Mining

Extraordinary Raw Materials in a Tesla Model S

Published

8 years ago

March 7, 2016

Jeff Desjardins

Tesla-model-s-what-it-made-from-2

The Extraordinary Raw Materials in a Tesla Model S

Presented by: Red Cloud Klondike Strike (Equity crowdfunding in mining)

The Tesla Model S is the world’s most-wanted electric car, with 100,000 units already sold as of December 2015.

Critics have lauded the car for its impressive safety rating, range, and design. However, it is also worth considering that it is the incredible raw materials that go into the Tesla Model S that help to make all of these things possible.

Here’s what’s in a Tesla Model S:

Body and Chassis

Bauxite: The Tesla Model S body and chassis are built almost entirely from aluminum, which comes from bauxite ore. Aluminum is lightweight, which helps to maximize the range of the battery beyond that of other EVs. The total amount of aluminum used in the car is 410 lbs (190 kg).

Boron steel: High-strength boron steel is used to reinforce the aluminum at critical safety points. Boron steel is made from iron, boron, coking coal, and other additives.

Titanium: The underbody of the Tesla Model S is made from ultra high-strength titanium, which protects the battery from nearly any roadside force or piercing.

Interior

Rare Earth Metals: While Tesla engines and batteries do not use rare earths, most high-end car speakers and other electronics use rare earth elements such as neodymium magnets.

Plastic: Most plastics are made from petrochemicals.

Leather: Leather is derived from animal skin, mainly cowhides .

Silicon: Glass windows and other features are made from silicon.

Carbon fiber and copper wire are also used within the interior for various components.

Wheels

Bauxite: Aluminum alloy wheels are also made from bauxite ore.

Rubber: Natural rubber comes from rubber trees, but today 70% of US rubber is synthetic, made from petrochemicals.

Induction Engine:

Copper: Tesla’s high-performance copper rotor motor delivers 300 horsepower and weighs 100 lbs (45.4 kg).

Steel: The stationary piece of the engine, the stator, is made from both copper and steel.

Battery:

The Tesla battery pack weighs 1,200 lbs (540 kg), which is equal to about 26% of the car’s total weight. This puts the car’s center of gravity a mere 44.5 centimeters off the ground, giving the car unprecedented stability.

The battery itself contains 7,104 lithium-ion battery cells. Here’s what’s in each cell:

Cathode: The Tesla Model S battery cathode uses an NCA formulation with the approximate ratio: 80% nickel, 15% cobalt, and 5% aluminum. Small amounts of lithium are also used in the cathode.

Anode: The negative terminal uses natural or synthetic graphite to hold lithium ions. Small amounts of silicon are also likely used in the anode as well.

Electrolyte: The electrolyte is made of a lithium salt.

Copper and/or aluminum foil is also used in the battery as well.

Note: all numbers above are based on the 85 kWh battery model.

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Mining

Ranked: The World’s Top Diamond Mining Countries, by Carats and Value

Who are the leaders in rough diamond production and how much is their diamond output worth?

Creator Program

Published

13 hours ago

September 29, 2023

Pallavi Rao

A cropped chart showing the leaders in rough diamond mining and how much their diamond output is worth.

Ranked: World Diamond Mining By Country, Carat, and Value

Only 22 countries in the world engage in rough diamond production—also known as uncut, raw or natural diamonds—mining for them from deposits within their territories.

This chart, by Sam Parker illustrates the leaders in rough diamond production by weight and value. It uses data from Kimberly Process (an international certification organization) along with estimates by Dr. Ashok Damarupurshad, a precious metals and diamond specialist in South Africa.

Rough Diamond Production, By Weight

Russia takes the top spot as the world’s largest rough diamond producer, mining close to 42 million carats in 2022, well ahead of its peers.

ℹ️ Carat is the unit of measurement for the physical weight of diamonds. One carat equals 0.200 grams, which means it takes over 2,265 carats to equal 1 pound.

Russia’s large lead over second-place Botswana (24.8 million carats) and third-ranked Canada (16.2 million carats) indicates that the country’s diamond production is circumventing sanctions due to the difficulties in tracing a diamond’s origin.

