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

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will update the cobalt and the nickel components for its Ni-Co black mass ex-works 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 updates to the calculation were proposed Aug. 7 and the subscriber note can be found here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/080724-platts-proposes-to-update-cobalt-nickel-components-for-ni-co-black-mass-exw-europe-calculated-daily-price

The new formula for the Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe calculated daily price will include 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 new formula will also use the LME Nickel cash daily official settlement price, which is the last cash offer price during the second Ring session each day. This will replace the current formula that uses the midpoint of the LME Nickel cash daily price bid-offer spread.

The formula changes will 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 formula changes are as follows:

Calculations for the lithium component will remain unchanged as follows:

The changes will affect the following assessments:

All other assessment specifications will remain unchanged.

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

This is calculated by using Platts assessed percentage payables for nickel, cobalt and lithium in the black mass, multiplied by the 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.

Please send all comments and questions to battery_metals@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com

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.

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