The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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First Cobalt Corp. Sept. 3 announced the completion of a US$45 million financing that will help fund the upgrade and expansion of its battery-grade cobalt sulfate refinery in Canada. "With the completion of this financing, the First Cobalt project team can now accelerate long lead equipment orders for our Canadian battery materials refinery as we pursue our vision of becoming the most sustainable producer of battery materials," said Trent Mell, president and CEO of First...
Furthering its vision of developing an integrated lithium-ion battery park centered on its refinery in Ontario, Canada, First Cobalt Corp. reports that it has successfully extracted nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, lithium, and graphite from a "black mass" product recovered from recycled batteries. In the lithium-ion battery recycling process, black mass is a powdery material that is produced by crushing or shredding the electrodes after the casing and other ancillary parts...
A mine that produced the nickel and cobalt needed for the lithium-ion batteries powering zero-emission electric vehicles and offering the added benefit of locking up carbon dioxide in rocks for geological time periods would be considered an optimum solution in the battle against global warming. Recent tests carried out at the University of British Columbia indicate the potential that Giga Metals Corp.'s Turnagain project in Northern BC could be one such greenhouse gas-absorbin...
Already positioned to be the first North American producer of the battery-grade cobalt being demanded by a rapidly growing electric vehicles market, First Cobalt Corp. has been awarded $600,000 in funding from the US Department of Energy's Critical Materials Institute for research on innovative techniques for recovering the cobalt and copper from its Iron Creek project in Idaho. Being matched equally by funds from First Cobalt, this $1.2 million interdisciplinary research...
Answering the Biden administration's call for industry input on the risks to battery supply chains in the United States, American Battery Metals Corp. said accelerating lithium-ion battery recycling and next-generation extraction technologies is one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways to increase the supply of the battery-grade nickel, cobalt, lithium, and other materials needed for the transition to electric vehicles. "Unlike fossil fuels, elemental...
In another step toward its overarching goal to deliver battery grade cobalt into the North American electric vehicles market, First Cobalt Corp. has signed a flexible, long-term, offtake agreement with Stratton Metal Resources Ltd. for the sale of future cobalt sulfate production from the First Cobalt refinery in Ontario, Canada. "Stratton Metals are among the most knowledgeable cobalt traders in the world, with a network of relationships in every major market," said First...
In a move to secure the lithium needed to power its e-mobility aspirations, BMW Group has entered into a deal with Livent Corp. to supply roughly US$335 million (285 million euros) worth of this vital battery metal beginning in 2022. BMW Group plans to have about a dozen fully electric models on showroom floors and expects that battery EVs will make up more than half of its total sales by 2030. As a result, the German luxury automaker expects to deliver roughly 10 million EVs...
With the current global shift toward sustainability, organizations, cities, and even countries are priming themselves to embrace the change. In particular, Canada's Ontario has unveiled plans to develop its first-ever critical minerals strategy and has already made good headway to set the province as a focal point for delivering valuable materials to the entire world. "By developing this strategy, we will strengthen Ontario's position as one of North America's premier...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. anticipates that the RapidSX rare earths and critical metals separation technology being developed by its subsidiary, Innovation Metals Corp., will be ready for commercial adoption and implementation by Ucore and licensees of the REE separation technology in about 15 months. RapidSX is not so much a new technology as an enormous upgrade to the conventional solvent extraction technology that has been the standard for separating rare earths for more than...
A week after President Donald Trump declared America's heavy reliance on adversarial nations for critical minerals a national emergency, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation invested US$25 million towards development of the Piauí nickel-cobalt mine project in northeastern Brazil. This investment is expected to fund further developments that will help create jobs in one of the poorest regions of Brazil while providing a new source of battery metals vital to...
Long before Tesla CEO Elon Musk called on miners to produce more of the nickel needed in the lithium-ion batteries powering a rapidly expanding electric vehicle sector in an environmentally sensitive way, Giga Metals Corp. was working toward that very goal at its Turnagain nickel-cobalt deposit in northern British Columbia, Canada. "Further to Elon Musk's specific call to nickel producers to pursue environmentally friendly nickel in high volume made during Tesla's latest...