Here’s a quick breakdown of rough diamond production in the world.

Rank	Country	Rough Diamond Production (Carats)
1	🇷🇺 Russia	41,923,910
2	🇧🇼 Botswana	24,752,967
3	🇨🇦 Canada	16,249,218
4	🇨🇩 DRC	9,908,998
5	🇿🇦 South Africa	9,660,233
6	🇦🇴 Angola	8,763,309
7	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	4,461,450
8	🇳🇦 Namibia	2,054,227
9	🇱🇸 Lesotho	727,737
10	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	688,970
11	🇹🇿 Tanzania	375,533
12	🇧🇷 Brazil	158,420
13	🇬🇳 Guinea	128,771
14	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	118,044
15	🇬🇾 Guyana	83,382
16	🇬🇭 Ghana	82,500
17	🇱🇷 Liberia	52,165
18	🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire	3,904
19	🇨🇬 Republic of Congo	3,534
20	🇨🇲 Cameroon	2,431
21	🇻🇪 Venezuela	1,665
22	🇲🇱 Mali	92
	Total	120,201,460

Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated.

As with most other resources, (oil, gold, uranium), rough diamond production is distributed unequally. The top 10 rough diamond producing countries by weight account for 99.2% of all rough diamonds mined in 2022.

Diamond Mining, by Country

However, higher carat mined doesn’t necessarily mean better value for the diamond. Other factors like the cut, color, and clarity also influence a diamond’s value.

Here’s a quick breakdown of diamond production by value (USD) in 2022.

Rank	Country	Rough Diamond Value (USD)
1	🇧🇼 Botswana	$4,975M
2	🇷🇺 Russia	$3,553M
3	🇦🇴 Angola	$1,965M
4	🇨🇦 Canada	$1,877M
5	🇿🇦 South Africa	$1,538M
6	🇳🇦 Namibia	$1,234M
7	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	$424M
8	🇱🇸 Lesotho	$314M
9	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	$143M
10	🇹🇿 Tanzania	$110M
11	🇨🇩 DRC	$65M
12	🇧🇷 Brazil	$30M
13	🇱🇷 Liberia	$18M
14	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	$15M
15	🇬🇾 Guyana	$14M
16	🇬🇳 Guinea	$6M
17	🇬🇭 Ghana	$3M
18	🇨🇲 Cameroon	$0.25M
19	🇨🇬 Republic of Congo	$0.20M
20	🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire	$0.16M
21	🇻🇪 Venezuela	$0.10M
22	🇲🇱 Mali	$0.06M
	Total	$16,290M

Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated. Furthermore, numbers have been rounded and may not sum to the total.

Thus, even though Botswana only produced 59% of Russia’s diamond weight in 2022, it had a trade value of nearly $5 billion, approximately 1.5 times higher than Russia’s for the same year.

Another example is Angola, which is ranked 6th in diamond production, but 3rd in diamond value.

Both countries (as well as South Africa, Canada, and Namibia) produce gem-quality rough diamonds versus countries like Russia and the DRC whose diamonds are produced mainly for industrial use.

Which Regions Produce the Most Diamonds in 2022?

Unsurprisingly, Africa is the largest rough diamond producing region, accounting for 51% of output by weight, and 66% by value.

Rank	Region	Share of Rough Diamond Production (%)	Share of Rough Diamond Value (%)
1	Africa	51.4%	66.4%
2	Europe	34.9%	32.9%
3	North America	13.5%	52.8%
4	South America	0.2%	2.4%

However diamond mining in Africa is a relatively recent phenomenon, fewer than 200 years old. Diamonds had been discovered—and prized—as far back as 2,000 years ago in India, later on spreading west to Egyptian pharaohs and the Roman Empire.

By the start of the 20th century, diamond production on a large scale took off: first in South Africa, and decades later in other African countries. In fact between 1889–1959, Africa produced 98% of the world’s diamonds.

And in the latter half of the 20th century, the term blood diamond evolved from diamonds mined in African conflict zones used to finance insurgency or crime.