Over the summer Elon Musk had spoken far and wide of the intention to abandon cobalt, a mineral whose extraction is under the magnifying glass in terms of illegal exploitation of human labor and corruption, embracing nickel. Tesla’s founder had expected an expense of one billion dollars a year for the supply of lithium from Australia, but at the same time he had promised bridges of gold even to those who would have offered him a noteworthy deal as regards the precious nickel.
The supply will materialize thanks to the exploitation of one mine in New Caledonia, with 42 thousand tons of recoverable and necessary material for electric car batteries. The company Prony Resources, owner of the mine, will implement a multi-year plan with Tesla supported precisely by the recent acquisition of operations in the French overseas territory from the Brazilian Vale. “New Caledonia is credited with possessing 25% of the world’s nickel stocks. For manufacturers of electric vehicles, it is a top priority in terms of costs and certainty of supply to ensure sufficient supplies of raw materials, in this case of nickel, sustainable and low-carbon (for the moment the energy that powers the mine comes from From one coal-fired power plant; Prony’s goal is to be carbon neutral by 2040 thanks to solar power). The deal will make Tesla by far Prony’s largest customer, CEO Antonin Beurrier said“, We read in the Sole 24 Ore.
There is some shadow on the operation, in addition to the coal-fired power plant that far beyond the ethical limit that Elon Musk set, for example, against Bitcoin when he spoke of wasting energy to extract cryptocurrencies. But there is also the protest of the premises, which at the time of Vale’s management had sabotaged the plants. There will therefore be work to really get that nickel, and above all to do it in a sustainable way.