
How Tesla Is Shaking Up Metals Markets - bootload
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/05/05/how-tesla-is-shaking-up-metals-markets
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nathancahill
Same article?
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11644597](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11644597)

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rmm
The hype on lithium is extraordinary. Everybody in my industry is out looking
for it, hoping to develop a project, put together some half-baked feasibility
study on, and sell it to one of the bigger miners. (Who probably will buy it).

Battery tech is only now becoming the bigger end-user of lithium (ceramics and
glass have been the biggest consumers to date), and although the growth is
quite rapid the ability for the current market to supply is not difficult.

A project in Argentina is just ramping up and the facilities nameplate
throughput will be able to increase global supply 20-30% itself.

Its not so much Tesla shaking it up, but the hype around it.

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dredmorbius
Tesla needs 60kg of copper per vehicle. At current global extraction, new
supplies are 2 kg/capita. That's a crimp on total vehicle availability. Most
major mines are due for closure within a few years.

Total copper content of Earth's crust is fairly high, but little of that is
economic even at massively higher prices.

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ssmoot
Why so much copper? Motor windings? High current wiring? Some massive
heatsinks?

