Battery Metals

The national aluminum associations of North America have issued a joint letter urging a rapid end to tariffs within the trading block on aluminum products.

The national associations of Canada, Mexico and the United States say in the letter sent to federal leaders of the three countries that tariffs should be removed before the new North American trade agreement is signed.

They say the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement can’t work for the aluminum industry without exempting Canada and Mexico from section 232 tariffs or quotas.

The associations state in the letter that no tariffs or quotas are needed because of action already taken by the three countries, including anti-dumping investigations by the U.S., Canada’s move to prevent transshipment and diversion of aluminum and steel, and Mexico’s initiation of an anti-dumping case against Chinese aluminum foil imports from China.

The Aluminum Association, the Aluminium Association of Canada and IMEDAL say they look forward to working with respective governments as they work to address the fundamental problem of Chinese aluminum overcapacity.

Mexico’s deputy commerce minister Juan Carlos Baker said in late October that the country wouldn’t sign the trade agreement until tariffs are removed.

Our team at IBM Research developed a new technique to control the magnetism of a single copper atom, a technology that could one day allow individual atomic nuclei to store and process information.

In a paper published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, our team demonstrated that we can control the magnetism of a single atom’s nucleus by performing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) one atom at a time. NMR is the process that underlies magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, the technique that non-invasively reveals intricately detailed images of the body. NMR is also a critical tool used to determine the structures of molecules.

This is the first time NMR has been achieved using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM), the Nobel Prize-winning IBM invention that allows atoms to be viewed and moved individually, an important breakthrough because the STM can image and position each atom to study how the NMR changes and responds to the local environment. By scanning the ultra-sharp tip of the STM’s metal needle across the surface, the STM can sense the shape of single atoms and can pull or carry atoms into desired arrangements.

Performing NMR on a single atom requires two major steps. First, we polarized (oriented in a well-defined direction) the magnetic direction of the nucleus. Then, we manipulated the magnetism of the nucleus by applying radio waves emanating from the tip of a sharp metal needle. The radio waves are tuned precisely to the natural frequency of the nucleus.

The copper atom with a magnetic heart

Copper is abundant and widely used in our everyday life, from electric wiring in houses to hooking up individual circuits in microchips. The usefulness of metal copper originates from its outstanding ability to conduct electricity. The magnetic properties of copper are much less well known − we never see a piece of copper attracted by a magnet. But copper’s magnetism comes to life when individual copper atoms are not surrounded by other copper atoms.

When you shrink technology down to the most fundamental extreme – the atomic scale – a single copper atom can become magnetic, depending on how it interacts with the neighboring atoms that hold the copper. In our experiment, we made the copper atom magnetic by attaching it to a carefully chosen surface composed of magnesium oxide. This magnetism comes from the electrons in the copper atom. These electrons circulate around the nucleus – the “heart” of the atom – which, remarkably, is also magnetic. When we put two fridge magnets together, they either attract or repel. Similar physics hold for the electron magnet and the nuclear magnet, and the magnetic force between them tends to align them, so they point in the same direction. The technical term for this magnetic force within the atom is hyperfine interaction.

How to harness the magnetism of the nucleus

The weak magnetic signal of the nucleus makes it challenging to detect and control. The nuclear magnet is so tiny that its orientation fluctuates randomly due to heat, even when cooled to extremely low temperature as in our experiments. This makes it difficult to control the magnetic direction of the nucleus, called its “spin,” in order to use it to process information and sense other magnets. In MRI imaging, a very large magnetic field is used to align the nuclei in your body’s atoms to point in one direction. But heat disrupts this alignment so the nuclei point nearly in random directions, with only a slight tendency to follow the field. As a result, many trillions of atoms are required in MRI to produce a measurable signal. To control a single atom’s nucleus, it must be aligned much more predictably, a major challenge. Then each atom must be sensed individually to detect an NMR signal.

To overcome these challenges, we use the electron orbiting the nucleus as a messenger as well as a manager. The electron inside the copper atom “talks” with the nucleus through the hyperfine interaction, in order to nudge the nucleus to point in the desired direction, and then senses the resulting direction. By detecting and controlling the copper electron using electric current, we detect and control the nuclear magnetism of a single copper atom.

Our copper atom is attached to a carefully chosen surface, magnesium oxide, that allows us to probe the copper’s magnetism. To address the nuclear magnetism of a single copper atom, our team developed a specialized magnetic tip for the microscope by placing a single atom of iron at its extreme apex, which makes it possible to manipulate and detect the very weak magnetism of single atomic nucleus.

