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Esports Entertainment Group $GMBL – #Esports is about to become a $1 billion industry, and Asia is at the heart of its wild growth $TECHF $ATVI $TTWO $GAME $EPY.ca $FDM.ca $TNA.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 3:16 PM on Tuesday, August 13th, 2019
SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment $GMBL Esports audience is 350M, growing to 590M, Esports wagering is projected at $23 BILLION by 2020. The company has launched VIE.gg esports betting platform and has accelerated affiliate marketing agreements with 190 Esports teams. Click here for more information
GMBL: OTCQB

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Esports is about to become a $1 billion industry, and Asia is at the heart of its wild growth

  • The electronic sports sector has grown massively in recent years and is expected to turn into a billion-dollar industry by the end of 2019.
  • CNBC’s Uptin Saiidi visited an annual gaming festival in Hong Kong where tens of thousands of excited fans eagerly watch players compete for the ultimate title.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/08/12/the-rise-of-esports-how-gaming-festivals-are-drawing-in-millions-worldwide.html

Lomiko EV Battery Material Supply Strategy Includes Spherical Graphite Production from La Loutre Suitable for Graphite Anodes $LMR.ca $CJC.ca $SRG.ca $NGC.ca $LLG.ca $GPH.ca $NOU.ca $DNI.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 11:08 AM on Tuesday, August 13th, 2019
  • Identified spherical graphite production as a key waypoint in plans to supply graphite anodes for Electric Vehicles (EVs) Li-ion battery megafactories
  • “We are at the beginning of the battery materials bull market with 91 Lithium-ion mega-factories built or to be built worldwide.

(Vancouver, British-Columbia) August 13, 2019 – Lomiko Metals Inc. (TSX-V: LMR, OTC: LMRMF, FSE: DH8C) (Lomiko or the “Company”) has identified spherical graphite production as a key waypoint in plans to supply graphite anodes for Electric Vehicles (EVs) Li-ion battery megafactories in the North American market discussed in a July 16th, 2019 release.  Testing for spherical graphite is to be included in a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) which is planned for the La Loutre graphite project located in Quebec, Canada.  The development of a strategy that identifies a way to create value-added products is necessary to establish a long-term, profitable business model prior to  extensive capital outlay is crucial to the success of the company.

A. Paul Gill, CEO states, “We are at the beginning of the battery materials bull market with 91 Lithium-ion mega-factories built or to be built worldwide.  However, potential North American Suppliers of graphite materials are facing investor skepticism because graphite materials coming from African mines such as Syrah Resources are satisfying Chinese graphite anode demand at present.  Lomiko sees an opportunity in creating a stable and integrated North American value chain for North American EV manufacturers to African graphite or Chinese anodes which are susceptible to political strife or trade wars.”

Graphite Sector Analysis

The price for 95% C (purity), 15 microns Spherical Graphite is $2,700-2,800 USD/tonne, far above the price of other forms of graphite as indicated by the Industrial Minerals.  Lomiko’s Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) will include costs and the potential market for this key product.  In order to start the PEA, Lomiko must first deliver its second resource prepared in compliance with NI 43-101 Regulations from La Loutre.

Industrial Minerals indicates China imported 21,486 tonnes of flake graphite in June 2019, 14,864 tonnes came from Mozambique, accounting for 70% of total Chinese imports.  The principal source of graphite flake in Mozambique is Syrah Resources, which primarily produces 94% C, -100 mesh material. Increased exports from Mozambique has weighed on the market since Syrah began commercial production at the start of this year. June’s import volumes into China were the highest since at least January 2017.

In the first half of this year, China imported 105,462 tonnes of flake graphite in response to the healthy development of the lithium-ion anode industry in China.

At least half of total imported flake graphite was used in the anode industry, with the refractory sector the second largest consumer, according to market sources.

The use of large flake graphite as a refractory (heat-resistant) material began before 1900 with the graphite crucible used to hold molten metal. In the mid-1980s, the carbon-magnesite brick became important, and a bit later alumina-graphite material.  Graphite blocks are also used in parts of blast furnace linings where the high thermal conductivity of the graphite is critical.

