ERG signs deal to sell cobalt to US battery materials producer

Erg SA

11/10/2023 13:05

LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Luxembourg-Based Eurasian
Resources Group (ERG) has signed a deal to sell cobalt for
five-years from 2026 to electric vehicle battery materials
producer EVelution Energy in the United States, ERG said in a
statement on Wednesday.
    Investment in the electric vehicle battery supply chain in
the U.S. has soared due to President Joe Biden's Inflation
Reduction Act (IRA), which has provided billions of dollars in
green energy tax credits for cutting the nation's carbon
emissions.
    ERG said it would sell 3,000 metric tons of contained cobalt
metal a year to EVelution, which plans to start building a
low-carbon cobalt sulphate plant in Arizona in 2024. 
    The plant will be operational by 2026 and will be powered
with energy from solar panels.
    "Currently, there are no cobalt processing facilities, on a
commercial scale, in the U.S., over 70% of the global production
of cobalt sulphate is based in China," ERG said.
    Most of the world's electric vehicle batteries and materials
are produced in China.
    ERG’s cobalt hydroxide which is easily turned into sulphate
used in the cathode component of rechargeable batteries will be
supplied by Metalkol, the company's operation in Democratic
Republic of Congo.
    
    

 (Reporting by Pratima Desai; editing by Kirsten Donovan)
 ((pratima.desai@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 513 5681;))