Canada's first Cobalt Industry has successfully recovered battery metals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium from black powder.

SMM, July 28 / PRNewswire-FirstCall-Asianet /-- Canadian cobalt smelter No.1 Cobalt has successfully recovered lithium, cobalt and nickel from black powder in laboratory tests of its wet smelting process. In addition to lithium, nickel and cobalt, the test also showed the extraction of graphite and manganese.

It is reported that the study is carried out by the first Cobalt Industry and the Canadian SGS Laboratory, and it may become the first Cobalt smelter in Ontario, Canada to implement the process in the future.

In addition to this experiment, the first cobalt industry has also commissioned an engineering study to refine the black powder on the basis of its existing smelter. If the research is successful, it may change the design of its original smelter in the future. The smelter, which is expected to start production in 2022, aims to produce cobalt sulfate for the North American battery market.

There is no doubt that when the plant goes into production, it will become the first manufacturer in North America to produce cobalt sulfate.

President Trent Meyer said that although there are many black powder producers in the western world, given the capital expenditure and permitted time required to build hydrometallurgical facilities like No.1 Cobalt, smelters that refine it into battery-grade materials are rare.

From the above, it is not difficult to see that the first cobalt industry has begun to lay out the battery recycling market, and considering that the regulations to include waste batteries in the circular economy will come into effect at the end of 2030, it is absolutely wise for the first cobalt industry to enter into the field of battery recycling.