The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - August 21, 2024
Cobalt sulfate to be produced at Electra Battery Materials' refinery in Ontario enhances the stability and extends the life of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and a wide range of military applications.
Electra Battery Materials is upgrading and expanding an existing cobalt refinery in Ontario.
Electra envisions building a battery materials park at its Ontario Cobalt Refinery that also includes black mass recycling, nickel sulfate and precursor lithium battery cathode plants.
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, along with other materials needed for lithium-ion batteries.
"This award will develop North American production of a key precursor material for large capacity batteries, helping to create a more robust industrial base capable of meeting growing demand across both the defense and commercial sectors," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Laura Taylor-Kale.
Located near Temiskaming Shores, an Ontario city about 300 miles north of Toronto, Electra's Ontario Cobalt Refinery is poised to be amongst the world's lowest carbon sources of battery-grade cobalt due to the hydrometallurgical process used and the clean hydroelectricity powering the facility.
Electra Battery Materials is upgrading and expanding an existing cobalt refinery in Ontario.
Electra is modernizing and expanding upon a cobalt refinery that previously operated at the site. It would cost an estimated $250 million to advance a new refinery to the point where Electra is in the development of the Ontario plant.
Once the company has fully completed the upgrades and full expansion, the Ontario refinery is expected to produce around 6,500 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt sulfate per year. This is enough for the batteries in approximately 1 million sedan-sized electric vehicles and will account for more than 25% of the cobalt sulfate produced outside of China.
"Electra is committed to strengthening the resiliency of the North American battery supply chain," said Electra Battery Materials CEO Trent Mell. "We are proud to partner with the U.S. Government to build a strong North American supply chain for critical minerals."
Support of the Ontario Cobalt Refinery is part of the Pentagon's larger mission to break America's heavy reliance on China and other countries for minerals and metals critical to economic growth, national security, and the clean energy transition.
Over the past four years, DOD has invested more than $870 million in funds through Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) – a Cold War-era tool used to increase the supply of materials and technologies essential to national defense – to bolster North American supplies of the minerals and metals critical to America's economy, defense, and energy transition.
While most of the DPA Title III critical mineral funding has been invested into U.S. projects, DOD expanded its reach north into Canada earlier this year with investments into Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories and Lomiko Metals Inc.'s La Loutre graphite project in Quebec.
"On issues of national security, there are no borders between Canada and the United States," said Mell.
As part of a North American critical minerals collaboration, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) also invested $9.2 million (C$12 million) in Fortune and Lomiko.
"As some of the first awards to Canadian public mining and mineral development companies, these grants exemplify the critical importance of DPA funds, the Department's partnership with Canada, and our shared commitment to strengthening North American material supply chains," Taylor-Kale said in July when the joint investments were made.
Electra is also enjoying support from both DOD and NRCan.
In June, NRCan invested $3.6 million (C$5 million) toward a battery materials recycling plant being built alongside the Ontario Cobalt Refinery.
This recycling circuit will be able to recover high-quality lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite from black mass, a powder-like material produced when lithium-ion batteries are shredded for recycling.
Much like the cobalt refinery, this plant offers the low-carbon advantages of a hydrometallurgical process and the clean electricity delivered by Ontario's power grids.
Electra envisions building a battery materials park at its Ontario Cobalt Refinery that also includes black mass recycling, nickel sulfate and precursor lithium battery cathode plants.
NRCan is encouraged by DOD's additional investment into the Ontario battery materials project, which Electra envisions to eventually expand into a battery materials park that includes battery-grade nickel sulfate and lithium battery precursor cathode active materials plants to be built alongside the cobalt refinery and recycling circuit already being developed.
"From mining responsibly sourced critical minerals, to processing them here in North America, to building batteries for electric vehicles and other key technologies, and eventually to recycling them, there is enormous opportunity for both Canada and the United States from both an economic and a security perspective," said Natural Resources Canada Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
For DOD, the investment into Electra's Ontario Cobalt Refinery is helping to accomplish its mission to establish reliable and sustainable supplies of materials critical to North America's security and clean energy ambitions.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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