Metals & Mining Theme, Non-Ferrous

September 02, 2024

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

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has updated 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 component in the calculation formula, effective Sept. 2.

The new formula for the Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe calculated daily price includes Platts new European Cobalt Metal 99.8% mixed-use basket A assessment (ECMCG00), launched Sept. 2, 2024, in place of the Platts daily Cobalt Metal 99.8% European assessment (MMAIK00), which has been renamed mixed-use basket B. Further details on the cobalt changes are available here.

The new formula also uses the LME Nickel cash daily official settlement price, which is the last cash offer price during the second Ring session each day. This has replaced the previous formula that used the midpoint of the LME Nickel cash daily price bid-offer spread.

The formula changes 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 new formulas are as follows:

New Formula
Calculated cobalt component = Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe cobalt payable (NBMEB00) x Platts European Cobalt Metal 99.8% mixed-use basket A (ECMCG00) x cobalt base content (0.05).
Calculated nickel component = Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe nickel payable (NBMEC00) x LME Nickel daily official cash price offer x nickel base content (0.12).

Calculations for the lithium component remain unchanged as follows:

Formula
Calculated lithium component = Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe lithium payable (NBMEA00) x Platts Lithium Carbonate CIF Europe (LCCIF00) / lithium metal conversion factor (0.190) x lithium base content (0.03).

The changes affect the following assessments:

Symbol Name Assessment Symbol Associated Monthly Average
Ni-Co black mass EXW Europe calculated price ($/mt) NBMED00 NBMED03

All other assessment specifications remain unchanged.

The Platts calculated EXW Europe Ni-Co black mass price assessment reflects a theoretical cost of black mass in $/mt 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.

Platts originally proposed the updates on Aug. 7 in a subscriber note available here. Following the proposal, Platts communicated its decision confirming the changes on Aug. 19 in a subscriber note available here.

Full specifications can be found in the Global Nonferrous Metals guide, available here.

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.

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

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