Electra Battery Materials Corporation will use the funds to advance its facility in Ontario.
The U.S. Department of Defense awards $20 million to Canadian company Electra Battery Materials Corporation for the sustainable production of cobalt sulfate in North America. Electra will use the funds to advance the construction of its planned facility in Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada. According to the company, the plant north of Toronto will be North America’s first cobalt sulfate refinery capable of producing battery-grade cobalt used in lithium-ion batteries, for example. Electra estimates the annual production to be 6,500 tons – roughly the amount to support the production of one million electric vehicles. Already in 2023, LG Energy Solution secured approximately 80 percent of the facility’s production over a five-year period to supply its North American battery production. Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, added that the investment will help boost the domestic production of batteries to supply both commercial and defense sectors in North America.
The award to Electra is not the first time the Pentagon has turned to the industry to secure supplies of critical raw materials. Last year, the department announced it would contract U.S. and Canadian firms to produce the technology metal gallium, for example.
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