The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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New venture aims to recover critical minerals from lithium-ion batteries, reducing waste and carbon emissions while supporting sustainable development in Ontario. In a strategic move to tackle the environmental and supply chain challenges posed by battery waste, Electra Battery Materials Corp. and Indigenous-owned Three Fires Group have launched Aki Battery Recycling, a joint venture focused on producing black mass through responsible recycling of lithium-ion battery scrap....
Projects, initiatives, and technology expand scandium supply chain security. While it may not have quite as strong a chemical bond to its adopted lanthanide siblings as they do each other, scandium does possess similar enough characteristics and is almost always found at the same geological gatherings (deposits) as the rest of its rare earth family. Named for the Latin word for Scandinavia, "Scandia," – as the mineral was thought to only dwell off the Nordic peninsula – sca...
Will the controversial metal find its place in green tech? About 30 years ago, nobody thought much about cobalt. Today, this metal, with myriads of uses, is one of those elements that gets dragged into the spotlight due to the role it plays in electric vehicle batteries, with critics citing the disparity between the environmental and social costs of producing cobalt and the green tech solutions this critical metal enables. But we can't build a clean energy future without...
Rising demand, lack of domestic supply, and China's dominance. While graphite has not captured the same level of media attention as some of the other mined materials critical to the clean energy transition, the strategic nature of this largest ingredient in lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles is high on the list of concerns for American automakers, Washington policymakers, and the Pentagon's top brass. These worries are based on a trifecta of graphite...
An all-of-government strategy is beginning to unfold in the US. Over the first two years following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Department of Energy has invested billions of dollars into establishing a clean energy supply chain in the United States. These heavy investments, however, have neglected one vital link – the domestic mines needed to supply the processing facilities, battery plants, and other energy t...
Import-reliance a top concern for national security officials. America's heavy reliance on China and others for the minerals and metals critical to the nation's economic competitiveness, military strength, and clean energy future is high on the list of strategic concerns for top brass at the U.S. departments of Defense and Homeland Security. While much of this concern is rooted in the fact that the United States' ability to defend its strategic interests at home and abroad...
DOD awards Electra Battery Materials $20 million to help bring online enough North American cobalt supply for 1 million EV batteries. As part of its mission to shore up reliable and sustainable supply chain minerals and metals critical to America's economy and security, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded Electra Battery Materials Corp. $20 million to complete the construction and commissioning of North America's only refinery capable of producing cobalt sulfate,...
Canada looks to support the development of company's proprietary battery materials recycling technology. To support advancing battery recycling technology, the Canadian government has awarded Electra Battery Materials Corp. C$5 million (US$3.6 million) to further develop its proprietary battery materials recycling process. Electra's battery material recycling facility is being developed alongside the company's battery-grade cobalt refinery, about 400 kilometers (250 miles)...
Returns to a Yukon property with the same advantageous nickel mineral as is found at its Baptiste project in B.C. FPX Nickel Corp.'s search for a unique mineral that offers a cleaner source of the nickel that is in high demand due to its use in lithium-ion batteries has led the company back to Canada's Yukon. FPX is best known for its work at Baptiste, an advance-staged exploration project in central British Columbia that shows the potential of being a significant future...
New machine learning enhancements make ExoSphere faster and more powerful than ever; Fleet Space joins Stanford's Mineral-X program Already a powerful tool that is being leveraged by global mining companies such as Rio Tinto and Barrick Gold Corp. to discover mineral deposits hidden below the earth's surface, Fleet Space Technologies' satellite-enabled ExoSphere is now more powerful and faster than ever thanks to the introduction of machine learning. First introduced in 2022,...
Pair of minerals offers potential to lower carbon emissions from mining nickel at Baptiste deposit. The prospect of producing low-carbon nickel needed for lithium-ion batteries and stainless steel at FPX Nickel Corp.'s Baptiste project in central British Columbia has captured the attention of a broad array of global corporations and investors. A road-accessible project about three miles (five kilometers) from rail connected to the deep-water port at Prince Rupert, B.C., the...
Inching closer to a fully operational battery recycling and refining facility, Electra Battery Materials Corp. has utilized the last year to meticulously streamline, optimize, and improve its battery recycling trial, as well as the recovery systems for lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other critical minerals at its Ontario complex in Canada. "Throughout this 12-month demonstration operation, our team has continued to refine and optimize the processes resulting in successive...
Clean tech startup advances method to turn CO2 into rock for geological timescale storage. As mining companies around the world endeavor to meet the rocketing demand for minerals needed to build the clean energy infrastructure to slow global warming, CO2 Lock Corp. is racing to put minerals back into the ground for the same purpose. CO2 Lock was formed by FPX Nickel Corp. in 2022 as a clean technology startup focused on carrying forward research into transforming atmospheric...
