REE: Molycorp Jumps On Contract to Supply Rare Earths for Siemens Wind Turbine Generators.

  

  Molycorp will supply Shin-Etsu Chemical with REE, which will produce REE magnets for Siemens. Like in International Lithium case with Ganfeng Lithium - security of supply for strategic materials is taking the centre stage for advance of the green technology.

Magnet Rare Earths Prices Moving Higher on Increased Demand.

  With the growth in Mobile Devices, Electric Cars, Solar and Wind Energy REE sector will be coming back into the spotlight this year.

TNR Gold Acquires Critical Element REE Project in Labrador.

2014 Report On the International Rare Earth Metals Market - Forecast to 2018

  At TNR Gold we are involved not only in Lithium with our stake in International Lithium, but also in REE projects development. We are following closely the changing landscape and identifying new opportunities in this very important market of Strategic Critical Materials. Their applications are spread from Electric Motors to Solar and Wind Power generation and to the Displays of your Mobile Devices.

Molycorp Chosen to Supply Rare Earths for Use in High-Efficiency Siemens Wind Turbine Generators

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., April 15, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Siemens AG ("Siemens") has selected Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE:MCP) ("Molycorp") to supply rare earth materials over the next 10 years from its Mountain Pass, California facility for incorporation into Siemens' high-efficiency, direct drive wind turbine generators. Molycorp will supply rare earth materials to Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. ("Shin-Etsu"), which will produce the rare earth magnets Siemens intends to utilize in its wind turbines.

Siemens officials noted that key factors in choosing Molycorp were Molycorp's ability to provide greater global diversification and reliability to its supply chain, as well as the environmental and process innovations Molycorp has built into its Mountain Pass rare earth facility. Among those innovations are the facility's ability to recycle water, regenerate the chemical reagents needed in rare earth production, generate power from a high-efficiency natural gas cogeneration power plant, and dispose of mine tailings through an innovative paste tailings system.

Siemens officials said that the magnets to be used in its direct drive wind turbines will contain reduced levels of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), such as dysprosium. In collaboration with Siemens Wind Power, Molycorp and Shin-Etsu will improve the magnet material to reach zero HREEs, Siemens said. At the same time, Siemens added, supply chain reliability will be increased and costs will be reduced.

"The contract with Shin-Etsu and Molycorp is an important step for us in sourcing magnet materials for our direct drive wind turbines," said Morten Rasmussen, Head of Technology at Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Division. "We strive for diversification in the sourcing of these components to improve independency from specific markets."

"We are very pleased to have been selected to supply Siemens and Shin-Etsu with rare earth magnetic materials for this important clean energy supply chain project," said Geoff Bedford, Molycorp's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This agreement underscores Molycorp's commitment to partner with our customers to support their product development efforts and serve as an integrated, long-term provider of reliable rare earth supply."

More information on Siemens' direct drive wind turbines can be seen here:

• Siemens' D3 Platform: http://www.energy.siemens.com/hq/en/renewable-energy/wind-power/platforms/d3-platform/
• Siemens' D7 Platform: http://www.energy.siemens.com/hq/en/renewable-energy/wind-power/platforms/d7-platform/
• 
  

ABOUT MOLYCORP

Molycorp is the only advanced material manufacturer in the world that both controls a world-class rare earth resource and can produce high-purity, custom engineered rare earth products to meet increasingly demanding customer specifications. With production facilities on three continents, the Company produces a wide variety of specialized products from rare earth elements and five rare metals (Gallium, Indium, Rhenium, Tantalum and Niobium). The Company produces rare earth magnetic materials through its Molycorp Magnequench subsidiary, including neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnet powders, used to manufacture bonded NdFeB permanent rare earth magnets. The Company also markets and sells a line of rare earth-based water treatment products. For more information please visit http://www.molycorp.com."

Magnet Rare Earths Prices Moving Higher on Increased Demand.

With the growth in Mobile Devices, Electric Cars, Solar and Wind Energy REE sector will be coming back into the spotlight this year.

Rare Earth Elements: Simple Commodity Or Strategic Vulnerability?

"Rare earths are a group of 17 elements with unique chemical, magnetic and luminescent properties crucial for the functioning of much of today’s high technology equipment, including MRIs, lap-top computers, hybrid vehicles and LEDs. They also have important applications in the defence industry. China is the dominant supplier of rare earth elements (REEs), meeting at least 85% of global demand. In 2010, REEs were splashed across the front pages of newspapers when it significantly reduced rare earth export quotas and temporarily suspended their shipment to Japan. Consumers quickly recognised that diversity of reliable supply is just as important as price and quality, and there is a concerted effort to replace, reduce and recycle REEs. So are REEs best understood as simple commodities, or as strategic resources that can be used as tools of statecraft? And can Australia play a part in the development of alternative reliable sources of rare earths? To help understand the strategic importance of REEs the National Security College and Crawford School of Public Policy welcome two global experts in the field."

