Platts proposes to update cobalt, nickel components for Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe calculated daily price

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, proposes to update the cobalt and the nickel components for its Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe calculated daily price by including a new mixed-use cobalt metal price assessment and amending the LME Nickel official daily cash settlement price in the calculation formula, effective Sept. 2, 2024.

The proposed new formula for Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe calculated daily price would use the new European Cobalt Metal 99.8% mixed-use basket A assessment (ECMCG00), which will also be launched Sept. 2, 2024, in place of the current Platts daily Cobalt metal 99.8% European assessment (MMAIK00).

The subscriber note for Platts new and revised cobalt metal assessments is available here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/080524-platts-to-reshape-european-cobalt-coverage-publish-separate-assessments-for-mixed-use-alloy-use-cobalt

The proposed new formula would also include the LME Nickel cash daily official settlement price, which is the last cash offer price during the second Ring session each day. This would replace the existing formula which uses the midpoint of the LME Nickel cash daily price bid-offer spread.

The proposed formula changes would better reflect market convention when using LME Nickel and European cobalt metal assessed prices in contract formulas to calculate the value of black mass.

The proposed formula changes are as follows:

Calculations for the lithium component would remain unchanged as follows:

The proposed changes would affect the following assessments:

All other assessment specifications would remain unchanged.

The Platts calculated EXW Europe Ni-Co black mass price assessment reflects a theoretical cost of black mass in $/mt with the most common and assumed accepted minimum metal content, which is currently 12% nickel, 5% cobalt and 3% lithium.

This is calculated by using Platts assessed percentage payables for nickel, cobalt and lithium in the black mass, multiplied by Platts daily spot market assessments of lithium carbonate, cobalt metal, as well as LME nickel, and multiplied by the corresponding minimum metal contents mentioned above.

Full specifications can be found in the Global Nonferrous Metals guide, available at the following link: /content/dam/spglobal/ci/en/documents/platts/en/our-methodology/methodology-specifications/Global_NonFerrous.pdf

Platts black mass assessments are published on Platts Nonferrous Metals Alert pages, Platts Metals Daily, Platts Metals weekly, and in the Platts price database under the symbols listed above.

The assessments and the associated monthly averages are included on pages MTL8888, MTL8880 and PMA8888 and PMA8880 respectively, alongside Platts full suite of battery metals assessments.

Platts invites feedback on this proposal to battery_metals@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com by Aug. 15.

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.