Financial News on Lithium / Batteries

In an increasingly electrified world, batteries (including lithium batteries popular in electric vehicles) are a huge industry. Wikipedia: Lithium

• The world is slowly waking up to menace of lithium battery fires, experts say
  - Zero Hedge, 13 October 2025

• A lithium startup, Electroflow Technologies, raises $10 million. The company has made an electrochemical cell that it says can pull battery-grade lithium directly from brine in a single step.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 03 October 2025

• [KM: Another nationalist socialist industrial policy from the authoritarian Trump:] the government of the USA is taking a 5% stake in Lithium Americas, a company based in Canada, and a 5% stake in the company's Nevada mining project, restructuring a socialist $2.26 billion USA government loan agreement from 2024.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 01 October 2025

• A breakthrough hydride ion battery: scientists in Zhōngguó claim it has 6 times the capacity of lithium ion batteries. Rechargeable, room-temperature stable battery possible using rare earth-based battery electrolyte harnessing hydride ions.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 25 September 2025

• Shares of Lithium America soar nearly 80%, after Trump, as part of his national socialist industrial planning, Trump wants a 10% stake for the USA in Lithium Americas, in return for taxapyer funded socialist subsidies
  - Comcast's CNBC, 23 September 2025

• As part of his national socialist industrial planning, Trump wants a 10% stake for the USA in Lithium Americas, in return for taxapyer funded socialist subsidies
  - Zero Hedge, 23 September 2025

• Shares of companies manufacturing lithium rose on reports that battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) suspended production at a mine in Zhōngguó that plays a key role in supplying the global market
  - Comcast's CNBC, 11 August 2025

• Shares of companies manufacturing lithium rose on reports that battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) suspended production at a mine in Zhōngguó that plays a key role in supplying the global market
  - Zero Hedge, 11 August 2025

• In a series of experiments reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers at Harvard and Rush universities found that depleting lithium in the diet of normal mice caused their brains to develop inflammation and changes associated with accelerated aging and Alzheimer's disease. One form, lithium orotate, helped mice reverse the damages of Alzheimer's disease.
  - Warner Brothers CNN, 06 August 2025

• In a series of experiments reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers at Harvard and Rush universities found that depleting lithium in the diet of normal mice caused their brains to develop inflammation and changes associated with accelerated aging and Alzheimer's disease. One form, lithium orotate, helped mice reverse the damages of Alzheimer's disease.
  - Harvard Medical School, 06 August 2025

• Shipping and navigation services company Matson announces new policies that halt all shipments of electric vehicles due to the fire risk posed by fire-prone lithium-ion batteries
  - Zero Hedge, 21 July 2025

• Rossiya seizes an important lithium mine in Ukraine, challenging the USA-Ukraine deal that traded USA support for access to Ukraine's mineral resources
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 28 June 2025

• Chevron has announced its entry into the lithium industry in the USA through a major land deal with energy startup TerraVolta and East Texas Natural Resources. The multinational oil giant acquired leases totaling 125,000 acres across southern Arkansas and eastern Texas - 100,000 of which came from as TerraVolta - as it pursues plans to establish a commercial-scale domestic lithium business.
  - OilPrice.com, 18 June 2025

• The first lithium-sodium hybrid electric power station in Zhōngguó starts operations, able to power 270,000 homes with renewable energy
  - Interesting Engineering, 26 May 2025

• A deposit of lithium ores valued at $1.5 trillion has been discovered in the region of the McDermitt Caldera in Oregon. Some geologists say these ancient volcanic sediments could contain between 20 and 40 million metric tons of lithium.
  - Earth.com, 09 May 2025

• How Zhōngguó is reusing the batteries from dying electric vehicles and solar panels. "There is huge potential in the business of new-energy waste, because new energy is where Zhōngguó and the world are going." Zhōngguó has created the state-owned China Resources Recycling Group to build a nationwide recycling network for products from electronics to retired wind and solar equipment.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 13 May 2025

• Automotive battery maker CATL, based in Zhōngguó, launches a new brand for its sodium-ion batteries with an energy density of 175 watt-hours per kilogram, nearly equivalent to the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries popularly used in electric vehicles and grid energy storage systems
  - Thomson's Reuters, 21 April 2025

• The USA recycles few electric vehicle batteries, but doing so would make the USA less dependent on Zhōngguó for lithium-ion batteries
  - The Hill, 20 April 2025

• $43,000,000+ - AVZ Minerals, based in Australia, reports that an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal has issued a partial award ordering the Democratic Republic of Congo's state-owned Cominiè to pay $42,400,000 plus interest for failing to comply with emergency orders
  - Global Data, 17 March 2025