TNR Gold Acquires Critical Element REE Project in Labrador.

2014 Report On the International Rare Earth Metals Market - Forecast to 2018

  At TNR Gold we are involved not only in Lithium with our stake in International Lithium, but also in REE projects development. We are following closely the changing landscape and identifying new opportunities in this very important market of Strategic Critical Materials. Their applications are spread from Electric Motors to Solar and Wind Power generation and to the Displays of your Mobile Devices.

REE: Apple Investing $850 Million In California Solar Farm.

  Here comes another catalyst for Solar, which will bring more demand for REE and Silver. With its pile of cash and power of the brand Apple can easily distract transportation and energy industries. Will we ever see the Apple Electric iCar - Steve Jobs has dreamt about? We have a lot of rumours going on about it this week. It is very reassuring that Tim Cook has proclaimed: "We know at Apple that climate change is real!" 

"Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said on Tuesday the technology company is investing $850 million to build a solar farm in California with solar panel maker First Solar. Cook said at a Goldman Sachs technology conference in San Francisco that the project in Monterey County, California will provide enough energy for 60,000 homes as well as Apple's head office in nearby Cupertino. Cook said, "We know in Apple that climate change is real. The time for talk is passed. The time for action is now." First Solar, based in Tempe, Arizona, manufactures solar panels and also builds solar power plants, many of which it sells to power producers."

Rare Earth Elements: Simple Commodity Or Strategic Vulnerability?

"Rare earths are a group of 17 elements with unique chemical, magnetic and luminescent
properties crucial for the functioning of much of today’s high technology equipment,
including MRIs, lap-top computers, hybrid vehicles and LEDs. They also have important
applications in the defence industry.
China is the dominant supplier of rare earth elements (REEs), meeting at least 85% of
global demand. In 2010, REEs were splashed across the front pages of newspapers when
it significantly reduced rare earth export quotas and temporarily suspended their shipment
to Japan. Consumers quickly recognised that diversity of reliable supply is just as
important as price and quality, and there is a concerted effort to replace, reduce and
recycle REEs.
So are REEs best understood as simple commodities, or as strategic resources that can be
used as tools of statecraft? And can Australia play a part in the development of alternative
reliable sources of rare earths? To help understand the strategic importance of REEs the
National Security College and Crawford School of Public Policy welcome two global experts
in the field."

TNR Gold Acquires Critical Element REE Project in Labrador.

2014 Report On the International Rare Earth Metals Market - Forecast to 2018

  At TNR Gold we are involved not only in Lithium with our stake in International Lithium, but also in REE projects development. We are following closely the changing landscape and identifying new opportunities in this very important market of Strategic Critical Materials. Their applications are spread from Electric Motors to Solar and Wind Power generation and to the Displays of your Mobile Devices.

Rare Earth Elements: Simple Commodity Or Strategic Vulnerability?

"Rare earths are a group of 17 elements with unique chemical, magnetic and luminescent
properties crucial for the functioning of much of today’s high technology equipment,
including MRIs, lap-top computers, hybrid vehicles and LEDs. They also have important
applications in the defence industry.
China is the dominant supplier of rare earth elements (REEs), meeting at least 85% of
global demand. In 2010, REEs were splashed across the front pages of newspapers when
it significantly reduced rare earth export quotas and temporarily suspended their shipment
to Japan. Consumers quickly recognised that diversity of reliable supply is just as
important as price and quality, and there is a concerted effort to replace, reduce and
recycle REEs.
So are REEs best understood as simple commodities, or as strategic resources that can be
used as tools of statecraft? And can Australia play a part in the development of alternative
reliable sources of rare earths? To help understand the strategic importance of REEs the
National Security College and Crawford School of Public Policy welcome two global experts
in the field."

TNR Gold Acquires Critical Element REE Project in Labrador.

2014 Report On the International Rare Earth Metals Market - Forecast to 2018

  At TNR Gold we are involved not only in Lithium with our stake in International Lithium, but also in REE projects development. We are following closely the changing landscape and identifying new opportunities in this very important market of Strategic Critical Materials. Their applications are spread from Electric Motors to Solar and Wind Power generation and to the Displays of your Mobile Devices.

World’s Largest Lithium-ion Battery To Be Built In Southern California.

  

  Solar and Wind power are growing very fast now and lithium battery-based energy storage facilities will provide the next step for the integration of this power sources into the smart grid. Elon Musk with Tesla Gigafactory is in the picture again here as well.

