According to Bloomberg, Electra Battery Materials Corp.
of Canada has received a US$20 million grant from the U.S. government to build a cobalt factory near the automobile heartland of North America.
Photo source: Electra Battery Materials Corp.
, Electra said in a statement on August 19 that the grant would be used to support its construction of a cobalt sulfate plant in Ontario, Canada.
Electra will spend $250 million to build a factory on the shores of Temiskaming Shores, about 500 kilometers north of Toronto.
The plant will become the only smelter of lithium-ion battery materials for electric vehicles in North America.
, The grant is the latest in a series of U.S. investments in North American mining companies aimed at ensuring a supply of metal materials needed in the manufacture of electric vehicles and the transition to non-fossil fuels.
The U.S. Department of Defense said the funding will help promote the production of key materials for large-capacity batteries in North America, which will benefit the development of North America’s growing electric vehicle supply chain.
Currently, the price of cobalt has fallen sharply, in part because Chinese companies are increasing production faster than traders expected, and most cobalt processing is done in China.
Toronto-based Electra has a market value of approximately US$28 million.
Electra suspended the project last year due to low cobalt prices and the cost of building a factory would be much higher than previously expected.
On August 19, Electra CEO Trent Mell said in an interview: “If we want to build an independent supply chain in Canada, getting financial support is crucial.
” Trent Mell said he was negotiating with the Canadian government to get more funding.
In June this year, the Canadian government allocated 5 million Canadian dollars (approximately US$3.
7 million) to the company.
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