• Jiangsu Jiuwu Hi-Tech, a company in Zhōngguó, has stopped exporting a piece of equipment used to process the electric vehicle battery metal lithium, in the clearest sign yet manufacturers are already implementing export controls proposed by Beijing, in response to Trump's tax/tariff trade war.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 18 February 2025

• Lithium-ion batteries, and melted electric vehicles, create new types of hazards in the fire zones in southern California. The size of the Palisades fire and number of lithium-ion batteries left behind make it one of the largest hazardous-materials cleanups that local first responders have seen.
  - Zero Hedge, 29 January 2025

• Bharat is looking to expand its investments in the mining, gas and oil sectors of Argentina, with a focus on lithium, to secure resources needed for the energy transition in Bharat
  - Thomson's Reuters, 29 January 2025

• 25,000 charge cycles and 80% capacity achieved in a lithium-sulfur battery breakthrough. The new battery showed impressive performance, retaining half its capacity even when fully charged in just over a minute at high temperatures.
  - Interesting Engineering, 19 January 2025

• A group of scientists in Zhōngguó discover that a hotpot ingredient, konjac glucomannan, can boost battery performance in the cold. The scientists say that fiber from the konjac plant can prevent freezing in aqueous zinc-ion batteries, a promising alternative to lithium batteries. The ingredient, when added to the electrolyte of zinc batteries, helps disrupt the network of hydrogen bonds in water to inhibit freezing.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 17 January 2025

• One of the world's largest lithium battery storage facilities caught fire about 100 miles south of San Francisco at the Moss Landing power plant owned by Vistra Energy, triggering area-wide evacuations. The power plant is powered by natural gas, and uses thousands of lithium batteries for energy storage.
  - Zero Hedge, 17 January 2025

• The lithium glut could persist until 2027. Lithium prices have dropped sharply, prompting production curtailments in Australia and Zhōngguó but not in Africa, where Chinese-owned mines maintain output. The global lithium market remains oversupplied, with UBS forecasting imbalances until at least 2027 despite recent production cuts.
  - Zero Hedge, 11 December 2024

• Iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, may contain large amounts of lithium
  - Union Rayo, 02 December 2024

• Last year, Bharat touted the discovery of a huge reserve, 9.5 million metric tons, of valuable lithium ore in Kashmir. Experts say optimism around the discovery was overblown.
  - Rest of World, 05 November 2024

• Lithium Americas, based in Canada, has obtained a $2.26 billion loan from the USA Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. This funding is earmarked for the construction of processing facilities at the Thacker Pass lithium project in Humboldt County, Nevada, USA. Apparently the economics of the deal was so bad that private banks did not want to make the loan.
  - GlobalData, 29 October 2024

• Arkansas may have vast lithium reserves in an underground brine reservoir, researchers say. Federal and state researchers said there might be five million to 19 million tons of lithium, more than enough to meet the world's demand for the battery ingredient.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 22 October 2024

• General Motors has agreed to establish a joint venture with Lithium Americas Corp. that includes the automaker supplying $625 million in cash and credit to the Canadian mining business, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal is centered on the development, construction and operation of a lithium carbonate mining operation called Thacker Pass in Humboldt County, Nevada. Lithium is a key component for batteries that power electric vehicles.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 16 October 2024

• Rio Tinto to acquire Arcadium Lithium for $6.7 billion. Lithium has become a priority target for Rio Tinto as it seeks to produce more commodities that are growing in popularity as the world decarbonizes.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 10 October 2024

• Lithium producers in Zhōngguó are flooding the global market with the critical metal and causing a "predatory" price drop as they seek to eliminate competing projects, a senior U.S. official said on a visit to Portugal that has ample lithium reserves.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 08 October 2024

• Rio Tinto makes an offer to buy Arcadium Lithium, based in the USA, for $3.3 billion. Lithium stocks have languished since the start of the year after prices of the key battery metal plummeted amid an oversupply and lull in demand from electric vehicle makers. Arcadium has underperformed its peers, which has been fueling speculation of a takeover for some months.
  - Bloomberg, 06 October 2024

• Lithium-ion batteries just keep getting cheaper, from $290 per kilowatt-hour of storage in 2014 to $78 in 2024
  - Zero Hedge, 30 September 2024

• This $2.4 billion lithium mine is caught between Rossiya and the West. The USA suspects that Rio Tinto's project in Serbia has been hit by a Russian disinformation campaign that has caused large public protests in Serbia.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 30 September 2024

• Prices for lithium, which is used to make batteries for both gadgets and electric vehicles, have been on a 'roller-coaster' ride in recent years.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 19 September 2024