Single-atom NMR with current-controlled initialization

By simply using an electric current, we are able to transfer the magnetic orientation of the tip of the STM to the magnetic orientation of the core of a copper atom – the nucleus. This is similar to the spin-transfer torque technique, the method used to write information to magnetic bits in the next-generation computer memory known as MRAM. The animation above illustrates how the magnetism is transferred to the nucleus. After the nucleus is set to a desired orientation, we need to read out the barely tangible signal of nuclear orientation. To do this, we employ the electron spin residing on the same atom as a transmitter, building off of a previous paper published last month. We use a technique called “Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)” applied to individual atoms, a capability developed in the IBM Research – Almaden lab three years ago.

Our team has taken a second big step in this work by demonstrating NMR of a single atom, by using a radio wave transmitted to the atom through the microscope’s tip. NMR techniques are widely used to study the structure of molecules and to image internal structures within the human body. Since the nucleus of copper is magnetic, a magnetic field exerts a force that causes it to process, similar to a spinning top tracing out cone-shaped surfaces while they precess in the earth’s gravitational field. The tiny “spinning” copper nuclei can orient themselves in only four different ways with respect to the magnetic field, according to the laws of quantum mechanics. This is why you see four cones associated with the nucleus in the figure and animation. By tuning the frequency of the radio wave emitted from the sharp tip of STM, to the characteristic precessing frequency of the “nuclear antenna,” we are able to resonantly rotate the orientation of the nuclear spin.

We will combine this new ability to control the spin of the nucleus with the STM’s ability to arrange atoms to construct and probe electronic and magnetic devices that operate at the atomic scale, aiming toward using nuclear spins to process quantum information.

 

Copper prices slipped on Tuesday as the market waited for the result of the U.S. midterm elections and a monetary policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve later this week.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.4 percent at $6,169 a tonne at 1039 GMT.

“The market is waiting for developments in the United States, the election today and the Fed meeting. We’re not expecting a rate rise this month, but we may get clues about December,” said Capital Economics analyst Ross Strachan.

“We’re bearish in the short term on metals because of China, where there is a significant growth slowdown and where stimulus will take a while to feed through. We expect China to take further easing measures over coming months.”

ELECTION: Markets are closely watching the U.S. midterm Congressional elections, as policy decisions that could sway the economy, corporate decision-making and consumer spending hinge on the results.

FED: The U.S. Federal Reserve meets Wednesday and Thursday and again on Dec. 18-19 when there will be a news conference.

Many expect higher U.S. rates in December. That would boost the U.S. currency, which when it rises makes dollar-denominated cheaper for holders of other currencies.

SUPPORT: Industrial metals gleaned some support from a Chinese official saying Beijing was ready to work with the United States to resolve trade disputes between the world’s two largest economies. “We are expecting China and the United States to start talks,” INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.

“However, we are under no illusions that the discussions will ultimately be successful as the points in dispute are so contentious, they may be beyond fixing.”

CHINA: New bank loans rebounded in September after dipping in the two previous months, but overall credit conditions stayed tight in an economy chilled by an ongoing tariff war with the United States. Export orders to the United States signed at China’s largest trade fair dropped 30.3 percent on the year, its organiser said.

POSITIONS: A large position holding between 50 and 79 percent of zinc stocks in LME approved warehouses have fuelled concern about nearby zinc supplies on the LME market.

This can be seen on the premium for the cash over the three-month contract at around $40 a tonne. The premium is down from the three-month high of $64 a tonne seen last week, but that compares with a discount only a few weeks ago.

Three-month zinc was down 0.3 percent at $2,514 a tonne.

PRICES: Aluminium was unchanged at $1,975 a tonne, lead gained 0.1 percent to $1,936, tin fell 0.2 percent to $19,030 a tonne amd nickel was up 1.1 percent at $11,875.

The growth of spiky dendritic crystals on the surface of a lithium metal foil anode (negative electrode) during charging of a lithium battery is well-known among battery researchers and engineers. According to new research at Washington University in St. Louis, however, it may not be as well understood as had been previously thought, despite the phenomenon being well-known. It turns out that there are three distinct types of dendrites. The type that forms depends upon how much charging current is passing through the battery cell.

Moving Beyond Lithium Ion

Lithium ion batteries have become the standard for personal electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), and electrical power grid storage. Batteries of this type avoid the formation of dendrites through the use of a layered carbon-graphite anode that can store lithium ions between the carbon atoms (in a process called intercalation) during charging and release them during discharging. But the graphite anode can only store so many lithium ions, limiting the energy that the battery can provide. The use of a lithium metal foil instead of the carbon as an anode provides a much greater supply of lithium ions and up to three times the energy storage capability. But when charging, the lithium plates in an irregular manner onto the metal foil surface. It thus forms dendrites that can grow large enough to reach the cathode (positive electrode), causing shorting and potentially a fire.

