GreenReport Blog
Cobalt’s price continues to soar through 2022 and beyond
Cobalt is expected to follow its upward trajectory through 2022 and beyond, according to the chief executive officer of diversified mining company Eurasian Resources Group (ERG). With about 119% increase in the price of cobalt observed in the past year, no discernable signs of easing in the trend. The continuous increase in its price from $18.50-19.30 per tonne in 2021 to $34.20-34.60 per tonne on January 27 indicates its intense demand, particularly in the batteries for the electric vehicles (EVs), according to Benedikt Sobotka of the Global Battery Alliance.
Aside from its known key role in battery productions, not only for the automotive market but also for mobile electronics, the recovery of the aerospace sector intensely drove the skyrocketing of its price. ERG firmly believes that the future of EV sales will continue to soar, as driven by the EV adoption goals of the government and the target sales of the manufacturers and the producers.
All-time highs in the price of cobalt are driven by the limitations in the supply chain. The production of cobalt, particularly those from the industrial-scale mines, is dependent on the development and commissioning duration that usually takes 10-15 years on average and adopt complex processes.
It is, therefore, a vision of StrategX Elements Corporation to heed to these demands by making discoveries of ethically sourced critical mineral resource deposits and contribute to the global supply chain for green innovations and renewable energies. Along with cobalt, significant amounts of different elements that are essential for these markets are currently explored with the support of numerous strategic partners and joint ventures. Working hand in hand, robust support to a greener future is achieved through StrategX Elements Corporation’s initiatives.
Reference:
"Cobalt Outlook Bullish Through 2022 And Beyond, ERG CEO Says". 2022. MINING.COM. (https://bit.ly/3GANgZb).
Redox Flow Batteries Intensifies the Need for Vanadium
The demand for efficient energy storage through “green” batteries and microgrids is steadily increasing throughout the years as solutions for intermittent renewable energy are continuously sought. Redox flow batteries, or RFBs, are seen to be ideal in large-scale storage of solar and wind energy for use around the clock. With this, the said technological discovery and implementation is set to overtake the latter in terms of total storage capacity by 2031, relieving some of the stress off the high demands on the lithium-ion battery, according to IDTechEx, a United Kingdom-based market and business research firm.
In this technology, vanadium will be utilized in both the positive and negative electrolyte solutions as it can exist in four different oxidation states, preventing cross-contamination due to the same anode and cathode materials. Furthermore, its storage system uses liquid vanadium electrolyte that never degrades. Thus, Vanadium RFBs offer ease of scalability, reliability, flexibility, quick response, and safety when compared to the traditional lithium-ion and other batteries used in the industry.
However, solutions to the challenges in the extraction of Vanadium are currently explored. Different technologies, such as those of the VandiumCorp Electrochem Process Technology, aim to extract vanadium with less use of heat and with more efficient recovery methods of vanadium iron, titanium from the host deposits of vanadiferous titanomagnetite. This is much cleaner and more efficient than conventional roasting and smelting, and also enables the recovery the iron and titanium. Thus, the efficient recovery and added revenue from the selling of the mentioned metals is expected to lower the cost of producing battery-grade vanadium.
To unlock the global supply of Vanadium, substantial resource bases must be explored. Canada, along with the United States, is known to host rich deposits of Vanadium. And through StrategX Elements Corporation, the exploration of highly mineralized areas in the country, and prospectively, the extraction of such critical metal would boost the supply chain of Vanadium as the world propels to the use of green technology and renewable energy.
Reference:
News, North. 2022. "Battery Valences Power Vanadium Demand". North of 60 Mining News. (https://bit.ly/3Gk8rhL).