tesla giga factory, among others, may cause lithium or graphite shortages

Batteries -
Lithium or graphitewhich is it?
As investors, we have heard the explosive growth stories of lithium and graphite from the growing demand for batteries, especially the numerous giga factories planned to be built globally.
There are 12 plans from now to 2020, but most in Europe and Asia, only two in the United StatesS.
In Nevada and Michigan.
At present, more than 60% of the demand for lithium and graphite is for industrial use, but it is this expectation of the demand for batteries that is well received with all optimistic forecasts, which is worth it.
At the moment, lithium has received all the attention, but when I analyze all the facts and figures, it is clear that graphite investors should get a higher return.
First of all, some important battery bases, they are called lithium-ion batteries, not because they are full of lithium, but what provides power or power is the strong reaction of lithium and the movement of lithium ion.
There are 3 basic components inside the battery housing.
Typical cathode of lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide.
The successful combination of NCM is 5 parts of nickel, 3 parts of cobalt and 2 parts of manganese.
It is beneficial to the anode of graphite carbon absorbed by lithium ion.
6 graphite atoms can hold 1 lithium atom, which can be considered as a charge.
And 3rd, which is conducive to the electrolyte in which lithium ions move between the cathode and the anode.
When using a battery or discharge-
Lithium ion moves from aNode (graphite)
To the cathode (nickel).
Basically, when you charge it, you move the lithium ion back to the anode.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motor Corporation (NASDAQ:TSLA)
A recent comment said that I think his attitude towards lithium is lower than reasonable.
Musk said that the content of lithium in lithium-ion batteries is about 2% of its total volume, which may not be a good indicator because lithium, graphite and nickel are all sold by weight, tons or pounds.
In fact, there are more nickel and cobalt in these batteries than lithium.
The price of nickel is higher than graphite, about $10,000 per ton, and half of the cobalt reserves are located in this unstable part of Congo.
For this report, I will focus on lithium and graphite.
Lithium is highly active and its ions explode to move.
I remember that in chemistry class, lithium only needs to be exposed to water and will start the explosive reaction immediately.
That\'s why you \'ve heard of battery fires and have strict guidelines or restrictions on the transportation of lithium-ion batteries.
Because of this, the amount of lithium in the battery is quite common knowledge.
You can refer to some regulations of UPS and their calculation of lithium content.
Just a few weeks ago, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Fined $84,000 for airfreight lithium-ion batteries. In the U. S. -
Cells must not exceed 1.
5g of \"equivalent lithium content; -
The lithium content of the battery shall not exceed 8 grams.
You can calculate the \"equivalent lithium content\" by multiplying the amps of the battery\"hours by 0. 3.
Since most small batteries are marked with milliamperes-
Hours. You have to divide it by Ma \'an first.
The hour is multiplied by 1,000 before multiplying the result by 0.
3 cases: A 2Ah 18650 Li-ion cell has 0.
6 grams of lithium.
On a typical 60 Wh laptop battery with 8 Batteries (
4 in series and 2 in parallel)
This adds up to 4. 8g.
Stay 8-
Kun limit, the maximum battery you can bring on the plane is 96 Wh (
And must be in the device).
Tesla\'s S-85 KW mAh battery is made of thousands of small batteries, about 6.
According to the above data, 8 kg lithium or 15 pounds is worth about $120.
According to some other electric vehicles that provide battery details, there are about 0.
15 kg lithium per 1KWH, so the Model S can have 12 kilograms.
Lithium batteries of 75 kg or about $23 billion, consider a very high price of $18,000/ton for lithium.
In both cases, the amount of lithium is large, but the cost of lithium and graphite is not a big factor, there are many around, and very rich.
Most lithium is mined in South America.
Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
Bolivia has a lot of reserves, especially in the Uyuni Salt Farm, which is so huge and white that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have discovered it from the moon. (
They thought it was a glacier. )
Global lithium carbonate equivalent reserves-
This is the amount that can now be mined economically-
The United States Geological Survey estimates that about 14 million tons. (USGS).