• A burning Tesla Semi electric truck required 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire, and required aircraft to dump fire retardant overhead
  - Comcast's CNBC, 13 September 2024

• How oil-rich Arkansas became a hotbed of lithium mining
  - Comcast's CNBC, 13 September 2024

• Is the bear market in lithium prices over? UBS says a battery giant in Zhōngguó curbs production.
  - Zero Hedge, 11 September 2024

• Shares of lithium miners surge on possible CATL supply cut. Shares of lithium producers rose on possible suspension of some lithium mining and production operations by CATL, the world's biggest maker of batteries for electric vehicles.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 11 September 2024

• Enerpoly, based in Sweden, has flung open the doors to its zinc-ion battery megafactory in the north of Stockholm -- making it the first manufacturing facility to use this battery technology at a large scale in the world. Zinc has many benefits in batteries over lithium.
  - New Atlas, 03 September 2024

• A Rio Tinto mine that Europe sees as a critical source for electric vehicle batteries has been the target of enormous protests. "I do not need green cars. I need green apples and green grass.", said one opponent. The proposed mine in Serbia has not only provoked fury among farmers, environmental activists and ordinary citizens, it also has become a proxy battleground in the West's efforts to extract the country from the orbits of Rossiya, its traditional ally, and Zhōngguó.
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 19 August 2024

• Natron Energy announces plans for $1.4 billion giga-scale sodium-ion battery manufacturing factory in North Carolina. Sodium-ion batteries outperform lithium-ion batteries in power density and recharging speed, do not require lithium, cobalt, copper, or nickel, and are non-flammable.
  - BUsiness Wire, 15 August 2024

• Western miners push for higher metals prices to ward off rivals in Zhōngguó. Western miners say their competitors in Zhōngguó have inherent cost advantages that enable rapid production expansions even as prices for cobalt, lithium and nickel have plunged more than a third in the past 18 months. Operational costs for many of these Western companies have, as a result, been exceeding what market prices will cover. That has fueled growing calls from some policymakers and miners, including Jervois and Albemarle, for a two-tier pricing system with a premium for sustainably produced metals. The plan is to charge more for a metal that is produced sustainably, whether that is through direct transactions or via multiple prices for a metal listed through futures exchanges, depending on production methods. For example, there would be one price for standard nickel and another for green nickel.
  - Thomson's Reuters, 22 July 2024

• Shares of QuantumScape soar 40% pre-market, after Volkswagen's battery company PowerCo and QuantumScape have agreed to industrialize QuantumScape's next-generation solid-state lithium-metal battery technology
  - Benzinga, 11 July 2024

• A novel sub-class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) in lithium ion batteries is a growing source of pollution in air and water. Testing by the research team further found these PFAS, called bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides (bis-FASIs), demonstrate environmental persistence and ecotoxicity comparable to older notorious compounds like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
  - Phys.org, 08 July 2024

• A novel sub-class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) in lithium ion batteries is a growing source of pollution in air and water. Testing by the research team further found these PFAS, called bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides (bis-FASIs), demonstrate environmental persistence and ecotoxicity comparable to older notorious compounds like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
  - Nature, 08 July 2024

• Scientists in Zhōngguó say they have developed a solid-state lithium battery that can match the performance of other candidates for next-generation battery technology at less than 10 per cent of the cost. They developed a new sulphide solid electrolyte, which they have called LPSO, that does not require lithium sulphide as a raw material. LPSO is synthesised from two low-cost compounds, at an ingredient cost of just US$14.42 per kilogram -- less than 8 per cent of the raw material costs of other sulphide solid electrolytes.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 08 July 2024

• Prices of lithium are very low, and could have further to fall. The race to build new mines for a clean-energy transition that is expected to need lots of lithium for batteries has pushed global production out of lockstep with demand in the small but fast-growing market.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 06 July 2024

• Lithium extraction is just as associated with sharply negative environmental externalities as it is with clean and green energy initiatives. The communities where lithium is extracted are already suffering from dire health and ecological issues stemming from the extraction of the metal, but the lithium industry is just getting started. To avoid devastation for such communities, something about the lithium extraction process has to change drastically and soon.
  - Zero Hedge, 29 June 2024

• Ganfeng Lithium, a leading company in Zhōngguó for lithium products, files an international claim against Mexico fter the Latin American nation canceled a potential mining project valued at more than $1 billion
  - Bloomberg, 24 June 2024

• Lithium industry watchers hoping the battery metal was poised to rebound from an epic slump have been hit by the realization prices have fallen again this month, with inventories piling up as electric vehicle demand signals stay gloomy.
  - Bloomberg, 23 June 2024

