Posted by AGORACOM
at 3:36 PM on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
SPONSOR: Lomiko Metals is focused on the exploration and development of minerals for the new green economy such as lithium and graphite. Lomiko owns 80% of the high-grade La Loutre graphite Property, Lac Des Iles Graphite Property and the 100% owned Quatre Milles Graphite Property. Lomiko is uniquely poised to supply the growing EV battery market. Click Here For More Information
Tesla shares dropped by over 13% yesterday, amid continuing concerns
about the coronavirus outbreak and a steep drop in oil prices.
Musk’s announcement comes at a time when several large automakers are making moves into the electric vehicle sector.
Tesla has
produced 1 million electric vehicles, according to the firm’s CEO Elon
Musk, who congratulated the “Tesla team†on the milestone via a tweet.
News of the landmark figure came after Tesla shares dropped by over 13% yesterday,
amid continuing concerns about the coronavirus outbreak and a steep
drop in oil prices. The Nasdaq Composite index, on which Tesla is
listed, fell 7.3 percent on the day. In extended hours trading Tuesday,
Tesla shares were over 10% higher
Currently, Tesla offers four models of electric vehicle: the Model 3
and Model S, which are sedans, and the Model Y and Model X, which are
types of SUV. Deliveries of the Model Y are due to start by the end of
this quarter.
Musk’s announcement comes at a time when several large automakers are making moves into the electric vehicle sector.
Towards the end of last year, the German company announced that 500,000 of its electrified cars had been sold.
At the time, CEO Oliver Zipse said that the business “was stepping up
the pace significantly†and aiming to have one million electric vehicles
on the road “within two years.â€
China’s electric car market is the biggest on the planet: a little
over one million electric cars were sold there in 2018, according to the
IEA, with Europe and the U.S. following behind.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 3:02 PM on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
Sponsor: Loncor, a Canadian gold explorer controlling over 2,400,000 high grade ounces outside of a Barrick JV. The Ngayu JV property is 200km southwest of the Kibali gold mine, operated by Barrick, which produced 800,000 ounces of gold in 2018. Barrick manages and funds exploration at the Ngayu project until the completion of a pre-feasibility study on any gold discovery meeting their Tier One investment criteria. Newmont $NGT$NEM owns 7.8%, Resolute $RSG owns 27% Click Here for More Info
Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable speaks to Bob Moriarty of
321gold about his thoughts on the current financial markets and
investment opportunity
Excerpt:
Maurice Jackson:……Staying in the Southern Hemisphere, let’s visit the Congo, where you just introduced Loncor Resources (TSX:LN). Sir, who is Loncor Resources, and what is the opportunity they present to the market?
Bob Moriarty: Here’s what’s absolutely amazing, I’m
glad you brought that up. Loncor Resources approached me, I had never
even heard a whisper of the name, I had no clue as to who they were. I
went looking into it, they have an incredibly massive land position, in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC.
Barrick Gold has several gold mines there, in the Greenstone Belt,
and across the border in Tanzania. Barrick Gold has some of their other
really giant mines. Loncor has, in their wholly owned properties,
resources of about 2.4 million ounces. They’ve got joint venture with
Barrack, on a big piece of their property, like 3000 square kilometers,
which is a really big project. Barrick is funding it to feasibility,
they’re paying everything. Barrick runs the project, and Barrick spends
the money. There are no particular limits on what Barrick can spend,
they can spend anything they want to. They’ve got a drill program that’s
literally starting right now.
If you look at any stock, you want to figure out what the basement
is, what is the lowest price the stock can go to? If you ignored the JV
with Barrick, which would be a foolish thing to do, but if you ignored
it, you’re buying ounces of gold, in the ground, for $19 an ounce, U.S.
So, I don’t think there’s any downside to it. Approximately 70% of
shares are in the top three or four shareholders. I think Loncor
Resources is a great stock, because if you like gold, and I think after
all of the things that I’ve said over the last 15 years, anybody who
doesn’t like gold right now is economically illiterate.
Maurice Jackson: You know, you said that lightly, $19 an ounce.
Bob Moriarty: Yeah, yeah. How can you go wrong? At the stage they’re operating, they should be getting $50 or $60 bucks an ounce.
Now, one of the things that we haven’t gotten into, and we need to
get into is, one, the T-bond, and, two, what I see happening to gold and
gold shares. The T-bond Daily Sentiment Index (DSI), on Friday, hit 98.
That is the highest rating I’ve seen, on the Daily Sentiment Indicator
for any commodity, ever. Therefore, the T-bond’s going to crash, it’s
probably going to take gold with it. Gold had a DSI of 96 a couple of
weeks ago.
