The US is too reliant on a battery materials supply from outside the country especially China, the CEO of battery minerals firm American Battery Metals Corporation (AMBC) has said.
Doug Cole’s comments came as the big three lithium companies telegraphed profit warnings due to coronavirus-driven logistics issues in the supply chain.
A statement by ABMC stated that this highlighted how reliant the US is on China for the critical minerals necessary for electric vehicles and stationary storage applications.
Cole said: “America is only mining and producing a little more than 1% of the world’s lithium, yet we have huge amounts of resources ready to be developed.
“If coronavirus has shown us anything, it’s that we are far too reliant on China and other countries for key minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. The United States is rich in these key metals, and we must quickly increase domestic investment to bring these resources into the supply chain.”
During a video interview on 30 March with Proactive Investor news channel, Cole said he didn’t think the pandemic had affected the battery metals supply chain but it has shown the US industry should be more reliant on a domestic materials supply chain.
He said: “What it’s really done for us is identify the fact that the US has been buying these critical minerals outside of the US for many years and it needs to start buying them from within the US from US companies.
“I think you are going to see the US government getting very strong on when they need these kinds of minerals they are going to buy them from a US company first.”
Earlier this year American Battery Metals Corporation announced plans for a lithium-ion battery recycling plant in its home state of Nevada, US, which is due online by July and full production by December.
“We have developed and are currently implementing an integrated, scalable, commercial plant for the universal recycling of lithium-ion batteries of various form factors and chemistries,” said American Battery Metals Corporation Chief Technology Officer Ryan Melsert.
“Through our recycling process, we will ‘mine’ lithium, cobalt, nickel and other key materials fundamental to lithium-ion batteries, from waste and end-of-life batteries. Our recycling process is environmentally-sustainable, and is a significant step toward a more circular economy.”