The number of actual production per year is very small, 32,500 tons-
According to USGS.
With the price of lithium rising, a lot of money has entered the industry that will inevitably bring new supplies. As demand increases, the real problem is the increase in production. The market is dominated by some large producers.
Next year, the FMC will produce 4,000 tons of lithium hydroxide, raising the company\'s total global production capacity to 18,000 tons.
It did not disclose the details of the electric vehicle manufacturer that reached an agreement with it.
The additional output will be almost enough to supply Tesla\'s gigabit plant, which is about 500,000 of the quality --
According to Aleksey Yefremov, an analyst at Nomura bank in Japan, electric vehicles are on the market.
However, it was noted that \"the fact that FMC wants to increase capacity in the short term confirms the tight market for battery-grade lithium,\" Aleksey said.
Australia is the largest producer, slightly ahead of Chile and production is falling.
It is estimated that 16 lithium projects will begin production between 2016 and 2020.
Most of these projects are hard rock projects, and they have the ability to go online relatively quickly (
5 years of production expenditure)
Given the short lead time for their production.
Although there may be some time problems and market tensions in the next year or two.
It\'s priced! ! !
The graphite reserves listed by the US Geological Survey are 0. 23 billion tons, and the output in 2015 is 1 ton. 19 million tons.
Although the production is about 36 times more than lithium, there are many synthetic graphite produced.
According to the U. S. Geological Survey estimates, 2013S.
The consumption of natural stone ink and synthetic graphite was 52,200 tons and 159,000 tons respectively.
To put it simply, according to USGS data, according to current consumption and graphite supply in 430, lithium reserves were in 193.
There seems to be more lithium available, but keep in mind that putting reserves into production is a completely different thing.
The graphite booster would claim that the graphite in the battery is twice that of lithium.
This is the best way to measure if you calculate by weight, it may be more like 1.
The battery of a large electric vehicle in timesA needs about 25 kg (55 lb)
Li-graphite
Ion anode, about twice the 15-28 pounds of the lithium I calculated.
At 28 pounds lithium, close to 1.
9 times more graphite.
According to Tesla\'s 150,000 Model 3,2021 Benchmark Mineral Intelligence estimates, the benchmark estimates that the company\'s anode will consume 10,800 tons of spherical graphite and 7,200 tons of lithium hydroxide as a cathode raw material.
This is equivalent to 1.
So I will say five times.
5 to 2 times is the exact number.
So this itself is more optimistic for graphite, but there are two bigger factors at work.
The spherical graphite must be 99.
9% pure carbon and manufactured by refining process, therefore, on average more than half of the thin sheet graphite is lost during the enrichment process.
Therefore, to produce a large amount of spherical graphite, you need to produce 2 tons or more of natural graphite.
So essentially, the graphite needed for the battery is about 3 to 4 times that of lithium.
With lithium, it\'s currently coming out of the mining process with a purity of 90% to 95%, so getting more than 99% is not a big waste, but it\'s an energy-intensive and expensive process.
There are currently two carbon sources in graphite anode.
A synthetic process and spherical graphite made of flaky graphite.
Spherical $3,000 to $4,000 per ton has a cost advantage over synthetic $10,000 per ton, spherical energy consumption is much less, and production is more eco-friendly.
The benchmark article of April 1 also stressed that China produced 100% of natural spherical graphite, and production increased by nearly 50% in the past year alone.
Over the past two months, rising demand has pushed the price of coated spherical graphite up 10%.
Therefore, on the basis of the increase in battery demand, we also see a further increase in the demand for natural graphite, because spherical graphite is recognized by synthetic graphite, which is believed to be Tesla\'s preference.
These two factors mean that the demand or quantity of graphite may be 4 to 6 times higher than the battery market.
Most investors did not understand the facts and did not conduct research.
When you consider that there is more graphite in a lithium ion battery than lithium, graphite is more important to the cost of the battery than lithium.