Everybody hates it. They act like, “Oh my God, you say that gold’s
going down. My God, I hate you!” The corrections are perfectly normal,
and we’re going to have a correction in gold, and we’re going to have a
correction in palladium, and we’re going to have a correction in
rhodium. We’re going to go into the biggest financial crash in world
history, and most asset classes are going to get sold off. That’s not a
bad thing, that creates opportunity, but you’ve got to be flexible, and
hopefully liquid.
Now, I am not saying, “Go out and sell everything you’ve got.” Every
time I say we’re going to have a correction, “Oh my God, you told me to
sell everything.” Well, that’s not what I said, not at all. I said we’re
going to have a correction. At the end of the correction, gold and
silver and platinum are going to be a lot more valuable. We’re going to
do exactly what we did in 2008. A lot of stocks were down 70% or 80%.
Most of the big ones, the ones that I like, Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Irving Resources, Barksdale Capital, these stocks are down 30 or 40% since the first of the year, when I said, “Beware of the stock market.”
I’m not saying something’s going to change on Monday with gold shares, gold shares have been going down for two months.
Maurice Jackson: You referenced Jake Bernstein’s work on the Daily Sentiment Index. What are the parameters that you referenced regarding buy and sell indicators?
Bob Moriarty: The DSI measures sentiment. Most
investor look at fundamentals, technicals, worry about the interest
rates, worry about the Fed. That’s all bull. People buy stocks because
of emotions, and they sell stocks because of emotions. If you can
measure those emotions accurately, you’d make a lot of money.
When 98 out of 100 people say something is going to go up, and it
doesn’t make any difference what it is, or what the fundamentals are, or
what the Fed does, or what the economy does, or what interest rates do,
when 98 out of 100 people say something is going to go up, the next
move is down. That is the highest number I’ve ever seen. Anything above
90 says the top is near, and anything below 10 says the bottom is near.
98 is such an extreme measure, that I’m perfectly comfortable saying
that, you and I are talking on Saturday, and on Monday, T-bonds are
going to go down.
Maurice Jackson: Mark the words, there. Which metals have your attention, and why?
Bob Moriarty: Silver and platinum, strange enough, you sent me some information (click here).
There was a fire, an explosion at a platinum processing place in South
Africa, and the real story is the price of platinum is so far below the
cost of production, they’ve got to shut production.
Nobody wants to admit this, everybody’s got their own pet theory, but
the fact is supply and demand does work. You cannot have the price of
any commodity below the cost of production for very long, or things are
going to happen. People are going to shut down production whether it’s
wheat, whether it’s gold, or anything else. The silver gold ratio got
above 100 to 1, that’s the highest it’s ever been. I think it got up to
102, intraday, a week ago. Silver was very cheap, relative to gold, but
that doesn’t mean silver couldn’t correct. I own a lot of silver, and I
own a lot of platinum, and a little bit of gold.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 2:09 PM on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
Sponsor: Affinity Metals Corp. (TSX-V: AFF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company building a strong portfolio of mineral projects in North America. The Corporation’s flagship property is the drill ready Regal Property near Revelstoke, BC where Affinity Metals making preparations for a spring drill program to test two large Z-TEM anomalies at its Regal Property. Click Here for More Info
Gold is testing its previous 2020 highs, but silver plunged anyway, which created a very special situation. Namely, the gold to silver ratio just jumped to the 100 level.
This may not seem like a big deal, because ultimately people buy
metals, not their ratio, but it actually is a huge deal. This ratio is
observed by investors and traders alike, as it tends to peak at the
market extremes. Moving to the 100 level might indicate that we are at a
price extreme. But what kind of extreme would that be if silver is
declining while gold moved up?
Let’s take a closer look at the gold to silver ratio chart for details.
In early July 2019, the gold to silver ratio topped after
breaking above the previous highs and now it’s after the verification of
this breakout. Despite the sharp pullback, the ratio moved back below
the 2008 high only very briefly. It stabilized above the 2008 high
shortly thereafter and now it’s moving up once again.
It previously moved up relatively slowly, but it jumped to new highs last week and today.
Anything after a breakout is vulnerable to a quick correction to
the previously broken levels. On the other hand, anything after a
breakout that was already confirmed, is ready to move higher and the
risk of another corrective decline is much lower.
The most important thing about the gold and silver ratio chart to
keep in mind is that it’s after a breakout above the 2008 high and this
breakout was already verified. This means that the ratio is likely to
rally further. It’s not likely to decline based on being “high†relative
to its historical average. That’s not how breakouts work.