Graphite electrodes are another long-term market for natural flake graphite.  Graphite conductors which release electric energy in the form of an electric arc, are used to heat and melt the steel scraps in an electric arc furnace. They are currently the only products with high electrical conductivity and are able to maintain extremely high heat generation in this demanding environment. With the growing demand for quality steel in the aerospace, automotive and electronics industries, graphite electrodes are also becoming increasingly popular. 

For more information on Lomiko Metals, review the website at www.lomiko.com, contact A. Paul Gill at 604-729-5312 or email: [email protected].

On Behalf of the Board,

“A. Paul Gill”

Chief Executive Officer

We seek safe harbor. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

INTERVIEW: Newly Listed Spyder #Cannabis $SPDR.ca Scores 5 US Retail Locations, With Possibility To Expand To 39, With US Outlet Partner $ACB $APH $CRON.ca $HEXO.ca $OGI.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:45 AM on Tuesday, August 13th, 2019

Spyder Cannabis (SPDR:TSXV) went public just a couple of months ago and hit the ground running with 5 operating Canadian retail locations – and a 6th one on the way via an 8,000 sq ft super store in Alberta.  
Most companies would be ecstatic to have this number of locations – but Spyder just announced a major move into the United States, with a 5 location deal for boutique stores up and down the US Eastern seaboard.  The news gets better.  If all goes well with these 5 locations, the US outlet partner has a total of 39 locations across 20 states for Spyder to grow into to.

Spyder Cannabis may have just gone public but they are making big moves into the highly coveted retail space for marijuana, CBD and Hemp products, including carrying their own brands within their stores.

Grab your favourite cold summer beverage and watch this interview with CEO, Dan Pelchovitz.

Labrador Gold $LAB.ca – #Gold Responds to the Trade and Currency War $RIO.ca $WHM.ca $SIC.ca $NXS.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:59 AM on Tuesday, August 13th, 2019

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 over a 40km strike length of the Florence Lake greenstone belt, one of two greenstone belts covered by the Hopedale Project. Click Here for More Info

  • At all-time highs in six of the world’s top currencies
  • Gold is up 25% in sterling; 22% in the yuan; 21.5% in euros; 19.7% in Australian dollars; 18% in rupee; 13% in Canadian dollars and 12% in Japanese yen

The charts posted immediately below tell one of the quiet, but perhaps most important stories unfolding in the world of high international finance. Gold has appreciated sharply in the currencies of all of the world’s top economies.  In five of the top eight economies – the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, and India – it is priced at all-time highs. In short, as currencies race for the bottom, gold is racing to the top. Investors everywhere are moving to insulate their portfolios against the combined threats of recession, plummeting yields, currency depreciation, and stock market instability. An over-arching nemesis not likely to relinquish its place any time soon has unleashed those four horsemen – the burgeoning trade and currency war. 

Gold is up 25% in sterling; 22% in the yuan; 21.5% in euros; 19.7% in Australian dollars; 18% in rupee; 13% in Canadian dollars and 12% in Japanese yen.  It is up sharply against a long list of emerging country currencies as well. By way of perspective, gold is up 16% in U.S. dollars thus far in 2019. “A host of global factors mean gold’s price is set to maintain its strength at least for the next six to 12 months,” said Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, in a recent CNBC interview. “The world right now is in a precarious state and gold is due to benefit from this situation,” With the world – from Asia to Europe, the United States and a long list of emerging countries – now acutely attuned to gold ownership, it might not be long until we begin to see strains on the limited physical supplies. 

