Honda (HMC) in Talks With LG Energy for Battery PlantThis Honda / LG venture is the type that is potentially relevant to Fortune Minerals. Assuming they also manufacture the Ultium battery cells as does the GM / LG venture, their batteries may also use POSCO cathode active materials (CAM) manufactured in North America and likely use domestic supply chains to source material such as cobalt. And as it turns out, the CAM when manufactured (as a slurry) anywhere in North America and shipped off to battery cell plants anywhere within North America is not subject to tariffs per USMCA. So, a CAM factory in Canada shipping to the US would be exempt and vice versa. All of Fortune Minerals anticipated cobalt production could fulfill a significant percentage of this domestic cobalt requirement. As a side note, many of the other announced North American (USA) battery cell factories appear to currently be planning to source their CAM from Asia based suppliers, meaning it’s not probable they would source their cobalt from North America.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/honda-hmc-talks-lg-energy-140802640.html
https://electricautonomy.ca/2021/12/09/canada-cathode-maker-gm/