The breakout above the previous highs was verified by a pullback
to them and now the ratio moved even higher, just as we’ve been
expecting it to.
The true, long-term resistance in the gold to silver ratio is at
about 100 level. This level was not yet reached, which means that as
long as the trend remains intact (and it does remain intact), the 100
level will continue to be the likely target.
We’ve been writing the above for weeks (hence we formatted it with
italics), despite numerous calls for a lower gold to silver ratio from
many of our colleagues. And our target of 100 was just hit today. It was
only hit on an intraday basis, not in terms of the daily closing
prices, but it’s still notable.
We had been expecting the gold to silver ratio to hit this extreme
close or at the very bottom and the end of the medium-term decline in
the precious metals sector – similarly to what happened in 2008.
Obviously, that’s not what happened.
Instead, the ratio moved to 100 in the situation where gold rallied,
likely based on its safe-haven status, and silver plunged based on its
industrial uses.
Despite numerous similarities to 2008, the ratio didn’t rally as much
as it did back then. If the decline in the PMs is just starting – and
that does appear to be the case – then the very strong long-term
resistance of 100 might not be able to trigger a rebound.
It might also be the case that for some time gold declines faster
than silver, which would make the ratio move back down from the 100
level. The 100 level could then be re-tested at the final bottom.
Or… which seems more realistic, silver and mining stocks could slide
to the level that we originally expected them to while gold ultimately
bottoms higher than at $890. Perhaps even higher than $1,000. With gold
at $1,100 or so, and silver at about $9, the gold to silver ratio would
be a bit over 120.
If the rally in the gold to silver ratio is similar to the one that
we saw in 2008, the 118 level or so could really be in the cards. This
means that the combination of the above-mentioned price levels would not
be out of the question.
At this time, it’s too early to say what combination of price levels
will be seen at the final bottom, but we can say that the way gold
reacted recently and how it relates to everything else in the world,
makes gold likely to decline in the following months. Silver is
likely to fall as well and its unlikely that a local top in the gold to
silver ratio will prevent further declines.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 1:44 PM on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
SPONSOR: ZEN Graphene Solutions: An emerging advanced materials and graphene development company with a focus on new solutions using pure graphene and other two-dimensional materials. Our competitive advantage relies on the unique qualities of our multi-decade supply of precursor materials in the Albany Graphite Deposit. Independent labs in Japan, UK, Israel, USA and Canada confirm this. Click here for more information
A research team at Delft University of Technology has developed a mathematical model that can be used to guide the large-scale production of graphene.
“Our model is the first to give a detailed view of what happens at the micro and nanoscale when graphene is produced from plain graphite using energetic fluid mixing,†says Dr. Lorenzo Botto, researcher at the department of Process & Energy at TU Delft. “The model will help the design of large-scale production processes, paving the way for graphene to be incorporated in commercial applications from energy storage devices to biomedicineâ€.
One of the most promising techniques to produce graphene from
graphite is liquid-phase exfoliation. In this technique, graphite is
sheared in a liquid environment until layers of graphene detach from the
bulk material. The liquid causes the graphene layers to detach gently,
which is important to obtain high-quality graphene.
The process has already been successful in the production of graphene
on laboratory scale, and, on a trial-and-error basis, on larger scales.
It has the potential to be used on industrial scales, to produce tons
of material. However, in order to increase the scale of graphene
production, we need to know the process parameters that make the
exfoliation work efficiently without damaging the graphene sheets.
A research team at TU Delft led by Dr. Lorenzo Botto has developed a
mathematical model to determine those parameters. This model can be
embedded in large-scale industrial process optimisation software or used
by practitioners to choose processing parameters.
“The exfoliation process is difficult to model,†explains Botto. “The
adhesion between graphene layers is not easy to quantify and the fluid
dynamical forces exerted by the liquid on the graphite depend
sensitively on surface properties and geometry.†Team members Catherine
Kamal and Simon Gravelle developed and tested the model against
molecular dynamics simulations, and proved that that the model can be
very accurate. Key to the success of the model is the inclusion of
hydronamic slip of the liquid pushing against the graphite surface, and
of the fluid forces on the graphene edges
Botto: “The model forms the basis for better control of the
technique at any scale. We hope it will pave the way to the large-scale
production of graphene for all kinds of useful applications.â€â€
Posted in All Recent Posts, Zen Graphene Solutions | Comments Off on TU Delft Team Develops Model to Guide Large-Scale Production of Graphene SPONSOR – ZEN Graphene Solutions $ZEN.ca $LLG.ca $FMS.ca $NGC.ca $CVE.ca $DNI.ca
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:11 AM on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
Announced the launch of its NORTHBUD branded products into select retailers in Nevada, USA.Â
The products are manufactured through NORTHBUD’s ownership and operating agreement with Nevada Botanical Sciences, Inc., who is licensed for cultivation, manufacturing and distribution
NORTHBUD products will be available in both dried flower and pre-roll formats under the NORTHBUD White, Black and Platinum brands.
