Published:
1 Nov 2022 06:05 GMT
With this purchase, the electric vehicle manufacturer intended to ensure the supply of materials for batteries, such as cobalt, lithium and nickel.
Tesla has been in talks since 2021 to buy a 10-20% stake in Swiss commodity trader Glencore, but the deal ultimately fell through, according to revealed Financial Times with reference to familiar sources.
Negotiations began in 2021 and continued in March 2022, when Glencore CEO Gary Nagle visited the Tesla plant in California, but no agreement was reached. According to the sources, Tesla was concerned that Glencore’s sprawling coal mining business was not compatible with its environmental goals, and was reluctant to take a minority equity stake.
With this participation, the manufacturer of electric vehicles intended to ensure the supply of materials for batteries, such as cobalt, lithium and nickel.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly stated the company’s desire to more actively control all stages of battery production, including the extraction of raw materials for their manufacture.
For its part, Glencore is the largest producer of cobalt, with mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Australia and Canada. In 2020, the corporation has already reached an agreement with Tesla for the supply of cobalt to the manufacturer’s facilities in Shanghai and Berlin.
The Swiss firm does not yet produce lithium, but has recently begun to market it, according to the aforementioned media. However, Musk had previously noted that due to the sharp rise in lithium costs, “Tesla may have to go straight into mining and refining.”