At present, the market is only a part of the equation, ignoring graphite-
But what I want to say is for our benefit.
At present, Tesla has obtained batteries from Panasonic, which uses synthetic stone ink and spherical graphite.
However, there are two important factors here, the trend of spherical graphite and the contribution of graphite to battery cost is greater than that of lithium.
Graphite has not experienced a surge in lithium prices.
As a result, the supply of graphite has been affected.
There are other factors that may be very optimistic about graphite.
Lithium supplies are diversified around the world, and Australia and Chile are the largest producers, each accounting for about 10% of the supply.
More than 70% of graphite production comes from China, so any policy change is likely to raise prices sharply.
The fourth and very important factor for investors is that the price of lithium shares has risen a lot, and graphite stocks have been weak or depressed.
Always proven to be true the old mantra is low buy high sell.
Now, most investors are doing the opposite thing, buying high lithium stocks and low graphite stocks.
There is nothing wrong with having a lithium stock, the battery is an important aspect of our future and you will make a profit.
However, from what I have found here for you, I believe your graphite inventory should be 4 to 6 times more than lithium.
Most primary graphite companies are aware of the potential of the market and are trying to position themselves as suppliers of battery grade graphite.
This is not their biggest challenge, though!
They are all trying to build a mine through financing, licensing, feasibility and environmental processes, especially in the current downturn in the market.
In addition to that, they also need a user or leave agreement.
This gives me some insight into the two stocks as they have overcome most of them and some others are worth considering as well.
Syrah Resources (SYAAF)-
The latest price is $3.
About 30. 264 billion shares have been issued.
With the weak mining market, Syrah has returned to the attractive buying price again, well below the $6 financial level.
Syrah is the 1st company to put important new graphite mines into production, its flagship Balama project in Mozambique.
The project has the largest graphite ore reserves in the world, and the Australian Joint Ore Reserve Committee (JORC 2012)
Compliant ore reserves 81. 4Mt at 16.
Total graphite carbon 2% (NYSEMKT:TGC)for 13.
1Mt containing graphite.
A feasibility study completed in May 2015 confirmed that the Balama project will be the first four-point producer because of its high grade, open-air mining and extremely low stripping rate.
The processing plant has a feeding rate of 2 MT per year, and in the first 10 years of operation, the average head grade is about 19% TGC, which will produce 356,000 tons of graphite concentrate per year.
This production profile will make Balama the world\'s largest producer of graphite, able to meet the expected growth in demand for lithium-ion battery applications and serve the traditional graphite market.
They were fully funded to build an already advanced mine and are expected to start 1st production in the second quarter of 2017 and increase production in 2017.
There are many photos of the project on their website.
The Balama project was completed as scheduled, with an overall expected completion of 42.
As at August 31, 2016, 6% per cent.
They have five.
Annual leave agreement signed with Marubeni to purchase a total of 50,000 tons of coated and non-coated spherical graphite for major battery and anode customers in Japan and South Korea each year, extensive due diligence and product evaluation by these customers.
In addition, they currently have a spherical graphite pilot plant in China, and Syrah has been considering building a plant in the United States, but there is no specific or announced here.
Interested is Syrah\'s estimate of spherical graphite.
To maximize production ,-
100 US mesh natural graphite is the best material used as raw material in the production process of spherical graphite.
Usually, it takes two to three tons of raw materials to produce one ton of spherical graphite.
About 1 kg of coated spherical graphite is required from Li-ion battery.
Syrah said to feed graphite more than 2 times, up to 3 times.
They estimate the battery six times as much as lithium.
I think that\'s high, but it may mean that my calculations are conservative!
At the moment, they seem to be serving the large number of expected needs in Asia, which are currently more important than in Europe or North America.
This is a high grade large mine with low cash cost, estimated at $286 per ton, which will generate very considerable cash flow and profits.
Trading is mostly in Australia, so the stock chart is most relevant and it shows that we have seen the share price drop to around $4.
00, has been held.
