Resource World Magazine

O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7 www.resourceworld.com 19 Phosphate batteries, LiFePO 4 that are best known as LFP. LFP has lower energy density than NMC and NCA but is considered safer and has greater longevity. Whereas 1,000 charge/ discharge cycles are considered to be a reasonable life for most LMO, NMC and NCA batteries, LFP achieves 4,000 charge/ discharge cycles. LFP's cost, safety and longevity are well suited for commercial applications such as electric buses, trucks, taxis, and stationary storage. The energy density provided by NMC and NCA are better suited to emerging trends in consumer vehicles where range extension and acceleration require bigger battery packs. To address this trend, BYD and other Chinese automakers have already begun shifting their consumer vehicle fleets from LFP to NMC. Despite this shift, the LFP market is projected to grow as the large commercial applications take hold. A local Vancouver company, Nano One Materials Corp. [NNO-TSXV] is pioneer- ing manufacturing technology to lower the cost of producing cathode materials such as NMC, NCA and LFP. Their approach uses lower cost lithium inputs, reduces complexity and eliminates waste streams in the production of cathode materials such as LFP. I feel this is significant as incremen- tal cost improvements will be vital in the coming years for battery makers. American Manganese Inc. [AMY- TSXV] has successfully completed the recycling of 100% of cathode materials (cobalt, nickel, manganese, aluminum) and 92% of lithium from its US patent-pend- ing recycling application. In early 2018, the company intends to build and begin operating a pilot plant to prove continu- ous recovery of cathode material, with the ability to scale up and design a full-scale recycling plant. EVOLUTION OF THE BATTERY MARKET Demand for battery materials will con- strain the electric vehicle market with limited cobalt supplies and high cobalt prices, limiting the use of Tesla's NCA high cobalt content battery to premium vehicles only, in my opinion. Market acceptance of the premium Tesla Model 3 will change consumer attitudes towards BEVs and gen- erate demand for lower cost alternatives. NMC and LFP will see continued growth in the burgeoning Chinese market and for lower cost vehicles globally. The consequence of this evolution is strong demand for lithium, cobalt, manga- nese, nickel, iron, phosphate and graphite. Supply constraints are significant in the cobalt market, somewhat significant in the lithium market, and reasonable for other materials. In the next 10 years incre- mental improvements are expected across the entire battery space as the growth of demand for electric vehicles brings more research effort. The dark horse in this evo- lutionary horse race is entirely new battery formulations but I see those developments as five to 10 years down the road. n

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