The company received a Letter of Interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States over a loan to fund and operate the solar-powered plant.
Evelution Energy has secured a Letter of Interest (LOI) from the Export-Import Bank of the United States for a loan of up to $200 million to support the construction and operation of its planned cobalt processing plant in Yuma, Arizona. The company states that the facility will be the first and largest solar-powered cobalt processing plant in the United States, expected to be fully operational in 2027. The plant will produce cobalt sulfate and cobalt metal from cobalt hydroxide and other intermediates and is anticipated to supply between 20% and 40% of the projected cobalt demand in the United States.
In April, Evelution Energy inked a Letter of Intent with resource giant Glencore over the supply of cobalt hydroxide feedstock for the planned facility. Already in October 2023, the company finalized a similar agreement with the Eurasian Resources Group.
Cobalt is mainly used in battery applications as a cathode material. Other applications are in the chemical industry, as well as the production of superalloys, for example, for aircraft gas turbine engines. In 2023, 78 percent of the world’s refined cobalt was produced in China, with no commercial-scale processing capacities in the U.S., according to the Cobalt Institute (PDF). The Export-Import Bank’s initiative is the latest move by the U.S. to change this. In August, the Department of Defense awarded $20 million to Canadian company Electra Battery Materials Corporation to advance the construction of its planned cobalt sulfate facility in Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada.
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