TORONTO, March 11, 2020 – North Bud Farms Inc. (CSE: NBUD) (OTCQB: NOBDF) (“NORTHBUD” or the “Company“) is pleased to announce the launch of its NORTHBUD branded products into select retailers in Nevada, USA. The products are manufactured through NORTHBUD’s ownership and operating agreement with Nevada Botanical Sciences, Inc. (“NBSâ€), who is licensed for cultivation, manufacturing and distribution.
NORTHBUD Nevada Launch Strategy Update Prior
to its asset purchase transaction with NORTHBUD, previously announced
on November 19, 2019, NBS had been exclusively servicing white label
customers. Over the past 3.5 months, NBS and NORTHBUD have transitioned
the Nevada operations to focus on NORTHBUD branded flower products,
culminating with the recent launch of NORTHBUD Black 9 Lbs Hammer
(Jinxproof phenotype) in 1 gram, 3.5 gram and 7 gram formats to select
retailers in Reno, Nevada.
Over the coming weeks, the Company intends to expand distribution to
multiple retailers in Northern Nevada and Las Vegas. NORTHBUD products
will be available in both dried flower and pre-roll formats under the
NORTHBUD White, Black and Platinum brands.
With over 45 million visitors a year from all over the world, Nevada
is a key market for building an internationally recognized brand, and
the Company believes that it is the ideal market for the launch of its
NORTHBUD products. The Nevada market is considered one of the largest
and most profitable in North America with recreational sales of USD$580
million in the first full year of legalization (2017 Nevada Dept. of
Taxation).
“The NORTHBUD and Bonfire Brands USA team are extremely proud to have
launched our own branded products, making the state of Nevada our
strategic entry point into the U.S. legal cannabis market,†said Sean
Homuth, CEO of NORTHBUD. “We believe the NORTHBUD brand will offer a
unique variety of products curated for experienced consumers who demand
appropriately priced, high-quality cannabis flower.â€
About North Bud Farms Inc. NORTHBUD,
through its U.S. subsidiary Bonfire Brands USA, has acquired cannabis
production facilities in California and Nevada. The Salinas, California
11-acre farm is actively cultivating cannabis in its 60,000 sq. ft. of
licensed greenhouse production space, and also has active distribution
and processing licenses. The Reno, Nevada property contains a
world-class cannabis production, research and development facility with
5,000 sq. ft. of indoor cultivation, and holds medical and adult-use
licenses for cultivation, extraction and distribution. Through its
wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, GrowPros MMP Inc., the Company is
pursuing a license under The Cannabis Act, to cultivate in its
state-of-the-art purpose-built cannabis production facility located on
135 acres of agricultural land in Low, Quebec, Canada.
Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is
defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-looking statements Certain
statements and information included in this press release that, to the
extent they are not historical fact, constitute forward-looking
information or statements (collectively, “forward-looking statementsâ€)
within the meaning of applicable securities legislation.
Forward-looking statements, include but are not limited to those
identified by the expressions “anticipateâ€, “believeâ€, “planâ€,
“estimateâ€, “expectâ€, “intendâ€, “mayâ€, “should†and similar expressions
to the extent they relate to the Company or its management.
Forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, those
regarding the Company’s Nevada strategy, the success of the Company’s
licence application with Health Canada, the Company’s ability to execute
its strategic plan, conditions in the cannabis market, the Company
entering agreements in connection with the B2B supply of cannabis and
the Company’s transition into a revenue-generating operational phase of
development are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis
and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its
perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as
well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and
reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are
made, but which may prove to be incorrect.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include,
among others, the risk factors included in the Company’s final long form
prospectus dated August 21, 2018, which is available under the
Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any such
forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement
speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. New factors
emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company’s
management to predict all of such factors and to assess in advance the
impact of each such factor on the Company’s business or the extent to
which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements to reflect information, events, results,
circumstances or otherwise after the date hereof or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law including
securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell
or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities of the Company.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: North Bud Farms Inc. Edward Miller VP, IR & Communications Office: (855) 628-3420 ext. 3 [email protected]
Tags: Cannabis, CBD, CSE, Hemp, Marijuana Posted in All Recent Posts, Featured | Comments Off on North Bud Farms $NBUD.ca Launches its NORTHBUD Branded Products in Nevada, USA $CGC $ACB $APH $CRON.ca $OGI.ca
Posted by AGORACOM
at 12:08 PM on Tuesday, March 10th, 2020
SPONSOR: Mota is seeking to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand. Mota is looking to establish sales channels and a distribution network internationally through the acquisition of the Sativida and First Class CBD brands. Low cost production, coupled with international, direct to customer sales channels will provide the foundation for the success of Mota. Combined total sales of almost $29,000,000 with a EBITDA of approximately 12.5% (2019) . Click Here for More Info
Over
the next five years, the global CBD market is expected to accelerate to
$23.6bn, according to Grand View Research and Europe’s CBD market is
set to grow by 400%.
