EV battery recycling venture to connect northern Ontario plant with southwestern Ontario First Nation

Electra Battery Materials, which has a plant in the northern Ontario city of Temiskaming Shores, has signed an agreement with Indigenous-owned Three Fires Group to recycle electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

They have created a joint-venture called Aki Battery Recycling, which will produce a material called black mass in southwestern Ontario. It will then be processed at Electra's facility in northern Ontario.

"Black mass is quite simply ground up batteries," Reggie George, the executive director of Three Fires Group, told CBC News.

That black dust, made of ground up EV batteries, can then safely be transported to northern Ontario where Electra has a proprietary hydrometallurgical process to separate the different metals inside.

"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 Battery Materials CEO Trent Mell said in a news release.

"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."

Last year, Electra processed 40 tonnes of black mass to try outits process.

In June 2024, Electra received $5 million from Natural Resources Canada to accelerate its battery recycling plans. The company says it was able to show that its process was profitable and could be scalable to larger quantities of black mass.

George, of Three Fires Group, said through that process, more than three quarters of the metals in an EV battery can be recycled and used to make new batteries.

leaders of the Three Fires Group, which is part of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in southwestern Ontario, havebeen looking at ways to get involved in the EV sector, due to upcoming battery and car plants that will be built in the region.

"We looked at extraction," said Reggie George. "And because of where we're located in southwestern Ontario, there's not really any critical mineral extraction down here to be honest with you."

When the group heard about Electra's plans to recycle EV batteries, George said it sounded like a natural fit for them.

"First Nations arestewards of the land," he said.

Recycling Ontario-made batteries

He connected with Electra and worked out the joint-venture agreement, based in part on the First Nation's proximity to Ontario's auto sector and upcoming EV plants from Stellantis, Volkswagen and Honda.

George said they hope to find a location for their black mass plant and start collecting batteries to recycle by the second quarter of next year.

He said the plan is to start with batteries from older EVs that are near their end of life.

As the EV industry ramps up in Ontario, he said the plant would ramp up operations as well. In addition to batteries form EVs, the plant will be able to recycle waste from the battery factories.

He expects the joint venture to create more than 20 jobs as it gets started.