ORONTO — Electra Battery Materials Corporation has announced it continues to make progress on its financing strategy to complete construction of North America’s first EV battery-grade cobalt refinery in Temiskaming, Ont.
The firm issued a statement saying management anticipates receiving funding from previous government commitments early in 2024, while it advances a larger multi-stakeholder funding arrangement to complete construction of its hydrometallurgical refinery.
The company estimates the current cost of the refinery complex is US$200 million and that approximately US$60 million will be required to complete construction. All long-lead, custom-fabricated equipment is onsite, and the facility was operational throughout 2023 as a plant-scale demonstration plant, processing battery black mass.
Electra has an existing supply agreement with LG Energy Solution that will see LG buy up to 80 per cent of production from Electra’s Ontario refinery during the first five years of operation. Demand for the remaining production exceeds Electra’s supply capabilities.
A Q3 report stated Electra had progressed with the first plant-scale recycling of black mass material in North America using Electra’s hydrometallurgical process. Progress in Q3 was marked by recoveries of critical metals, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese and graphite, needed for the EV battery supply chain, and the production of high-quality nickel-cobalt mixed hydroxide, graphite and lithium carbonate products.
In Q3 Electra made the first customer shipment of nickel-cobalt mixed hydroxide precipitate produced at the Temiskaming refinery complex north of Toronto from recycled battery material. To date, Electra has shipped approximately 20 tonnes of nickel-cobalt MHP to customers.
Approximately 80 per cent of cobalt used in EVs is currently refined in China. Inclusion of this material in U.S. electric vehicles will make them ineligible for $7,500 of vehicle credits under the Inflation Reduction Act.