The growth of the CBD market in Europe is thanks to the growing adoption of CBD infused products in industries such as pharmaceuticals, personal care, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, along with medical applications.
CBD is seeing monumental demand in Europe. In Europe alone, the
market is on course to grow 400% over the next four years, according to
the Brightfield Group.
The legal cannabis industry continues to expand around the world with
major contribution to the market coming from continuous legislative
victories in North America and Europe. In particular, legalisation of
medical cannabis, and decriminalisation in some countries, has led to a
significant decrease in black-market activity, as people are shifting to
legally purchasing cannabis for medical as well as recreational use.
In the meantime, local governments reap the benefits through
taxation. For instance, the state of California had collected a total of
$345.2m in tax revenue from legal cannabis during the first year of
regulated sales in 2018. Revenue generated from these taxes encouraged
the local governments to fund several development programmes for
education and infrastructure.
Medical cannabis
Overall, data by Grand View Research
indicates that the medical segment held the dominant revenue share of
the cannabis market, accounting for 71.0% in 2019. Medical use of
cannabis is strictly categorised as a medicine prescribed by a physician
and the distribution of these medicines is regulated by the government.
However, by 2027, adult-use is expected to become the fastest-growing
segment with adult-use products ranging from a highly potent concentrate
to a simple food ingredient.
In recent years, CBD products have swiftly emerged and the growth of
the CBD market is largely attributed to various medical applications
that are associated with the products. For example, full-spectrum CBD
oil is considered to be a great source of Omega 3 and Omega 6; Omega 3
plays a vital role in creating hormones that regulate inflammation as
well as contractions and relaxation of arteries.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 3:47 PM on Thursday, March 5th, 2020
SPONSOR: Mota is seeking to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand. Mota is looking to establish sales channels and a distribution network internationally through the acquisition of the Sativida and First Class CBD brands. Low cost production, coupled with international, direct to customer sales channels will provide the foundation for the success of Mota. Click Here for More Info
New Frontier Data’s second consumer report in its EU CBD series
provides a comprehensive overview of the European CBD consumer
experience
New Frontier Data,
the global authority in data, analytics and business intelligence on
the cannabis industry, publishes the second volume of its EU CBD Consumer Report Series: Segmentation & Archetypes, in partnership with Deep Nature Project and Mile High Labs.
Drawing from the groundbreaking surveying of over 3,000 European CBD
consumers across 17 European nations, this study results in the most
comprehensive consumer archetype report for European CBD consumers to
date.
“Europe’s booming consumer interest in CBD and CBD-infused products
across the Food & Beverage and Health & Beauty sectors continues
to create material B2B and B2C market opportunities. Data-driven
insights of both EU and North American CBD consumerism, drawing from not
only comparative analysis but also known geo-centric market dynamics
and drivers, helps us educate and guide brands on how to address CBD
consumer priorities while managing known or expected challenges in this
new CBD space,†said New Frontier Data Founder & CEO Giadha Aguirre
de Carcer. “This report fills a major gap in business intelligence in
the CBD industry not only in Europe, but worldwide, providing new and
existing cannabis or hemp industry stakeholders with a uniquely valuable
and timely resource.â€
Key findings from the report include:
4 of the 5 consumer archetypes have purchased CBD; the Ambivalent & Experimental Consumers instead source CBD from family and friends
The largest consumer archetype, the Integrative & Consistent Consumers, are frequent users and staunch believers in CBD’s medical efficacy
26% of Europeans aged 18-34 have tried CBD, compared to 16% of the general population
73% of self-reported consumers claimed CBD has positively affected their quality of life
A third (34%) of non-consumers are somewhat or very curious about trying CBD
49% of CBD purchasers who did not themselves consume indicated buying it for a family member
Male consumers report spending more on CBD products than female
consumers, with more than a third of men (35%) reporting spending €100
or more per month
72% of consumers and 17% of non-consumers considered themselves likely to purchase CBD in the next 6 months
Consumers who use CBD primarily for medical reasons were the most
frequent CBD consumers, with nearly half (45%) consuming it at least
daily
New Frontier Data is an independent, technology-driven analytics
company specializing in the global cannabis industry. It offers vetted
data, actionable business intelligence and risk management solutions for
investors, operators, researchers and policy makers. New Frontier
Data’s reports and data have been cited in over 80 countries around the
world to inform industry leaders. Founded in 2014, New Frontier Data is
headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices in Denver, CO
and London, UK.
