With demand for the minerals and metals used to power electric vehicles far outstripping supply, China’s largest mining companies are moving quickly to diversify their sourcing strategic resources including cobalt, nickel, lithium and rare earths among others.
There’s been a lot of movement lately in the lithium sector in particular. Given that Australia is the world’s largest source of lithium, this presents a real problem for the Chinese who are determined to avoid becoming dependent on the Aussies for battery metals the way they’ve been with iron ore.