Until now, scientists have been trying to find ways to reduce or eliminate the formation of dendrites. But it turns out that it isn’t that simple. “If you call them all dendrites, you’re looking for one solution to solve actually three problems, which is impossible,” said Peng Bai, assistant professor in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, in a university news release. “That’s why, after so many years, this problem has never been solved,” he added.

Three Types of Dendrites Can Form

Bai’s team has identified three distinct types of dendrites, or growth modes, in lithium metal anodes, depending upon the level of current used for charging. “If you use very high current, it builds at the tip to produce a treelike structure,” Bai said. These are the classical dendrites with the spiky appearance that are best known. In this case, the whiskers grow from the trunks of tree-like structures (giving dendrites their name).

Below a certain threshold level of current, however, the dendrite whiskers grow directly on the metal surface and the “tree trunks” are no longer present. Within those two limits, there exists the dynamic transition from whiskers to dendrites, which Bai calls “surface growth.” Here, the lithium plates into a variety of shapes on the lithium metal surface. The growths were found to be related to the competing reactions in the region between the liquid electrolyte and the metal deposits.

One way that battery engineers and researchers hope to control dendrite formation with lithium metal batteries is through the use of a solid electrolyte. Current commercial lithium ion batteries use liquid organic solvent electrolytes and it is hoped that the so-called “solid-state” battery will prevent lithium dendrite growth. The Washington University study found that a nanoporous ceramic separator could block dendritic whisker growth up to a certain current density, after which surface growths would slowly penetrate the separator. The study noted, “With a strong enough current, “true dendrites” form, which can easily and very quickly penetrate the separator to short the battery.”

In the study, when the separator was pierced, the battery was in danger of catastrophic failure, although its perilous condition was not necessarily apparent. Bai said, “Our unique transparent cell revealed that the voltage of battery could look quite normal, even though the separator has been penetrated by a lithium metal filament. Without seeing what is happening inside, you could be easily fooled by the seemingly reasonable voltage, but, really, your battery has already failed.”

Which dendritic growth mechanism occurs depends not only on the level of current, but also the age and charge history of the lithium battery. The thresholds for the dendritic growth types become lower as the battery ages. In addition, there is a push to faster charging, particularly for EVs, and the higher currents required can result in differing types of dendrite formation. If solid state lithium batteries are to become viable, the results of the study will need to be considered to control the differing types of dendrites that are formed. “Battery operation is highly dynamic, in a very wide range of currents. Yet its disposition varies dramatically along the cycle life. That is why this becomes necessary,” Bai said.

While Europe has long been at the forefront of the automotive industry, it will most likely be overtaken in the very near future by another economic superpower–China. The world’s second-biggest economy is already well-established as the global leader for the batteries that power electric vehicles, which are seen as a vital component to the future of the automotive industry. In light of this dynamic, Europe will become increasingly dependent on China as an integral part of their automotive sector, an industry with millions of employees across the continent.

The European market should start contending with the likely outcome that European car production will soon be making a mass move to China. This will have a major impact on the region that has long counted companies like Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Renault among its economic strongholds.

China produces about two thirds of the whole world’s supply of lithium ion batteries, the most common battery type used in electric vehicles. Furthermore, these highly valuable batteries make up a staggering 40 percent of the cars’ value. As it stands, Europe is far from being able to compete with China when it comes to the production of lithium ion batteries. In fact, currently the entire continent is estimated to hold just 1 percent of the market.

Moving the production of electric cars to China is a no-brainer for European car companies. Not only is China the site where many of the essential parts are manufactured, allowing car companies to avoid the heft tariffs currently imposed on electric vehicles, it’s also home to what is by far the world’s biggest market for electric cars. China already accounts for about half of electric vehicle sales worldwide, and these numbers will only continue to grow. Last year the Chinese government went so far as to release a “road map” that shows a plan to replace at least one-fifth of new car sales with alternative fuel vehicles by 2025. These are all facts that the international car industry has not let go unnoticed–investments in Chinese-made electric cars are through the roof.

Last year Volkswagen announced that it would be pouring a whopping $12 billion into the production of electric vehicles in China. Meanwhile, electric car wunderkind Tesla is busy building a Shanghai factory that will have a production capacity of half a million electric cars per year. To compare, currently in the whole of the United States only about 100,000 electric cars are produced annually.

Even European battery companies are investing overseas instead of building the industry locally. Take the Dutch lithium ion battery maker Lithium Werks, which already has two plants in China, and has now announced plans to build an additional factory outside Shanghai to the tune of €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion). The massive factory will, when up and running at full capacity, be able to manufacture enough batteries to power 160,000 cars a year. The company cited better infrastructure and easier access to building permits as their primary reasons for building in China–in Europe a similar venture would simply be met with too much red tape.

