By Alistair MacDonald
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) — Electric car maker Tesla has been in talks with Glencore over the past year to buy a stake in the company, according to a person familiar with the matter commodity trader and mine operators. The Tesla interest came at a time when manufacturers across the western world were scrambling to secure supplies of so-called future metals used in batteries and the renewable energy industry.
The talks have not reached a conclusion and are no longer active, the person familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The Financial Times previously reported on the talks.
Tesla has long talked about securing sources of battery metals such as lithium. The Swiss-based Glencore Group is one of the world’s largest producers of cobalt, a metal used in rechargeable batteries and renewable energy technologies. Tesla is a large customer of Glencore and has committed to buying cobalt from Glencore in 2020. Glencore mines approximately one-third of the world’s cobalt supply, much of which comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In September, Tesla announced it was looking into building a battery-grade lithium hydroxide refinery to support EV battery production. Glencore does not mine lithium but trades it. However, the company mines copper and nickel, two other metals used in the renewable energy industry.
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October 31, 2022 16:49 ET (20:49 GMT)
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