FCC Update First Cobalt may venture into rechargeable battery recycling after its cobalt refinery in Ontario restarts operations in 2022, CEO Trent Mell said Dec. 17. "You are going to start hearing us talk a little more about battery recycling, as it's something we have been holding off talking about because we had our hands full," Mell told investors during a virtual presentation. "The reality is this is a huge potential blue ocean for us, and it's a market that nobody really does well yet in North America." Mell said recycling operations would be an "obvious add-on" to the refinery given the growing availability of used lithium-ion batteries and the efficiency of the hydrometallurgical processes that will be implemented at the plant.
"With a hydrometallurgical facility like ours, where we are putting everything into a solution as opposed to pyro and furnaces, our cost-curve and our recovery should be better than the existing competition," Mell said.
First Cobalt will likely look into battery recycling a year or two after its cobalt refinery starts producing, Mell added.
Once operational and scaled up, the First Cobalt refinery is expected to produce 25,000 mt/year of cobalt sulfate product containing about 5,000 mt/year of cobalt metal targeted for the electricl vehicle industry.
The refinery was permitted in 1996 and operated intermittently until 2015 under various owners.
Cobalt feedstock contracts, financing underway
Mell said First Cobalt was continuing to derisk the refinery's business and establish a market presence through ongoing discussions for cobalt feedstock arrangements and additional financing.
"I'm still working on feed purchase contracts," Mell said. "We may have news before the end of the fourth quarter or we may not, but we are feeling very good about that."
Furthermore, First Cobalt recently received C$10 million in public funding from the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario to help fund the commissioning and expansion of its refinery, according to Mell.
Mell said First Cobalt also had a buyer lined up for the refinery's output, which will be officially announced in 2021, but the company was now moving to look at automotive industry OEMs for additional offtake contracts.
"There's a chance, given how early we are in the North American landscape, that we will ship some of this product offshore as far as Asia or Europe, but it's a big universe of OEMs and battery makers and cathode makers," Mell said. "We will start chipping away at that, but first I wanted to demonstrate that we have the capital and a very desirable mine feed with a good carbon footprint."
In November, First Cobalt and Glencore agreed to discuss a long-term cobalt hydroxide feed purchase contract to replace their initial tolling arrangement, which would allow First Cobalt to enter into refined cobalt offtake contracts directly with end-users.