Electra Battery Materials Corporation (TSX-V:ELBM, NASDAQ:ELBM) has confirmed that its cobalt refinery located north of Toronto remains on track to meet project timelines, including the launch of a black mass recycling demonstration and previously-announced capital cost guidance.
“Electra continues to build momentum,” Trent Mell, CEO of Electra Battery Materials, said in a statement.
“On the heels of our commercial agreement with LG Energy Solution announced last week, we are excited by the continued progress at our refinery and the prospects of our upcoming black mass recycling demonstration plant. Building upon successful metallurgical testing and engineering work, and the receipt and installation of key pieces of equipment, we anticipate launching our battery recycling demonstration plant at the Ontario refinery site this fall,” he added.
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“The plant demonstration, which will be conducted in concert with ongoing commissioning efforts at the refinery, is expected to produce five marketable products. Revenue generated from black mass recycling activities will be accretive to results expected from the sale of cobalt sulfate that is anticipated beginning in spring 2023 when the refinery is commissioned,” Mell concluded.
Refinery
Through September 28, 2022, Electra’s progress on the refinery commissioning project can be measured by a number of key developments, including:
- Completed 85% of testing of existing brownfield equipment for recommissioning.
- Completed 85% of all procurement.
- Completed 90% of detailed engineering.
- Completed 75% of the erection of the solvent extraction building, and major solvent extraction equipment will start to be placed by the end of October.
- Foundations and structural steelwork continue for the crystallizer plant, and key processing equipment, including falling film evaporator and crystallizer vessels, are scheduled to be installed in early November.
- Other equipment already at site to support the buildout of the crystallizer plant process includes two steam package boilers, a crystallizer plant condenser, condensate and cobalt sulphate feed tanks, and a crystallizer centrifuge.
- The owners’ team is now at 25 personnel, consisting of tradespeople, engineers, operators, lab technicians, and office support staff.
Black Mass Recycling
The company said it has completed process development and engineering on recycling black mass material, a by-product generated by the end-of-life electric vehicle battery recycling and other recycled lithium-based battery sources. It sourced black mass samples from suppliers in Europe and North America, studied the feed characteristics and developed a hydrometallurgical process route to recover contained lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and graphite.
Electra said it is retrofitting its existing refinery to accommodate its black mass process and plans to conduct large-scale bulk runs to establish the process parameters, generate data for further optimization and validate the recoveries and quality of various marketable products.
Under the parameters of the black mass demonstration, Electra plans to process up to 75 tonnes of material in a batch mode using the facilities of the refinery. The process samples that will be collected during the bulk run will be analyzed by Electra’s laboratory, which is fully equipped with the required instrumentation, including X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Atomic Absorption (AA) and Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) analytical equipment.
Electra said it will use a hydrometallurgical process to the treat black mass. This process has a low carbon footprint and produces stable non-acid generating tailings, thereby reducing environmental impacts while meeting or exceeding water discharge effluent criteria as stipulated by both federal and provincial regulations.
Electra is a processor of low-carbon, ethically-sourced battery materials. Currently commissioning North America’s only cobalt sulfate refinery, Electra is executing a multi-pronged strategy focused on onshoring the electric vehicle supply chain.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com