27.2%: Nickel’s year-on-year price rise

THE RISE

OF BASE METALS IN AN EMERGING GREEN ECONOMY

The growing trend towards green energy has seen a shift in emphasis onto base metals, with demand beginning to rise

By Benjamin van der Veen

The importance of base metals has always fallen behind that of valuable minerals such as platinum group metals (PGMs). However, with the agreements made over previous UN Climate Change Conferences Of Parties (COPs), including COP26, prioritising the shi to renewable and green energies, the importance of base metals has begun to increase as the demand for these o en-overlooked minerals begins to develop.

Speaking to Gravitas Minerals MD Tebogo Kale in order to further understand the rise in importance of base metals, he says: “To expand on the importance of base metals in the renewable market, our state is struggling with provision of electricity from Eskom, so there will definitely be an uptick in base metal demand. And we are already seeing it in the prices. Nickel is expensive. Zinc is picking up, with old mines in the Northern Cape, such as PRCA that were deemed closed, now being reopened.”

NICKEL’S BACK

A research paper published by S&P Global Market Intelligence further backs the increase of nickel and other base metals. The paper states: “Nickel prices have climbed since April 2021, propelled by favourable demand and supply fundamentals, and positive sentiment around future demand for nickel – primarily for use in batteries.

“The extraordinary AISC margin in 2021 was driven mostly by the surging nickel price and increased by-product credits from platinum group metals. The average AISC margin for primary nickel mines rose sharply to $2.67/lb in 2021, supported by a realised nickel price that increased 27.2% year over year, to $7.97/lb, despite a 14.6% rise in the average AISC, to $5.31/lb.”

Kale further emphasises South Africa’s ability to correctly use its available base minerals, suggesting that in his view, we are busy depleting minerals. When you look at our infrastructure and everything else, he notes, there is base metal in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa. We should be readying ourselves for tier two manufacturing, where we would get resources from Africa flowing down to us. And down here, we’ve got the industrialisation to make finished green technology products.

“By creating a renewable industry, we will need more energy, and this is where the combination of green energy and traditional coal energy will be crucial in South Africa’s future within the green sector,” he says.

“In terms of base metals, Northern Cape is the next big green eco supplier in this country – that’s my view. There’s zinc, iron ore, lead, and cadmium. At Gravity, as we are readying ourselves for manganese that goes into batteries, and the Northern Cape has 80% of the world’s manganese.”

BASE METALS WITHIN BATTERY TECHNOLOGY

Base metals are fundamental in creating batteries to supply power to electric vehicles (EVs), infrastructure and mines. While the world is focused on lithium-ion batteries as a

© ISTOCK – Nordroden

“In terms of base metals, Northern Cape is the next big green eco supplier in this country. “ – Kale

primary energy storage device, SA Mining spoke to Shane Bradshaw from Energy Management SA, to understand further the di erent types of batteries used within the renewable sector.

Bradshaw explains the limitations and di erences between lithium-ion batteries and dry-state graphite batteries. “When it comes to lithium-ion batteries, there are health and safety issues that come with the chemical reaction used to generate energy. When the batteries overheat, this can result in lithium runaway.

“Other limitations that lithium-ion batteries have is in their life cycle, which is limited to 6 000 cycles. This may seem like a lot, but only really provides 10 years of functionality, dependant on how much the batteries are being charged and the temperature range in which they are being charged – with the optimal being 25°C and 45°C.”

This, he adds, means that the lifetime of these batteries can drastically change in extreme temperatures and atmospheric changes. “Dry-state graphite batteries are commonly referred to by the market as super-caps. These, by nature, are charged by static. This means an inrush of current, and then, when you discharge it, it’ll outrush the current at 100% when not in a controlled environment.”

GRAPHENE IS GREAT

Graphene is the new buzzword around the market, he notes. Everybody is talking about graphene. You can store a lot of energy in it, but you hardly control the energy flow that you’re holding in the graphene.

“And this is why battery Iithium-ion technology is so important. The graphite has static discharges, and through the battery management system, the dry-state battery works like a lithium battery. The di erence is there’s no chemical involved in the reaction,” Bradshaw says.

To further understand how super-caps work, he says there is 7% lithium in the entire battery, and the lithium is used to control the electrolyte between the layers of the graphite. “The major benefit of dry-state batteries is that they do not experience any limitations that lithium-ion batteries experience. You can pierce this. You can hit it. It operates minus 42 to plus 80°C and isn’t a ected by atmospheric pressure changes.”

Another benefit to super-caps are their life cycles, which are currently marketed at 35 000 cycles, far surpassing the average life cycle of lithium-ion batteries, even ones operated in optimal environments.

Bradshaw mentions a complete decarbonisation project that he is working on. The project consists of turning a mining town that hasn’t been operational for the past five years into a completely green and self-sustainable mine using photovoltaic panels. This will operate dry-state batteries powered by PV energy, and o er the ability to farm underneath the solar farm created by these panels, to supply 427 houses, as well as the mine.

Speaking about the project, he notes the capability of the dry-state graphite batteries: “The graphite batteries are going be drawing heavy currents for the mine side, which lithium cannot provide. The dry-state batteries are going to be there for the next 20 to 25 years. But as the energy market grows, we will start looking at using vanadium batteries to help mines achieve their decarbonisation requirements.” ■

SA’S CENTRE OF THE GREEN ECONOMY

The future of South Africa’s green economy can be found in the Northern Cape, which is populated with one of the world’s most extensive supplies of base metals and minerals. Gravitas Minerals MD Tebogo Kale believes that the Northern Cape will be the next big green eco supplier.

For South Africa to truly capitalise on base minerals within the green sector, he says, it needs to invest in the industrialisation of green technologies and the upli ment and education of communities and focus on “collaboration and co-creation, which is the new innovation”.