Source: https://www.usagold.com/cpmforum/anv-august/

Gratomic $GRAT.ca – University of Illinois Team Finds that Defects in Graphene Membranes may Improve Biomolecule Transport $SRG.ca $NGC.ca $LLG.ca $GPH.ca $NOU.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 3:58 PM on Monday, August 12th, 2019

SPONSOR: Gratomic Inc. (TSX-V: GRAT) Advanced Materials company focused on mine to market commercialization of graphite products, most notably high value graphene based components for a range of mass market products. Collaborating with Perpetuus, Gratomic will use Aukam graphite to manufacture graphene products for commercialization on an industrial scale. Click Here for More Info

  • Nanopore membranes have generated interest in biomedical research because they help researchers investigate individual molecules – atom by atom – by pulling them through pores for physical and chemical characterization
  • Researchers have not yet produced a membrane with spiral defects in the laboratory, but that task may be easier than trying to rid a graphene membrane of the current molecule-immobilizing step defects

Researchers at the University of Illinois examined how tiny defects in graphene membranes, formed during fabrication, could be used to improve molecule transport. They found that the defects make a big difference in how molecules move along a membrane surface. Instead of trying to fix these flaws, the team set out to use them to help direct molecules into the membrane pores.

Nanopore membranes have generated interest in biomedical research because they help researchers investigate individual molecules – atom by atom – by pulling them through pores for physical and chemical characterization. This technology could ultimately lead to devices that can quickly sequence DNA, RNA or proteins.

In 2014, University of Illinois physics professor Aleksei Aksimentiev and graduate student Manish Shankla demonstrated a graphene membrane that controlled a molecule’s movement through a nanopore by means of electrical charge. They discovered that once the molecules are on the surface of the membrane, it is very difficult to get them to shuffle into the membrane’s pores because molecules like to adhere to the surface.

While on sabbatical at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, Aksimentiev found that DNA tends to accumulate and stick along the edges of fabrication-formed defects that occur as linear steps spanning across the membrane’s surface. The Illinois team’s goal was to find a way to use these flaws to direct the stuck molecules into the nanopores, as a principle that can also apply to the delivery, sorting and analysis of biomolecules.

To refine and confirm their observations, the researchers used the Blue Waters supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois and the XSEDE supercomputer to model the system and molecule movement scenarios at the atomic level.

“Molecular dynamics simulations let us watch what is happening while simultaneously measuring how much force is required to get the molecule to clear a step,” Aksimentiev said. “We were surprised to find that it takes less force to move a molecule down a step than up. Although it may seem intuitive that gravity would make stepping down easier, it is not the case here because gravity is negligible at the nanoscale, and the force required to move up or down should be the same.”

Aksimentiev said team members originally thought they could use concentric defect patterns that form around the pores to force the molecules down, but their simulations showed the molecules congregating along the edges of the steps. That is when it dawned on them: A defect with edges that spiral into a pore, combined with an applied directional force, would give the molecule no other option than to go into the pore – kind of like a drain.

“This way, we can drop molecules anywhere on the membrane covered with these spiral structures and then pull the molecules into a pore,” he said.

The researchers have not yet produced a membrane with spiral defects in the laboratory, but that task may be easier than trying to rid a graphene membrane of the current molecule-immobilizing step defects, they said.

“When manufactured at scale, defect-guided capture may potentially increase the DNA capture throughput by several orders of magnitude, compared with current technology,” Shankla said.

“After a long development process, we are excited to see this principle used in a variety of other materials and applications such as delivery of individual molecules to reaction chambers for experiments,” the researchers said.Source: Nature NanotechnologyEurekalert

Source: Nature Nanotechnology

ThreeD Capital Inc. $IDK.ca – Goldman Sachs $GS Analysts Say that It’s Time to Buy #Bitcoin #Cryto $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:23 PM on Monday, August 12th, 2019

SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap exits. Click Here For More Information.

IDK: CSE

Goldman Sachs Analysts Say that It’s Time to Buy Bitcoin

  • In short – the experts are quite bullish for Bitcoin to go up.
  • Basically, they have set up a short-term price target of $13,971 – yes, specifically this one.

by Janis Rijnieks

Recently, Three Arrows Capital CEO Su Zhu has shared the Goldman Sachs note which was sent out to investors. In the note, Goldman Sachs analysts suggest that buying this Bitcoin dip is a prime opportunity. The note itself consisted of a Bitcoin CMI futures chart and a comment from the analysts.

