More importantly, the question they were answering was whether, in the next five years, Canada would have a vibrant electric vehicle battery manufacturing industry spurring even more growth in our suddenly rejuvenated auto industry.
Their optimism is not, forgive the internal-combustion-fueled pun, a pipe dream. The contracts that Detroit’s Big Three have signed with Dias’ Unifor were nothing short of astounding. The most surprising certainly, the most news-generating was Ford completely rebooting its Oakville Assembly plant for battery-powered EV production. What, for 67 years, has produced nothing but ICE-powered cars will soon be converted to build BEVs exclusively. As groundbreaking as about-faces go, few in the history of Canadian auto manufacturing have been as startling at least from a positive point of view.
The
First Cobalt signed multiple refinery feedstock agreements.
(Editor’s note: This report also includes coverage of grain-oriented electrical steel, or GOES.)
First Cobalt signs refinery feedstock agreements
Toronto-based First Cobalt announced Tuesday it has achieved a “key milestone” with new refinery feedstock agreements reached with
Glencore AG and
IXM SA.
The cobalt hydroxide deals will see First Cobalt receive a total of 4,500 tonnes per year beginning in 2022. The feedstock will come from Glencore’s KCC mine and
China Molybdenum Co.’s parent company of IXM SA Tenke Fungurume mine.
The agreements represent 90% of projected capacity for the Canadian refinery. Furthermore, the deals will yield “22,250 tonnes per year of battery grade cobalt sulfate,” per the company’s announcement.