China Harnesses a Technology That Vexed the West, Unlocking a Treasure Chest
Chinese companies achieve dominance by accessing a new source of minerals the world needs for EV batteries
China Harnesses a Technology That Vexed the West, Unlocking a Treasure Chest
Chinese companies achieve dominance by accessing a new source of minerals the world needs for EV batteries
By Jon Emont
Six years ago, Chinese engineers set out on a risky path to turn trash into treasure.
Their target was the vast quantities of ore containing nickel and cobalt that blanket Indonesia’s distant islands but are of such low grade that they were treated as little more than waste. If the engineers could figure out how to process it, they would unlock a new source of not one but two minerals the world needs for electric-vehicle batteries.
continue reading at
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/china-harnesses-a-technology-that-vexed-the-west-unlocking-a-treasure-chest-5d984585