Mining Weekly

Diversified mining and marketing company Glencore and General Motors (GM) have announced a multiyear sourcing agreement in which Glencore will supply GM with cobalt from its Murrin Murrin operation, in Australia.

The agreement represents initial strategic collaboration between the two companies regarding a metal that provides electric vehicle (EV) batteries with energy density and longevity.

Environmental Sustainability

This comes against the backdrop of GM’s EV supply chain strategy prioritising environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation.

Cobalt processed from Australia will be used in GM’s Ultium battery cathodes, which will power EVs such as the Chevrolet Silverado, the GMC Hummer, and the Cadillac LYRIQ.

The agreement builds on a commitment both companies share to create strong, sustainable and resilient supply chains through collective industry and multistakeholder platforms, Glencore stated in a release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

Both Glencore and GM are members of the Responsible Minerals Initiative, and Glencore’s Murrin Murrin operation is conformant with the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process.

“We are delighted to announce this collaboration and support General Motors in delivering its electric vehicle strategy,” Glencore US cobalt marketer and trader Ash Lazenby stated.

“Future-facing commodities like cobalt play a pivotal role in decarbonising energy consumption and the electric vehicle revolution. Glencore is already a leading producer, recycler and supplier of these commodities, which underpin our own ambition of achieving net-zero total emissions by 2050,” Lazenby added.

GM and its suppliers are building an EV ecosystem that is focused on sourcing critical raw materials in a secure, sustainable manner, GM VP: global purchasing and supply chain Jeff Morrison stated.

“Importantly, given the critical role of EVs in reducing the carbon footprint of the transportation sector, this agreement is aligned with our approach to responsible sourcing and supply chain management,” Morrison added.

Battery Longevity Cobalt, a metal that makes up only 0.001% of the earth’s crust, is known for its heat-resistant properties and is added to lithium-ion battery cathodes to improve energy density and battery longevity.

By the end of 2025, GM plans to have capacity to build one-million EVs in North America, and has announced a series of actions to create a new and more secure EV supply chain.

Projects targeting key EV materials and components include:

• cathode active material with Posco Chemical. GM and Posco are building a new facility in Quebec, Canada, as part of their joint venture to produce cathode active material for GM’s Ultium batteries;
• lithium with controlled thermal resources to secure lithium produced by the first stage of its Hell’s Kitchen Project in California;
• rare earth materials with GE, to develop a rare earth value chain;
• alloy flakes with MP Materials, which will establish the first North American processing site for alloy flakes. The company will then expand into magnet manufacturing around 2025 at its new production facility in Fort Worth, Texas; and
• permanent magnets with large permanent magnet producer VAC, which will establish a North American footprint to support GM’s magnet requirements starting in 2024, including locally sourced raw materials and finished magnet production.