In a move that demonstrates its commitment to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) practices, First Cobalt Corp. joins the Cobalt Institute as associate member. "Becoming a member of the Cobalt Institute demonstrates our commitment to implementing the most rigorous supply chain sourcing and ESG standards," said First Cobalt President and CEO Trent Mell. First Cobalt is a Canada-based company that is endeavoring to become North America's sole primary cobalt...
First Cobalt Corp. has taken a critical step toward its goal of supplying North American and European electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery manufacturers with 25,000 metric tons of battery grade cobalt sulfate per year. With an initial investment of only US$56 million, First Cobalt's already established refinery in Ontario could be churning out enough cobalt for the batteries powering more than 500,000 EVs annually by 2022. "This is an important milestone in our efforts to...
First Cobalt Corp. has taken another step on its path to becoming a North American producer of cobalt sulfate for the electric vehicle industry. An important ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries that power EVs, cobalt has been maligned due to concerns over human rights abuses, including dangerous working conditions and child labor. These worries are primarily due to the fact that 60% of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country...
American mines produced roughly 26,000 tons of rare earth during 2019, a 44 percent increase over 2018, yet the United States is 100 percent reliant on foreign countries for its supply of these 17 elements vital to our modern high-tech society. This apparent paradox speaks to the complexities of these enigmatic metals. The irony of rare earth elements (REEs) begins with their name, which is at the same time a misnomer and accurate descriptor. "All the REEs except promethium...
Chains are only as strong as their weakest link, and two United States federal agencies have determined that cobalt is the weak link in North America's electric vehicle supply chain. First Cobalt Corp. is doing its part to strengthen this link by delivering the cobalt sulfate needed for the lithium-ion batteries that power EVs from its refinery in Ontario and exploring its cobalt-rich Iron Creek project in Idaho. With the First Cobalt refinery in Canada on pace to begin...
From jewelry at a black-tie soiree to scrubbing harmful emissions from the exhaust system of a farm truck, the six platinum group metals – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – are metals that are both precious and critical to the United States and Canada. Extremely rare, durable, and with a brilliance that does not tarnish, platinum and other metals in its group are a treasured choice for high-end jewelry that stands the test of time. Three of the...
Extremely hard and with the highest melting point of all the metals, tungsten's toughness is legendary. Like many of the other metals that have found their way onto critical mineral lists in Canada, Europe, and the United States, this durable metal is vulnerable to Chinese control. "World tungsten supply was dominated by production in China and exports from China," the U.S. Geological Survey inked in its 2021 mineral commodities report. It is estimated that mines in China...
The envisioned green future where every North American is driving a battery-powered electric vehicle charged with renewable energy could be undermined by cobalt, a somewhat scarce and controversial metal that makes lithium-ion batteries better. "Cobalt is considered the highest material supply chain risk for electric vehicles in the short and medium term," the U.S. Department of Energy penned in an April report. This risk has automakers, lithium-ion battery manufacturers, and...
Scandium, one of 35 minerals identified as being critical to future production of high-tech and industrial technologies in the West, is seeing a surge in mining and extraction activity in response to increasing demand for the soft, silvery metallic element. Scandium is not particularly rare – its occurrence in crustal rocks is around 22 parts per million. It is generally more plentiful than lead, mercury, and precious metals. Yet scandium rarely concentrates in nature, so t...
As First Cobalt Corp. advances the only battery-grade cobalt sulfate refinery in North America toward a 2022 start, the company is beginning to investigate the potential of developing an integrated battery park in Ontario that refines and recycles cobalt and nickel, and then upgrades these metals into the anode materials for the lithium-ion batteries needed for the massive influx of electric vehicles expected in the coming years. First Cobalt envisions a battery park built...
