Sibanye-Stillwater to acquire Eramet’s Sandouville nickel processing facility in France

In its second acquisition in the battery metals space in six months, Sibanye-Stillwater (NYSE: SBSW), one of the world’s largest primary producers of platinum, palladium and rhodium and its third-largest gold producer on a gold-equivalent basis, is buying 100% of Eramet SA’s Sandouville nickel hydrometallurgical processing facility in Normandy, France, in a deal valued at €65 million ($96 million).

The Sandouville facility includes a hydrometallurgical nickel refinery with a production capacity of 12,000 tonnes a year of high-purity nickel metal, 4,000 tonnes a year of high-purity nickel salts and solutions, and about 600 tonnes a year of cobalt chloride.

Sandouville is “situated in the industrial heart of Europe at Le Havre, France’s second-largest industrial port,” and the facility, zoned for heavy industrial purposes, “is scaleable for nickel, cobalt and lithium battery grade products,” the company stated in a press release.

The company said the acquisition is a “low-risk entry into the nickel beneficiation business,” and noted that during its due diligence process it completed a scoping study on upgrading the facility “to target specific nickel battery metal products”.