Neometals Capitalising on Dying Batteries

THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Looming European battery recycling regulations have driven Neometals’ (ASX: NMT) pivot away from mining into materials recovery and recycling, managing director Chris Reed told the 2023 RIU Explorers Conference. By Ngaire McDiarmid

“Our aim is to be the leading provider of recycling solutions to the OEMs, be they car makers or cell makers,” he said.

“More of the cars are becoming electric … and as they get to the end of their life, we model 10 years, there will be a tsunami in terms of the number of batteries coming back that need to be recycled.

“So, what we’ve developed is plants that can process the scrap.”

He said recycling was compulsory in the EU, carmakers were faced with declaring their carbon footprint and meeting minimum recycled content requirements, which was why miners like Glencore were getting into recycling.

Neometals is recycling at a 10 tonne per day refinery hub in Germany through Primobius, its 50:50 Joint Venture with the SMS Group.

Aside from producing nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium, the tailings were ammonium sulphate, a fertiliser product, which Reed said was one of the revolutionary parts of the patent-pending process.

He said 79 per cent of the cost of a traditional lithium-ion cell was in the raw material.

“So, if I’ve got a ton of these batteries … it’s the same as having a ton of ore in front of a concentrator – that’s 15 per cent nickel, 15 per cent copper, 2 per cent cobalt and 2 per cent lithium and at our operation in Germany now, we get paid to take that,” he said.

Reed believes emerging lithium supply was unlikely to meet the growing demand and said by 2040, recycled material would be the main source of lithium.

Neometals also had a flexible business model and would do plant supply, including a partnership with Mercedes Benz, plus technology licences, Reed said.

He pointed to a “catalyst-rich year”, including the Mercedes partnership progressing and advancing a 50tpd plant with Stelco in Canada, with the economics due in the June quarter.

Aside from its core battery materials business units, Neometals has the large-scale Barrambie titanium and vanadium project in Western Australia.