Canada’s Electra Battery Supplies Corp. has signed a three-year deal to produce electrical car battery cell producer LG Power Answer (LGES) with cobalt processed in Northern Ontario.

The Toronto-based mining and battery supplies firm stated Sept. 22 that the settlement covers shipments of seven,000 tonnes of the important thing battery steel produced at Electra’s cobalt sulfate refinery between 2023 to 2025.

Monetary phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Electra CEO Trent Mell stated the corporate is “delighted” to signal its first strategic provide settlement with “such an necessary participant within the lithium-ion battery market.”

“That is solely the start of a bigger strategic relationship with LGES involving our different belongings and progress initiatives within the North American battery provide chain,” he stated in a launch.

Electra is partway via recommissioning what could be North America’s solely cobalt refinery. Located roughly 500 kilometres north of Toronto, straddling the town limits of Temiskaming Shores and Cobalt, Ont., the location was initially developed within the Nineteen Nineties, however is being upgraded and expanded.

Electra had deliberate to start ramping up manufacturing of cobalt on the plant late this yr, however delays to shipments of “essential gear” pressured it to reschedule the beginning of operations to spring 2023. The corporate additionally hiked projected prices for the undertaking in August, to between US$76 and $80 million, up from $67 million initially.

As soon as absolutely operational, the cobalt sulfate refinery in Temiskaming Shores shall be able to producing about 6,500 tonnes of cobalt sulfate per yr — sufficient to energy battery cells in about 1.5 million EVs.

The cope with LGES covers practically half of this capability in its latter years. Electra stated the battery cell maker will obtain 1,000 tonnes of cobalt sulfate in 2023, and three,000 tonnes in every 2024 and 2025.

LGES CEO Youngsoo Kwon stated the settlement will contribute to the corporate’s strategic plans for North America.

“These partnerships function an important step in the direction of securing a steady key uncooked materials provide chain within the area,” he stated in a launch.

The 2 firms additionally plan to collaborate on securing sources of uncooked supplies for the North American EV provide chain. Electra is at present growing a cobalt mining undertaking in Idaho, however Mell instructed Automotive Information Canada final fall that the corporate’s Ontario refinery will initially supply cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the place nearly all of the world’s cobalt is mined.

Particulars about what cell manufacturing vegetation will obtain the Ontario-produced cobalt sulfate weren’t instantly out there.

The South Korean battery maker has a stake in a rising checklist of North American tasks. In partnership with Stellantis, LGES introduced plans to construct a C$5 billion battery cell plant in Windsor, Ont. this March. The corporate can be a associate in Common Motors Co.’s Ultium Cells three way partnership, which opened its first plant in Ohio in August. Development on two different Ultium Cells vegetation is below manner in Tennessee and Michigan, with one additional plant in planning.