Lithium Batteries Gigafactory: Why Morgan Stanley Is Betting That Tesla Will Kill Your Power Company

  

  Morgan Stanley is very vocal about the coming disruption to trillion dollar industries. Cheaper lithium batteries will enable not only mass market for electric cars, but the distributed power generation. Wind and solar power can be used with the existing grid. Every household potentially becomes the power plant and you can use this power for your own electric car. 

  China is the leading wind and solar power generation country in the world now and moving fast to secure the supply for strategic commodities for this green economy: Lithium and REE. Read more."

Elon Musk With Tesla Gigafactory Starts The Race To Secure Supply Of Lithium Batteries And Lithium.

ExtreameTech:

World's largest lithium-ion battery to be built in Southern California, dwarfs previous installations 

Battery power developer AES Southland has announced a contract with Southern California Edison to deliver a 400MW lithium ion battery-based energy storage facility that will be capable of providing 100MW of power for a total of four hours. For comparison, when the State Grid Corporation of China teamed up with electric car manufacturer BYD to build the largest battery in the world, the stated capacity was 36MWh — less than 1/10 the size of the SCE facility.

That gap is so large it seems ridiculous, yet all available data points to this new facility as one of the largest, if not thelargest lithium-ion battery storage facilities in the entire world.

For all that, the new plant is just a fraction of the total generative capability that SCE selected from the proposed solutions. AES will also provide a 1284MW worth of cycle-gas fired generation capability, with other solutions contributing roughly 600MW. Total capacity to be built out is 1,892MW across 63 contracts. Of that amount, only 44MW is classified as renewable according to SCE’s own website.

The real significance of the AES announcement is that this battery is apparently being bought to replace older gas peaker plants. Typically, older gas plants are repurposed to provide peak power generation (hence the “peaker” nickname). Because these plants are only operated occasionally, they have extremely high costs and take time to spin up. Oftentimes these are older, less efficient plants as well — all of which contributes to the high cost of peak power. SCE isn’t abandoning peak power generative capacity, but only 98MW of the 1,891MW total will be peaker plants.

The idea behind using a 100MW battery as a buffer is that it can offset the need for expensive peak power generation. 400MW isn’t really large enough to feed an area the size of SCE’s distribution grid, but it is sufficient to buffer conventional supplies at peak load and reduce operating costs.

Battery sizes set to boom

This installation isn’t set to come online until 2021, but all indications are that this will be one of the largest lithium-ion installations in North America. Given that 30-40MW projects were hailed as the largest in the world as recently as two years ago, while the largest battery installation in the world was capable of providing 40MW for just seven minutes back in the early 2000s, it’s clear that we’re about to see an explosion in total battery capacity. Hybrid energy grids are also becoming common.

What’s less clear is whether or not lithium-ion batteries are the right tool to drag ourselves away from dependence on coal, gas, and oil. While they’re currently a “best we’ve got” solution, the fact is, the energy density and specific energy of lithium-ion batteries is terrible in comparison to almost everything.

Lithium-ion is in the far lower-left-hand corner.

There’s definitely a market for lithium-ion as a partial replacement for peaker plants, but theeconomics of using it in conjunction with wind and solar power are dubious at large scale. SCE’s own bid makes this point — while the order pulls together a variety of energy sources to achieve its goals, the overwhelming majority of the power is created using natural gas. Solar power and battery reserves are a fraction of the total energy. ExtremeTech."

Lithium "Megafactory": LG Chem Breaks Ground For EV Battery Plant In China.

  

  China is already the top lithium materials producer and now LG Chem will put it solidly on the lithium battery map. LG Chem plans are very ambitious - company plans to produce 100k batteries per year! Tesla Gigafactory rightfully attracts a lot of attention and LG Chem move will find its investment audience as well. All this production of batteries will need the secure supply of lithium.

  International Lithium is positioned to participate in this huge market opportunity in China as part of the vertically integrated lithium business with our strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium.

International Lithium: Kirill Klip - Q And A From ILC On Our Strategic Partnership With Ganfeng Lithium.

International Lithium Corp. and Ganfeng Lithium Finalize Joint Venture on Mariana Lithium Brine Project, Argentina.

International Lithium And Ganfeng Lithium: Avalonia Lithium Project, Ireland.

 I would like to present to your attention our Avalonia Lithium project in Ireland today. Now we are back on the ground advancing this J/V with Ganfeng Lithium - one of the top world-wide lithium producers from China. 

  Recent world-wide public awareness about the climate change and lithium technology advance demonstrated by Tesla Motors, present to us the unique opportunity to capitalise on this trends advancing the development of lithium supply chain. The largest world auto-market is based now in China. The Chinese Premier has announced the war on pollution and electric cars are at the forefront of this development. Our strategic partnership with Ganfeng Lithium opens the doors for our company to participate in these global development in electrification of our transportation.

