First Cobalt says it plans to expand its strategic plan to make electric vehicle battery precursor materials and nickel sulfate in addition to the planned cobalt. Concurrently, it will change its name to Electra Battery Materials, Kallanish reports.

The Ontario-based company announced on Monday that it will expand its master plan to provide battery-grade nickel and cobalt, recycled battery materials and precursor materials to the North American EV supply chain. It intends to make lithium-ion precursor chemicals for the cathode component in batteries for North America. Its new business model would result in the creation of the only battery materials park in North America in northern Ontario.

The proposed name change better reflects the company’s strategic positioning and long-term value proposition, First Cobalt says. The name change must be approved by shareholders.

“Globalisation has created an electric vehicle supply chain that is too long, too costly and increasingly unreliable,” says president and ceo Trent Mell in a statement. “Our automaker clients have a strong interest in greater localisation of the upstream supply chain to achieve greater reliability, security of long-term supply and a lower carbon footprint.”

He adds: “With the continent’s rich mineral endowment, the rationale for supplying battery materials through Asia into a growing US EV market is not sustainable. Electra will act as a bridge between North American electric vehicles and a North American source of primary and recycled material, providing a low-carbon solution for zero-emission vehicles.”

First Cobalt is currently restarting and expanding its hydrometallurgical refinery north of Toronto in Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, to produce 5,000 tonnes/year of cobalt, starting in fourth quarter 2022. It has also been testing black mass feeds from recycled batteries. Those results will be released soon. The planned battery materials park would be near the refinery.

The company says it is in early talks with precursor manufacturers to partner on building the precursor plant at its Ontario site in 2025. It is also in talks with nickel suppliers to secure raw materials for its battery-grade nickel sulfate facility in 2024-2025. It would produce 60,000 t/y.

The company has a four-step plan: the refinery recommissioning and expansion, the recycling of battery materials, the modular nickel sulfate plant and the battery precursor plant, likely with a joint-venture partner. That precursor plant will attempt to replicate the success of similar plants in China, South Korea and Finland, First Cobalt says.