General Motors is still seeking out suppliers for various raw materials that will be needed once its new battery materials plant in Bécancour, Quebec is operational in 2024.
GM in March announced it would partner with Korean chemicals company Poscoe to construct a new $500 million battery materials plant in the Canadian province, which is rich in raw materials needed to produce vehicle batteries, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese, among more. The plant will process mined Cathode Active Material for GM vehicle batteries, which will then be packed into the automaker’s Ultium lithium-ion pouch cells.
GM is already working with local engineering and construction firms to build the new CAM processing plant, David Paterson, vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs at GM Canada, told Automotive News Canada, however it’s still in the process of lining up mining partners to supply it with the raw material. He also told the publication it is currently talking to “a lot,” of different raw materials suppliers.
The American automaker signed a deal with lithium supplier Livent in July that will see the Philadelphia-based chemicals company supply it with battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Livent is a part owner in the Nemaska Lithium mine project in Quebec, which has received C$80 million in funding from the provincial government there. It also operates a lithium mine in Argentina, within the so-called “lithium triangle,” that encompasses sections of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. Vale, a Brazilian mining company, also conducted a feasibility study of a potential nickel sulfate mining site in Bécancour in June, Automotive News Canada reports, however Vale does not yet have ties to GM.
Doug Parks, GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, said in June that Canada “is playing an important role in our all-electric future,” and said the automaker is “grateful for the strong support we have received from local, provincial and national officials,” to expand its EV supply chain presence in the country.
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My province made gmauthority.com news!
🙂
Our country Canada 🇨🇦 through negotiated free trade agreements always ready to export help the to U.S. or G.M. Fulfill a continental supply chain in peacetime or wartime activities ,your biggest friend and trading partner !
Strange that Nevada was not considered by GM as either a EV battery materials operation or a EV battery manufacturing operation. Nevada and California have among them the largest Lithium reserves on the planet. Along with rare earths and various other industrial minerals.
Most interesting is that Tesla/Panasonic has the largest EV battery plant in the world, the Giga Factory, near Reno. Supporting this facility are many vendors that specialize in equipment , services and materials for EV battery production.
Tesla is producing EV batteries at the Giga Factory for in house use in their vehicles and for OEM’s such as city buses and mining and construction equipment makers.
The Regional Transit Commission ( RTC ) in Washoe County ( Reno ) is using large Tesla Industrial grade batteries in their city transit buses, and they love them.
GM is really behind the eight ball in this segment.
It was crazy that they unloaded Detroit Diesel to Roger Penske. Roger sold it to Daimler for big bucks. Now Daimler is making big money with Detroit Diesel. Detroit Diesel and Cummins are the only two players in North America for motive power in Class 8 trucks.
Caterpillar, Volvo, Deere, Komatsu, etc. are going to plug and play electric in their various small construction equipment models and they are sourcing the batteries from vendors. Guess who?
It’s going to be an electric world out there folks. It’s the new big flavor of the moment thing.
Let’s keep it in America folks.
This is Trump’s mantra.
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