Electra teams with Ontario First Nations investment firm on battery recycling

Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ: ELBM; TSXV: ELBM) has launched the Aki Battery Recycling joint venture with Indigenous economic development firm Three Fires Group to find critical minerals in scrap.

The effort is focused on selling black mass, made by recycling dead lithium-ion batteries, to Electra’s proposed refinery in northern Ontario. It aims to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt and other critical minerals to produce new lithium-ion batteries with its planned startup, though a timeline wasn’t yet known. The JV plans to build a recycling plant in southwest Ontario.

“Aki Battery Recycling aims to address the environmental impact of future battery waste in Ontario and beyond, by returning battery scrap back into the supply chain,” Electra CEO Trent Mell said in a release on Wednesday. “This venture not only aligns with our mission to onshore North America’s EV battery supply chain, but to do so sustainably and through a scalable solution to meet the growing needs of the North American electric vehicle industry.”

The JV comes almost one month after Electra received a US$20 million investment from the United States’ Department of Defense to help it develop its cobalt refinery in Temiskaming Shores, about 500 km north of Toronto. Just last week, it received a bid for an additional US$20 million investment from an unnamed party for the refinery, expected to be the first of its kind in North America. 

Electra shares gained 7.3% to 88¢ apiece on Wednesday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at $50.3 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 41¢ to 98¢.

Indigenous participation