New Frontier Data does not take a position on the merits of cannabis
legalization. Rather, its mission and mandate are to inform
cannabis-related policy and business decisions through rigorous,
issue-neutral and comprehensive analysis of the legal cannabis industry
worldwide. For more information about New Frontier Data, please visit: https://www.NewFrontierData.com.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 2:34 PM on Thursday, March 5th, 2020
SPONSOR: Lomiko Metals is focused on the exploration and development of minerals for the new green economy such as lithium and graphite. Lomiko owns 80% of the high-grade La Loutre graphite Property, Lac Des Iles Graphite Property and the 100% owned Quatre Milles Graphite Property. Lomiko is uniquely poised to supply the growing EV battery market. Click Here For More Information
The value of metals used in batteries for the nascent electric vehicle industry measured for the first time
It is worth remembering that the first all-electric vehicle to use a
lithium-ion battery – the Tesla roadster – only rolled off assembly
lines in 2008.
And the blue-sky scenarios and exuberant forecasts for electric
vehicle demand and mining only really started to make headlines three or
four years ago.
And those headlines came just at the right time for an industry at
the bottom of a brutal business cycle and in desperate need of a
feelgood news story.
Not that the feeling lasted all that long.
All of mining is mercifully free of the ravages of price stability, but even tulip bulbs took longer from boom to bust than EV metals.
But how does falling prices for lithium, cobalt, graphite and nickel
square with demand forecasts that all start in the bottom left corner
and end in the top right?
Pedal to the metal
To get a better grip on the nascent sector, MINING.COM combined two sets of data:
First, prices paid for the mined minerals at the point of entry into the global battery supply chain.
London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence,
a global battery supply chain, megafactory tracker and market
forecaster, provides MINING.COM with monthly sales-weighted price data.
Second, the sales weighted volume of the raw materials in electric and hybrid passenger car batteries sold around the world.
Toronto-based Adamas Intelligence,
which tracks demand for EV batteries by chemistry, cell supplier and
capacity in over 90 countries provides the data for the raw materials
deployed.
Benchmark has been tracking megafactory construction since Tesla
broke ground on the first of its kind in June 2014. Adamas completes the
chain, recording all that battery power hitting the road.
That makes the MINING.COM EV Metals index more than a mine to market measure. More like mine to, er, garage.
The inaugural MINING.COM EV Metals Index shows an industry in better
shape than what tanking prices and dismal headlines would suggest.
In fact, the nickel sub-index is at a record high and cobalt bulls
would be happy to know that the metal feeding the battery supply chain
had its biggest month in nine.
If you take Tesla’s stock price as a guide (and I know a bunch of
short sellers who would rather pluck their own eyes out than do that)
the essential ingredients of muskmobiles should not be languishing at multi-year lows.
Last year, Elon Musk said getting more Teslas on the road is
dependent on scaling battery production and to scale at the fastest rate
possible it may be necessary to get into mining, “at least a little bit.â€
The last auto exec to venture into mining was Henry Ford
The last auto exec to venture into mining was Henry Ford. When the
equivalent of an over the air update was a hand crank and cars could
only be had in black and not four (wow!) other colours like the Model
S.
Crucially, at the time the cost of raw materials had a much bigger
bearing on the final price of a car. In EV production the battery can be
up to 50% of the cost of production and raw materials the bulk of
that.
A seminal study on EVs by UBS showed the only commodity your average
EV (Chevy Bolt) and ICE car (VW Golf) have in equal amounts, is rubber.
(Ford, btw, also owned a rubber plantation in Brazil.)
That’s how much of a change the switch to electric vehicles represents in the auto industry’s raw material supply chain.
Rocks down to electric avenue
Yet here we are.
Newbie investors are taking a crash course in surviving a sector that can turn on a dime.
Juniors are being scared off. Bodies are piling up among developers.
Producers’ grand ambitions have been thwarted. Contracts have been
reneged on.
