The Battery Show

Recording date: 10th April 2024 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 14) Copper and gold prices jump again, heralding a junior resources market resurgence. But look! Micro-cap equities have barely moved in the last week, whereas the plus $300 million market cap companies have all posted significant gains. As liquidity returns to the sector it is the bigger companies that benefit the most in...

A weekly Nickel market review with Mark Selby Nickel Market commentator and CEO of Canada Nickel Corp. Recording date: 8th April 2024 Nickel is up more than $1,000 since we last spoke – now at $17,800 or over $8/lb. Chinese PMIs better than expected drove the entire base metal complex higher – all up nearly 2% on a single day, copper now $9,200 per tonne up over $4/lb. The move will need to see mo...

Interview with George Ogilvie, President & CEO of Arizona Sonoran Copper and Simon Clarke, CEO & Director of American Lithium Corp. Recording date: 4th April 2024 The green energy transition is driving strong demand growth for critical battery metals like copper and lithium. Electric vehicles require significantly more copper than traditional internal combustion engines, while lithium-ion...

Recording date: 27 March 2024 Nickel continues to retrace gains – down to $16,600 – more than $1,000 bottom, but has given up about 2/3 of its move from the recent peak. Expect a range of $16,500-$17,500 for the next while. A Tale of Two Markets in China Nickel sulphate continued to climb – up another 3% this week. The “great conversion” that I discussed is continuing – discount coefficients of MH...

Recording date: 20th March 2024 Nickel is in the $17,500 range (just under $8/lb) off about $1,000/tonne since last week’s recent high and retracing some of the gains. Still up 10% from the bottom – remember don’t go up or down in a straight line so this kind of pullback is expected. In China, we are still seeing expected battery restocking with sulphate prices up another 2% this week, however, st...

Recording date: 14th March 2024 Nickel broke through $18,000 level surging up to $18,500 – 16% off the lows from a month ago when nickel was “going to be bad forever…”. It has given up some of those gains but it's still trading at $18,100 or $8.20 per pound. When you have a big short or big long position, when people covering can see a sharp price move (gone from 24,000 lots net short to 8,000 net...

Surging copper demand for the energy transition creates long-term opportunities, but miners must navigate supply challenges to power electrification. Imagine a world powered by clean, renewable energy. Electric vehicles glide quietly down city streets. Solar panels glisten on rooftops. Wind turbines spin gracefully on the horizon. This is the electric future we are striving for - one that copper w...

Interview with Mark Selby, Nickel Market Expert & Commentator Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/nickel-price-rebound-supply-cuts-rising-ev-demand-4874 Recording date: 3rd March 2024 Less than 2 weeks ago, BHP in a half-year report commodity outlook: *“While the supply glut was still contained mainly in the Class-II segment of the industry, operating conditions for inte...

Recording date: 29th February 2024 Major Supply Squeeze Coming in Copper Fundamentally, copper markets look poised to face substantial global supply deficits in the coming years. As emerging explorers and developers race to provide new sources of production, substantial upside exists in copper mining stocks today before this pending supply squeeze fully materializes. Many existing copper mines are...

Recording date: 22nd February 2024 As Chinese New Year comes to an end, nickel prices have moved up to the upper end of the recent range over $17,000 per tonne trading at 3 month high of $17,200. Will wait to see commentary by Monday on current market conditions in China. We will need to see whether it can be sustained but a good start to Year of the Dragon. Some more capitulation moments – BHP ta...

Recording date: 16th February 2034 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 13) Copper prices continue to absorb pressure in early 2024 from a strong US dollar and weak economic data from China. Prices have dipped to US$3.70 / lb and end the week at US$3.80 / lb. Meanwhile it is still hard to define simple metallurgy, good grade, easy geometry, shallow resources. Right on cue American West Metal...

Recording date: 14th February 2024 Nickel prices continue to trade in the $16,000-$17,000 range we’ve been in since mid-December, trading down towards the bottom end of the range after moving towards the upper-end last week.  Expected inventory build emerging with LME inventories continue to move up to 70,000 tonnes level. Have seen a few bumps below $16,000 and may see a bump down to the $15,400...