I expect this as support, when cash flow and profits start next year, or start earlier in the expectation, the stock will appreciate significantly.
This is also well below the recent $0. 194 billion financing of $6.
On June, 05 per share was completed.
Syrah believes that further downstream processing of graphite concentrate creates significant potential opportunities for additional value for shareholders!
Advanced Materials (OTCPK:ECORF)-
The latest price is $0.
26 Shares issued: 72 shares.
2 millionI gave up Syrah\'s above statement as this is exactly the path of Elcora, a vertically integrated company that will be involved in the processing and the resulting finished product profit will
Elcora is not a mining company but a processor and technology company.
They have proven through a reputable 3rd-square verification that the graphene they extract from graphite is much better than anyone else in the industry, and they have set up 1st graphene production plants in North America.
See the press release of January 14, 2016, since graphene is still in the R & D phase, it has been commissioned for only a few months and is small in size, but I expect that we will soon see the news of working with other graphene researchers, the researchers currently include many universities, government agencies and major technology companies.
Graphite sells for about $1,000 per ton and graphene sells for $20 to $50 per gram, so the profit margin is many times higher than the sale of graphite, and the production cost is only a penny per gram of Elcora.
At present, the graphene research market is about $30 to $50 million a year, and Elcora does not have any competitors in this market.
It\'s going to be their short-
The long-term source of cash flow, I expect that there will be news on this in the coming months.
On August 24, 2016, Elcora announced the successful preliminary test results of Elcora\'s proprietary lithium-ion battery anode graphite process.
As Dr pointed out, this could be a huge news to reduce battery costs
Ed Buiel is a close colleague of Dr.
Jeff Dane of Tesla
Elcora has developed a proprietary process to reduce the size of graphite crystals to the most suitable size for anode production.
The process was developed to combine particles of different sizes in order to optimize the anode stacking density and minimize the use of spherical graphite.
The purpose of the test is to verify the process of Elcora using grade, dimensional analysis, BET surface area, calendar density and chemical composition.
Elcora can provide a better solution for the battery anode, even if it is comparable to the current spherical graphite, it has great potential for Elcora, which is why: this summer may have missed the market downturn or investors are not aware of it, but at a press conference on August 17, the company said: summaryElcora can easily buy graphite, like they can sell graphite, they already have ins in the industry-
For a 10-year sales agreement with thysenk rup, a leading commodity dealer, see the press release on March 5.
They own Sri Lankan mines that have just started production, with the goal of steadily increasing production.
Currently, they have 1,000 tons of graphite in stock for on-site factory processing.
Sri Lanka\'s Tuan vein graphite is produced from the mine with a purity of about 95%, which is the only place in the world today for this unique product.
It is ideal for the production of graphene with battery grade graphite as a by-productproduct.
Elcora is also currently looking for sources for other production mines.
On October 4, Elcora announced the shipment of 1st kilograms of processed graphite from the mine.
So far, from the 3rd-square test, Elcora\'s graphite process seems better and cheaper than the spherical graphite currently used for batteries.
Large sheet graphite costs $1,000 per ton, and if you\'re lucky enough, all costs are $500, then your profit per ton is $500.
The price of some of Syrah\'s production and production of spherical graphite has further increased, selling for about $3,000 to $4,000 per ton.
We don\'t know what their input costs are yet, but their profit margin will be a multiple of $500 per ton.
Elcora is still developing further and plans to sell the anode for $10,000 to $20,000 per ton.
If Elcora pays $1,000 per ton for graphite, the estimated cost of producing the anode is $4,000 per ton (
Use the top of the spherical range-
Even if they claim the cost of their process is reduced)
Their profit margin will be $1,000 a tonne.
Now, some might say it\'s a high demand and sounds like a pie in the sky, but Elcora has the expertise and brain behind them to make this happen. Dr. Ian Flint a 30-
Annual experts in graphite processing and graphene will be at the helm. They have Dr.
Antonio Castro Neto (
Known as the godfather of graphite)
As a consultant and principal shareholder.