It’s difficult to see the disconnect on fundamentals lasting that
much longer – governments’ green demands and emissions strictures are
only intensifying and carmakers’ programs are only becoming more
lavish.
Volkswagen promises 80 all electric models across its brands by 2025. Three hundred by the end of the decade.
While miners are encountering the pitfalls of vertical integration,
the global auto industry is getting a crash course in mining lead times
A year ago already, Wolfsburg said it was allocating $48 billion for EV development.
And then you also read that Audi (a VW brand) and Mercedes Benz had
to suspend production due to a battery shortage (long before
coronavirus).
While miners are encountering the pitfalls of vertical integration,
the global auto industry is getting a crash course in mining lead times
and how tiny markets (annual global cobalt mining revenue is less than
what VW collects in a week) can impact giant industries.
In total, the world’s automakers have committed $300 billion for
making rides you have to plug into a wall, Benchmark estimates. Or to
use the car industry term, $300 billion for ushering in a new epoch of
sustainable mobility.
Neither is there a shortage of government support for the transition. Unlike AOC’s,
the EU’s $1 trillion green new deal may actually get off the starting
grid, and Beijing has ordered 25% of cars sold must be EVs within five
short years.
Lithium nirvana
MINING.COM compiled the data for lithium prices from Benchmark and lithium deployment from Adamas going back eleven years.
It just shows again that the EV raw materials industry is in its infancy.
For calendar year 2009, the electric and hybrid cars sold around the
world contained a paltry 31 tonnes of lithium in their batteries worth a
combined $182K (that’s a K not an m).
Eleven years later, the industry had grown 3,330-fold for a value of
$609m. Ok, that’s just having fun with the base effect, but measured
just over the last five years the annualized value of lithium in EVs are
up more than 1,000%.
And that’s despite a contraction in 2019. Lithium price tripled
between April 2015 and peaked three years later, only to tumble by 60%
in value since then.
Graphite was the first to peak in early 2012, but has since halved.
The value of graphite deployed in EVs is up 370% in three years. And as a
percentage of the index, graphite has in fact steadily increased its
share.
The bigger picture is one of an industry that is still expanding. And at a breakneck pace.
Cobalts from the blue
Given its tricky fundamentals, cobalt is always going to be a conundrum for investors and a headache for carmakers.
It’s the priciest component and the most volatile.
At its peak, Co made up as much as 55% of the cost of raw materials for
batteries. Despite a plummeting price and ongoing thrifting, it still
makes up a third of the input cost.
Given that almost two-thirds primary supply is from the Congo and
more than 80% of processing capacity is located in China, cobalt’s spike
to just shy of $110,000 a tonne in April 2018 was understandable.
That 15 months later it was below $26,000, less so.
At the stroke of a pen, Beijing can change market dynamics
completely. Its subsidy cuts last year crumpled a market growing at more
than 60% the year before.
In February, Tesla – which in good months sells more battery capacity than its three nearest rivals combined – surprised cobalt and nickel bulls by opting for batteries at its Shanghai plant that forego both.
At the time of writing, the impact of the four Cs –
cobalt-Congo-China-coronavirus – is far from clear. But as the graph
shows, cobalt bulls had something to celebrate in the second half of last year.
Better than the devil’s copper you know
Batteries account for only 6% of global nickel demand today, meaning
investors buying into the sulphates story also take a hit when Jakarta
convulses the nickel pig iron trade.
MINING.COM’s inaugural index shows nickel setting a new monthly record at the end of last year, despite the sharp retreat in prices since September.
The increasing use of nickel rich cathodes also means its
contribution to the value mix has almost doubled in a year to more than
18%.
As nickel-rich chemistries increasingly dominate the EV market, the
average sales weighted value of nickel on a per vehicle basis is rising
sharply – to over $100 in December from $67 a year earlier or from less
than a quarter of the cost of the cathode’s cobalt to half that.
The combined value of lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel based on sales weighted average deployed per vehicle was under $600.
When prices were peaking in early 2018 those raw materials cost more
than $1,500 per vehicle. Not the battery, just the raw materials.
In the longer run, nickel for batteries could be as big a market as
for stainless steel, which would be equivalent to gold’s use in
electronics, becoming a $100 billion industry, from an afterthought
today.
Kalahari thirst
Adamas data shows that NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) and NCA
(nickel-cobalt-aluminum) cathodes had a 94% market share in December,
based on total battery capacity deployed globally.
MINING.COM is not tracking manganese as EV dynamics have almost no bearing on its price.
High-purity manganese sulphate usually sells at a healthy premium,
but as a component of NCM batteries, no auto exec is losing sleep over
manganese costs or supply.
