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Treasure smelter: Russia's largest mining group Nornickel also refines nickel in Murmansk
Photo: Lev Fedoseyev / imago images / ITAR-TASS
The plant that BASF CEO Martin Brudermüller intends to open soon in Schwarzheide, Brandenburg, can supply material for 400,000 electric cars a year.
His cathode material (CAM) for battery cells is in great demand, good prospects for Brudermüller.
His employer, the world's largest chemical company, calculates that the booming demand in Europe will exceed supply for years to come.
The precursor, or PCAM for short, comes from Harjavalta, a good 200 kilometers north-west of the Finnish capital Helsinki, where BASF is also building a factory.
And that, in turn, is supplied by a refinery right across the street.
It is an almost ideal model with completely green energy and perfect logistics - if only geopolitics does not strike.
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Dependent on raw materials: BASF boss Martin Brudermüller has so far been dependent on deliveries from Russia
Photo: Jann Höfer
The refinery is owned by the Nornickel Group, world market leader in high-purity nickel and palladium, and a major producer of platinum, copper, cobalt and other metals.
Years ago, the Germans made a pact with the Russians to secure "unique access" to their treasures.
The raw materials for BASF come from the mines of Siberia.
Nornickel's main owner is Vladimir Potanin, the richest of the Russian oligarchs and Vladimir Putin's hockey buddy.
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