity prices and view short term speculative buying with scepticism,” he added.",{"type":574,"attrs":911,"content":912},{"textAlign":49},[913],{"text":914,"type":579},"Despite fears in the commodity space, niche appears a strong place to be positioned for both industry and investors that are in it for the long term.",{"type":574,"attrs":916,"content":917},{"textAlign":49},[918],{"text":919,"type":579},"In December 2017, the US introduced a new strategy to reduce its reliance of critical minerals on foreign sources, especially for those used for emerging industries such as EVs and materials key to defence technologies.",{"type":574,"attrs":921,"content":922},{"textAlign":49},[923],{"text":924,"type":579},"“The United States must not remain reliant on foreign competitors like Russia and China for the critical minerals needed to keep our economy strong and our country safe,” President Trump said.",{"type":574,"attrs":926,"content":927},{"textAlign":49},[928],{"text":929,"type":579},"The initiative is being driven by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke who stated that the US was “vulnerable as a country” to being cut off from critical mineral supplies and the rhetoric has echoes of the rare earths crisis of 2009.",{"type":574,"attrs":931,"content":932},{"textAlign":49},[933],{"text":934,"type":579},"It is an issue that is constantly discussed in Washington DC but rarely acted upon.",{"type":574,"attrs":936,"content":937},{"textAlign":49},[938],{"text":939,"type":579},"Yet with the emergence of energy storage as a major theme in the US capital, there is increasing hope that this time could be different.",{"type":574,"attrs":941,"content":942},{"textAlign":49},[943,945,946],{"text":944,"type":579},"It was a central point of discussion in October 2017 when ",{"text":861,"type":579},{"text":947,"type":579},"testified to the US Senate on the subject. While the focus of that hearing was about creating flexible grid power to aid countries such as Puerto Rico that had just been destroyed by a hurricane, the argument was the same: the need for secure, and scalable supply chains to grow key industries for the 21st Century.",{"type":574,"attrs":949,"content":950},{"textAlign":49},[951],{"text":952,"type":579},"“It is time for the U.S. to take a leading position,” Zinke said.",{"type":574,"attrs":954,"content":955},{"textAlign":49},[956],{"text":957,"type":579},"“And it’s not that we don’t have the minerals in the U.S. It’s likely we do.”",{"type":734,"attrs":959,"content":960},{"level":736,"textAlign":49},[961],{"text":962,"type":579},"The vanadium proxy ",{"type":574,"attrs":964,"content":965},{"textAlign":49},[966],{"text":967,"type":579},"Vanadium is another speciality mineral that has seen a surge in fortunes over the last 18 months which has led to the question of whether this can be a new proxy for grid-level energy storage demand.",{"type":574,"attrs":969,"content":970},{"textAlign":49},[971],{"text":972,"type":579},"The less-well-known cousin to lithium, vanadium chemical derivatives are critical components to vanadium flow battery technologies, widely tipped to be the biggest competitor to lithium ion in the utility storage market.",{"type":574,"attrs":974,"content":975},{"textAlign":49},[976],{"text":977,"type":579},"The price of vanadium pentoxide, the key cathode chemical used in batteries, has increased over 130% in the last 12 months and it reached an 8-year high in mid-January 2018 at just under $13/lb for 98% material traded in China.",{"type":574,"attrs":979,"content":980},{"textAlign":49},[981],{"text":982,"type":579},"The price surge has been driven by China’s ban on vanadium based raw materials into the country significant reducing the supply of the material into the steel industry which accounts for 95% of all demand.",{"type":574,"attrs":984,"content":985},{"textAlign":49},[986],{"text":987,"type":579},"This is a supply-side disruptive event that is different to lithium, cobalt, and rare earths discussed earlier.",{"type":574,"attrs":989,"content":990},{"textAlign":49},[991],{"text":992,"type":579},"However, it is the emerging battery industry that has also been impacted by these price rises and this has caused concern to those developing vanadium flow technology.",{"type":574,"attrs":994,"content":995},{"textAlign":49},[996],{"text":997,"type":579},"Vanadium accounts for up to 35% of the final installed cost of a vanadium flow battery. This is a significant exposure to one raw material compared to the four-critical lithium ion raw materials of lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite.",{"type":574,"attrs":999,"content":1000},{"textAlign":49},[1001],{"text":1002,"type":579},"As a result, vanadium battery producers are seeking to become vertically integrated by owning the vanadium source and producing the battery, one near certain way of lessening the impact of price volatility.",{"type":574,"attrs":1004,"content":1005},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":1007,"content":1008},{"textAlign":49},[1009],{"text":1010,"type":579},"There was even a suggestion by some vanadium battery producers of leasing the vanadium in battery to help reduce the sunken investment costs in the system. This is especially interesting when considering that nearly all vanadium can be