Taking cues from China, the European Union (EU) is now trying to make the continent a more attractive place for both makers and buyers of electric vehicles. This year the European Commission released an action plan that aims to foster heavier investing in battery technologies on European soil by offering more funding, among other incentives. The plan underlines the ever-increasing risk that Europe will get edged out of supply change and losing influence over environmental standards if they don’t make more of a presence in the battery industry.

That being said, the European Commission’s initiative may very well may be too little, too late. Action plan or no, Europe would have to work miracles to catch up with China. 1 percent of the lithium ion battery industry versus two thirds is far beyond your standard David and Goliath tale, and miracles are a bit harder to come by in the modern world.

BHP Billiton Ltd.’s giant Olympic Dam mine in Australia’s Outback is a labyrinth of 280 miles of tunnels and roads — an ideal testing ground for the industry’s burgeoning shift toward cleaner power.

Taking about 30 minutes to drive from top to bottom, there’s ample opportunity for the world’s biggest miner to test electric SUVs in a bid to cut both costs and pollution, including potentially harmful diesel emissions. BHP will make a decision by the middle of next year whether to extend the program across a 240-strong fleet of light vehicles at the South Australia operation.

“Getting mines to be completely diesel free is our end goal,” said Andrew Draffin, a project manager at Voltra, a supplier that’s provided BHP with adapted Toyota LandCruiser models fitted with an electric motor and lithium-ion batteries. “We’ve started with light vehicles because that’s the easiest for companies to prove the electric concept.”

While less than 1 percent of vehicles used in mining are currently battery-powered, the change is likely to be rapid and see the majority of trucks and loaders replaced with electric equipment over the next seven to 10 years, according to Epiroc, a Swedish manufacturer and supplier to the mining industry.

Advances in technology and the plunging costs of lithium-ion batteries are allowing the industry to begin a potential transformation of their mines, replacing diesel-fueled equipment from drills to 40-ton haul trucks with quieter, more efficient and less-polluting electric-powered alternatives.

BHP’s tests are aimed at demonstrating if the use of EVs at mines can help lower greenhouse gas emissions, trim operating costs and boost a wider program to address risks to employees’ health from exposure to diesel particulate matter. The producer hopes to eliminate a current need for some of the 800 underground staff to wear respirators while they work.

In Canada, Goldcorp is already preparing to leap ahead. The underground Borden mine in Ontario — scheduled to begin commercial production next year — will use all-electric equipment, eliminating an annual need for about three million liters of diesel fuel.

The switch will cut operating costs, reduce the need for ventilation deep in the mine and help improve the working environment by curbing emissions of diesel particulate, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, according to the producer.

Suppliers are preparing for the industry’s shift. Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of mining and construction equipment, is testing battery-powered models, and has invested in Fisker Inc., a developer of EVs and advanced rechargeable battery technology. Sandvik in June agreed a project to add electric and autonomous equipment at Resolute Mining’s Syama gold operation in Mali.

Members of the International Council on Mining and Metals, a group of 27 of the industry’s largest companies, are discussing an initiative to eliminate carbon emissions from vehicles used in the sector at a meeting Tuesday, ICMM CEO Tom Butler told Bloomberg Television in an interview ahead of the talks. More companies will look to move to all-electric mines, he said.

“It’s going to take a long time, but I think it’s time that we started that journey,” Butler said Tuesday. “We’re a very innovative industry.”We came up with driverless vehicles a long time before Google,” referring to about a decade of deployment of autonomous trucks.

Epiroc sees strong demand for battery-powered products and has significant ambitions to boost sales, Chief Executive Officer Per Lindberg said on an earnings call last week. “It does not make sense underground to go for anything else, because we are polluting the air that we breathe and the costs are enormous,” Erik Svedlund, the supplier’s global marketing manager for electrification, said by phone from Orebro, Sweden. “The deeper the mine, then the bigger the savings.”

Eliminating diesel emissions underground reduces the need for costly ventilation of underground pits, while the electric equipment has lower operating and maintenance costs, said Tony Makuch, CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd., which uses battery-powered trucks and loaders at the Macassa mine in Ontario. The site, which reaches depths of about 2 kilometers, deployed electric trucks in 2013 and was the first in the world to use the technology, according to the company.

Kirkland, which has other mines in Canada and Australia, has worked with equipment makers to help develop the trucks and loaders, which can currently cost as much as double the diesel equivalents. Existing models are improving fast, though have faced challenges with performance, charging time and operating speeds. The sector will also need a wider variety of vehicles capable of handling larger loads to encourage adoption, Makuch said.

“By 10 years from now, I’d think we’ll go from 90 to 100 percent reliance on diesel at some mines to less than 20 percent, the rest will be using batteries,” Makuch said. “If all the equipment was developed now, I’d want to pretty much convert our all mines at once.”