"Mr. Kirill Klip, President, International Lithium Corp. comments, "We are excited to spearhead this international collaboration and program that sets a precedent for sourcing metals that are imperative to the advancement of mobile devices, electric vehicles and alternative energy. The demand for Lithium is continually on the rise and there are shortage concerns which could impede on the growth of the green technology sector worldwide. The Irish government has taken this risk very seriously and pledged to facilitate the advancement of lithium production as part of an initiative to improve strategic metal supply chains. Together with Ganfeng Lithium, ILC has the opportunity to be part of this development and we are optimistic that we have a new potential source for the lithium battery supply chain".

International Lithium Presentation September 2014 from Kirill Klip

Mr. Wang Xiaoshen, Vice Chairman/ VP, Ganfeng Lithium Corp. notes, "Recent news that corporations such as Tesla and Panasonic are making significant commitments to build gigafactory battery plants will significantly impact the demand for Lithium. Similarly the Chinese market will become increasingly more important to companies like Tesla in the near future. These two reasons make BLL an ideal prospect for the lithium industry."

International Lithium Corp. Begins Reconnaissance Program and Renames Blackstairs Lithium Project, Ireland.

Yonhap News Agency:

LG Chem breaks ground for EV battery plant in China

SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's largest chemicals company, said Thursday it has begun construction of an electric-powered vehicle (EV) battery factory in China with the aim of starting commercial production in 2016.

Once completed in the eastern city of Nanjin at the end of next year as planned, the plant will have the production capacity to power 100,000 EVs, the company said in an e-mailed statement.

In order to conduct its project, LG Chem established a 50-50 joint venture in August, teaming up with two of China's state-run investment companies.

LG Chem has been seeking to expand its EV battery business in China, eyeing growing demand on the back of Beijing's plans to tackle air pollution by introducing more eco-friendly cars.

"The Chinese electric car market is expected to become the world's biggest electric car market, achieving fast growth starting in 2016," said Kwon Young-soo, LG Chem's battery division director.

Global carmakers have been rushing to introduce emission-free cars in the world's largest car market as Beijing earlier announced it will have 500,000 electric-propelled vehicles on the road by 2015 and 5 million by 2020.

The global battery market for EVs is expected to grow to US$18.24 billion in 2020, more than fivefold the $3.26 billion it was in 2013, LG Chem said, quoting data by global market researcher B3. Source."

Powered By Lithium: Volkswagen e-Golf Production Video.

  

  Electric cars are coming and they are coming in numbers now. All major auto-makers are moving into electric space these days. Prices are still high, but the volume production and further advance in Lithium Battery technology will make ICE cars absolute very soon. 

  The economics and efficiency is the name of the game here. With ICE car you are driving your own power plant with you everywhere, with electric car you get the access to the energy produced somewhere on the industrial scale, which will always be much more efficient. The problem was how to store enough energy - Lithium Batteries have solved this problem. 

  This is just in a few words the sense of the tectonic shift in our society today. Add here Air Pollution, Distributed Energy Generation, Smart Grid, Solar and Wind Power and you have the picture of the next industrial revolution in action. We are talking about Trillion dollar industries to be disrupted by this development.

Lithium Batteries Gigafactory: Why Morgan Stanley Is Betting That Tesla Will Kill Your Power Company

  Morgan Stanley is very vocal about the coming disruption to trillion dollar industries. Cheaper lithium batteries will enable not only mass market for electric cars, but the distributed power generation. Wind and solar power can be used with the existing grid. Every household potentially becomes the power plant and you can use this power for your own electric car.

  China is the leading wind and solar power generation country in the world now and moving fast to secure the supply for strategic commodities for this green economy: Lithium and REE.

Elon Musk With Tesla Gigafactory Starts The Race To Secure Supply Of Lithium Batteries And Lithium.

International Lithium Presentation May 2014 from Kirill Klip

 "I would like to share with you the very interesting summary from  Seeking Apha on this subject. It confirms my personal observations of the investment and M&A trends in our Lithium industry today. I will share with you few quotes and links which will help you to understand International Lithium strategy and, what is very important, how our strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium sees this mega trends from the ground of the world's biggest auto market in the world in China. Read more"

Powered by Lithium: Clean Electric Cars - Renewables to Get Most of $7.7 Trillion Power Investments

Is Tesla, Apple and Foxconn A Match Made In Heaven To Make Electric Apple iCar Under $15k?

Where On Earth All The Lithium Will Come From?

China Welcomes Electric Cars: Tesla Motors, China Unicom Plan 400 Charging Stations.

  

China Rolls Out Welcome Mat for Electric Cars: Ganfeng Lithium Partners with International Lithium in Argentina and Ireland.