Likewise aluminum, despite significantly higher use in EVs.
That said, in an all-EV world battery-grade manganese demand could
make the Kalahari desert, home to the oldest population of humans on
earth and 70% of global reserves, a point of contention not unlike
cobalt and the Congo (minus the child labour and ongoing violent
conflict).
We lose money on every sale, but make it up on volume
Call them giga or mega, your average battery manufacturing plant is huge.
There are more than 100 megafactories in the pipeline around the world – 14 of them in Europe.
MINING.COM’s prediction is that 2019 wasn’t only the first annual fall in the index, but also the last
Last year battery power deployed rose 30% globally. In Europe, gigawatt hours hitting the road grew 89%.
To feed those factories to power those cars requires the extraction
of lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel to increase by magnitudes.
The MINING.COM EV Metals Index shows that the gap between future supply and future demand has become a chasm.
MINING.COM’s prediction is that 2019 wasn’t only the first annual fall in the index, but also the last.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 12:23 PM on Thursday, March 5th, 2020
SPONSOR: Labrador Gold – Two successful gold explorers lead the way in the Labrador gold rush targeting the under-explored gold potential of the province. Exploration has already outlined district scale gold on two projects, including a 40km strike length of the Florence Lake greenstone belt, one of two greenstone belts covered by the Hopedale Project. Recently acquired 14km of the potential extension of the new discovery by New Found Gold’s Queensway project to the south.Click Here for More Info
Conglomerate gold player, Novo Resources, has swapped scrip to take a piece of New Found Gold Corp, giving it exposure to the Newfoundland gold prospect
Dr. Quinton Hennigh said: “We
at Novo think the Queensway Project represents a very promising new
high-grade gold discovery. It appears the Queensway Project encompasses
an area highly prospective for high-grade, epizonal orogenic gold
mineralization
TSX-listed, Pilbara-focused gold player, Novo Resources, has acquired
15.97 per cent of New Found Gold Corp via a scrip-for-scrip deal that
gives Novo access to New Found’s stellar gold prospect on the east coast
of Canada. Novo says that the New Found tenement package is the largest
in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
A recent drill intercept at New Found’s Queensway project located
near the town of Gander in central Newfoundland returned 19m at 3 ounces
to the tonne from 98m, including 6m at a staggering 9oz/tonne gold.
Novo says the intercept has an estimated true width of around 70 per
cent of the 19m hit, making it an extraordinary hole.
According to New Found’s management, this drill hole is adjacent to
historical surface workings and only 2km from an historical gold
resource.
Novo said that Eric Sprott, a director of Novo, was sitting on 16.79%
of the issued and outstanding shares of New Found immediately prior to
the acquisition. New Found is considered a non-arm’s length party to
Novo pursuant to TSX Venture Exchange policies and the deal is subject
to the approval of the Exchange.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Novo also has the right to
appoint a director to the board of directors of New Found at any time
for a period of three years from the acquisition date provided that the
company holds no less than 10% of New Found’s issued and outstanding
shares. Novo has also agreed to certain voting restrictions for a period
of three years.
President and Chairman of Novo Resources, Dr. Quinton Hennigh said: “We
at Novo think the Queensway Project represents a very promising new
high-grade gold discovery. It appears the Queensway Project encompasses
an area highly prospective for high-grade, epizonal orogenic gold
mineralization. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to be part
of this exciting discovery and, upon completion of the Acquisition, look
forward to supporting New Found as they advance work around hole
NFGC-19-01 and the many other high-grade showings across the Queensway
Project.â€
Whilst Novo has been and remains focused on delivering its
Pilbara-based conglomerate gold project, the acquisition of an interest
in New Found is the second of its kind for Novo. The TSX-listed company
announced back in January this year that it had subscribed for shares in
ASX-listed Kalamazoo Resources in a financing arrangement that will,
upon closing, give Novo 8.17 per cent of Kalamazoo’s issued and
outstanding shares.
Novo said that Kalamazoo has a string of prospects in the
Bendigo-Castlemaine region of Victoria in Australia and its prospects
have strong similarities to the 1Moz Fosterville gold deposit being
mined underground by TSX-listed Kirkland Lake Gold at an average grade
of 31g/t gold.
Interestingly, Eric Sprott, Novo director, is also a shareholder in Kalamazoo.
With a market cap approaching the equivalent of half a billion
Australian dollars, Novo can make scrip-based acquisitions such as New
Found and Kalamazoo with ease.
The impact on its share capital is minimal but the upside is
potentially serious if either of its current or future based bets come
good – and with 19m going 3 ounces to the tonne, New Found just might
fit into that category.
