North America’s First Environmentally Sustainable Battery Park
Electra is expanding its Ontario, Canada refinery where the company is developing the region’s first integrated EV Battery Materials Park. It’s part of a multiprong strategy focused on bringing the EV supply chain closer to automotive manufacturing centers in North America.
The new Battery Materials Park will feature cobalt, nickel and manganese refining; black mass and scrap battery recycling; and precursor cathode active material (pCAM) manufacturing. Operations will be built on Rockwell Automation services and technologies, including the PlantPAx® Distributed Control System, PowerFlex® Drive technology, Motor Control, Industrial Control, Network Security & Infrastructure, and Engineering Services.
“Once we’re up and running we will be able to track our product from the very beginning -- from suppliers through to our customers,” Renata explains. “With all this data, we’ll be able to understand, to improve, and to provide progress to society.”
Sustainability and Safety
Such data and reporting are essential in the mining and metals industry, where both sustainability and safety are top priorities.
“It’s so important to work collaboratively with companies such as Rockwell Automation to not only be able to track indicators in the ESG arena, but also most importantly to protect our people. Automation takes people out of risk areas and reduces health and safety exposure,” Renata says. “ESG can be a lot of things, but at the end of the day, it should be people centered. All the work we do has to do with protecting people and making their lives better.”
To date, Electra has launched the pilot phase of its new recycling plant and expects to start the commercial operation this year. It also plans to commission its cobalt sulfate refinery plant, the first of its kind in North America, in 2023. Additional refinery and production will commence in phases in 2024 and 2025.
