First Cobalt awards Canadian refinery construction contract to Metso Outotec

cobalt plant

Ontario Construction News staff writer

First Cobalt Corp. has awarded a contract to Metso Outotec for the design and manufacturing of solvent extraction cells at a Temiskaming-area cobalt refinery and its process control. Metso Outotec says it is recognized as a world leader in sustainable solutions for mineral processing and metal refining.

Commissioning of Phase 1 of First Cobalt’s low-carbon hydrometallurgical refining strategy is scheduled for Q4 2022, targeting annual production of 25,000 tonnes of cobalt sulfate annually

Once operational, the refinery will be the only producer of battery-grade cobalt for the North American electric vehicle market, capable of supplying over a million vehicles per annum, responding to strong demand in the accelerating EV market.

First Cobalt bought the facility in 2017 and completed $100 million in upgrades including new equipment, an access road and on power infrastructure.

cobalt2

The company received several tenders from global vendors and Metso Outotec was selected based on competitive pricing and its “technically superior” bid.

“We are happy to be moving forward with Metso Outotec, an industry-leading business partner. Their expertise and ability to deliver quality projects significantly de-risks our own. We move one step closer to becoming North America’s only provider of cobalt sulfate and we do not intend to stop there”, company president and CEO Trent Mell said in a statement.

“Plans for our Canadian Battery Materials Park also include battery recycling, nickel sulfate production and a partnership with a battery precursor manufacturer.”

Phase 1 will focus on processing cobalt hydroxide to produce a high-quality, sustainable and traceable battery-grade cobalt sulfate.

Metso Outotec was created through the combination of Metso Minerals and Outotec on June 30, 2020. We are a frontrunner in sustainable technologies, end-to-end solutions and services for the aggregates, minerals processing and metals refining industries globally.

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