recycled from the battery.",{"type":574,"attrs":1012,"content":1013},{"textAlign":49},[1014],{"text":1015,"type":579},"Vanadium is yet to have its lithium ion moment with the utility industry traditionally slower to make decisions and do so based on a 20 or 30-year time horizons.",{"type":574,"attrs":1017,"content":1018},{"textAlign":49},[1019],{"text":1020,"type":579},"Yet its future is bright.",{"type":574,"attrs":1022,"content":1023},{"textAlign":49},[1024],{"text":1025,"type":579},"The energy storage industry was truly born in 2017 through the advent of two major projects: Aliso Canyon in California and Hornsdale in South Australia.",{"type":574,"attrs":1027,"content":1028},{"textAlign":49},[1029],{"text":1030,"type":579},"Aliso Canyon has been described as a movie-quality crisis that resulted in a tender for 343MWh worth of energy storage to address a power shortage following a major gas leak. The response was rapid and significant in scale.",{"type":574,"attrs":1032,"content":1033},{"textAlign":49},[1034],{"text":1035,"type":579},"326MWh worth of lithium ion batteries were installed and operating in 8 months. Most telling was the size of some of the batteries: AltaGas-Greensmith Pomona and Tesla each installed 80MWh systems while AES Escondido built a 120MWh facility using Samsung SDI cells.",{"type":574,"attrs":1037,"content":1038},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":1040,"content":1041},{"textAlign":49},[1042],{"text":1043,"type":579},"The second major project was Tesla’s 129MWh Hornsdale lithium ion installation in South Australia which was installed in well under the 100 days promised by Elon Musk.",{"type":574,"attrs":1045,"content":1046},{"textAlign":49},[1047],{"text":1048,"type":579},"Within two weeks of coming online, the system was put to the test when the Loy Yang coal power plant dropped output. The Tesla system kicked in 0.14 seconds later.",{"type":574,"attrs":1050,"content":1051},{"textAlign":49},[1052],{"text":1053,"type":579},"The most important takeaways from these two projects are that utility storage batteries are getting bigger and being installed quicker.",{"type":574,"attrs":1055,"content":1056},{"textAlign":49},[1057],{"text":1058,"type":579},"The growth of this market, which in 2017 was little over 1GWh globally but is heading to at least 50GWh by 2025, will create huge opportunities for all battery technologies of which vanadium flow leads the pack in terms of theoretical performance. Commercially, however, there is still some work to do.",{"type":574,"attrs":1060,"content":1061},{"textAlign":49},[1062,1064,1065],{"text":1063,"type":579},"Vanadium-based battery producers still need to convince the market on the upfront costs and long-term merits of the technology. ",{"text":861,"type":579},{"text":1066,"type":579},"believes this is more to do with convincing customers on utility scale energy storage rather than the vanadium technology alone. And this market is naturally evolving.",{"type":574,"attrs":1068,"content":1069},{"textAlign":49},[1070],{"text":1071,"type":579},"Vanadium flow is ideally suited to commercial scale storage.",{"type":574,"attrs":1073,"content":1074},{"textAlign":49},[1075],{"text":1076,"type":579},"While it is heavy, it is an excellent store of energy and very resilient with the cathode outlasting many other parts of the battery.",{"type":574,"attrs":1078,"content":1079},{"textAlign":49},[1080],{"text":1081,"type":579},"Yet, the industry needs its lithium ion moment.",{"type":574,"attrs":1083,"content":1084},{"textAlign":49},[1085],{"text":1086,"type":579},"It appears that unlike in lithium ion’s situation which was sparked by a Tesla’s Gigafactory project that created prospect of demand before the market was there, vanadium will already have a ready-made utility storage market to sell into.",{"type":574,"attrs":1088,"content":1089},{"textAlign":49},[1090,1092,1096],{"text":1091,"type":579},"It is these fundamental demand drivers that are the ones to watch and why the ",{"text":1093,"type":579,"marks":1094},"seven year niche ",[1095],{"type":857},{"text":1097,"type":579},"and the return of niche minerals could be here for longer than many expect.","Until 2010, minerals such rare earths, lithium, cobalt and graphite were flying well below the radar of the mainstream mining industry. These speciality products, tailored for each customer, were being locked into long term supply contracts between buyer and seller and prices were stable. The evolution of China and emergence of new technologies saw an […]",[1100],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":1101},{"job_title":565,"image":1102,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"53718a1f-1924-4d46-9fe4-ad9c8c33bbe1\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[1106,1109],{"slug":1107,"name":1108},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":1110,"name":1111},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":1114,"name":1114,"focus":1114,"title":1114,"source":1114,"filename":1115,"copyright":1114,"fieldtype":1116,"meta_data":1117,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/f81f5f9747/bm-screen-shot-2018-02-25-at-112125.png","asset",{"alt":1114,"title":1114,"source":1114,"copyright":1114},"Feb 25, 2018","25th February 2018",[],[],1792773944966]