Rafiki Energy

Breaking news 🗞️ ⚡️: General Motors concluded a joint venture agreement with Lithium Americas Corp. to develop the #lithium rich Thacker Pass in #Nevada. This strategic partnership comes at a time when the USA 🇺🇸 is expediting efforts to increase domestic production of lithium and other critical minerals given their central role in #electric vehicle (EV) #batteries. It’s reported that this agreement is a combination of cash and a line of credit with GM investing $625 million that will see them securing a 38% stake in the Thacker Pass #project. Exciting times in Nevada! 🔋

Congratulations American Battery Technology Company on closing the US Department of Energy grant of $144 million to build your lithium-ion battery #recycling plant. These are indeed impressive efforts towards localizing lithium battery material supply chains and your projected processing capacity of 100,000 tonnes of battery #materials per year will go a long way in supporting climate action goals. Massive congratulations 👏 🔋

According to Tesla , this semi truck can drive 500 miles on a single charge while pulling 82,000 pounds of weight. The journey towards #decarbonizing the #transport sector looks good! 🔋

Did you know? According to the US 🇺🇸 Geological Survey October 2024 estimates, a complete ban on the export of #gallium and #germanium by China 🇨🇳 could result in a US$3.4 billion loss to US GDP. Good news is that, both gallium and germanium can be recovered locally within the US as byproducts of #aluminium, #zinc, coal fly ash processing etc. This ban may just be a blessing in disguise as it will help the US intensify its efforts to harness locally mined critical #minerals. 🔋

Electra Battery Materials Corporation appoints Marty Rendell as CFO beginning Jan 1st 2025. Congratulations Marty, best wishes in your role. 🔋

Africa GreenCo continues to be a major player in the #energy landscape in #Africa. In a recent development, the company has through its subsidiary, GreenCo Finance Solutions Limited, executed a USD 55.5 million Facilities Agreement with Stanbic Bank #Zambia and Standard Bank South Africa Limited to finance #power imports into the Zambian #market.   This is a huge milestone for Zambia because it’ll allow GreenCo to prepay for over 130MW of #electricity imports, a move that will help free cashflows for its major client, #ZESCO. As you may know, Zambia is still facing huge challenges arising from the drought and power rationing has certainly not been helpful in regard to growing the #economy and this development will definitely go a long way in bridging the power deficit gap. 🔋 Ana Hajduka Shields

Avantus recently announced a major #power purchase agreement with Arizona Public Service (APS) for the Kitt Solar Project, a project that is expected to help scale #solar and energy storage capabilities in the State of Arizona. #Construction works are expected to start in 2025 with operations slated for early 2026. This Project will be located in Pinal County, Arizona, within the City of Eloy, and features 100 MWac/130 MWdc of solar and 400 MWh of energy storage with potential to create north of 400 construction #jobs with household service capacity of more than 32,000 homes. Further, it’s estimated that the project will help offset over 200,000mt of #carbon dioxide per year, a very significant reduction and a major boost to global efforts to reduce #greenhouse gas emissions. Good job team Avantus.

Research shows that one of the biggest risks to attaining #climate action goals is a shortage of qualified and skilled #green labor. We talking folks with the right experience across #manufacturing, #processing, #mining, supply chain etc. A 2023 report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) actually indicated that this skills gap could be north of 7 million workers by 2030 and if not addressed now, we may struggle to advance global #decarbonization efforts. What should we be doing now to create this critical mass of #skilled labor and close the gap? On the next episode of Rafiki Energy series podcast, we have the pleasure of hosting Todd Thurston, an expert on these topics. Todd has over the years played a critical role in developing skilled human capital and it’ll be an honor to hear from him on the various #strategies that we can deploy to ensure a #sustainable pipeline of skilled labor. This event will be held over Zoom and meeting joining details will be shared a day before the event. 🔋

Are you an investor looking to invest in some good mining assets in #Africa? Here are some top resource rich African countries by export volumes. #mining #exports #criticalminerals 🔋

What the C$18mn funding means for Nano One Materials Corp. TSX: NANO and the global #lithium ion battery supply chain: This is a significant milestone in Nano’s journey to scale their One-Pot technology and innovation. Let’s circle back a little bit here to reflect on the significance of what Nano is doing. Traditionally, lithium ion battery #manufacturing has always followed a combination of precursor cathode materials (pCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM) processes. These multistage processes are not only time consuming but can also be extremely expensive which makes scaling #battery manufacturing difficult. Through the One-Pot process however, this innovation is able to shrink these multiple stages by mixing lithium and other raw materials together to make the final #cathode powder. The significance of this technology lies in its ability to reduce manufacturing #costs and wastewater levels, products of both the pCAM and CAM process. Given it’s compatibility with both lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and Nickel, Manganese and Cobalt (NMC) cathodes, it’ll go a long way in diluting Chinese dominance and hopefully help position North America as a leader in battery manufacturing. Congratulations 👏 🔋 Picture Source: Nano One Materials.