(Reuters) -Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a UK-based pricing and information analysis agency for power transition minerals, has minimize at the very least a fifth of its workforce in latest weeks, mentioned three individuals acquainted with the corporate.
The 11-year-old agency had been quickly increasing over the past couple of years alongside rising market curiosity in lithium, copper and different minerals wanted for electrical autos and different clean-energy makes use of.
The layoffs embody at the very least 40 individuals at Benchmark, the three sources mentioned, out of a complete workforce of 200 individuals. Two of the sources mentioned affected departments included sustainability, gross sales and advertising.
CEO Andrew Miller in an e mail to Reuters mentioned the agency had undergone a “latest restructuring.” He declined to remark additional on Reuters questions concerning the reductions.
“This course of is a part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen the standard and supply of Benchmark’s providing, targeted round additional funding in our expertise and AI capabilities,” he mentioned.
One supply cited weak pricing for minerals, particularly battery steel lithium, as a drag on Benchmark’s enterprise, whose purchasers embody miners, battery makers and politicians.
Lithium costs have plunged since their peak in 2022 on account of slower-than-expected adoption of electrical vehicles.
In a analysis notice Benchmark revealed on its web site final week, the corporate mentioned it anticipated a pointy decline in U.S. EV gross sales within the final quarter of the yr. It added that different challenges reminiscent of excessive manufacturing prices and rising tariffs are prompting some carmakers to cut back EV manufacturing plans into subsequent yr.
Privately held Benchmark final yr purchased EV market analysis agency Rho Movement, making a mixed firm of 250 staff.
Along with lithium, Benchmark tracks costs and different market information for copper, cobalt, nickel, graphite, uncommon earths, manganese, fluorspar and phosphate.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Santiago, Pratima Desai in London and Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Modifying by Christian Plumb and Matthew Lewis)
