Canada-based First Cobalt Corp has begun pre-construction in anticipation of recommissioning its Ontario cobalt refinery, Kallanish reports.

Items being procured for the plant that will be recommissioned and expanded in 2021 including the cobalt crystalliser and solvent extraction and filtering equipment, says the Toronto, Ontario, company. Pilot plant testwork is continuing. Cobalt solvent extraction is scheduled to begin in early February and is expected to be completed by 20 February.

First Cobalt is negotiating with Ausenco Engineering Canada on an engineering, procurement, construction and management contract on the plant, North America’s only permitted cobalt refinery.

The company says it has CAD 16 million ($12.5m) in working capital with an additional CAD 14m. The working capital includes CAD 4.5m in early warrant exercises and CAD 9m in net proceeds from financing completed on 22 January. Earlier the company got CAD 10m from the Canadian federal government and the province of Ontario. It expects to get another CAD 4m from the closing of a transaction with Kuya Silver.

“The commencement of pre-construction activities brings us one step closer to our vision of producing the world’s most sustainable cobalt,” says president and ceo Trent Mell in a statement. “Our strong treasury allows us to build a project team and commence procurement and detailed engineering while we complete a debt financing process. 2021 is all about execution.”

The facility in northern Ontario is the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America, and the recommissioning and expansion could be completed in 2021, the company says. When completed, the hydrometallurgical refinery will be the first of its kind in North America. It will produce 25,000 tonnes/year of battery-grade cobalt sulfate. That could represent 5% of the global market for refined cobalt. The so-called Northern Ontario Refinery project is expected to cost about CAD 77m.

The refinery is located in Temiskaming Shores, Ontario. It was permitted in 1996 with a throughput of 12 t/day and operated intermittently until 2015, producing cobalt, nickel and silver. Last May, the company completed an engineering study that confirmed the refinery’s suitability to treat cobalt hydroxide at an expanded throughput of 55 t/d to produce a high-purity, battery-grade cobalt sulfate for EV batteries.