Major milestone along the road to supplying Tesla and others with the nickel needed for EV batteries. Passing a major landmark on its path to developing a domestic battery metals supply chain that begins at its high-grade Tamarack nickel project in Minnesota, Talon Metals Corp. has reached definitive terms with the U.S. Department of Energy for a $114.8 million grant to build a battery minerals processing facility in North Dakota. "Our team is excited to reach this funding...
Setting the bar for battery materials, American Resources Corp.'s ReElement Technologies announced that it has achieved an ultra-high purity of 99.96% battery-grade lithium carbonate from its unique technology developed in partnership with Purdue University. American Resources is a next-generation and socially responsible supplier of raw materials to the new infrastructure and electrification marketplace. Utilizing its patented multi-modal chromatography technology, developed...
Inching closer to the completion of North America's first battery-grade cobalt sulfate refinery, Electra Battery Materials Corp. issued an update for potential stakeholders as it seeks to secure additional funding to complete this much-needed link in a future EV battery supply chain. Starting out the month with an announcement that it would continue its black mass recycling operations following an extremely successful trial that saw roughly 40 metric tons of black mass...
Based on the success of its battery recycling trial, which showed improved recoveries of critical battery elements, higher metal content, and reduced use of reagents, thus paving the way for a higher-quality final product for its customers, Electra Battery Materials Corp. is extending processing of black mass at its refinery complex in Ontario, Canada. "Results from our plant-scale black mass trial continue to exceed our expectations," said Electra Battery Materials CEO Trent...
A flurry of industry partnerships on battery material projects followed landmark alliance between nations. In a move that aligns Canada's rich minerals endowment with Japan's battery-making expertise, the two countries have entered into a historic battery supply chain agreement. "Canada and Japan are committed to advancing our shared ambitions to develop sustainable and reliable global battery supply chains," said Canada Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry...
After announcing its plans for a recycling hub in Portovesme, Italy, through a partnership with Glencore, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. has followed up with the steps needed to begin establishing a centralized locale for battery recycling in Europe's Bel Paese. "The planned Portovesme Hub is a landmark project for Europe's battery recycling industry and is expected to be the largest source of recycled battery-grade lithium on the continent," said Li-Cycle Executive Chair Tim...
Colorado School of Mines thesis confirms that the germanium values in Alaska deposit have long been underreported. In addition to hosting 6.3 billion pounds of copper and 88 million lb of cobalt critical to the energy transition, the Bornite deposit in Alaska's Ambler Mining District may also be a significant source of the germanium essential to both clean energy and high-tech. "Germanium is an important metal with numerous applications, particularly in the manufacture of...
Aluminum has been classified as critical by the United States, European Union, Canada, and even China. At first glance, one may wonder how such a ubiquitous metal could possibly be critical. The answer is simply that aluminum is so widely used that supply, if endangered, could devastate an economy. In 2020, the World Bank identified aluminum as a "high-impact" and "cross-cutting" metal in all existing and potential green technologies. In spite of this, due to high energy...
Separating your plastics, paper, metals, and food waste has generally been a personal choice throughout most of modern recycling history. However, current demand for resources predicts we won't have enough to support net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Hence, now is the best time for consumers to become educated and self-determined with their buying power, manufacturers to begin considering recycling as part of the initial design, and a new circular economy that resurrects a tr...
There is nearly a $1 trillion chasm between where the United States' lithium battery supply chain is today and where it needs to be by 2035 in order to build the envisioned green energy future where electric vehicles are charged with low-carbon energy. Roughly 40% of this investment will need to go toward ensuring there is a plentiful supply of cobalt, graphite, lithium, nickel, and other battery materials. Simon Moores, CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and one of the...
Still overshadowed by lithium but no less significant, cobalt falls within a unique category as a critical mineral not only for its properties but also for its controversial supply. As a fundamental component necessary for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NMC) lithium-ion batteries, cobalt warranted its place as a critical mineral vital to the zero-carbon transition due to the necessity of those batteries to power a clean, emission-free future. Its critical uses, however, go far...
Marking a historical moment for its endeavors to support the green energy transition, Electra Battery Materials Corp. announced its first shipment of recycled nickel-cobalt from its refinery complex north of Toronto, Canada. "The first customer delivery of product from our refinery marks another important milestone on the path to commercializing our black mass refining capabilities," said Electra Battery Materials CEO Trent Mell. Black mass, a material produced from shredding...
