• OPERATIONS
the global economic slowdown that persists . It was noted that worldwide smartphone shipments declined by 9.7 % year-on-year in the third quarter of 2022 , to 301 million units . In contrast to EVs , the demand for electronics is projected to recover and increase during the course of the year .
There is also a likely pivoting preference towards reduced cobalt or cobalt-free battery chemistries , which will drive cobalt prices downward in the future . Producers are increasingly producing lithium-iron-phosphate ( LFP ) batteries , which are cobalt-free , safer and less expensive . There is also a push to develop lithium sulphur cathodes , which will further decrease reliance on the Chinese market for supply .
A major driver has been concerns around ethical sourcing of cobalt in the DRC . The new hub for cobalt production is Indonesia , indicated to increase their global contribution from 5 % to 20 % by 2030 .
Lithium has however not escaped the downturn either . Prices of lithium carbonate , the benchmark product , halved between November 2022 and March 2023 . Chinese automaker , Nio , indicated that it foresees lithium prices will quite likely drop to around CNY200 000 or lower in Q4 .
Lithium supply is suggested to be heading for a major increase this year as a wave of expansions and new projects go operational . However , it remains to be seen if these projects will produce as expected in the light of spodumene prices slumping too .
Alternative battery minerals Active development of battery packs that would use lithium-ion and sodium-ion cells , to supply the EV market , is happening . Sodium is more abundant and offers potential safety benefits over lithium , it however does not have the same energy density , which at the moment means it will not be able to drive as far as a Li-ion battery pack installed EV .
The other metal that comes with an expensive price tag is the REE permanent magnet used in EVs . China is also the dominant REE producer and in 2020 shocked the market by reducing the volumes of REE being produced and exported . This led the market to seek alternatives to REE and reducing reliance on commodities that can be most susceptible to excessive price variations . China accounts for around two-thirds of REE mining and 85 % of refining of the ore into permanent magnets for the market . There are concerns around environmental and health risks involving this kind of metal .
Development of alternatives to permanent REE magnets have focused on the production of ferrite magnets , made of iron and mixed with barium and strontium , which both are more widely available globally and cheaper to produce . The downside is that the use of these magnets will come with a weight or efficiency penalty .
Interest has also been in the development of use iron nitride-based technology . •
The new hub for cobalt production is Indonesia , indicated to increase their global contribution from 5 % to 20 % by 2030 .
Sodium-ion batteries can leverage the same manufacturing processes as the lithium-ion industry . This means a notably shorter R & D phase and using off-the-shelf equipment to manufacture . The use of similar materials and components , from electrolytes and separators to aluminum current collectors , suggests it could also benefit from the existing economies of scale .
At the moment , Na-ion batteries are more expensive than Li-ion batteries , due to low volumes and underdeveloped supply chains . The main challenge that would need to be addressed is the lower energy density . This means any vehicle using an Na-ion battery would need heavier batteries for the same amount of kilowatt-hour capacity . Na-ion batteries at the moment have 25 % lower capacity compared to current LFP battery packs . The steep decrease in lithium prices may also impact on the cost benefits of the Na-ion battery packs .
The upside , however , is the potential for material savings and energy-density improvements halving costs in future . The major advantages to sodium-ion include a more geographically diverse distribution of raw materials . It is also non-flammable and performs well at low temperatures in contrast to Li-ion batteries .
A prototype has been developed by HiNa Battery Technologies and installed in the JAC Sehol E10X electric car , which has only sodiumion cells . These cells use sodium-iron-manganese-copper cathodes and have an energy density of 140 watt-hours per kilogram .
24 • African Mining • July 2023 www . africanmining . co . za