Recording date: 23rd January 2024 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 12) Betting on Copper’s Supply Crunch Copper prices have pulled back recently amidst a stronger dollar and concerns over a cooling Chinese economy. However, a compelling opportunity is emerging for investors willing to look past short-term volatility – the coming copper supply crunch. New discoveries and mine capacity exp...

Recording date: 24th January 2024 We have seen the 5% move – to the downside - from our last discussions when nickel prices were bumping up against the top end of their recent range in the $16,800-$17,000 and we’ve tested $16,000 level multiple times with a few minor breaks below.   This is creating the capitulation which heralds a bottom – I had been calling for a turn to happen in the New Year (...

Interview with Mark Selby, CEO, Canada Nickel Corp for The Battery Show Previous recording: https://youtu.be/2eEQhElc4Tw Recording date: 19th January, 2024 Nickel Market Poised for Deficit by 2024 as Demand Booms Nickel prices failed to plunge as low as expected in early 2023 due to destocking along the EV supply chain, but underlying demand growth remained resilient at 9% annually from 2020-2022....

Recording date: 10th January 2024 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 11) Copper prices have been falling in real-money terms for 20 years and this has to change in the face of sustained demand growth. The incentive price for new copper production is likely to rise as supply falters due to i) depth of resources ii) grade of resources iii) discovery rate of resources iv) higher interest rate...

Recording date: 30th December The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 10) Copper prices were range-bound over the year. Unexpectedly strong demand and unexpectedly weak supply kept copper prices close to the US$4/lb level. In real terms copper prices have actually fallen since 2006. Supply looks tight and demand looks strong for the foreseeable future. Mind the Gap, Go Explorers! Talking of whi...

Recording date: 21st December 2023 Nickel popped up over $17,000 per tonne after the big moves of the other week and is now around $16,800. Will be interesting to see what happens through year-end. We could see some more 5% moves that we had seen a month ago in the next few weeks. Lower trading volumes during the Christmas period have historically led to commodity funds trying to “shove” the marke...

Recording date: 18th December 2023 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 9) Merlin is still catching up from travel and jury duty, but he is not alone - Bloomberg appears to be six weeks behind Copper Bottomed in calling out a tight copper market for 2024. Meanwhile, Friedland promotes with energy and soon after, Ivanhoe Mines taps the market for C$500M. Dr J.M.Wise reminds us that copper min...

Recording date: 11th December 2023 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 8) Travel has delayed this weeks’ Copper Bottomed a few days… but hang in there, it’s a corker.  The Market section discusses some of the aspects of the Panamanian decision to close Cobre Panama, and the wrong-think and politics behind the decision. Thousands have lost their jobs, the mine produced 5% of GDP and 75% of e...

Recording date: 5th December 2023 Nickel prices did a 5% up and down round trip during the period - touched $15,500 level, then with a few days a nice little squeeze back up to $16,750 driven by Indo news I flagged was coming at the end of this month, and is now settling in either side of $16,500.  Inventories continue to grind slowly highly – am surprised we haven’t seen some chunky LME deliverie...

Recording date: 30th November 2023 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 7) A double-header this week as Merlin was on Jury Duty for the past fortnight. Key market news includes Supreme Court of Panama ruling that the Cobre Panama contract was unconstitutional. The mine produces about 25,000 tonnes of copper per month and has closed down, temporarily one would think.  Also in the news is the...

Recording date: 17th November 2023 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 5) Copper has long been considered a bellwether for the global economy, yet prices have held up remarkably well lately despite economic headwinds. This resilience is signaling strengthening fundamentals poised to drive copper higher. Supply constraints are mounting while demand continues to expand, tightening the market...

Recording date: 16th November 2023 Nickel, trading down again around $17,000/tonne level (think may briefly touch $16,500), but expect to trade in its recent range between $17,000-$17,500 before we start moving higher at year-end. LME inventories in the same range. Ore and NPI prices both came off their recent highs as was reported that Indonesia granted some temporary ore quotas to reduce the nee...

Recording date: 9th November 2023 The Battery Show (Copper Bottomed, Episode 5) This week's discussion covers recent exploration results and market news related to copper mining companies. Merlin starts with Arizona Sonoran who announced drill results from its Parks/Salyer and Cactus Mine projects in Arizona, USA. The company completed infill drilling at 38-meter spacings at both deposits, highlig...