Brazilian niobium producer CBMM invests in U.S. startup to develop batteries

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian Metallurgy and Mining Company (CBMM), responsible for about 80% of the world’s niobium production, announced Friday (22) that it bought a 20% stake in U.S. startup Battery Streak as part of an agreement to develop battery materials.

“With the investment, the company expects to boost the development of new technologies and materials with niobium for the production of batteries for mobility applications, electronic equipment, and drones,” the mining company explained in a statement.

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The Brazilian company has developed research showing that niobium oxides can charge lithium batteries for electric vehicles in less than 10 minutes.

Battery Streak (BSI) is an American startup linked to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) dedicated to developing lithium batteries. The company has already patented a technology that uses nanostructured niobium oxides to improve the efficiency and safety of lithium-ion batteries.

The Brazilian enterprise explained that since 2019 it had been strategically investing in startups dedicated to materials innovation, connected to the global trend of offering alternative renewable sources to fossil fuels and using niobium in their technologies.

The company has already partnered with two other small battery technology development companies and has plans to sign agreements with two more.

“We are working intensively with large partners to offer the market, mainly the automotive sector, batteries with exclusive characteristics of super-fast recharging, in less than 10 minutes, and which have greater stability, safety, and useful life”, said Rodrigo Amado, CBMM’s manager of Strategies and New Businesses, quoted in the press release.

The two companies expect to launch their first joint products in 2023.

Last September, CBMM signed an agreement with Volkswagen Trucks and Buses, a subsidiary of the German manufacturer in Brazil dedicated to producing heavy vehicles, to develop a super-fast charging battery with niobium for the electric cars assembler has in the country.

CBMM is a company controlled by the principal shareholders of Itaú, Brazil’s largest private bank, and has Japanese and Chinese partners.

The mining company has the right to exploit one of the two gigantic niobium mines discovered in Araxá, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais responsible for 80 % of the Brazilian production of this mineral. Brazil accounts for about 90% of the world’s reserves and 86% of niobium production.