BHP and other miners are turning to provide battery-grade nickel

Nickel prices at the LME(London Metal Exchange) have fluctuated in recent days amid concerns about rising trade friction. However, this incident did not affect the colored industry's optimistic about nickel prices. Mining giants such as BHP Billiton confirmed to reporters that they were turning to providing customers with high-purity battery-grade nickel because they were optimistic about the prospect of explosive growth in new-energy vehicles.

Recently, Eduard Haegel, president of BHP's Nickel West Assets, revealed at a high-level battery materials conference that the global production and sales of electric vehicles have become more active in the past year. Volvo, Daimler, General Motors, Ford and other carmakers are also very proactive in their plans for the next five years. BHP Billiton believes that the annual compound growth rate of electric vehicle sales in the future is expected to reach 30 % by 2030, which is likely to reach 40 % under the "low-carbon scenario". Carmakers obviously need and expect battery makers to provide high-performance power cells to match such high expected growth rates.

At present, NCM(nickel cobalt manganese) and NCA(nickel cobalt aluminum) ternary materials have gradually become the mainstream positive materials for passenger vehicle power cells. At present, the largest application of nickel is the manufacture of stainless steel, and the future market needs high-purity(battery-grade) nickel, says Haegel. Nickel-rich positive materials have higher energy density and lower metal input costs. Demand for nickel in the battery industry will increase significantly.

"In fact, high purity nickel extraction is not easy. "The BHP Nickel West nickel mine is increasing the supply of high-purity nickel by eliminating technical bottlenecks through increased investment," said Haegel. By the end of this month, BHP Nickel West will have the latest breakthrough in technology upgrades, further increasing supply. Most high-grade nickel producers are known to have no new investments and some are even scaling back.

According to Haegel, BHP will sell 90 % of its nickel to the battery industry in the future, and it may take only 3-4 years to achieve this goal. This year, the Nickel West nickel mine has planned to sell 65-70 % of its nickel to the battery industry, corresponding to a sales volume of 45,000-50 ,000 tons.

The head of the metals market at VALE, another mining giant, said electric vehicles would cost the same as fuel trucks between 2020 and 2025, meaning they would have to fall further. The increase in nickel content in power cells and the significant decrease in cobalt use have led to a significant reduction in battery costs. At present, there are still products such as nickel iron and nickel pig iron in the market, but in the future, the demand for high-purity nickel(battery-grade nickel) is higher, and battery-grade nickel may even have a separate classification. However, he is also concerned that current industry forecasts of nickel prices are not enough to attract capital into investment. In the view of domestic colored market people, recent nickel prices have pushed up among various factors or are more conducive to capital investment in high-purity nickel.

Experts at institutions such as McKinsey predict that future nickel for stainless steel and nickel used for battery materials or split, battery-grade nickel may have a specific price range. Nickel needs a 1 million ton increment to meet the demand for electric cars. The country is also expected to use low-cost technology to smelt high-purity nickel over the next five years.

Yang Bo, chief analyst at Shanghai Nonferrous Network Nickel Industry, estimates that 14 % of China's nickel consumption in 2018 will enter nickel sulfate production, and will participate in the new energy vehicle sector through the conversion of nickel sulfate. In 2018, the demand for nickel sulfate for ternary precursors is expected to double to 335,000 tons. Global expansion of nickel sulfate, including China, is under way.

The Anteko Nickel Cobalt Research Team stated that the current nickel inventory has dropped overall. Although nickel balls and nickel grains have high inventories, they can be used as raw materials to produce battery-grade nickel sulfate. The future outlook for further inventory is apparent. The development of high nickel ternary materials in the power battery market is entering the fast track. As the most important application market for nickel, the price of stainless steel has risen, which has supported nickel prices.

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