Keywords : Cobalt |

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Re: Cobalt News - Thursday, February 05, 2009
Title: Boom in battery sector anticipated
Publisher: Metal Pages

LONDON (Metal-Pages) 03-Feb-09. In spite of the global economic downturn and dearth of sales in the automobile sector there are reports that a boom in the battery sector is expected with the prospect of a strong growth in sales of electric cars. As a result electronics companies are making vast investments in battery plants.

Leading Japanese electronics companies such as Toshiba and GS Yuasa have announced plans for new battery plants, although the industry is cutting capital investment overall.

Ryoji Chubachi, President of Sony announced a list of factory closures, but the one area where he promised growth was batteries.

"Nobody wants to be left out and nobody wants to lose existing market share," said Donald Saxman, an analyst at BCC Research.

Fuji Keizai, a research company, expects the market for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to more than double to �1,255 billion ($14bn) between 2007 and 2012, and the overall battery market to grow by some 37 percent.

Industry analysts give three reasons for this. First is the growth in mobile devices, from laptop computers to Apple's iPhone. The second is the "green" drive for hybrid or fully electric cars, all of which will need a large battery, and the third is the potential use of batteries to store renewable energy generated by turbines when the wind blows, or solar panels when it is sunny, and then release it as conditions require. But of these, the general opinion is that electric cars will be the main source of demand in the future.

"We are on the cusp of mass production now, that is why there is a sense of urgency," said Ravi Krishnaswamy of consultants Frost & Sullivan.

Recent investments in battery production have been made between a car manufacturer and a battery specialist, for example GS Yuasa is going to launch a joint venture with Honda and there are reports that Nec and Nissan may increase the investment in their battery joint venture by �100 billion by 2012.

Hybrid electric cars such as the Toyota Prius use nickel-metal hydride batteries but investments now are for lithium-ion batteries, which are smaller and lighter relative to the amount of energy stored, are expected to power fully electric cars in the future.

Panasonic's recent �807 billion takeover bid for Japanese rival Sanyo Electric is thought to be because Panasonic wishes to have access to Sanyo's lithium-ion battery business, the world leader in the industry.

So many companies are trying to get into the market, however, that there are doubts whether all of them can succeed. "The most successful companies are typically existing lithium battery companies," said Mr Saxman.

Sanyo believes that all carmakers will want at least two battery suppliers in order to reduce risk. It says that its proved technology, customer relationships and global manufacturing base will give it an advantage over ventures part-owned by rival carmakers. Sanyo already plans to invest �80bn by 2015 and with Panasonic in the driving seat this may be increased.

Krishnaswamy of Frost & Sullivan says Japanese and South Korean producers are well ahead, but US companies are trying to catch up. Last month, A123 Systems, a US battery maker, applied for $ 1.84bn in US government loans to build a lithium-ion plant.

In spite of Toshiba pulling out of the lithium-ion battery market in 2004, it has now decided to start mass production in 2010 which analysts expect to cost several hundred million dollars. Since leaving the battery sector, Toshiba has not stop its battery research and says the decision reflects its confidence in a new technology called SCiB, which it claims is not only safer and longer lasting than other lithium-ion batteries, but can also reach up to 90 percent of its full charge in as little as five minutes.

In December 2007, Toshiba announced the general commercial launch of a 4.2 Ah cell version of its fast-charging SCiB---Super Charge ion Battery---lithium-ion battery and is developing a 3.0 Ah high-power version of the cell specifically for hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) applications.

-END-

Copyright � 2009 FORMATION CAPITAL CORPORATION (FCO) All rights reserved. For more information visit our website at http://www.formcap.com/ or send email to inform@formcap.com ..
Message sent on Tue Feb 3, 2009 at 4:20:30 PM Pacific Time

Formation Metals Inc.

	DEVELOPMENT STAGE
	CODE : FCO.TO
	ISIN : CA34637V1013
	CUSIP : 34637L

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Formation Metals is a cobalt development stage company based in Canada.

Formation Metals develops cobalt, copper and gold in USA, and holds various exploration projects in Canada.

Its main asset in development is IDAHO COBALT PROJECT in USA and its main exploration properties are QUEEN OF THE HILLS in USA, COMPASS LAKE, KERNAGHAN LAKE, BIG CREEK HYDROMETALLURGICAL COMPLEX, VIRGIN RIVER, BLACK PINE and MORNING GLORY in Canada and EL MILAGRO in Mexico.

Formation Metals is listed in Canada, in Germany and in United States of America. Its market capitalisation is CA$ 60.3 millions as of today (US$ 46.3 millions, € 41.5 millions).

Its stock quote reached its highest recent level on June 05, 1998 at CA$ 9.94, and its lowest recent point on June 14, 2013 at CA$ 0.06.

Formation Metals has 105 702 405 shares outstanding.

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