Stellantis shores up EV strategy with pact to buy Australian nickel and cobalt

In a further sign that overseas electric vehicle makers are turning to Australia for raw materials needed to feed future production, Stellantis, the Dutch-based conglomerate that oversees 16 car brands has agreed to buy nickel and cobalt from a yet-to-be-developed mine in Western Australia.

The agreement, for now a non-binding memorandum of understanding, was reached with Perth-based GME Resources, whose proposed nickel-cobalt development project NiWest aims to mine around 90,000 tonnes of battery-grade nickel and cobalt sulphate for the  EV market annually.

Stellantis – whose marques include Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, Peugeot and Ram – has a big job ahead of it transitioning to electric.

“Securing the raw material sources and battery supply will strengthen Stellantis’ value chain for electric vehicle battery production and equally important, help the company achieve its aggressive decarbonisation target,” said Maxime Picat, Stellantis chief purchasing and supply chain officer.

Deal with Stellantis a “critical step”

GME, in a statement, said more than $30 million has been invested into drilling, metallurgical testing and studies for its project so far and that a definitive feasibility study – typically the last stage prior to fund raising and mine construction — for NiWest is due to start this month.

“We’re very pleased with how our discussions have progressed and we now look forward to progressing more detailed negotiations in parallel with the start of the definitive feasibility study for the NiWest nickel-cobalt project,” GME managing director, Paul Kopejtka said.

A binding agreement with Stellantis would be a “critical step”  towards development of the project, according to Kopejtka.

Both Tesla and Ford in June inked supply agreements with Australia’s Liontown Resources, underpinning development of Liontown’s Kathleen Valley lithium project.

Tesla and Ford also have supply pacts with BHP for nickel.

Also, Glencore holds a multi-year agreement with General Motors to supply the automaker with cobalt from its Murrin Murrin project in Australia.

GM has set the goal of having 30 new EVs models, equivalent to 1 million electric cars, in the market by 2025.

Stellantis, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, has announced plans  to reach 100 percent EV passenger car sales in Europe and 50 per cent  EV passenger car and light-duty truck sales in the US by 2030.