Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - According to the head of BHP Group's nickel business, the company will spend more money on nickel exp...
 |
| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - According to the head of BHP Group's nickel business, the company will spend more money on nickel exploration over the next two years to keep up with rising demand for the raw element used to make electric car batteries.
Through its Nickel West division, BHP has contracts with Tesla, Toyota, and this month, Ford, to supply the metal.
Based on its 120,000 hectare land holding in Western Australia's Agnew-Wiluna belt, the miner claimed to have the second largest nickel sulphide resource base globally.
According to Jessica Farrell, Asset President for BHP Nickel West, the region has more than 7.4 million tonnes of nickel that are mainly untapped.
Farrell stated at an industry conference in Kalgoorlie that "We have budgeted a large uptick in exploration spend over the next two years, which we think will advance several of our prospects."
According to Farrell, this year will see the greatest yearly expenditure on exploration in Nickel West.
According to her, global sales of electric vehicles are expected to reach 60% by 2030 and reach 90% by 2040.
Nickel is anticipated to be a key component of the battery chemistry that will power this worldwide fleet, according to Farrell.
According to her, "this megatrend, along with a strong demand foundation from the traditional stainless and class-1 applications, implies that we predict demand for nickel in the next 30 years will be 200 percent to 300 percent of demand in the preceding 30 years."
Three of BHP's key nickel facilities in Western Australia are expected to have their energy needs met by 2024 thanks to contracts the company struck with power firms for sustainable wind and solar energy. One such agreement was for wind power from Italy's Enel Green Power.