First of all, the fact that Goldman Sachs is sending out crypto, in this particular case, Bitcoin advice to their investors is mind-blowing. Also, the fact that they are seeing it as a bullish pattern and they are using the Elliot Wave Theory indicators on their Bitcoin chart is also a big surprise.

Experts point out that the fact that the Bitcoin CMI futures chart is used means that this note is being sent out only to institutional investors. You can see this by the little gaps in the chart which are weekends. That is the time when CMI Bitcoin Futures markets are closed.

What does the Note Say?

In short – the experts are quite bullish for Bitcoin to go up. Basically, they have set up a short-term price target of $13,971 – yes, specifically this one.

In detail – they believe that Bitcoin will find a support level near $11,094 and $10,791. Once it does that, the analysts say that the chart has plenty of room to break out at least to $12,916, and possibly to a new 2019 ATH – $13,971.

“Reaching these levels could mean completing a v wave count from July. Bottom line, watch for a short-term top/consolidation once satisfied,” says the note.

But this is a short-term prediction. What about long-term? Well, according to Goldman Sachs analysts, anything below $13,000 is an indication to accumulate. They believe that we are in for a similar run-up like we saw recently this year when Bitcoin went from $7,600 to around $11,900 in a matter of a couple of weeks.

“In the bigger scheme of things, this might still be the first leg of another 5-wave count similar to the trend that lasted from Dec ‘18 through Jun ’19,” reads the note.

Also, another thing which recently was highlighted – Bitcoin loves 30% pullbacks. Some experts and analysts have noticed that after a healthy 30% pullback, Bitcoin always have recovered and this is even considered as a normal investment strategy. Hence, it is 100% sure that Bitcoin will have a run-up if it has fallen by approx. 30%.

So in short – Goldman Sachs says that we all need to buy Bitcoin. But, as usual, only the time will show whether this advice was definitely the one that investors should have followed.

Source: https://www.coinspeaker.com/goldman-sachs-buy-bitcoin/

Enthusiast Gaming $EGLX.ca – From casual #gaming to making millions: Inside the fast-growing #Esports industry $EPY.ca $FDM.ca $WINR $TCEHF $ATVI $TNA.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 1:33 PM on Monday, August 12th, 2019

SPONSOR: Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (TSX-V: EGLX) Uniting gaming communities with 80 owned and affiliated websites, currently reaching over 75 million monthly visitors. The company exceeded 2018 target with $11.0 million in revenue. Learn More

EGLX: TSX-V

From casual gaming to making millions: Inside the fast-growing esports industry

  • Giorgio Calandrelli, 26, used to play the game Fortnite solely for “fun.” That was until his debut competition under a major esports brand last year.
  • The Italian professional gamer, who is known to his fans as “Pow3r,” says he faced numerous setbacks in his opening bid to impress his new team, London-based Fnatic.

By: Ryan Browne

“I f**ked up,” he says with candor. An accidental misclick that pulled him out of his game also cost him a match. “The tournament is about consistency and getting the most kills as possible to get in the top 20,” Calandrelli told CNBC. Each move he makes matters.

Luckily for Calandrelli, he was afforded a comeback, accruing 20 online kills in a “special challenge” game that won him a lucrative $10,000 prize. Altogether, Fnatic’s Fortnite team managed to bag more than $100,000 over the course of the tournament.

And that’s just the tip of a growing iceberg. Fnatic says that prize pools in the first year of a Fortnite competition have ranged from $1 million to $20 million. Last year, the game’s developer Epic Games announced it was committing $100 million for Fortnite tournament prize pools from 2018 to 2019.

But while esports has grown up as an industry over the past decade, in terms of both money and viewership, its stars — and fans — seem to be getting younger and younger.

Last month saw 16-year-old gamer Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf haul a huge $3 million reward after coming first place in the Fortnite World Cup, the championship dedicated to the popular battle royale game.

Fortnite has helped reignite interest in esports, with titans of the entertainment industry struggling to figure out how to catch up. Comcast, for example, recently announced it would build a $50 million arena designed to accommodate esports tournaments.

