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Tesla is a big customer of Glencore, which owns a mine in Ravensworth, Australia.
Photo:
LOREN ELLIOTT/REUTERS
Tesla Inc.
held early-stage talks with
PLC last year about buying a stake in the commodities giant, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The electric vehicle maker’s interest came as manufacturers across the West look to secure supplies of so-called future-facing metals that are used in batteries and the renewable energy industry.
A deal didn’t materialize from the talks, and those discussions are no longer active, the person familiar with them said. The Financial Times reported the talks earlier Monday.
has long talked about securing sources of battery metals, such as lithium. Swiss-based mining and trading group
is one of the world’s biggest producers of cobalt, a metal that is used in rechargeable batteries and renewable energy technologies. Tesla is a big customer of Glencore, agreeing in 2020 to buy cobalt from the miner. Glencore mines around a third of the world’s cobalt supply, much of which comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In September, Tesla said it was looking into building a battery-grade lithium hydroxide refining facility that could support its electric-vehicle battery production.
Glencore doesn’t mine lithium, though trades it within its so-called market division. The company mines copper and nickel, two other metals used in the renewable energy industry.
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