Graphene Research Center (GRC)
National University of Singapore (NYSE:NUS)
It is the first center in Asia dedicated to graphene research.
The National University of Singapore, under the leadership of a professor, established GRC in 2010. Antonio H.
Castro Neto started.
A $40 million fund from the National University of Singapore.
GRC was established under the scientific advice of two Nobel Prize winners in physics.
Professor Constantine Andrei Heim, professor? Novorshaw-
He won 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering graphene. Prof. Antonio H.
Castro Neto is a colleague of Nobel Prize winners Jim and novorselov.
These are the first and brightest people in graphene.
GRC rated Elcora\'s graphene as the best in the world, well above 2nd.
Elcora is also with Dr.
Edward Buiel, chief executive officer and president Coulometrics Co. , Ltd. , who is a colleague of the doctor.
Tesla\'s Jeff Dane is one of the smartest people in the field of lithium-ion batteries.
Demo video from Dr.
Ian Flint has a good understanding of elcora\'s plans. According to the doctor
Flint: an important point of vertical integration is the whole process control from the mine to the final product;
The anode of the battery, which is very important in the graphite industry.
Elcora deals mainly in TSXV, Canada, so the picture above shows.
It seems to build a base between C $0. 30 and $0.
The past few months
I would like to see a break above the resistance and I see about $0. 39/0. 40.
In general, the volume of trading has risen, so the stock seems to be accumulating.
I followed three other junior graphite companies.
Graphite in the North (NGPHF)
The latest price is $0.
23 shares of issued shares 51.
Millionnorth is also working with Dr.
Edward Boyle of Kurt
And it also proves that their graphite is excellent for batteries that they have a proprietary coating process.
The coating is one of the steps to upgrade the graphite mine concentrate to spherical graphite and is an anode material.
Offshore agreements and financing need to be signed in the North to bring their Bisset Creek into production. Mason Graphite (MGPHF)-
The latest price is $1.
08 shares have been issued 139.
Milon Mason\'s Lac Gueret project in Quebec is feasible and they need more licensing work, leave agreements and mine financing.
Mason has done the best so far.
Shares have more than doubled this year, and they have just received $28.
7 million buy transaction financing at a price of 1 Canadian dollar. 10 per share.
With recent financing, the development costs associated with the company\'s Lac Gueret graphite project and Concentrator project are approximately $17 million, and the company expects to bear most of the development costs in the next 12 months
If the excess allocation option is exercised in full, it is approximately $21 million);
These development costs account for part of the project\'s estimated $165. 9-
Million capital expenditure budget
Energy Resources (ENZR)-
The latest price is $0.
055 shares closed 461 million closed non-electricity
Private intermediary
Issue 96,064,286 ordinary shares at 7 cents per share, with a total income of $6,724,500.
Interestingly, they have attracted many funds.
Deng Di and Scott participated in the financing.
With the start of the feasibility study, environmental licensing and mine licensing, their Molo sheet graphite deposit in Majima was advanced.
Capital expenditures were $188, including $24 for unexpected expenses.
They need our money.
In the recent financing, a junior company has a lot of shares, about 0. 461 billion, which is my biggest concern.
The chances of getting my money are slim.
With investments from Dundee and Prost, I have to say that they have to see my way to financing in the future.
SummaryElcora, north, Mason, and Energizer deal very little on OTC, and most of the deals take place on TSXV in Canada.
Mason has just completed the acquisition transaction financing, and Energizer has attracted funds from two major Canadian resource funds, which is a sign for me that the funds have begun to return to the industry.
The share price of Mason Graphite and another junior Zenita company has seen a price spike in the past few months, another sign of my return to the industry.
Disclosure: I am/We are long SYAAF of NGPHF ECORF.
This article was written by myself and expressed my views.
I was not compensated.
I have no business relationship with any stock company mentioned in this article.
Editor\'s note: This article covers one or more microcap stocks.
Please note the risks associated with these stocks.