Industry research group Newzoo estimates esports revenues will top $1 billion for the first time this year, climbing 27% from last year’s figure. It’s a phenomenon that’s helped people transition from playing casually in their bedrooms to playing for money in major competitions.

“It’s just like any sport,” Sam Mathews, Fnatic’s co-founder and CEO, told CNBC. “You have the amateurs, and then the semi-amateur pros; then semi-pro and then you get up to pro. It really takes that sort of skill level and attitude. Attitude is a huge part of any sport.”

“When we scout players, we need to see that they go to trials, we need to check that they have the right attitude. And eventually if they’re good enough they make it onto our main squad.”

‘Common ground’

Competitive gamers’ earnings don’t stop at prize pools. There are esports team contracts, sponsorship deals and merchandise on top of that.

Teespring is a platform dedicated to making and selling customized merchandise, with a particular focus on so-called online “influencers.”

Chris Lamontagne, the firm’s CEO, told CNBC it’s formed a strong base of customers involved in gaming. Lamontagne said the benefit of customized merchandise for gamers is it creates “common ground” between them and their fan base.

“There’s a lot of content that can be created just given there’s a mutual connection over the game itself,” he said. He added there are “a couple of big esport teams” using Teespring, without identifying which ones.

Beyond Fortnite, there are plenty of games that have become pillars of the competitive gaming landscape. These include Dota 2, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch.

watch now VIDEO01:20 Sixteen-year-old wins Fortnite World Cup and takes home $3 million

And esports has stretched out beyond staged tournaments, thanks to the advent of live streaming. Calandrelli said he often does live broadcasts on Amazon-owned platform Twitch, a venue which he says helps him connect with his fans.

“Something in the gaming world working really well is streaming,” Lamontagne said. Teespring has signed partnerships with Google’s YouTube and Twitch that let content creators sell their merchandise through its service.

One of the biggest streamers out there right now is Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, who managed to rake in nearly $10 million last year, largely thanks to fan donations and paid subscriptions on Twitch and ad revenue on YouTube.

Blevins helped Fortnite become an esports phenomenon in its own right — with almost 250 million registered users as of March 20, the game’s influence can’t be understated.

And the streaming battlefield could be about to see a shakeup. Ninja recently made the surprise announcement that he would be shifting from Twitch — where he’s pulled in about 14.7 million followers — to Microsoft’s live streaming service Mixer.

Diversification

Mathews, himself a gamer, said there’s plenty of money to be made on the part of esports organizations as well as the players themselves. Fnatic for example has diversified into hardware, selling everything from professional-grade keyboards to gaming headsets.

The company bought gaming hardware manufacturer Func back in 2015, and sells its gear in 400 Best Buy stores in the U.S. It’s also got a presence in South Korea and Japan, Mathews said.

watch now  

“To this day we’re the only esports organization to own its own peripheral hardware business,” he said. “It’s a massively growing part of our revenue stream and something we really believe in.”

Esports players are also making moves in the music industry. Fnatic’s Calandrelli said he is in talks with “one of the biggest” group of rappers in his country on collaborating with them, and has previously done tie-ups with record labels like Virgin EMI and Atlantic Records.

Calandrelli declined to disclose details of his earnings when asked by CNBC.

According to the British Esports Association, some of the top esports players in the world include Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora, with estimated income of over $2.6 million, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, with $890,000 in earnings, and Robin “flusha” Ronnquist, who earns an estimate of $388,000.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/inside-the-fast-growing-esports-industry-fnatic-fortnite-and-twitch.html

Advance Gold $AAX.ca – Gold Is At An All-Time High In 73 Countries $ANG.jo $ABX.ca $NGT.ca $MGG.ca $SIL.ca $FA.ca $LON

Posted by AGORACOM at 1:19 PM on Monday, August 12th, 2019

SPONSOR: Advance Gold AAX.v – Advance Gold controls 100% interest in the Tabasquena Silver Mine in Zacatecas, Mexico. A cluster of 30 Epithermal veins have been discovered, with recent emphasis on exploring a large anomaly to drill. Advance also owns 15% of the Kakamega JV attached to Barrick Takeover Offer for Acacia Mining