• Huge new sources if lithium can be obtained from the wastewater of fracking activities in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania
  - Science Alert, 18 May 2024

• A new analysis using compliance data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection suggests that if lithium could be extracted with complete efficiency, lithium from the wastewater of Marcellus shale gas wells could supply up to 40% of the demand in the USA.
  - TechXplore, 10 May 2024

• Natron Energy, a pioneer in sodium-ion battery technology, has officially commenced mass production of its lithium-free sodium batteries in its Holland, Michigan facility, offering an alternative energy storage solution with benefits such as faster cycling, longer lifespan, and safer usage compared to lithium-ion batteries.
  - New Atlas, 02 May 2024

• Lithium batteries are very difficult to recycle and require huge amounts of water and energy to produce. A growing number of alternatives, such as sodium-ion batteries and solid-state batteries, could be cheaper and greener.
  - BBC, 20 March 2024

• The Energy Department is moving forward on a deal to provide a $2.3 billion loan to Lithium Americas in an effort to shore up domestic supplies of a mineral vital for the production of electric vehicles. They are so unreliable that they couldn't get a loan from a bank?
  - Ochs-Sulzberger's New York Times, 15 March 2024

• The Energy Department is moving forward on a deal to provide a $2.3 billion loan to Lithium Americas in an effort to shore up domestic supplies of a mineral vital for the production of electric vehicles. They are so unreliable that they couldn't get a loan from a bank?
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 15 March 2024

• Native groups in Argentina sit on a treasure trove of lithium. Now mines threaten their water, culture and wealth. While the water inside the lithium lagoons is not drinkable, they are tethered to surrounding fresh water sources, sparse rains and nearby mountain streams, essential for the survival of thousands of indigenous communities.
  - Associated Press, 13 March 2024

• Zhōngguó strengthens its grip on the global market for lithium, amid a building boom for processing plants in Zimbabwe. The plants saw lithium exports from Zimbabwe double last year, and this year capacity is predicted to triple on last year's figures.
  - Alibaba's South China Morning Post, 10 March 2024

• KoBold Metals, a mining startup backed by billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is bullish on the discovery potential of some of the most sought-after energy transition metals. The California-based company says it uses artificial intelligence to create a "treasure map" to help find new deposits of materials such as copper, lithium, cobalt and nickel.
  - Comcast's CNBC, 06 March 2024

• The world's second largest lithium producer, Sociedad Química y Minera, is boosting production and capacity expansions instead of scaling back plans as most of the other lithium miners do, despite the glut
  - OilPrice.com, 03 March 2024

• The boom in metals for batteries for electric vehicles is turning to bust. Producers of lithium and nickel have paused projects after prices collapsed, and as momentum slows for electric-vehicle sales.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 20 February 2024

• The Great Salt Lake in Utah is filled with lithium. A startup wants to harvest it. The company, Lilac, has raised $145 million from Bill Gate's Breakthrough Energy Ventures and other investors.
  - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (locked), 13 February 2024

• Prices of uranium just hit a 16-year high. Consider a cautionary analogy: lithium prices
  - Murdoch's Barron's, 10 February 2024

• Europe's thirst for lithium threatens jobs and biodiversity in Portugal. Open-pit mines are planned for northern region of Portugal, worrying locals who say their livelihoods are at risk.
  - Al Jazeera, 30 January 2024

• Will direct extraction of lithium disrupt the $90 billion market for lithium? Current lithium extraction and refinement methods are outdated, often harmful to the environment, and ultimately inefficient. So much so that by 2030, lithium demand will outstrip supply by a projected 1.42 million metric tons.
  - Zero Hedge, 12 January 2024

• A meltdown in some of the most-hyped energy-transition metals is wreaking havoc across the mining world, stalling projects, scuppering deals and triggering a scramble for cash that promises to reverberate through the industry for years. Lithium -- the ultra-light metal used in electric-vehicle batteries -- has plunged more than 80% from a late-2022 record, as the market whiplashed from shortage fears to a mountain of surplus inventories. Nickel and cobalt have also tumbled, weighed down by an influx of new production amid concerns that the shift to EVs may not be as smooth and quick as predicted.
  - Bloomberg, 09 January 2024

• Is a reason that Europe is supporting Ukraine in its war with Rossiya is that Europe wants access to the biggest lithium reserves in Europe that are in the Donbass region of Ukraine now controlled by Rossiya
  - Zero Hedge, 06 January 2024

• A lithium deal in Chile is good news for electric vehicles. A public-private partnership between local miner SQM and U.S.-based Albemarle will extend production of the mineral used for EV batteries.
  - Murdoch's Barron's, 06 January 2024