Bluescape eyes boron with $60M investment in 5E

Lithium, nickel, cobalt — and now boron. An energy-focused private equity firm this month invested $60 million in a Houston-based company that says boron is the next high-demand, high-profit critical mineral in the clean energy economy.

Why it matters: Boron does indeed have a wide variety of applications in electric vehicles, energy generation, and defense. Production is heavily concentrated in Turkey — which the companies aim to change.

Driving the news: Bluescape Energy Partners, based in Dallas, closed a $60 million private placement this month with 5E Advanced Materials.

• 5E is building a boron production facility in Southern California, which it expects to go online in Q4. The company aims to rapidly scale up production of both boron and lithium, the latter a key battery component.
• The vast majority of reserves (73%) are concentrated in Turkey. With their new production facility — and larger ones envisioned on office whiteboards — 5E and Bluescape aim to reshape the production landscape.

What's happening: Credit Suisse in 2019 called Boron "the 5th Element of Decarbonisation." (Someone page Milla Jovovich.)

• The material is used in magnets for vehicles, to harden glass coatings for solar panels and smart phones, to firm up the blades for wind turbines, and to toughen armor for defense applications.
• "Each step towards Net Zero will see demand for boron outstretch supply," the bank writes.

What they're saying: "It's 10 years behind where lithium is, but with a much wider application set and much better supply picture," Chance Pipitone, 5E senior vice president for corporate development, tells Axios.