  • In Canada, Gold is $100 higher than its (previous) all-time highs.
  • Gold and Silver Ratio also close to previous highs

SOURCE: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-11/everything-has-changed-gold-all-time-high-73-countries

Bougainville Ventures Inc $BOG.ca – Using #CBD Has Never Been More Popular For Americans $CROP.ca $VP.ca NF.ca $MCOA

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:54 AM on Monday, August 12th, 2019
SPONSOR:  Bougainville Ventures Inc (CSE: BOG) provides strategic capital to the thriving cannabis cultivation sector through ownership and development of commercial real estate properties. The company also offers fully built out turnkey facilities equipped with state-of-the-art growing infrastructure to cannabis growers and processors. Click here for more info.
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Using CBD Has Never Been More Popular For Americans

Reasons why Americans are turning to CBD vary across the board, but pain relief ranks highest at 40%.

by Brendan Bures

  • Whatever notions that CBD was just another wellness fad are officially dead. Need proof? Look no further than a Gallup poll released earlier this week.
  • According to the poll, one in every seven Americans now use CBD for its therapeutic benefits.

While federal regulations around CBD remain unsettled for now, the legalization of hemp in 2018 allowed access to CBD to explode throughout the country. The poll found that younger Americans and those living Western states are more likely to admit using CBD. However, it’s worth noting 50% of Americans still don’t consume CBD, with another 35% confessing they have no familiarity with CBD products at all.

Amongst those aged 30 or younger, CBD usage jumps to 20% and lack of knowledge around CBD products drops to 26%. Those numbers reverse for older demographics. Both these trends mirror what previous Gallup polls found in marijuana usage, as younger people reporting more consumption while older folks less.

The reasons why Americans are turning to CBD vary across the board, with pain relief ranking highest at 40%. Other major reasons for American CBD usage include anxiety (20%), insomnia (11%), and arthritis (8%). That said, women were more likely than men to use CBD to relieve anxiety symptoms (25% vs. 14%), while men turned to CBD as a sleep aid more than women (15% vs. 8%).

And though the majority of Americans report using CBD for medical and therapeutic relief, 5% of respondents admit to recreational usage of CBD.

Though CBD proliferating through the United States might give cannabis enthusiasts cheer, it’s equally important for consumers to recognize whether they’re purchasing the real deal or expensive snake oil. Remember, misinformation around CBD can be life-threatening, especially when using for medicinal purposes. It’s important to buy high-quality CBD products and be able to spot fake CBD in the wild. While CBD oil might be the most popular delivery vehicle, be sure to check out other forms if curious.

Source: https://mjobserver.com/health/using-cbd-has-never-been-more-popular-for-americans/

Tartisan #Nickel $TN.ca – Gold Is Hot But Nickel Is Hotter As Demand Grows For Batteries In Electric Vehicles #EV $ROX.ca $FF.ca $EDG.ca $AGL.ca $ANZ.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:34 AM on Monday, August 12th, 2019

SPONSOR: Tartisan Nickel (TN:CSE)  Kenbridge Property has a measured and indicated resource of 7.14 million tonnes at 0.62% nickel, 0.33% copper. Tartisan also has interests in Peru, including a 20 percent equity stake in Eloro Resources and 2 percent NSR in their La Victoria property. Click her for more information

Tc logo in black
TN: CSE
Fact Sheet
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Gold Is Hot But Nickel Is Hotter As Demand Grows For Batteries In Electric Vehicles

  • Gold is hot but there’s another metal which is hotter, nickel.
  • Up 30% over the past two months nickel has delivered more than double the performance of gold which is up 13% over the same time, and the gap could get a lot wider as the supply of nickel stagnates and demand accelerates.

Tim Treadgold Contributor

The driving force behind the recent awakening of gold is well-understood and can be summed up as a flight to safety as the China v U.S. trade war slows global growth and values of conventional, or fiat currencies, are debased by governments resorting to quantitative easing or other forms of creating money.

