Anthony Milewski: 2018 Was The Tipping Point For Electric Vehicles
Anthony discusses the increasing adoption rate for electric vehicles and how they are higher than expected for 2018. There is real demand by consumers for electric vehicles, and people are prepared to buy them. The real story will be in China where the need to clean up the air has created a government mandate to build an electric vehicle industry.
Anthony gives his thoughts on the supply and demand picture for cobalt and how that will change in 2019. He says, “The next push will come as adoption rates increase.”
Copper will reveal all-time highs through the next market cycle, but it’s hard to time that precisely. There is massive demand for it from all forms of electrification, grid storage, batteries, and new vehicles. The electric industry is undergoing a complete transformation. Copper is going to have a tremendous run at some point.
A lot of subsidies for electric vehicles have ended, but costs for the industry are declining. It’s only natural that subsidies would be reduced as pricing comes in line with regular cars. The possibility of a decline in adoption could come from macro factors like the global economy which could cause a delay.
Nickel is going to exciting but will require timing. Vanadium and zinc will also be important to watch in 2019.
Cobalt 27 has acquired a royalty on a lithium mine in Australia. It has a tremendous demand curve from lithium-ion battery manufacturing and for the next decade or more it will be needed.
TimeStamp References:
1:30 – Vehicle adoption rates are startling.
2:10 – Consumers are prepared to buy.
2:30 – China is creating an industry for E.V.
4:00 – Cobalt market supply and demand.
6:30 – Copper why all-time highs are coming.
8:00 – Copper will be a tremendous metal to own.
9:00 – E.V. subsidies and macro risks.
11:00 – Other battery metals.
12:30 – Cobalt 27 royalty in Australia.
Talking Points From This Week’s Episode
• Demand for electric vehicles remains very strong.
• China continues to develop their industry.
• Overall high demand for battery metals remains.
Mr. Milewski is the Chairman of Cobalt 27 and an MD at Pala Investments. He has spent his career in various aspects of the mining industry, including as a company director, advisor, founder, and investor. In particular, he has been active in the battery metals commodities including investing in nickel, lithium, and cobalt and actively trading physical cobalt. In 2016, one of the industry’s leading publications, “The Mining Journal,” named him as a Future Mining Leader.
Mr. Milewski has managed numerous mining investments at various stages of development, including exploration, development, production and turnaround situations, and across a broad range of commodities. He has served as a director of both public and private companies. Mr. Milewski is a member of the investment team at Pala Investments Limited, and prior to joining Pala Investments, he worked at Firebird Management LLC.
Mr. Milewski previously worked at Renaissance Capital and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Moscow, where he focused on advisory and transactional work in metals & mining and oil & gas sectors. He has lived and worked in Africa and Russia, including a year as a Fulbright scholar, and has spent considerable time in Central Asia.
Mr. Milewski holds a B.A. in Russian history from Brigham Young University, an M.A. in Russian and Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington, and a J.D. from the University of Washington. He holds an LLM from the Russian Academy of Sciences.