On Monday, January 10, local time, according to Reuters, Tesla signed a six-year contract with U.S. miner Talon Metals for the supply of 75,000 tons of nickel, which is Tesla's first nickel supply agreement in the United States.
Tesla chose Talon Metals' Tamarack mine in Minnesota as a supplier side because it plans to produce nickel in a more environmentally friendly way and will open in 2026.
According to foreign media reports, the well-known Australian nickel miner IGO's Nova mine in Western Australia is expected to produce nickel concentrate in 2022 at 2022. In other words, Tesla's 75,000-ton nickel concentrate order is roughly equivalent to three years of production at the Nova mine.
It is worth mentioning that nickel is a key part of the cathode of electric vehicle power batteries, and high energy density ternary power batteries have a large demand for nickel, so it plays a very important role in tesla's future development.
According to Zhejiang Securities Research Report, the US market has always favored high-energy density batteries, Tesla's 4680 large cylindrical batteries focus on high-end, high-energy density routes, and clearly choose high-nickel technology routes.
In July 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly called on mining companies to supply more nickel. "If you mine nickel in an environmentally friendly and efficient way, Tesla will give you a long-term, large contract," he said. In July 2021, Tesla signed a nickel supply contract with Australian mining giant BHP Billiton, and in October 2021, Tesla signed a procurement contract with Proni Resources, a mining company based in French New Caledonia, for about 42,000 tons of nickel.
However, Reuters also mentioned in the report that because there is currently no nickel refining plant in the United States, it is not yet possible to determine where Tesla will refine nickel.