Bags filled with nickel briquette and nickel powder sit in a warehouse at the BHP Group Ltd. Kwinana Nickel Refinery in Kwinana, Western Australia, Australia, on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019. The world’s biggest miners, including BHP Group and Glencore Plc, are finally firm believers in the electric vehicle battery revolution — what they don’t agree on is which metals will deliver the best long-term exposure to the developing global market. Photographer: Philip Gostelow/Bloomberg

Nickel’s drivers are different and far easier to understand and boil down to a simple case of supply exceeding demand which, in past nickel booms, was essentially a case of mines failing to keep up with the requirements of steel mills making stainless steel, a material which has traditional consumed close to 80% of the world’s nickel.

Demand Growing For Nickel In Batteries

Stainless steel remains the primary market for nickel but there’s a faster-growing market which until a few years ago was insignificant; lithium-ion batteries.A standard source of power in small appliances such as cell-phones with their nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries, or nickel-metal hydride (NiMh) rechargeable batteries the big game today is in the battery packs which power electric cars such as the Tesla, Prius and Leaf.

From being a metal easily described as a one-trick pony thanks to its dominant end-use in stainless steel, nickel has suddenly become a two-trick pony, and if electric cars take off as predicted then a shortage in future years is possible.

What caused nickel to run from around $5.40 a pound two months ago to $7.09/lb at the end of last week (and a high on Friday of $7.22/lb) was a combination of strong demand from Chinese stainless steel mills and speculation that a major source of the metal could be cut off sooner than expected.

The source under threat is unprocessed nickel ore from Indonesia which is shipped to China for use in steel mills as a material called Nickel Pig Iron (NPI). Indonesia, and other countries which produce NPI dislike the material because it does not require any value-adding in the home market.

Previous bans on NPI have crimped the industry only for it to return. But the next ban is expected to be permanent and while Indonesia has said it will not be applied until the year 2022 it could happen sooner, just as battery makers seek supplies of nickel to meet electric-car demand.

A crystalliser, used in the process of manufacturing nickel sulphate hexahydrate, stands at the BHP Group Ltd. Kwinana Nickel Refinery in Kwinana, Western Australia, Australia. Photographer: Philip Gostelow/Bloomberg © 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP

ANZ, an Australian bank, warned two weeks ago that falling stockpiles of nickel metal were a warning of a squeeze developing. Stockpiles in warehouses managed by the London Metal Exchange (LME) have been falling for the past four years, with an accelerating decline over the past two, a time when reserve inventories dropped by 43% from around 250,000 tons to 142,000t.

“Nickel inventories have declined steadily since early 2018, as the persistent market deficit takes a toll,” ANZ said.

“Some analysts suggest stockpiling by electric vehicle manufacturers is behind the depletion. Whether this is the case or not, we see the tight market meaning further inventory drawdowns are likely.

Talk Of Panic Buying

“Current LME stockpiles would meet less than two months of supply — so panic buying is a likely outcome.”

It is highly unusual for a bank like ANZ to use an expression as emotive as panic buying but it was used largely because of concern that speculators had become active in the nickel market ahead of Indonesia’s reintroduction of a ban on NPI.

Pure-play Australian nickel mining companies are enjoying sharp share price rises as the nickel price moves up. Western Areas has risen by 25% over the past month and Mincor, which has just re-signed a supply agreement with BHP, a major producer of the nickel sulphate which battery makers prefer, is up 28%.

If there is a squeeze developing on nickel supplies as a major new market develops for the metal the price could go much higher than its current $7.09/lb.

Back in 2011 when a supply shortage developed the nickel price hit $22/lb, before falling rapidly as steel mills found substitutes for nickel in their stainless steel, including manganese.

No-one is talking about a nickel boom as powerful as that in 2011 but nickel has a long track record of extreme moves, up and down.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timtreadgold/2019/08/11/gold-is-hot-but-nickel-is-hotter-as-demand-grows-for-batteries-in-electric-vehicles/#634a95f93610