TORONTO — Ontario’s Electra Battery Materials has announced a three-year agreement to supply battery grade cobalt to LG Energy Solution (LGES), a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
The material will be supplied from the only cobalt sulfate refinery in North America, currently under construction in Temiskaming Shores in northern Ontario. Electra has agreed to supply LGES with 7,000 tonnes of battery grade cobalt from 2023, when the plant opens, to 2025, a release stated.
Electra will supply 1,000 tonnes of cobalt contained in a cobalt sulfate product in 2023 and a further 3,000 tonnes in each of 2024 and 2025 under an agreed pricing mechanism. Financial terms of the supply agreement were not disclosed.
Electra’s low-carbon hydrometallurgical refinery is in the late stages of commissioning and is expected to commence operations in the spring of 2023. Cobalt sulfate provided under the term of the contract with LGES will be sufficient to supply up to 1.5 million full electric vehicles.
At full capacity, Electra’s facility will produce enough cobalt to supply up to 1.5 million electric vehicles per year.
Electra announced in June that it is evaluating a second refinery in the province of Quebec by 2025-26, which could source cobalt from Electra’s Idaho cobalt and copper project.
There are no other cobalt sulfate producers in North America today.
The firm is also developing black mass battery recycling capabilities to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and copper. A demonstration plant will be commissioned in the fall of 2022, with commercialization anticipated in 2023-24.
Electra is also considering construction of a battery grade nickel refinery and a manganese refinery, to establish a fully integrated battery materials park with a third-party cathode precursor manufacturer.
“LG Energy Solution is a global leader in the electric vehicle supply chain, and we are delighted to sign our first strategic supply agreement with such an important player in the lithium-ion battery market,” said Trent Mell, CEO of Electra, in a statement. “This is only the beginning of a larger strategic relationship with LG Energy Solution involving our other assets and growth initiatives in the North American battery supply chain.”
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