Beaver Staff
Following up on their original announcement from July of last year, the Canadian and Ontario governments have formally reached an agreement with Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials Canada Inc. to begin construction of a new manufacturing plant in Loyalist Township.
The agreement was announced Monday at the future site of the facility, located on a 140-hectare plot of land on the corner of Taylor Kidd and County Rd. 4, bordered by Hwy 33 to the south.
The facility will manufacture cathode active materials (CAM) and precursor cathode active materials (pCAM), critical components for producing electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
The envisioned project, with a total eligible cost envelope of up to $2.761 billion, is planned to be executed in multiple stages. On Monday Umicore announced its firm investment decision for the first stage of $2.1 billion, of which $1.8 billion is capital expenditures, for a battery materials production capacity of 35 GWh annually. That represents a significant jump from the $1.5 billion commitment made during the July 2022 announcement, which was held at Queen’s University and included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Based on the full scope of the envisioned project, the Government of Canada is supporting Umicore’s project through an investment of up to $551.3 million, while the Government of Ontario is supporting the investment with up to $424.6 million.
“Canada has everything it needs to be a global leader in the green economy: access to global markets, a talented workforce, clean energy, world-leading innovation ecosystems and all the critical mineral resources necessary to make EV batteries,” said said François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “This is the reason why Umicore has chosen Canada and Loyalist Township as the place to build its new electric vehicle battery materials plant, one that will produce green battery components. This project will bring great economic benefits to Ontario and create well-paying jobs for Canadians, and it is strengthening Canada’s position as the green supplier of choice.”
“Umicore’s investment represents another strong vote of confidence in our rapidly growing electric vehicle and battery supply chain,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “Together, with our government, industry and labour partners, we’re putting our auto sector back on the map, attracting billions of dollars in new investments, creating thousands of new good-paying jobs and ensuring the cars of the future will be made in Ontario, from start to finish.”
The first of its kind in North America, Umicore’s facility will produce CAM and pCAM on a large industrial scale for EV and battery producers in Canada and the United States. In the project’s first stage, the company will create 600 new direct jobs, plus an additional 700 co-op positions for students will be created throughout the project, making Umicore one of the largest private employers in Eastern Ontario.
The full project has the potential to produce enough battery materials to support the production of over 800,000 EVs per year, utilizing Canadian critical minerals, including nickel, lithium and cobalt, and strengthening Canada’s and Ontario’s domestic EV supply chain and batteries ecosystem.
Thanks to Canada’s abundance of clean energy, the facility will be nearly carbon neutral from the start of production.
“Umicore is proud of, and delighted with, the unwavering support and financial backing of Canada and Ontario,” said Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore. “Their readiness to co-fund our investment coupled with the announcement of our first customer contract for the Loyalist plant mean we can forge ahead with the construction. We are committed to being a reliable transformation partner for the automotive and battery industry and a trustworthy neighbour for communities in Ontario.”
In the last three years, Canada and Ontario have attracted historic new investments by global automakers, EV battery manufacturers and battery materials suppliers. Canada and Ontario have all the resources and skilled talent to continue leading the charge in the EV revolution, from mining critical minerals to manufacturing batteries and EVs.