🇬🇧 Our sincere congratulations to *Sir* Stanley Whittingham, the founding father of the lithium ion battery. Stan has fittingly received a knighthood from Princess Anne. Stan received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2019, first appeared as our keynote guest for Benchmark Week in 2017, and received the Benchmark Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 alongside Arnold @Schwarzenegger It was true honour to also have Stan as our guest of honor at the Benchmark AGM 2024 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Has had a profound impact on the world we live in and this rightfully been recognised in the biggest of ways. Huge congratulations Stan, from all of Team Benchmark! @binghamtonu

The Minerals of the Future… @benchmarkmin x @VisualCap / @VCElements Copper Lithium Nickel Rare earths Phosphate Graphite Manganese

President Trump has a strong focus on critical minerals for nearly a decade now. China’s dominance of the rare earth industry was of key political focus back in 2017. This dragged other critical minerals into the discussion especially cobalt, graphite, nickel and lithium (in that order) Lithium was a similar strong focus for @elonmusk since the early 2010s as well. Tesla close to buying a lithium mine on more than one occasion … and now has opened a refinery in Texas. This all evolved into Biden’s American Jobs Act which became Inflation Reduction Act… but it began with Trump 1.0 Senator @lisamurkowski and @marcorubio were key proponents and catalysts for this thematic. A reminder of key actions: 1.Executive Order 13817 (December 20, 2017): “A Federal Strategy To Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals” 2.Executive Order 13953 (September 30, 2020): “Addressing the Threat to the Domestic Supply Chain From Reliance on Critical Minerals From Foreign Adversaries and Supporting the Domestic Mining and Processing Industries” 3. And now the 3rd executive order… the day one Unleashing Americas Energy on January 20, 2025 Back in 2017, it was more a political than industrial necessity as the US did not have the midstream component manufacturing that are the immediate customers of these critical minerals and chemicals. Now the US is in play with these industries - especially lithium ion batteries. Two good @benchmarkmin reads: ➡️ How Biden Admin raced to protect clean energy loans ➡️ What do Trump’s executive orders mean for critical minerals ➡️ Mine and @MBazilian’s 5 Ways to Act on Critical Minerals

🇺🇸 The headlines will focus on #Trump EV incentive cuts, but this is far more interesting. If any golden age of America is to happen it will be underpinned by minerals… “Sec. 2.  Policy.  It is the policy of the United States: “ to establish our position as the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals, which will create jobs and prosperity at home, strengthen supply chains for the United States and its allies, and reduce the global influence of malign and adversarial states”

@PedroCoSilva @rhomotion 89m: 86m for cars

A short summary: a chaotic Europe goes slightly backwards, USA grows 10% (eye opening for many, China surges in this technology shift.

@CrowStu @amiller_bmi @benchmarkmin Thank you Stu! Our rendition of Afternoon Delight is coming out soon…

@MitchSmithVanc @amiller_bmi @benchmarkmin @CDMRawles Thank you Mitch!

Caspar Rawles @CDMRawles becomes COO Caspar has been the general behind the operation for nearly a decade now. His ability to execute our vision and implement world class processes have been major factors in our success. Clear, concise, clinical – Caspar is a tailor made COO for Benchmark’s new era and will be an ideal number two for Andy. My role will now be full time as Executive Chairman. Details here:

Sunshine ☀️ + 172 Tesla Megapacks 🔋 (1.2GWh) batteries to supply 7% of Los Angeles electricity needs - @latimes Record low lithium ion battery prices have sparked the real beginnings of the energy storage revolution. Batteries now as low as $59/kWh and averaging in the $70s - @benchmarkmin Cheap batteries won’t last forever - lithium and key raw materials prices dictate this. 🇺🇸 Good read here on @LADWP new facility:

The EU 🇪🇺 critical minerals gap: The graphic below compares the EU-based supply of several critical battery minerals with the targets set out by the Critical Raw Materials Act launched in May 2024 @benchmarkmin x @VisualCap

At some point we will stop calling it *green* and *climate* and start calling it *industry* and *technology* … ——- @HarvardHBS : 45% of U.S. public companies in major industries are developing or selling climate solutions

Trump could oversee an EV ‘battery boom’ — or bust - E&E News by POLITICO

@karelstrobbe True. The ebbs and flows of critical minerals.

“If #Northvolt cannot be revived, Europe will cede what little gains it had made against China in building up its battery value chain. “Europe needs battery capacity,” says Simon Moores, chief executive of @benchmarkmin . “The pendulum of industrial battery power has just swung east towards China.” Read @Telegraph story here: